Dali

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Here’s a shot of the sleeper car I was in.

The train ride was fairly relaxing, although I probably only managed to get an hour’s worth of sleep, I just couldn’t sleep for some reason, I would wake up every time the train stopped.

Another disappointing part of bus tours, is that they only stop at designated stopping points, missing out on wonderful photograph opportunities! The architecture in Dali was really nice, but I couldn’t get any shots, since we were in the bus the entire time.

Our first stop in Dali was another touristy area… Tianlongbabu (天龙八部) TV ＆ Film City, a city used in a bunch of Chinese films. Lots of people in this area as well.

The photographer and adventurer in me, drove me to discover a totally empty part of the city, that led to the highest point in the city.

Next stop was Dali Ancient City. I really liked this place, bustling with life. There’s also plenty of hostels in the city, which means that it’s fairly foreigner friendly area.

All of the restaurants, had their fresh produce just sitting in front of the store. There was also lots of fresh produce and meat for sale.

I could have spent a lot more time in there, but since I wasn’t the one making the schedule, it was off to the next destination! An area called the Butterfly Spring, a park with a butterfly museum and conservatory. Obviously I made a beeline to the conservatory.

There were only about 4 varieties of butterflies in the conservatory. Seeing the people grabbing the butterflies by the wings and noticing most of the butterflies there had torn wings, made me pretty depressed.

Our final attraction of the day, was a cruise ship in Erhai lake.

That’s it for Dali! — oh… I also got a horrible sun burn on my nose :( Can’t seem to find sunscreen here…