Today we are had a boat ride on Lake Erhai to Jinsuo Island which is home to a fishing village and the PAR minority ethnic group. It is pouring with rain and visibility is not great. We arrived at the island around 10am and walked around the local fishermans' market. There were lots of unusual treats like Dragon Fly Lava or crabs on a stick. Small eels called loach and lots of other live fish on offer. We then walked to a Chinese Temple where the locals were celebrating one of their generals with a three day festival. Outside the temple the men were letting off fire crackers and the woman all had cane baskets with what looked like a boiled chook and boiled potatoes. They sat the chook up on a plate surrounded by the potatoes on a table at the entrance to the temple and had their food blessed. Then they hurried off down a laneway.

We reboarded our boat and headed back to Dali. The mountains were covered in a thick layer of cloud and the lake was not as clear as it had been the previous day.

On the way back Steven and Clara told us stories about the meaning of BMW. Steven told us it meant be my wife and Clara said her version was be my wallet……………….

We had lunch at the Royal Hotel, and it was another banquet. I am getting quite good with handling the chop sticks. Jenny is the only traveller in our group using knives and forks.

After lunch eight of our group elected to visit the Cangshan Mountain even though it was covered in a thick blanket of cloud and the view of Lake Erhai would be limited from the top.

The mountain has nineteen peaks and eighteen streams as well as some old temples and caves.

Steven came with us and we drove by bus to the base of the mountains. Then we took the Gantong Cableway from lower station to upper station with 15 minutes' transfer. When we reached the upper station, we climbed 50 stairs and then walked 2kms around the Qingbi Stream and Jade Cloud Road. The whole journey took about 2~3 hours. The pathway was cobbled and there was a lovely waterfall. The pathway was covered in low lying cloud most of the way and visibility was poor. There were no views of the lake at all. One of our group suffered with altitude and was very dizzy. We walked back down to the cableway. On our way down the clouds parted and we did get an amazing view of the lake in the foreground. We continued by bus back to our hotel to meet up with the rest of the group. Steven and Clara took the others out to try some different teas whilst we changed for dinner. We walked back into old town to the same café for dinner, and yes it was another banquet. Then we did some more souvenir shopping and found ourselves back at the bar in Foreigner Street for a night cap.

The best part of the bar was trying to get the staff to understand what we were saying. In the end I acted as barmaid and showed them what we wanted. One of the ladies with us ordered a gin and tonic. When the drink arrived she complained because the straw was blocked??? She was trying to drink out of the swivel stick - absolutely hilarious. She eventually got a straw. Whilst we were sitting outside one of the staff arrived on a motor bike with a trailer and had at least a dozen cartons of beer on board. He was only about 18 and he lifted three cartons on his back and took them inside. I was totally fascinated as to how he carried them. I hopped on the motorcycle and pretended to drive it. So funny. They couldn't work out why we were laughing so much.

It was a truly wonderful day.