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8 August: Dali

We had planned to leave early and the alarm had been set for 06h00, but for some or other reason neither Leanne nor myself could get much sleep. There was no noise to blame nor inquisitive neighbors, still we would fall asleep only to wake up a little later, this happened repeatedly during the night. By 06h00, we decided to sleep in a little longer, we woke at 07h30 and finished up before heading down for breakfast.

We left our lodging behind as we headed for the bus station, where the drivers were already waiting. They actually have a system going and everyone respects it. The driver who arrives first parks in front and all the others park behind him. Once his mini van is full and he leaves, people board the new front runner. Problem is at 09h00 most of the commuters have already left and you have to wait longer for the bus to fill. We only left by 10h40, thats how long it took to get another 4 passengers to fill the bus. We headed down the mountain, through the village and valleys below towards Binchuan. All the same beautiful scenery, farmlands of maze, grapes, rice paddies, orchards and more. We reached Binchuan just after 11h45 and headed directly for the ticket office, it took a few minutes to explain where we were headed, but they showed us the price and printed us a ticket. All the costs of our comings and goings were exactly the same as the local's prices, all legitimate no additional surcharges, not Vietnam!

We waited on the bus, fitted with a small GPS, before we departed, almost on the minute as printed on the ticket. It did feel as though we were driving to Dali City a little slower than when we had come from it. Then again the average speed that they drive is between 30 and 40 kilometers an hour, so anything in comparison feels fast. Again the same scenery of plantations running up and over mountains and through valleys. We arrived just before 13h30, we asked again at the station whether there was a bus going to Dali the old city, fortunately for us there was one, but it was located at another bus station. We asked for directions and a lady followed us to show us the way, at first I thought it was like in Vietnam and that she wanted commission and hence didn't really want her help. Vietnam had really made us very skeptical in that sense! She showed us the way to the station, about a kilometers walk and then turned and headed in another direction and she wanted nothing from us! We have really experienced the most amazing blessings in China, we were sometimes dumbstruck by it, there was always a way and on few occasions did we fret about what would be the outcome.

The local bus took 40 minutes to go to Dali old city and as always charged us exactly the same as every Chinese citizen. In total the days transport of just over 3 hours cost us just over R55! We were dropped off at the West gate and walked through the streets in search of accommodation, at one of the restaurant/travel shops a lady called us in and said her friend had a room for 50 Yaun. She told us it was to far to walk and that her friend would come and fetch us, we said we would wait and sat down ordering a yogurt drink while we waited. After 15 minutes we called her again just to make sure they were coming to pick us up. She said that there were still people in the room and that we would have to wait until 17h00 or 18h00. We said it was okay, but we wanted to see the hotel at least before deciding to stay. She reassured us that the woman would come and pick us up so we continued to wait.

We had waited at least 40 minutes already so I got up and went across the street to find out about bicycles for rent, while Leanne talked to the woman to find out where the hotel was so that we could walk there. According to her it was only 8 minutes walk, we ended up walking the better part of 30 minutes with all our bags in the heat and we didn't succeed in finding the hotel. After asking at least 15 different people we gave up, some would point forward others back and still others didn't even know it existed. One of the lady's where we asked told us the hotel next door could offer us a room for 50 yuan. We had a look, it was a huge room with wood flooring and a western toilet! We paid and settled in and that was only when we discovered that the toilet didn't flush - probably the reason for the discount...

We tried 20 minutes to explain to them that we wanted to move to another vacant room, of which there were many, however they told us all rooms were booked out. At last I got them to send someone to fix the toilet, he fiddled around with it for 5 minutes, gave me the okay and left, it was still broken. We left it there and headed out to the market, buying water along the way. Our first stop was for food, just before the entrance gate to the old city, again it was noodles but these were nice and spicy and not too oily, like a spicy noodle salad.

The market was huge, bigger than any other we had seen in China, okay we had only seen Kunming. There were even streets named Foreigner street, which was where all foreigners gathered for expensive foods and drinks. The city is known for its old Chinese flavor which has survived for over a thousand years, the streets and, bridges, waterways and gates are still as they were a thousand years ago. Next to the main road runs a small canal which only adds to the serenity that is Dali. We walked through the old town streets, specifically Fuxing street looking at all the shopa and what they offered. Silver smiths were pounding on pieces of silver to make their bangles and ornaments. On our way we stopped at a shop selling iced coffee's, we couldn't resist due to our lack of caffeine intake of the past few months and it was definitely worth it!

We bought a map on our way back detailing Dali and the small towns in its vicinity, we were planning to make good use of it during our cycle expedition. We stopped halfway at an internet shop, more of a gaming mecca due to all the local kids playing an array of different games, we checked our mails before heading back to our hotel, past some barbeque's on the side of the road.