<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->

12 August: Dali

Today wasn't the most active of days, we rose just after 08h30, heading to the lady selling spicy noodles at the South gate. Unfortunately she wasn't there this morning so we walked down further to a restaurant selling steamed wontons, very nice. Afterwards we shared a noodle soup, a lot better than others due to less pork fat and a lot of garlic on the table :-).

Heading back we collected our washing, wonderfully clean and fresh smelling, then again it was triple the price of any other place we had washed clothes for the whole duration of our trip. Afterwards I spent the better part of the morning and noon applying for work while Leanne caught up writing about the bike tour. We were even able to chat with the folks for some time via skype.

Lunch was later than usual we only left after 14h30, trying the lady selling the spicy noodles again. This time she was there and we were able to enjoy a nice bowl each, although very spicy for Leanne, then again, she had learnt to cope well with the spicy food. Here it was average but back home many people wouldn't even be able to eat it. From there we walked down FuXing street looking for those divine green pepper breads, this one however wasn't as fresh as the previous evening's had been. Washing it down with a somewhat diluted coffee ice shake, maybe we're just getting used to the taste of coffee again!

We walked further down FuXing street to where we hadn't been before, everywhere were stalls selling thick noodle soups, deep-fried foods, pancakes and a variety of snacks. We tried a deep-fried banana on a stick - very nice.

Walking further down the street we came to a fruit and vegetable market, but didn't enter. We only stood outside peering in at the activities within, one funny thing was that a lot of the chickens had all the feathers of their necks pulled out while the rest were left unharmed?

On the way back we looked for a book shop, seeing as both of us had finished with our books. We eventually found one, the sign was still on top of the shop, but according to the new owner the previous shop had moved to FuXing street. There had been a shop we had visited before, but all the books there had been in Mandarin and those in English were not story books one could read. Back at the guest house I applied again for work while Leanne continued writing. Not much excitement! It had been raining most of the morning so at least our inactivity had been well chosen.

At 19h00 I threw in the towel and we headed out for supper, it was our last night in Dali and we still had a delicacy or two to try before we left. We opted for the hot and sour fish and a Dali beer, to share. We had walked down the street and randomly chosen a restaurant when a downpour started and it didn't stop. We were taken to the top and luckily seated under the roof and not the rain net - the net didn't take long to flood. The couple sitting there were soon wet from all the drops falling through and within a few minutes the water in the net had collected so much that they had to lift the net up to allow the water to flood out lest the net tear. The balcony was flooded by this stage and soon after thunder and lightning was added to the monsoon we were experiencing, apparently there was a severe typhoon far to the east of China.

We ordered a plate of fried vegetables, we could choose three, we chose aubergine, mushroom and tomato and for the main the hot and sour fish medium sized and two rice. The plate of vegetables was not at all that large for its price tag but was really nice. The rice was a decent portion although I ordered more, you don't pay extra for more rice while the fish on the other side came in a large bowl with three small fish. The fish were cooked whole, not even sure if they scaled them because both of us had a fair share of scales in between the flesh. They also had a lot of small bones but it was nice, they were accompanied with hard mushrooms (not sure whether meant for eating, but we did) and a few pieces of tofu. Getting the flesh off the fish was also not as easy as one would think using only chopsticks, most of the time we enjoyed the spicy sauce and our rice, still don't know where the sour part comes in.

The Dali beer was nice and came in a huge bottle, but was a lot more diluted than that of Vietnam, we were also given our plates and cutlery in a sealed plastic bag! The waiter who had been serving us for the most part of the evening came and sat at our table telling us of her travel agency and showing us her portfolio of where she took guests. It was all very interesting and exactly what we liked, seeing as she took people to places rarely visited and difficult to arrive at - however the price tag was a little rich for us. When the time came to leave, the rain had not subsided rather it was falling harder than ever, the waitress was able to arrange a plastic bag for the camera bag seeing as we had no umbrellas. We made a dash for home, only 1 500m away! Back home we finished up and went to bed, doing nothing is exhausting also!