Dali for me was just about chilling out and relaxing after the last few days in Deqin. I'd read that Lijiang was a preferable spot to Dali but I disagree and ended up staying for 5 days in the end. Lijiang old town looked all the same to me, and whilst Dali is similar it's got a bit more of it's own character

I hardly did any tourist stuff whilst here with the exception of a trek up to the Zhonge temple. I went up there with a couple of lads that I'd met at the hostel and as soon as we got up there it started to rain so one of them knocked it on the head and went back down. It was the smarter choice. Whilst the views were ok, it wasn't really a patch on Deqin, and by the end of the rain soaked day I'd decided that tourism was off the agenda for the rest of the stay.

There was a good crowd at the place I was staying and we had a couple of good nights out including a top karaoke night if only for comedy value. MC Hammer's 'U can't touch this' is never going to be the same for me again after seeing Joonas completely tear it up Finnish style.

Tom, David and I parted ways from Dali with Tom heading south en route to Vietnam and David back off to Kunming. I didn't get too many photos for Dali as I didn't think me cleaning up in the Pool compeition or sat in the odd bar would make interesting viewing. Next stop Yangshuo.