Dali is small city famous of its Erhai Lake home of the Bai people. It is located about 2 hours by bus from Li Jiang in the Yunnan ( 云南 ) Province, China.
I finally set my foot into this beautiful city on August 2017 as a side-kick planned tour in the Yunnan Province centering the attraction in Li Jiang. All I can say is, the tour is not complete without visiting Dali.
How to go there – my way is via Li Jiang, I book the bus from Li Jiang to Dali, it took about 2 hours travel. You can visit Dali in one day by joining a one day group tour, you can avail the tour from Li Jiang travel agency.
Erhai Lake
ErHai Lake – in simplified Chinese writing is 洱海 and “Er Hai” in pinyin, the 2nd largest fresh water in Yunnan Province and the 7th largest in China. It is located in Northwest of the Ancient city of Dali, 1,972 meters above sea level, higher than my hometown of Baguio City, the Philippines with an altitude of about 1,500 meters. The lake got its name from the Chinese word “Er” which means “ear” in English because of its ear-shape looks like. In the ancient time, it is called “Yeyushui” or West Erhe. The lake is 42.58 km and width of 9.0 km and a depth of 10 to 20 meters.
Exploring the lake – its best to hire an e-bike and drive along that 42.58 km length. The e-bike normally can travel 20.0 Km before it needs to charge again. From the bus station, you can select e-car or e-bike from several vendors around the area offering the service. Guys, take it easy and be safe to drive, this is not an e-bike racing, enjoy the scenery – enjoy the e-bike journey!
What’s-up along the lake – you will find amazing scenery as soon as you hit the road along the lake. So, why don’t you park the e-bike and take some picture. Park your e-bike and have that amazing post with the Erhai as the background : :
(1) Picture with Erhai Lake as background
(2) Play with Birds, let them sing for you and tune the human spirit with their voice, this is where you will feel the true bonding of human-birds, just like having the Schumann Resonance of 7.83 Hz that heal your body’s inner part.
Well, here is the process on how you make friends with birds.
(3) Flower field is one of the most amazing to see along the Erhai lake
(4) the Small Temple at the middle of the Lake
(5) Simply sit-down and relax
(6) the BBQ, almost every stop-over place, there are foods and drinks, but the BBQ place at the small temple is the best (for me). The Dali beer is something that I like to have, but I remember that “don’t drink if you drive”.
Ancient City
Ancient City of Dali – the traditional writing Chinese name is 大理古城 and the Pinyin writing is “Dali Gu Cheng”, build in 1382 with its original name Yeyu City (Forbiden City). The Ancient city is similar to other Ancient structure that is enclosed by a thick wall with teh entrance heavily decorated (and maybe guarded by soldiers looking back at that time). Unlike Li Jiang Old Town which is open and no wall.
Here is the scenery inside the Ancient City, showing the rear gate
I found the Monkey King
and the sweetest thing to see!
…… a lot to be seen in Dali City, not to mentioned the Pagoda which I failed to see due to time constrain. Well, I hope you will inspired to see the beauty of Dali City in Yunnan Province, China – wonderful China. Follow me in Shangril-la, the highest elevation one Earth I set my foot and steal some stones for my aquarium at home for my “buddy T” to see and probably stepped unto it and play around.
More information – you may visit the following website – these travel website provide more information on Dali Stuffs more than I can do, https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/dali.htm and http://www.visitaroundchina.com/city_yunnan/3114.shtml