Day 49 Saturday 21 October, Dali to Lijiang, Yunnan, China

Spend the morning exploring the Three Pagoda temple complex. It’s crowded with mostly Chinese tourists but is set in large grounds with beautiful gardens so is still relatively tranquil. The pagodas were built in the C9 and C10 by piling earth all round them to enable the upper levels to be constructed and were repositories for sacred relics. As they don’t have foundations they are leaning slightly at different angles but have survived the centuries and numerous earthquakes which have devastated the region. Dali lies on a narrow plane backed by a range of high mountains and the Er Hai or Ear Lake on the other, with the ancient town where we stayed roughly in the middle and a new nondescript city at the southern end, also confusingly called Dali.

After the temples and pagodas we visit the old town and explore the alleyways. The main cobbled street has a stream running down one side lined with willows. Its a mix of tourist oriented shops and normal high street stores. We photograph lots of local life including a classic pix of an elder brother taunting his younger sibling who’s clutching a toy tanker by dropping the cab into a fishtank. The younger bro’s expression is priceless.

Then its back on the road for the 2hr journey to Lijiang, along relatively good roads this time. We reach Lijiang mid afternoon just as a thunderstorm breaks and park the car outside the northern gate of the old town which like Dali’s is lined with cobbled streets and is car free. We’ve reserved an hotel via a booking agency based on Trip Adviser (our new touchstone after a few failures with LP). Edward reckons its not a good choice and in the wrong part of town and after an hour searching we finally find it right where we said it was by the southern gate. However in some ways he’s right as its quite a walk through a maze of narrow streets from the main square and is part of the new area of the old town. It suits us as we can get the car to the door and although well done in the old wooden courtyard style has modern amenities and is very comfortable.

Lijiang is amazing, all the more so for us having no prior knowledge, images or expectations. It comprises mainly stone and wooden buildings dating back hundreds of years built around three streams, with narrow cobbled streets, old stone bridges and lots of willow trees. As a world heritage site, like Luang Prebang in Laos, its regulated in terms of planning with controls over signage, traffic and even a ban on plastic bags. All the restaurants, of which there are hundreds, are festooned with red lanterns , with eaves lined with orange lighting making it a fairy land setting at night. Its very busy and the main square is crowded with people dancing round a fire in the centre. The restaurants which face each other across the streets have boisterous singing contests with Naxi girls in local costume facing each other singing everything from Naxi folk songs to “happy birthday”, sometimes from the upper level balconies. We sit and watch from an upper level, soaking up the atmosphere and the local wine. ( NB China is not one of the worlds great wine producing nations). The photos don’t do it justice so you’ll just have to visit.

Weather 16.5, Mainly sunny
Distance today 178km
Distance from start 10,629km