In Kunming there is not too much to do. I arrived around 11 in the morning and found my hostel quite easily. Stayed at Hump hostel which was right in the heart of things and set out to explore. I walked around and saw a few mosques and walked through the bird and flower market. Don't let the name fool you though, it was full of everything you could imagine. I got some nice Sichuan fries which were quite delicious and just had a really good time people watching. Here are a few pictures I got there. Also there is a video of some sweet dance moves that some Chinese people were doing. It was a big circle and lots of people were watching...so they must have been good. I found it a little strange but it's China...remember?
I arrive in that city very unprepared and I have learned a good lesson once again. Don't go off of what other travelers tell you, or at least check online before arriving to make sure you can get to where you are going. So the bus arrived in new Dali at around 1pm. I met a guy before and he said take bus 8 to old town Dali. Sounded easy enough but every bus stop around the bus station did not have bus number 8...and no one spoke English in this city. Eventually after about an hour of walking around I found bus number 8. I got on and of course I took it the wrong direction. Took it all the way to the end and it did not look like much of an old town at all. Wide boulevards and nice hotels. I walked around a little bit but though one of the hotel staff would speak a little English...wrong again. I spent about 10 minutes with the bellboy and he tried to get me to take a cab...80 yuan was a little too expensive for my taste so I just got back on bus number 8 and road it. We came to the other end station and sure enough I was in old town Dali. I had no arrangements made for a hostel so walked around for a little bit and found a nice guesthouse...Lee's guest house.
Dali is one of the coolest places I think I have been to in China. It is a lot like Byron Bay or Amsterdam
...quite a hippie town indeed. I think I have been offered "the ganja" by about 15 different women and there are loads of markets here. It is a really laid back atmosphere and quite a nice place to chill out for a bit. So I finally got to old town Dali at 4 and walked around the town and got a bit to eat. So as I was eating here comes Rob a kid I met in Beijing two weeks earlier. I guess travelers sometimes will cross each others path but it is kind of ridiculous two different groups in two days. We had some food and a few beers and headed off to the Bad Monkey for some more beverages. We walked around a little bit and went to the bar next to our hostel for a live art show and a drum circle type thing...very hippied out. It was good fun and had too much to drink but it was a good time. I took a few art shots that I would like to share.
After a nice long sleep I woke up this morning and went for a nice long bike ride. I knew that the Lake was east of where we were staying so I just rode east. I eventually found it and made my way on little dirt roads from village to village. It gave me a very good understanding of how most of China really is. It is not a big city that is industrialized...it is little villages that have a market in the middle that people sell food at and is surrounded by farming fields with people working in every direction. It was really awesome to see and be a part of. I think every little kid I passed managed to shout out "Hello" which was kind of cool. I really do not think many tourists go through these towns so it must have been a sight for them to see me with my big white sunnies on riding a bike through their village. Here are some photos from the ride.
