Dali (Courtney)

Time to get a cuppa!

We never wear seatbelts in China. That's because taxis don't have them. However, this was a new low in our driving experience. What do you do when you have too many people for the van? Just pull out the kiddie camping chair! And no, that hair does not belong to me...it's our tour leader.

There wasn't just one, but two foreigner streets. The first foreigners in the area lived only on these streets.

Local snack - we were told it was a pancake made from milk. If you do the math you realise that means it is cheese. It was interesting.

Whilst Dali might have been completely geared for tourism it was still a very beautiful, tranquil town. All the streets had little canals with running water and everywhere you looked there were mountains in the distance. It was so nice to be away from the city.

There was shopping to be had everywhere in Dali! Sadly it was the same five shops just over and over again, but initially it looked like a shopping haven! These were very funky fish bags, but what really made me smile about these was there was a baby fish coin purse in each one.

Here we have a traditional Bai woman, selling her...uh, home concoction. This lady was fiesty! If she had a theme song it would be R-E-S-P-E-C-T! She was taking no crap from anyone. She spotted Marcus and made a beeline for him and literally would not take no for an answer.

So here is the ever obliging Marcus buying what dubiously looked like half a pound of crack. (In this town, it wouldn't have surprised me) Turns out it was some sort of chewing, flour covered...I don't know, but it wasn't flash.

She might have a bit of a cheeky grin but she is giving me a very firm wave off with her hand when she realised I was sneaking a photo! We have since seen her on a video of Dali (which also featured the illustrious massage centre) and can confirm she is one strong willed woman.

Never tire of the things-on-sticks and beer dinner.

We went to a local Bai market in the morning. Above are the local pizzas. The one at front with the glossy jam like stuff oozing out of it is a Rose Pizza...I'm drooling just the thought these.

Marcus indulging ;-)

Pretty tea cups.

Hmm, remind me how many children are killed and injured in car accidents every year in China? I absolutely hate seeing kids on scooters, it might look cute but it is recipe for disastor.

It's not hard to make food look good at a Chinese market.

A quick stopoff at a tie-dye workshop.

And then onto a local fishing village.

I thought it was hysterical to see so many donkeys everywhere (I just find donkeys funny) and the man with the beard thought it was hysterical that I wanted to take its photo. This little village was just full of friendly, smiley folk.

A boat trip out on Lake Er Hai...so lovely.

And finally, bath time! We found this really amusing because they had only soaped their heads and armpits...does the rest of the body not get smelly too?!