Our stop-over in Dali was only for one night, staying in the Jade Roo Guest House. The ‘Roo’ is because the hostel (and the one next door called the Jade Emu) was owned by an Australian married to a Chinese lady. The twin room was excellent, the choice of food good and the price satisfactory. In other words I would stay there again.
I did go into the town but forgot to take a camera so there are no pictures of Dali. It is easy for you to imagine what it looks like by thinking or looking at the photographs of Lijiang then making the streets wider. I did actually prefer what I saw of Dali to Lijiang mainly because of the wider streets I think. Dali is divided into two areas, the Ancient City and the New District. The Ancient City is centred around the ancient city of Dali, first built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). which has old buildings, city walls and an old city moat. The Foreigner Street in the Ancient City is full of handicrafts, as was Lijiang.
The morning we left Dali it was a bus ride to the station again. Three of us went by taxi costing £1.33 each and saving nearly two hours waiting at the station. Having pink tickets in our hands we knew it was cattle class again for a seven hour back breaking trip. It really is the most uncomfortable way to travel and I have ended up with a sore back each time I have travelled in this way. During the journey the numbers on the two compartment seats varied between eight and eleven people as everyone moved around. Students on the train wanted to talk to me, one saying that he had never spoken to a foreigner before. They actually learnt to read English but rarely had a chance to speak English so their understanding of actual words was somewhat poor.
After a fraught two bus ride to the Camillia Youth Hostel, fraught because finding out where to change buses is difficult due to the language problem, we arrived there about 1900 hrs. Allocated four and five bedded bunk rooms I was disgusted to find that I was on a floor with perhaps 60 bunks that here was no toilet on that floor, we would have to go downstairs, I went to a proper hotel next door to find out if they had a spare room, which they did, but the hostel also had a room for a cheaper price, which I took and paid for myself. The room had a clean double bed, towels, soaps, toilet roll, shower and a bath. This was in complete contrast to the room booked by Madventure with their excuse being that that was all there was available for the night. We could only stay there for one night thank goodness so moved to another hostel, The Hump, the following morning, for another two nights.
The Hump hostel ( which is also over the Hump Bar where it is said that the Kunming Political Party was established) takes it’s name from the Second World War when the Japanese invaded China and succeeded in controlling virtually all of China's Pacific coast and large parts of the interior giving the Japanese Navy command of all ocean approaches. In the spring of 1942, Japanese units overran Burma (on India's northern border), cutting off the last significant land routes that supplied the struggling armies of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek in China. The United States and its allies needed to keep China in the war because its forces preoccupied hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops. Holding that valuable Chinese area permitted the Allies to prepare for an attack on Japan's home islands. However, that could only work if China and allied troops could be routinely supplied. In April 1942, pilots started flying the "Hump," and continued missions until 1945, when the Burma Road was reopened. The dangerous 530-mile long passage over the Himalayan Mountains was very dangerous. Nearly 1,000 men and 600 Air Transport Command (ATC) planes were lost over the hump by the end of operations. In addition, China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) lost 38 planes and 88 airmen. I shared a twin room with Tim in the hostel which was quite comfortable. We did not have the extras that the couple in the next room had - a damp room with mould all over the walls! I did consider the food there to be expensive though especially as I prefer to eat in local cafe for less than half the price. This was the first hotel I have stayed in where the management supply ear plugs for use at night, and believe me they were needed. I could not understand how a place could be noisier in the early hours than during the day. Bottles being thrown, people screaming at each other, the noise of car horns an alarms, and the annoying spitting and hawking seemingly all through the night. Outside in the pedestrian area there was a TV programme being filmed which I took photographs of at the same time. The people watching pushed me to the front and two people kept me covered from the sun with their umbrellas. I found this to be quite a contrast as normally for the Chinese it is shoulders down and force a way through when grouped together. Even on the buses people would get up an offer me a seat. Maybe I look old to them! Often I get asked how old I am and I usually reply by asking them how old do they think I am. The usual answer is 55 years old and they are surprised to learn that I am 70. Having gone through this so often it seems that they judge the age by looking at my arms as a number have said that my arms look strong. Although 70 is not old in China their comments have been that a Chinese of my age would stay round the home and village, and would not travel as I am doing.
Late afternoon and evening the pedestrian areas come alive with people walking their dogs, children out with parents fishing for goldfish, food stalls, hawkers, beggars and the massage group with their chairs. The dogs are usually small weird things; there are not many beggars and they are usually badly disabled with some doing mouth or foot paintings; and the massage group are about fifteen partially sighted men and women who put out a chair each for people to sit on and then give a head, arm or back massage for a fixed price of 20 Yuan (£2). I had two massages while I was here and did feel a little less sore after the second massage. The whole time I walked around there were people going through the rubbish bins looking for either plastic bottles, paper and cardboard. If someone picked the plastic bottles they did not collect the paper or cardboard, they were left for someone else. I would guess that there was a good business in collecting these things and the result looked as if the local council saved money by not having very much rubbish to collect themselves.
I did go into the town but forgot to take a camera so there are no pictures of Dali. It is easy for you to imagine what it looks like by thinking or looking at the photographs of Lijiang then making the streets wider. I did actually prefer what I saw of Dali to Lijiang mainly because of the wider streets I think. Dali is divided into two areas, the Ancient City and the New District. The Ancient City is centred around the ancient city of Dali, first built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). which has old buildings, city walls and an old city moat. The Foreigner Street in the Ancient City is full of handicrafts, as was Lijiang.
The morning we left Dali it was a bus ride to the station again. Three of us went by taxi costing £1.33 each and saving nearly two hours waiting at the station. Having pink tickets in our hands we knew it was cattle class again for a seven hour back breaking trip. It really is the most uncomfortable way to travel and I have ended up with a sore back each time I have travelled in this way. During the journey the numbers on the two compartment seats varied between eight and eleven people as everyone moved around. Students on the train wanted to talk to me, one saying that he had never spoken to a foreigner before. They actually learnt to read English but rarely had a chance to speak English so their understanding of actual words was somewhat poor.
After a fraught two bus ride to the Camillia Youth Hostel, fraught because finding out where to change buses is difficult due to the language problem, we arrived there about 1900 hrs. Allocated four and five bedded bunk rooms I was disgusted to find that I was on a floor with perhaps 60 bunks that here was no toilet on that floor, we would have to go downstairs, I went to a proper hotel next door to find out if they had a spare room, which they did, but the hostel also had a room for a cheaper price, which I took and paid for myself. The room had a clean double bed, towels, soaps, toilet roll, shower and a bath. This was in complete contrast to the room booked by Madventure with their excuse being that that was all there was available for the night. We could only stay there for one night thank goodness so moved to another hostel, The Hump, the following morning, for another two nights.
The Hump hostel ( which is also over the Hump Bar where it is said that the Kunming Political Party was established) takes it’s name from the Second World War when the Japanese invaded China and succeeded in controlling virtually all of China's Pacific coast and large parts of the interior giving the Japanese Navy command of all ocean approaches. In the spring of 1942, Japanese units overran Burma (on India's northern border), cutting off the last significant land routes that supplied the struggling armies of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek in China. The United States and its allies needed to keep China in the war because its forces preoccupied hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops. Holding that valuable Chinese area permitted the Allies to prepare for an attack on Japan's home islands. However, that could only work if China and allied troops could be routinely supplied. In April 1942, pilots started flying the "Hump," and continued missions until 1945, when the Burma Road was reopened. The dangerous 530-mile long passage over the Himalayan Mountains was very dangerous. Nearly 1,000 men and 600 Air Transport Command (ATC) planes were lost over the hump by the end of operations. In addition, China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) lost 38 planes and 88 airmen. I shared a twin room with Tim in the hostel which was quite comfortable. We did not have the extras that the couple in the next room had - a damp room with mould all over the walls! I did consider the food there to be expensive though especially as I prefer to eat in local cafe for less than half the price. This was the first hotel I have stayed in where the management supply ear plugs for use at night, and believe me they were needed. I could not understand how a place could be noisier in the early hours than during the day. Bottles being thrown, people screaming at each other, the noise of car horns an alarms, and the annoying spitting and hawking seemingly all through the night. Outside in the pedestrian area there was a TV programme being filmed which I took photographs of at the same time. The people watching pushed me to the front and two people kept me covered from the sun with their umbrellas. I found this to be quite a contrast as normally for the Chinese it is shoulders down and force a way through when grouped together. Even on the buses people would get up an offer me a seat. Maybe I look old to them! Often I get asked how old I am and I usually reply by asking them how old do they think I am. The usual answer is 55 years old and they are surprised to learn that I am 70. Having gone through this so often it seems that they judge the age by looking at my arms as a number have said that my arms look strong. Although 70 is not old in China their comments have been that a Chinese of my age would stay round the home and village, and would not travel as I am doing.
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| Relaxing before the dance |
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| Yi Tribes Women Dancing for the TV Recording |
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Late afternoon and evening the pedestrian areas come alive with people walking their dogs, children out with parents fishing for goldfish, food stalls, hawkers, beggars and the massage group with their chairs. The dogs are usually small weird things; there are not many beggars and they are usually badly disabled with some doing mouth or foot paintings; and the massage group are about fifteen partially sighted men and women who put out a chair each for people to sit on and then give a head, arm or back massage for a fixed price of 20 Yuan (£2). I had two massages while I was here and did feel a little less sore after the second massage. The whole time I walked around there were people going through the rubbish bins looking for either plastic bottles, paper and cardboard. If someone picked the plastic bottles they did not collect the paper or cardboard, they were left for someone else. I would guess that there was a good business in collecting these things and the result looked as if the local council saved money by not having very much rubbish to collect themselves.
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| A happy little boy |
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| The little girl would not look up |
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| Children fishing for goldfish which they are able to take home |
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| A mosque in China |
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| Not sure if that was a Salvation Army cap. He spoke English and called out to me whenever I passed. |
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| A bridal show of which there were a few about |
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| They look like Noddy cars but are actually electric police cars for use in pedestrian precincts and other areas |
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| Showing some of the massage people |
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| Entrance gates to the pedestrian areas |
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