China - Dali

June 15: Dali

Breakfast. Everybody's grumpy after the train ride. No eggs! Panic!

First destination: some kind of temple.

I was particularly amused by this pond of goldfish and turtles.

You can buy them from this kiosk and "set them free" in the larger pond above. What a racket!

Anyways, the temple was very expansive, pretty, and clean. I think a lot of money went into fixing it up. Tourism in China is a big deal!

Afterwards, we stopped briefly at a rock store before going to the old city (which was recently renovated)

The Chinese word for cabbage (白菜) sounds like "hundred wealth" (百财). Thus, a sculpted cabbage in the town square:

There were some street food vendors selling some kind of fried cheese. It was...interesting. Also, many shops along the way selling embroidered bags and such. Pretty, and also quite cheap.

More riding in the bus after that. Got a pretty good example of a rolling shutter artifact from the iPhone's camera:

Went to an old-style house that belonged to some rich family from long ago (maybe not that long ago):

They had some awesome furniture:

And there was a short dance performance / tea ceremony where a crowd of bored tourists were shown something about the local culture.

Lunch afterwards, back in the newer part of town. Next door to the restaurant was an embroidery shop, which gave us some insight into how those bags are made. Given how cheap they were being sold for, I'm relieved they're made 12 at a time on some kind of CNC embroidery machine.

Who is this? Where was this picture taken? This dude is ready for action:

Briefly stopped by another park. It is somehow related to butterflies? My Chinese is not that good.

Next, a boat ride! Another dance/tea ceremony (I guess that's just what people do around here) on the boat:

The island itself was pretty, but you can tell that they were trying pretty hard. This rock formation below was a nice little waterfall when we first got off the boat and everyone was snapping pictures. After walking around the island a bit and everybody was being rounded back up into the boat, I came back and the water was gone!

From the island's shore, we had some nice views across the lake:

There was some kind of wedding or possibly just a photo shoot going on. Nice shoes!

Arrived at our hotel around 6 pm. This is closer to downtown, and the area is much less touristy. Our bus driver recommended a restaurant. This was a good break from the tourist food, which is pretty terrible. Walked around the city a bit afterwards. Some items of note:

Fancy boats under dramatic lighting:

WTF fire hydrants (note: plural)

and people line dancing in the park:

Around 12 am, we are trying to fall asleep. Outside are the sounds of cutting metal and prolonged honking. What. We suspect it is the lamest robbery. One guy trying to cut through what must be the thickest part the fence. Getaway driver honking like "hey hurry up!".

Turns out it's a train. Don't know about the metal.