Dali, Yunnan – Images by Jamie McDonald

There are always the tourists who insist that they’re travellers because they go harder, go further, and poo-poo anyone who has a day off the trails. Then there will be the armchair-traveller who cannot fathom not checking out sites or new food stalls etc on a day because each hour away is precious.

I’m letting both down today. Into my third week away and I awoke to a pretty drizzly dark old morning in Dali, Yunnan, so the decision to walk to our favourite cafe (GoGo on People’s Steet, Dali) and do some blogging, emailing, and picture editing whilst watching the Dylan film, I’m Not There was pretty easy.

After my last update when the blue sky and sun had started to peek through I threw my computer in my bag and grabbed a camera out and explored the town. To glance around the corner and see the imposing 4000 metre peaks of the  Cang Shen which had remained hidden amongst cloud and rain just up the road was a great buzz.

Dali like so many small towns across Asia has a great sense of community that is exposed for we foreigners to see in the evenings. Families go for walks, kids play in the street, teenagers sit on street corners chatting to friends and neighbours. The lounge room that we have surrounded by walls and blinds in the West is contrasted with the Chinese lounge which more often than not doubles as a shop front and consists of a simple table, great food and a TV sitting on the fridge and is exposed to the street.

A discovery of a great little dumplings shop that suited both herbivore and omnivore on the Eastern end of Remnin Lu (People’s Street) was the lunchtime destination and after a steamer each we were stuffed full of goodness for 4 Yuan (AUD 72c.) With our stomach’s content we continued east on foot for a couple of hours, just walking through rice paddies that were dotted with crops of coriander and corn and making the locals chuckle with our Ni Hao (Hello.)

After an hour or two we found ourselves in the next village of which I don’t know the name, but the number of four legged friends at least doubled that of their masters. Having successfully stayed strong in my rejection of rabies vaccination in the face of two normally persuasive doctors at the Travel Bug before departing I gave every canine a very wide berth.

Like the day train to Sapa from Hanoi, it’s experiences away from the crowds that stick out as highlights, and like getting a ticket for the train, going for a walk without a destination in mind takes no effort at all. Smiles and giggles from children as they practice their hello’s and how are you makes the trek worth it and reminds you of why you make the effort to travel overseas in the first place.

A culinary journey it may be, but when dumplings are as good as they are and the price is right it seemed fit to stop to share a couple of steamers and a cold Dali beer. Price of beer 5 Yuan, shared dumplings 2 Yuan each, the shop owner getting on his bike to fetch our beer from the nearby fridge; priceless.

A disappointment last night was the skewers of meat, veg and fish that are in every shopfront on the Eastern end of Foreigner’s Street. Looking so delicious on the counter, once they were charcoal grilled I found I was left with little more than the chilli and soy that was basted on everything, and with a mouthful of bones for every square mm of fish it was just too much effort for too little flavour or sustenance. The bill of 16 Yuan in the face of 2 Yuan BaBa and 4 Yuan Dumplings meant the skewers get a cross on the scorecard.

The end of the film is approaching and the stomach is growling so I’ll sign off now, have something to eat, perhaps with their Strong Iced Coffee which is the best I’ve had outside Vietnam, and edit some photos.

Cheers

Jamie