We caught a bus from Kunming and made our way to Dali. Bear in mind, that you need to have your identification with you when you purchase your tickets. Oh, and if you don’t speak Mandarin, please make sure you get someone to write down in Chinese, your desired end point, else you’re screwed. Of course, if you’ve got your guidebook with you, it should help even if it doesn’t have Chinese characters, it should at least have a map.

Dali, I have to say is quite a touristy spot, but quite lovely. We started doing this thing where we would guess which of our close-friends “can or cannot do” each place we visit.

We explored Dali on foot and on bicycles. I have to say, bicycles are perhaps the best way to explore anywhere. It’s easy to stop at the side of the road(s), you get breeze in your face and hair, fresh or stale, plus you get to work out and hopefully get a decent tan. We saw so much on just that one day cycling around the area, we saw a traditional wedding taking place, we saw old farmers attending to their paddy fields, but most of all, we saw dogs! So many of them, big and small, short coat, long coat. They were all so well-behaved!

I guess personally, I was surprised to see so many dogs because my impression was that all Chinese eat dogs. Wrong, Carol. Wrong. Yes, how ignorant I was.

In the evening, we would take a stroll along the main street, looking at funny shops, restaurants, other quirky looking hostels etc. We decided to try out their “steamboat”, as we saw that it was the popular choice and most people were going at it and even lining up. So, we decided to join in to have a seat out on the streets. Now, ordering the food was a bit of a challenge, and it was definitely one of the many to come. Sure, I could speak enough to get around and save my life (for sure), but reading it? Boy!! In the end, I went into the restaurant and started pointing at things, at the same time asking what they were. Long story short, food finally and we were excited!!

The minute the soup got inside of our hungry mouths, we made a pretend “Mmmm…so delicious” face at each other. This like many of the previous “firsts” reminded us how little we knew about our motherland.

Part 3 : Tatras

September, 2013.

hard on the outside... (Part 4)