Dali – City Wall Views
I’m leading the “city wall views” set with this one since I was simply delighted, throughout northern Yunnan (here, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge
and on the roads between them all) to see the occasional “spring” flowering tree, blooming its little heart out in the dead of January. Clearly down at the lower elevations it’s not too cold during the day, but the nights do get
cold…and yet the plums (or whatever these are) still start blooming, which just signals spring to me, and made my Beijing-winter heart quite happy. The city walls encircle all of the old town, and are well maintained and as yousee planted with lovely trees and flowers in many parts. Really quite lovely.
Tianlong Compound
Thanks to Griff Dye for pointing this rather hidden compound out to me. It’s hard, of course, to miss the pagoda from just about anywhere in town, but since the three pagodas I’ve already shown you quite dominate both the skyline and the guidebooks — and this one doesn’t even appear in some of the guidebooks — it’s easy to miss it. Mercifully I was tipped off to check
it out, and I saw the pagoda and can read the characters so I realized what this was. It’s technically closed for renovation (such a common story in China these days…), which gives it such a lovely empty, moderately abandoned feel. As you’ll see though, there’s some really lovely architecture here.
Dali Street Scenes
Though this is not quite the typical stunning scenic panorama shot I’ve been
showing, it gives a sense both of how touristy and how lovely old town Dali is. It’s easy to criticize Dali as highly touristed…yet, when you come to think of it, it’s often true that places are touristed because they’re very appealing. The beer sign here tells you a bit about the crowd that’s being appealed to, but at the same time isn’t the architecture lovely? And when you pair it with the backdrop scenery and all the lovely angles and views I’m showing in the next several shots, you can see how Dali’s become so popular. If you then add how dirty and dusty so very many cities in China are…and ill- maintained…you can see how for an expat living here, it’s rather nice to be in a place that demonstrates the kind of civic pride shown by the lovely architecture, clean street, flower beds and so on!
Howard, Downtown Dali
I like the light in this photo, and how well it shows the busy downtown part of Dali old town during the day. Yes, it’s very touristed — and it’s also beautiful and lively.
Peppers Drying, Dali
Seen on the sidewalk in a quiet part of town.
People of Dali
I thought I’d end the Dali set with a few shots I took of the people of Dali. When we first arrived in town, we drove past a Bai minority funeral procession, which was an interesting and unusual way to be greeted in town. This shot shows a woman cleaning one of the many canals that run through the old town. In the next shots you’ll see some vegetable vendors (note the green showing from the baskets they’re wearing on their backs), some women preparing noodles and other street food, a woman walking up the steps with a work basket on her back (you have to look hard since I never got a good closeup of one of these: they are used throughout southern China to carry everything from chickens going to market, to produce coming back from the market, to probably clothing or electronics equipment for all I know), and an older woman sitting on a stool in one of the shopping parts of town: I
loved her jacket. 🙂
(so much world, so little time....) 