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. 🙂
Jinghong, Xishuangbanna
Just after Howard and Gene arrived, we spent several days in far southern
Yunnan, in an area called Xishuangbanna. The capital of the region is a medium-sized town called Jinghong, on the banks of the Mekong River (known in China as the Lancang) — maybe 50km downstream, it crosses the frontier to run about another 75km or so as the border between Laos and Burma, before dropping into northern Thailand and then heading further east to form the border between Laos and Thailand. I say all that by way of giving you a sense of where we were geographically.
Among other things, this region is known as the home of the Dai ethnic
minority, which is linguistically and culturally related to the inhabitants
of Thailand. This means some wonderful food that’s quite close to Thai food in its feel and flavors, as well as temples and other architecture that seem culturally closer to Thailand than what one thinks of as China. It was a
relaxing and enjoyable way to start our one week tour of Yunnan.
(so much world, so little time....) 