Yunnan Part II: Dali

I'm sorry for the late arrival of part II. Dali and Lijiang were both smaller, unique cities in Yunnan. Dali is famous for the Bai nationality whereas Lijiang was famous for the Naxi nationality. Both had their own language, customs and different style of dress. In Dali we got off of the bus and jumped in a taxi that told us we shouldn't go to that hostel, but another one instead for various reasons. We took his recommendation and ended up at his buddy's guesthouse that turned out to be our favorite place in the whole trip. We checked in and explored what they called the "Ancient City" which was a walled-off section in the center. This is the three of us in front of the gate:

And the city after the sun went down:

Dali is famous for the three pagodas, the Bai people, a beautiful lake, the old city, and some other things. I particularly enjoyed the day we rode around a lake, visited a cave and the Bai village. All along the way there were people in every nook and cranny of the rice fields working with the pointy hats and an ox nearby. It really reminded me that a larger percentage of the Chinese are not in a big city like we were, and how different their lifestyle is from what we consider our normal Chinese life.

This woman ran to sell us fruit when we stopped to take a picture:

And this is me with three Bai women:

Finally, the South is more mountainous than Beijing. Bicycle entrepreneurship takes a little more effort sometimes...