This past long weekend, I was lucky enough to spend a couple days in Dali, a small(er than Kunming) ancient city that used to be its own kingdom. Dali is about a 6-7 hour drive from Kunming and is famous for its beautiful scenery, old town, and the Bai ethnic minority. Though it threatened to rain at times, for the most part, the weather worked out in our favor — meaning lots of outdoor activities!
We arrived in Dali on Thursday evening, and spent a few hours exploring Dali’s old town.
On Friday morning, a group of American students and some of our Chinese roommates biked 35 km around Erhai, the big lake next to Dali.
It was a beautiful bike ride, and we passed through many rice fields and small villages. Late September is harvest season, so the fields were bustling with activity. We ended up in the town of Xizhou just in time for lunch.
On Friday afternoon, the program’s assistant director, a couple friends, and I decided to go swimming in Erhai lake. We took a boat out to the middle of the lake and jumped in. Swimming in the lake is not common (no one else was swimming and our boat driver didn’t seem particularly keen on the idea of letting us jump off the boat), especially with the questionable water quality and the fact that it was a cloudy late September afternoon, but we definitely enjoyed ourselves!
On Saturday morning, a group of us hiked Cangshan mountain.
On Saturday afternoon, we headed back to Kunming. Overall a lovely weekend and definitely a breath of fresh air! It was so nice to spend time outside — something I’m not getting enough of in Kunming, especially with impending midterms.