Chinese New Year in Dali

The overnight sleeper train from Kunming was fairly uneventful. I was quite excited as it was my first overnight train ride. Getting the train tickets itself was quite a chore, with our very limited amount of Mandarin Chinese. After a lot of pointing to the guidebook and gesturing, we did manage to get our tickets. The few hours spent in Kunming had already made us realise how difficult it was going to be. Our attempt at ordering dinner was quite lame. Also involving pointing and gesturing to pictures. We left one supposedly famous restaurant because its ordering system (you had to purchase a ticket at a window) proved too challenging.
I slept well enough on the train, albeit to the very loud snores of a man sleeping in the bunk underneath Monica. He really sounded like he was choking on his own tongue!
We arrived at 8am in Dali's new town, Xiaguan, feeling quite disoriented and sleepy.
Another short bus ride later took us into the Old Town where our hostel is. The Old Town is very neat, with "tourist" written all over it. The architecture is a reconstruction of the Tang Dynasty buildings. There's even a street called "Foreigner Street" if that gives you any indication! The shops are all filled with souvenirs and other nick nacks. Many bars and restaurants line the cobblestone streets. We have already tried the local dumplings and rice pancake. Lots of chilli spices are used.
The Jade Emu Guesthouse is huge and has a great common area, complete with a bar and pool table. There was a free hotpot dinner for the guests on Chinese New Year Eve. Followed by more drinking and firecrackers, of course!!
Yesterday, Mon and I headed to Shaping to see the Monday market. It was smaller being the first day of the New Year. Not much else other than produce being sold. We did chance upon a little concert though. A large circle had formed in a square off the main road. Groups of women performed in turn in their traditional costumes. Even children danced for the audience. And then sometime into the event, a bus decided to roll into the square and literally squeezed itself through! The crowd didn't mind at all.


Today, we tried to catch a ferry across Erhau Lake, a massive lake just outside of Dali Old Town. But we were very disappointed at the high asking price of almost AU$40. Oh well...just have to wait until we get to Lijiang tomorrow for more sightseeing.
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Hong Kong: hazy, crazy and tasty!

Amidst the haze rises numerous skyscrapers, that reach out to the sky like long fingers. Hong Kong is a shopping haven for its locals and tourists alike. I for one was just happy to watch the frenzy.
So far, Monica and I have seen much of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon (where we are staying, the most densely populated part), and also the outlying islands called Lama and Lantau Island.









Lama Island was a quaint and laid-back fishing village. Here I saw houses built on stilts along the water's edge. Lantau Island featured the Big Buddha sitting atop Ngong Ping plateau. Quite magnificent in its immenseness. There were many markets in Kowloon where we stayed - a Ladies' Market (selling clothes, bags and accessories), Temple Market (selling clothes, bags and more accessories), Goldfish market and a flower market. The flower market was amazing and had so many beautiful, very large bouquets of gladiolus, chrysanthemums and various other species.

We have also been tasting the various food that Hong Kong has to offer, from dim sum to fish ball noodles to bubble tea. We still think that Melbourne's dim sum is the best.
See more photos here.