Live Your Best Lives
The 2023 Spring Festival is actually a meaningful memory. It is the first time I took my parents on a real trip. Unfortunately, there were too many people during the first holiday after the epidemic was lifted, so we gave up our original plan to go to Xishuangbanna and chose the destination "Dali" two days before the holiday.
In fact, I am not particularly interested in traveling in the ancient city. The same old renovated buildings, the eternal Yiwu small commodity market decorations, the bars that don't see any novelty, and the snacks that can be eaten everywhere. Unless I have the name of this ancient city in my head, I can't tell where I am after getting up.
This year's Spring Festival was particularly full of things, just as frustrating as missing my flight. It just happened that both of these things happened. The airport was delayed and I waited for more than three hours. After getting on and off the plane, the flight was unfortunately cancelled. The rest of my itinerary could not be adjusted, so I went through the same process again, scrambling for plane and train tickets, getting my luggage off the plane and going through security again like a battle, and then rushing from the airport to the railway station. I was supposed to be strolling around the ancient city at 2 pm, but I didn't get to the hotel until after midnight.
That night, the ancient city of Dali gave us a "Xia Ma wind"; I always thought that "the wind of Xiaguan, the flowers of Shangguan, the snow of Canghai and the moon of Erhai" were the romance of "wind, flowers, snow and moon", but I didn't expect that the level 9 gale that night really shocked my soul. The locals said that this was the "Windy City". Our afternoon flight was cancelled for the same reason, and some flights from Chengdu were unable to land and return.
I really didn't sleep well that night. Firstly, I was worried that the roof would be blown off, and secondly, I was worried that the trip would be scrapped. At around 6 o'clock in the morning, the wind stopped on time...
The morning at the B&B was sunny and windy, as if nothing had happened the previous night. The details of the two different scenes during the day and night in fantasy novels are truly based on real life, and the ever-changing climate in the world of "The Three-Body Problem" also exists in nature. The B&B owner is a typical Henan native, and the big bowl of spicy soup and pepper fried egg in the morning wakes up the stomach, which is very special.
Although it is the Spring Festival, the snow on Cangshan Mountain is almost invisible. We still take the cable car to Cangshan Mountain. The staff kept urging us to hurry up, fearing that if we were late and the wind picked up, the cable car would stop. The cable car swayed all the way to the top of the mountain. The scenery beside Erhai Lake was really beautiful from the angle along the way. I don’t know if it was because of altitude sickness or the shaking, but grandma’s blood oxygen concentration was low after reaching the top of the mountain. The cable car reached an altitude of only 2,000 meters, so we arranged for her to rest nearby. I took grandpa and Manman up a few steps.
I was worried about my grandma, so I went back home and lowered the altitude after a few steps.
Grandma still didn't look well all the way down, so I gave up the morning itinerary and took my grandparents back to the B&B to rest, hoping to relieve the fatigue from last night's journey and the insomnia caused by the hurricane; Manman and mother stayed on the mountain. The scenery of Jizhao Temple is really a stunning corner of Cangshan Mountain, and there is also Dali's most famous internet-famous food "Vegetarian Rice". The two people who came back said that it was really delicious. It's a pity that they didn't get to enjoy it.
After the rest, it was obvious that the old man was in much better condition. In the afternoon, he hailed a local covered motorcycle and rushed to Chongsheng Temple. Dali's landmark buildings showed the beauty of thousands of years ago. The architectural style of Dali Kingdom in Song Dynasty is admirable.
Under the influence of the Buddhist culture in the temple, Manman and her mother have been calculating the zodiac sign "Tai Sui" for their birth year; but their expectations for the "Bell Tower" and "Drum Tower" faded with their closure.
On the night of New Year's Eve, there were too many people in the ancient city; we queued up to find a small Bai ethnic minority restaurant and ordered some local specialties, which felt a bit like the Nine Big Bowls. Now thinking back, I think I chose a good place, as I saw many program crews coming here for interviews on the wall, and the scaleless steamed bowfish from Erhai Lake was a must-try.
Amid the hustle and bustle of diners and the fireworks all over the city, Happy New Year...
The mornings of travel are destined to be not too lazy. On the morning of the first day of the new year, we drove all the way north.
Dali is, after all, a long-established tourist destination in China, and many guides can be found. However, generation after generation of travelers continue to explore, discover, integrate, and make noise, and eventually return to disorder and obsolescence.
A fellow villager we met on the first day told us about his experience around the lake. We didn't choose Butterfly Spring or Xizhou Island as part of our itinerary for today. My grandfather still remembers Butterfly Spring, but others told us it was nothing but a pool of stagnant water. I really enjoyed the tie-dyeing in Xizhou, but it would take a whole day, which made our itinerary too tight.
Sometimes, "gains and losses" are the true meaning of travel!
The new internet celebrity check-in spot "S Bay" is quite good. If you drive, you should drive as far in as possible. There are narrow passages inside. The more confident you are in your driving skills, the shorter the distance you will have to walk. Don't pay too much attention to the villagers soliciting customers around. They all want to make money. If you encounter a road blockage, just tell them that you don't want to play anymore. If it's too crowded and you need to find a way out, they can make way. Of course, you need to be bold to do this. You may really go the wrong way.
The sea view is all around Erhai Lake. Rent a bicycle at the S bend and ride along the road. The mountain view of this place is really unique, but many people don't come here. They only know to find a small and bourgeois cafe nearby to drink Yunnan coffee.
After lunch, we continued north, driving on the highway all the way.
I have to say that Yunnan's restaurants are really conscientious. All dishes are served in large portions. Families in the south with average appetites should pay attention to the number of dishes they order.
The next stop is Shaxi Ancient Town, a place that my friends highly recommend and Manman’s mother particularly likes. I didn’t know much about “Where the Wind Is” before coming here, but after coming here, the crowds told me that this place is indeed popular.
Shaxi has been developed for a long time, but it's still not completely commercialized. Find a normal season and spend a few days there, taking your time, it's really pleasant. However, the problem with its popularity is that commercial facilities can't keep up with the flow of people, making homestays and dining a problem here.
Many people come here specifically from Dali. Because of the limited reception capacity, they can only take a short "one-day tour", so the ancient town has restored its former scene in the morning and evening; if you drive by yourself, you must contact the hotel parking lot in advance, as some scattered parking lots are only available to residents; otherwise, you can only occupy half of the narrow road and park on the roadside.
Shaxi can see the past Dali, and Dali can see the future Shaxi; shuttling between the two, my mother enjoys the clear, cool stream water here; while the clever Manman indulges himself in making the local "Jia Ma".
Shaxi at night is like a graceful fairyland. The uneven stone road along the river is lit with night lights like the starry sky, which shines in harmony with the stars in the sky. I happened to run into a beautiful lady writing in the ancient town this afternoon. She was wearing a white Hanfu with a cape and carrying a few handwritten lanterns, looking like a fairy from Qiong Yao's novel.
The ancient town was no longer noisy in the morning. Most young people were asleep in their dreams. The aunties next door were chatting almost early in the morning. After waking up, they went to different alleys to take pictures alone.
The sky was a little red by the mountain, and the light slowly spread out; in the blink of an eye, a picture that surprised my soul appeared.
A eagle with spread wings slowly flew into the sky from behind the mountain, carrying colorful auspicious clouds!
I thought colorful auspicious clouds only existed in the love between Zhizunbao and Zixia Fairy, but for the first time I saw it flying towards me and dispersing into the deeper sky, as if everything in the world was stained with a layer of fairy air; just this moment of beauty made me feel that the trip was worthwhile!
I found the only noodle shop open on the second day of the Lunar New Year. The fat boss shouted at the diners in a domineering manner, resolutely refusing to raise the price, asking customers to make their own seasonings and not seeing that I was too busy. However, a big bowl of matsutake noodles for ten yuan continued to bring a good mood. I packed up and continued to set off...
The first photo on the return trip was Shuanglang, but for some unknown reason, the highway exit was closed. It was probably because the reception capacity was not met, so human intervention was carried out to divert the passengers.
We got off the highway at the next stop, Wase Town, and had a beef meal on the roadside; the boss said that it was okay at noon, but last night there were still people queuing when the restaurant closed.
The first stop on the return journey was Luwo Mountain.
Going down a road that isn't really a road, we found a settlement said to date from the Neolithic Age to the Song Dynasty. We saw traces of smoke in several of the caves. The kids loved it here, taking photos, looking for shells, playing with water plants, and watching red-billed gulls. Manman found a piece of broken pottery among the rocks, with a few faint patterns on it. As historians, we explained it was ancient pottery, and the child happily packed it away. The weather was too hot, and I was worried that the children and the elderly would not be able to bear it. I continued to move forward. The navigation showed that the road ahead was extremely congested, and it had not changed since this morning. In order to visit the Shuanglang Sun Palace mentioned in the guide, I still planned to go and see it, so I made the most depressing choice of this trip.
It took nearly two or three hours to drive a few kilometers. Vehicles that did not obey traffic regulations blocked the two lanes into three lanes. In addition, the parking lots next to them occupied another lane. The vehicles had no choice but to drive here, and everyone in the car was uneasy. Finally, with less than a kilometer to go, we decisively gave up the car and parked it in a mud parking lot. We took a covered motorcycle at the door to get in, and finally solved the problem. Otherwise, we would have been stuck in traffic for another hour.
I really didn't have a very good impression of Shuanglang. The narrow streets were only wide enough for motorcycles, and every time we passed another car, we had to go back and forth a long way. The driver didn't shy away from tourists and almost hit a child in order to get around a turn first. A layer of green algae floated on the surface of the water by Erhai Lake, which always gave it a strange smell. The numerous businesses occupied more of the town's public areas.
I didn't go to the Sun Palace. It didn't have the atmosphere of a hipster cafe, and I didn't want to go any deeper. As for Nanzhao Fengqing Island, as soon as I saw the half-hidden dragon on the roof of the museum and the "guesthouses" and "conference rooms" on both sides of the square, I realized that it was just a remodeled high-end reception venue, and the key point was that the renovation was very unsuccessful.
I took two photos casually, found a stone pot barbecue restaurant on the roadside to fill my stomach, and couldn't wait to leave.
If I were asked to choose again, I would not go to Shuanglang. The red-billed gulls at Wase Wharf are the most numerous around Erhai Lake. The sound of firecrackers around them scared them away, and they flew back again and again; a group of children were laughing and playing on the pile of rocks nearby, and a few old ladies kept imitating the sounds in the hope of attracting the birds.
Continue south to Xiao Putuo Island, where they took a quick walk. Manman's mother finally found the roasted milk fan again with her, and they ate it with great satisfaction.
The blue sky, Erhai Lake and blue and white buildings of Ideal Country really look like "Santorini".
Every frame is a beautiful shooting spot, but there are too many tourists checking in during the day, and the lobby on the first floor of the hotel is a coffee shop open to the public, crowded with tourists who come to check in and take travel photos. Only when everything is quiet in the morning and evening, can we slowly go out for a walk and enjoy this beautiful time. However, the Xiaguan wind blows again in the evening, and I am very worried whether tomorrow's flight can take off normally.
I hope to stay here for two days. Life in Dali and Erhai Lake is all about relaxation.
The wind seems to be taking care of us; when the day breaks, everything is fine, and the breeze is blowing on my face.
Because I really have a lot of work to deal with during this holiday, I can only end the holiday early and go home.
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