Our last full day we visited a place on the west side of the lake called Santorini. It was a themed village full of hotels, restaurants, shops and cafes all in bright white buildings to resemble Santorini in Greece. There was a big traffic backup when we arrived, as there were so many tour buses our car couldn’t get around, so we hopped out and walked rather than sit in traffic. We found a cafe for a tea drink and snack to get out of the sun. It wasn’t so bad, at least the buildings were interesting and the lake views were picturesque as well.
At the higest point we found a Museum shop, which had a lot more unique and handmade pieces along with some cool art pieces. It also was opposite these tan hills, and a big western sign, so we figured they did something western there, but we didn’t confirm.
Jesse found a t-shirt and we bought a little blue elephant to attach to our backpack, as we saw so many Chinese people with little stuffed animals attached to their backpacks, we didn’t want to be left out. We named him DeShaun, as the Chinese word for elephant is Da xiang, and we thought that was close enough.
They had some cool peacock art that I would’ve bought if we could carry it, but alas, I could not.
After we left Santorini we stopped by a big park that went along Erhai Lake, it was very chill, with few people and we walked for a while, stopping for a coffee too; unfortunately, I left my glasses at a bench we sat at, and didn’t realize until way later, and when we returned to check they were gone. I am glad I brought an extra pair (actually two, because it isn’t the first time, or second, or third, that I’ve left my glasses on a park bench – I did it in Prague and Boston, and thankfully they were still there those times). Later, we went to a mall to eat dinner, and ate at a Vietnamese Restaurant, where they served us a feast that we used our hands to eat (with gloves, of course), and Jessica took a picture with the hostess, who was so helpful and a bit smitten with Jessica.
We walked a bit after dinner, enjoying the night lights of the city.
The Dali vibe was just right for us. We were able to really enjoy our time, as there were a few must dos (the Ancient Town and Three Pagodas) and a lot of outdoor things. Many people rent electric bikes to get around, but it was a bit too busy for us to try that here. We took Didis around like we did in all the other cities; but I know we watched a youtube video of a place in Dali where one could rent bikes and it was peaceful and there were no motorbikes or cars, but we hadn’t found it…yet.
Our train didn’t leave until late in the afternoon, so we messaged Liya, our tour guide and new friend from our Cangshan hiking day, to see if she wanted to hang out before we left. She suggested a movie, and then a pizza place that was far away, then a picnic, but we just wanted to do a little park walking; she had just the place, and it wasn’t too far; the Erhai Ecological Corridor. While i doesn’t sound interesting, it was perfect. In fact, it was the place I had been looking for since we first arrived. It was as peaceful as I had hoped, and we talked and walked and sat on benches and we peppered Liya with questions about China; we hadn’t gotten to speak with many fluent English speakers, and we had built up a trove of questions.
We had such a nice time and the two pictures above are the only I took during our few hours in the park. I have to remember to not always take the phone out and enjoy the moments as well. Liya asked a lady to take our picture, and we did a mini-photoshoot of our own.
We left Liya and headed off to the train, ready for our next adventure in China! This is the last post of the places we visited, and I know I promised in the last Shanghai post I would do a review of China post, so that is up next, stay tuned!
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