Dali

Another stop of the "greatest hits of Yunnan" is the famed city of Dali, which lies between Erhai (one of the largest freshwater lakes in China) and Cangshan.

The three pagodas form an equilateral triangle.  The larger, more geometric one dates from the 9th century.  The two "twins" are more ornate and were constructed in the 10th century.

Legend has it that the pagodas were built to scare away the dragons that inhabited the Dali area.  I think, more likely, it is some ruler/ruling group that built them to display power.

The pagodas have withstood earthquakes and manmade catastrophes for over a thousand years.

The pagodas are simply one highlight of a working and active buddhist temple.

The large worship hall....constructed in 1999.

After a night walking around the old town (not as touristy as Lijiang, which was nice) we took a boat ride on Erhai over to one of the islands in the lake.

We landed on Jinsuo island.

Jinsuo Island has a few temples which represent the religious preferences (Buddhism) of the Bai minority who inhabit the Dali area.

However, the Bai, because they are so tied to Erhai, worship a Nature god and are quite thankful for their surroundings as witnessed by the drawings of boats on their temples.

As you might have noticed so far of all these posts of the trip to Yunnan....all sunny.  Three weeks and we had perfect weather!

Hanging with colleagues and fellow chaperones.  From left, myself, Hilde B. (Director), Zhang Tong and Dong Nan (Chinese Teacher), PC (History) and Li Xuedong (Travel Coordinator).  Another Chinese teacher is not pictured.

Myself and Li Xuedong, and yes he is as hipster (a Chinese one at that) as you think he is!