After rejoicing to the Lord after I got my camera back this morning at 10am, we rushed Amazing Race style again to catch the 10:30am bus to Dali. Unfortunately, Phil Keoghan would have ended our race today because by the time we arrived, we missed the bus and caught the 1pm to delightful Dali. Here is a rarity I found at the bus station in Kunming...
The ride to Dali through the Yunnan province was spectacular! The rolling hills and mountains stretched far into the distance and looked as if they were all covered by a layer of moss - gleaming bright green, alive with foliage. The 5 hour drive was quintessentially what you think China would be. Seriously. People were busy wading in the rice fields, tilling the soil and pulling plants while others were tending cattle and goats - all in their wide-brimmed straw hats. It was a great glimpse into rural Chinese life.
The best part is that I am already being treated like a queen by the locals here. On the way to find our guesthouse, I was offered weed by a 60-ish local Naxi (hill tribe) woman. How sweet! Then at dinner, another Naxi elder woman showed me a hideous silver hair ornament (which I would clearly never wear!) to buy, and when I refused, hushed under her breath asked, "Smoke? You want smoke?" So, in the first 30 minutes in Dali, I was offered marijuana twice by two old Chinese women. If that's not an arms wide open, warm welcome to a new town, I don't know what is.
Ahhhh...now I can rest easy tonight knowing pictures are once again! Tomorrow I will snap lots of shots of Dali (it's absolutely adorable!) and make another post before we head off to Lijiang - a World Heritage sight - tomorrow evening! Here's a shout-out to China for making all of the world's goods and in turn, knowing how to fix them! Shout out!
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