In the south of colorful clouds, I have been looking forward to the long-awaited encounter in Erhai Lake
This is my first time in Dali.
Erhai Lake, Cangshan Mountain. I have heard of this place countless times, and this scene has appeared in my mind countless times.
Just as I imagined, the Erhai Lake in the evening is so peaceful, there is no hustle and bustle, no tourists and traffic. I can sit on the reef by the sea and enjoy the evening breeze, or I can drive on the hazy seaside road at night, watching the beautiful scenery pass through the car window.
Perhaps after late autumn, the temperature in Dali is a bit low.
Thick clouds were blown by the wind, I stopped the car by the side of the road, quietly looking at the sky at half past six.
I don't know if other people have the habit of being in a daze, looking at the scenery and thinking about many stories. Thinking back on the many places I've been this year, I never stop. I have been to many places, and every time I embark on a journey with surprises, Dali is the same. I have imagined the picture of the sea breeze blowing and the clouds floating countless times. When I drive the Jetta VS5 and look at the blue Erhai Lake, I still feel a little excited inside.
I was deeply impressed by Dali. When tourism was not so common more than 10 years ago, Dali was the first choice for domestic travel. After many years, it still retains the atmosphere of literature and art. The people of Dali live around the Erhai Lake. Around the entire Erhai Lake, there are many ancient towns with intact buildings, which are all good places to visit. The strong specialties of Dali Ancient City, the Bai style architecture of Xizhou Ancient Town, and Shuanglang Ancient Town The tranquil sea view is perfect for a self-driving trip.
During my trip to Dali, I drove the Jetta VS5 owned by FAW-Volkswagen. The Jetta VS5 has a lot of space and is very comfortable to sit in. Whether you are a slender or a big person, there is room for your legs and feet to move. I put it in my bag When all the things in the car are scattered on the rear seats, 2 people are carried on the road, and 5 people in the car will not feel very crowded. The trunk space is also large, and it is not a problem to put suitcases for four or five people. It is quite suitable for families or friends to travel. I don't like places with a lot of people, and naturally I don't like too small a space. Who is uncomfortable in a car with a large space? Of course, I still like the trip of two people, without too many opinions and differences, chatting on the road, and finding a cafe to drink when I am tired, this is my favorite trip.
The reason why I chose the Jetta VS5 is also the low fuel consumption. The fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is only 6.3L. I added half a tank of fuel from downtown Dali and went around the Erhai Lake. There is still a lot of fuel left in the fuel tank. It is comfortable, economical and practical. good. So, starting from the urban area of Dali, we went to the first destination: Dali Ancient City.
The ancient city of Dali, the noisy southwest
It takes about ten minutes to drive from downtown Dali to the ancient city of Dali. There are many scenic spots nearby, such as Tianlong Babu Film and Television City, the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple and many other landscapes.
The ancient city of Dali was built in the Ming Dynasty. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it has always been the political, economic and cultural center of Yunnan. It is also one of the first 24 historical and cultural cities in China. Speaking of the ancient city of Dali, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Duan Dynasty in Dali. Whether it is Duan Yu in Tianlong Babu or Master Yideng in Legend of the Condor Heroes, they are all figures in Dali. Duan Yu in the novel has a historical prototype. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Dali Kingdom was a subsidiary state of the Central Plains. It has a long cultural and historical heritage and unique national characteristics.
The ancient city of Dali covers an area of three square kilometers. Enter from the entrance of the ancient city and walk in the ancient city. It is not as beautiful as expected, just like the place where some residents live, there are many modern slogans on the walls on both sides, many electric cars and bicycles are parked on the side of the road, and some local specialties and ethnic specialties are sold at the door of every household.
There are not so many tourists in the ancient city, but it seems very quiet and comfortable. The house is a modern residential building remodeled from the original building. Some trees and flowers are planted in the courtyard of the residents, and there is a faint fragrance in the air.
The area of Dali Ancient City is very small, and you can finish it after just a few steps. It is 1500 meters from the north gate to the south gate, and then there are many branch roads on the left and right sides. The branch roads may be cleaner and more like an ancient city. There are some homestays and cafes in the alley. I don’t like coffee that much, but I like to sit in the cafe and look out the window.
Walking and walking, I went back to the South Gate, where my car was parked. The South Gate is the first of the four gates in the ancient city. It was built in the 15th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. It is the oldest and majestic building in the ancient city, and it is the symbol and symbol of the ancient city of Dali. The word "Dali" on the city gate was mentioned by Guo Moruo when he visited Dali in 1961. Dali means "Great rule of Dali, prosperity of the country".
Xizhou ancient town, golden rice fields
From the ancient city of Dali to the north along the Erhai Lake, you can reach the ancient town of Xizhou about 18 kilometers away. After driving for a while, I found that the Jetta VS5 is also very comfortable to control. It is equipped with the same EA211 1.4T high-power engine of Volkswagen and imported Aisin six-speed automatic manual gearbox. The driver must like this feeling very much. The comfort of the car makes the journey more comfortable.
Others say that Xizhou Ancient Town is the essence of Dali. It is adjacent to Erhai Lake in the east and Cangshan Mountain in the west. Xizhou Ancient Town is also a town inhabited by Bai people. It has the most preserved and best residential complexes of Bai people.
The season when I came was late autumn, and the temperature was just right. The ancient town was surrounded by rice fields, overlooking the whole town, and not far away was the vast Erhai Lake. The villages and towns were rectangular, and the roads and alleys were neatly planned. The high and low buildings, the orange-yellow Bai nationality wall, are very suitable for shooting portraits and scenery. It just so happens that the Jetta VS5 I drove is also lemon gold, which blends with the scenery and is also very beautiful.
I have seen many ancient buildings, whether it is the white walls and blue tiles in Huizhou, or the small tiles and broken bricks in southern Zhejiang, the buildings of the Bai nationality in Dali also have their unique appearance, small windows, yellow walls, and small pieces of tiles The piled roofs are all very ethnic.
I went from the ancient city of Dali to the ancient town of Xizhou, it was already 4:30 in the evening, the sun was not so glaring, and the picture was so soft.
In the cloudy season, the golden rice fields are surrounded by white buildings. Passing tourists are eager to take pictures here. I also took some landscapes and portraits at random. No matter how I take them, they are so beautiful. Over the years, I have been traveling in European and American style cities, or looking at the island scene, and the rice field atmosphere that I haven’t seen for a long time, and I suddenly feel that everything here is so beautiful.
There is neither the prosperity of the city nor the vastness of the island. Some are the exquisiteness of Xiaojiabiyu, and some are the intoxicating sweetness of Daoxiang. I was born in the south of the Yangtze River, and the place where I live is full of rice fields, so I remembered how I was when I was a child, shuttling through the rice fields with my friends, chasing and playing along the stream with bare feet. When I was young, I didn't think the environment I lived in was so beautiful. Only when I grew up did I realize how charming the natural scenery is.
Back to the town from the rice field, I heard from the local people that this Dong’anmen is the oldest preserved building in Xizhou Ancient Town. Many wedding photographers shoot here. Because I’m new here, I follow the wedding photographers to shoot, give me Saved a lot of time. They all know the best places to take pictures here.
The alley is a little deserted, I don't know if it's because of the evening or the off-season. There are not many tourists in Xizhou Ancient Town today, but I like it. Some residents can rent ethnic costumes for tourists to take pictures, but in recent years, it seems that more and more tourists don’t like to rent local items, and they come here to take pictures in their own beautiful clothes.
I walked into the depths of the town, where there should not be many tourists coming in. I wandered here and occasionally met a few local residents. I admired the buildings of the Bai people, the dilapidated walls, and the falling pink bricks. They all told you that there is a long history and many unknown stories here. .
The sky in Dali is blue and the architecture is beautiful. Both the wooden windows and the eaves are decorated with patterns, which is a characteristic of the Bai people in Yunnan. According to legend, during the Nanzhao Kingdom, a royal palace was built here. The layout of the city can be traced from the current place names. There are village names such as the north of the city, the east of the city, and the south of the city. In the past, archaeologists still unearthed Nanzhao tiles, thick tiles with cloth patterns and lotus patterns in the town. Watan et al.
There are some stores on both sides of the main road in Xizhou Ancient Town, where there are some teahouses, homestays, coffee shops, and handicraft workshops. The decoration style is ethnic style. This ceramic shop is a little dark. I am not interested in their ceramics, but in these wooden items. You can see the sense of age on the wood, small and exquisite, very interesting.
There is a teahouse here, very quiet. There is a blackboard hanging at the door, with some literary sentences written on it with colored chalk. Presumably the boss is also a literary person. I like this entrance, simple but so monotonous, I kept walking around the entrance to take pictures, walking in and out from time to time, the boss looked at me and didn't speak.
The word "tea" is written on a wooden stake at the door, and two door gods are pasted on the door, and many oil-paper umbrellas are hung inside. Walking in from here is where the teahouse is located, but I prefer this aisle.
In the ancient town, you can see natural scenery, ancient buildings, and many traces of modern times. I like the wall with "Postal Savings" written on the desktop. I haven't seen wall advertisements for a long time. I think this is a kind of retro art. There are also words such as "public telephone" written on the walls of many buildings, which seem to be as unique as the 1990s.
I don’t know the historical origin of this building on the main road. This building is a must-see for tourists. Many tourists who come and go take photos with it. Local wedding photography is also taken here. So, I also took a few photos of tourists here. Looking in through the crack of the door, no one lives here, and it seems to have been deserted for a long time.
There is a coffee shop next to this building, which is colorful and artistic. I squatted at the door and quietly took a few photos. The blackboard at the door seems to say that taking photos is prohibited, so I didn't go in and take a look. I just saw the owner of the cafe sitting at the counter and playing with his mobile phone. Such a slow life is quite good.
Shuanglang Ancient Town, the cultural customs of Erhai Lake
The next morning, I came to Shuanglang Ancient Town early. Shuanglang Ancient Town is about 30 kilometers away from Xizhou Ancient Town. Different from the style of Xizhou Ancient Town, Shuanglang Ancient Town is a bit busier and more commercial. Many of the beautiful scenery photos that can be seen on the Internet are taken here. The fee is about 20-50 yuan, which are set by the coastal residents themselves.
Shuanglang Ancient Town has a magnificent facade, and the door says Cang'er Scenery No. 1 Town, which shows that Shuanglang Ancient Town actually represents the scenery of Dali. Shuanglang Town covers an area of 218 square kilometers, ranking second in Dali City, with a permanent population of nearly 20,000. It is located in the northeast of Erhai Lake, just across the sea from Xizhou Ancient Town in the northwest. Xizhou Ancient Town is not near the sea, so more people who like to shoot in Erhai Lake will be in Shuanglang.
The Shuanglang Ancient Town in the morning has not yet opened, I came too early. It's very clean here. I don't know if it will be particularly lively in the afternoon, but it looks like it should be. There are so many facades here.
The architectural style of Shuanglang Ancient Town is quite beautiful. The town is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea on one side. Jumping to the nineteen peaks of Cangshan Mountain in the west, the gate is facing the blue waves of the Erhai Lake, the "Buddhist Resort" Jizu Mountain in the east, and the "Penglai Immortal Island" Little Putuo in the south. The traffic flow here is the most among several villages and towns on the Erhai Lake, and it is also the most prosperous and lively.
Entering from the entrance, I saw the local aunts preparing breakfast. In the morning, some tourists dragged their suitcases and left. Some literary words were hung on the signboard of the store, so that tourists who like literature and art can find resonance. There are many clothes rentals inside. The clothes here are more beautiful than those in Xizhou Ancient Town, and they are more modern. You can wear them to take pictures by the sea.
There are many ancient buildings on the main road of this street, and some of them were imitated later. But it can be seen that some buildings have a long history. There are many homestays inside. The homestays here are slightly larger than those in other places. The homestays here should be group-style, with many rooms and better service. Living here is convenient for shopping at night and feeling the night atmosphere of Shuanglang.
There are a few tourists on the street slowly. The day I went was cloudy and the sun came out occasionally. I like to walk on the tree-lined avenues like this, it is cool and comfortable, I like ethnic costumes, I just look at them but not buy them. Looking at the patterns on ethnic ornaments, there are a lot of indigo dyeing in Yunnan. The white cloth is dyed blue, and the pattern presented has layers of white and light blue. I have also learned dyeing cloth before, which is a very meaningful thing. .
Maybe it’s living in the Erhai Lake, where many people have boats, and some restaurants use small boats as decorations, fill them with water, plant some flowers in the water, or put some fish in them, which is quite artistic.
The window sills of the house are covered with plants. Opening the windows in the morning brings fresh air. I like these details, which will enrich the street a lot.
Some murals and sculptures can be seen everywhere on the street. The gates of many residents are carved with various interesting patterns. Some old buildings were also carved when I was a child, but the patterns are different in each place. The pictures of ethnic minorities are more fresh to me.
About 800 meters along the main road, there is a stage. It seems to be very well preserved and very clean. I believe there will be local people performing theater performances at ordinary times.
I walked into some alleys from the main road, and the alleys were much quieter and narrower than the outside. Not long after the National Day, some residents still hang the national flag in their homes, and you can walk to Erhai Lake if you walk inside. Many of the decorations in these alleys are what others like to take pictures of.
Leaving the commercial street of the ancient town and driving on the hillside, you can see that the ancient town of Shuanglang has a large area. In addition to the commercial street just now, there are also some good buildings here. The residential buildings are all distinctive. These buildings stand on the banks of the Erhai Lake, which adds a bit of humanistic atmosphere here, and is also a beautiful scenery of the Erhai Lake.
Erhai, I believe there are many stories here
If you like the sea view, from Shuanglang Ancient Town to the south is the coastal road. I drove all the way and watched the scenery all the way. If there are ancient towns in the west of Erhai Lake, then there are seascapes in the east. Little Putuo Island on the east coast is a famous scenic spot on the east side of Erhai Lake.
Little Putuo Island covers an area of about 100 square meters. 12 meters above the water. Because the shape of the island is like a golden seal floating on the water, it is said that it is the seal of Zhenhai left by the great master Avalokitesvara Pi Dali. And because the shape of the island and the pavilions are quite similar to the legendary Putuo Mountain in the South my country Sea in Chinese mythology, it is named Little Putuo.
I parked the Jetta VS5 on the side of the road and looked out the window, the blue Erhai Lake was very beautiful. There are not many people and cars on this road, so I can drive all the way by myself. My Jetta VS5 has an ACC adaptive cruise control system, which can automatically keep a distance from the vehicle in front, so driving is very safe when there are many curves.
This road has a rock wall on one side and sea water on the other. I stop and go, and when I encounter a place with a large area, I stop to enjoy the sea view. After all, the Erhai Lake is not particularly big. If you don’t stop driving, you can finish the tour in 2 hours. So, watch while driving, and feel the atmosphere of Erhai Lake.
There are many independent small islands in Erhai Lake, and many people live on the islands. With densely packed houses, they should only be able to row a boat when they come to the shore, but from the shore, they are not a landscape.
The weather at the Erhai Lake is changeable, it will be sunny and cloudy for a while, and sometimes there will be a few drops of rain. If you are lucky, you may even see a rainbow. The double rainbow in the sea I saw, who would not fall in love with such a literary and comfortable Dali? I sat by the sea and looked at the scenery on the other side. Many people left stories and wrote stories here. I also want to drive the Jetta VS5 to meet the story here.
I suddenly remembered the theme song of the movie "Blooming Hearts". In the play, Huang Bo drove a car and sang "To Dali". I also played this song on the 8-inch touch-screen radio in the car. Especially when I am in Dali. Of course, the Jetta VS5 also has an in-vehicle interconnection system, which can support CarPlay, CarLife, and Welink.
Homestay by the Erhai Lake, listening to the sound of the sea at night
Dali Erhai, the most indispensable thing is the homestay. But the service environment is uneven. I live a few kilometers away from Shuanglang Ancient Town. I like quietness. The room is large in size and simple in decoration. There will be some local tea in the room, it should be Puer tea.
You can have breakfast in the lobby in the morning. It seems that there is a lot of food available, and you can continue to ask for it if you are not full. There is a bookshelf at the back, you can read books if you have nothing to do, and the Erhai Lake is across the road from the window. The table in the middle is a tea table, you can make tea, and you can chat with the boss if you have nothing to do. I believe he has met many passers-by and exchanged many stories. I have always wanted to open a store, exchange stories with many people, and listen to other people's lives.
Yunnan on the tip of the tongue, Dali farm specialties
Most of the dishes I eat in Dali are vegetarian dishes. I don’t know if they are popular here or what. Food prices in Dali are quite expensive, after all, it is a scenic spot. Several meals were expensive. The locals told me that there is only this kind of fish in the Erhai Lake in Dali, and the other big fish are from other places, so those who go there should not be fooled.
The few meals I had in Dali were all vegetarian dishes, but the taste in Yunnan is too spicy. The locals will ask you if you eat spicy food or not, but it doesn’t seem to be spicy. However, the food is very good, and it is also recommended by the locals. The locals seem to love chrysanthemum chrysanthemums as it was recommended for several of our meals.
Fall in love with self-driving, see more scenery
Driving a Jetta VS5, a self-driving tour of the Erhai Lake.
Checked in Dali, which I have long admired, Cangshan Erhai, blue sky and white clouds, I always feel that this place is full of stories.
Later, I became more and more fond of self-driving, going to the mountains, going to the beach, and driving to places I like.
I am fortunate to see the beautiful rice fields in Yunnan in late autumn. When the light and shadow fall on my body, I think travel is such a wonderful thing. It will let you see many beautiful scenery, and self-driving will take you to see many beautiful scenery . If I have a chance, I hope to experience the customs of Dali again in different seasons.