June 26- Dali

We departed Kunming in the AM and embarked on a rainy journey to Dali. The flight was incredibly short. We literally took off, were in the air for 20 minutes and landed. On the ground, the rain did not stop and we began the most disappointing day of the trip. We started the day with a rainy boat ride on Erhai Lake. It was the most commercial, touristy excursion we had taken thus far. On board, we were scheduled to see ethnic minority Bai dancing and a traditional tea service. The dancers danced to bad Chinese techno and our “traditional tea service” was served in paper cups en mass. While we drank our tea in elegant paper cups, the Chinese Vanna White advertized their “traditional” boxed tea. We stopped at a small island where we were mobbed by street vendors selling everything from shrimp on a stick to “authentic jade Buddhas” to Mao memorabilia. We ran off. Our next island stop was to see a statue of Buddha. It was about 25 feet tall and quite ancient as it was built in 2003. Overall, the cruise was “socialism with Chinese characteristics” or Chinese capitalism at it’s finest.
After our kitschy cruise, we departed for butterfly spring, a spring where people washed their hands for good luck. They also had a butterfly sanctuary there which was interesting but not spectacular. From the spring, we visited a Chinese tie-dye factory where authentic tie-dye shirts were hand-made. I was expecting Grateful Dead memorabilia but no luck.
Our final stop was the Three Elegant Pagodas. These were ancient Buddhist stupas with the oldest being built around 1000 years ago. There was also a Buddhist monastery that looked interesting so we decided to take a trek to see it first hand. The monastery was interesting until we learned that it was built in 2003 by the local Chinese government to promote tourism in the region. Again, “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. Mao must be rolling in his mausoleum….