Dali Spring 2014 (moved from old blog)

 DianChi does DaLi

Having been re bitten with the mini trip adventure bug, I was keen to get out of Kunming for the weekend again. So we got straight to work on the next one and decided on the old faithful DaLi. 
Pretty much the same group of us who stormed LuoPing, plus a few additions, made the epic journey on the overnight sleeper train to the neighbouring city. We jumped on the train with my own special brand of specialised coke/sprite/Pepsi (with a little something added to help with the stresses of the journey). 

After the recent attack at the station we were advised to get there a little early because of all the extra security checks. We only came across a few extra guys with big sticks and a little more of a touchy feely guy at the metal detectors. 

Anyway, no problems and we were on the train bickering about who has to clamber up onto the top bunks. We ended up in the part between the carriages as we were being too noisy and before going to bed we were told off a further three times by slightly grumpy and pissed off looking train security guard who was obviously not enjoying his job that night. 

Anyway we arrived and jumped into a little mini bus thingy and headed for the old town. getting close we realised that there was a festival in the process and the roads were closed off, so we had to walk the last part. 
Having been to and witnessed several Chinese festivals I know that I don't particularly like them. The majority of the stuff available is inflatable hammers, candy floss, silly hats and so on so I avoided like the plague. Apparently it is one of the longest running annual festivals in China but this may have been made up to make the thing seem more impressive or it may have been true, who knows!

As is always the case when we head away as a group, things tend to get childish. David for example taking an iron on a 24 hour trip and ironing his trousers on the bed earen his the name Press Man and an elaborate back story involving radioactive irons was invented. Also a mammouth crap joke and pun sesson was started, which thanks to Mam and Dad I was more than prepared for. 

We did all of the DaLi essentials, Bad Monkey breakfast and beer (not at the same time of course), shopping for silly earrings and jewellery, the bakery and a relatively new addition to the DaLi routine, an e-bike trip to the lake. I am not hugely confident on e-bikes so the first and last part of the trip are usually pretty hair raising. About the lake though is a very quiet and chilled out road so we can take it easy and chilled. Sadly on the way back we got lost and ended up in the middle of the festival i was telling you about earlier. The road was basically a car park with buses honking horns everywhere. As we squeezed through the tiny gaps between buses and truck, all I could think of was the scene in Star Wars where the walls begin to close in on them. It was not a pleasant experience and I took my bike back to the shop feeling a little frazzled and so thankful to be on feet again and not wheels. 

Being a mini-adventure, we were back on the train the following evening heading back for Kunming.