THE STORY

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Later on our first full day in Dali, after visiting the 3 Pagodas and having tackled the Chinese postal system to get our wood carvings posted back to Scotland, Owen went back to the Tibetan Lodge to relax and read a book. 

Catriona and I were keen to visit the lake, across the farmland to the east, and we still had the bikes.  We cycled down the street which we had travelled up the evening before in the horse cab, towards the east gate. 

Just before we got there, we crossed a wide square, and heard some screams over on the left.  We stopped and looked across.  It was a crowd of youngsters, probably 8 or 10 years old, climbing up in the branches of a tree and shouting out to us.  We waved, and when Catriona called out a greeting in Chinese they screamed again and seemed to be having a great time! 

On through the gate, we carefully crossed the expressway onto the roadway through the fields on the other side.  The Lonely Planet indicated that we could zoom down here on bikes to the edge of the lake one or two kilometres beyond, but you’d have to have pretty good suspension to survive such a journey!  The roadway was made of hard-packed pebbles, making for an extremely bumpy ride even at slow speed.

We tried to find a less bumpy line along the edge of the road, with some success, but it was still pretty uncomfortable.  As we got closer to people working in the fields, I managed to take a few pictures - this was the kind of scene from rural China that I had been longing to immerse myself in.  We had seen some people in fields near Lijiang, but hadn't managed to get close.  There were women working with the rice, up to their knees in water, and men tending to beans on poles.  An elderly couple struggled to pull a cart laden with produce along the bumpy road. 

The irrigation channels were carefully engineered to supply every rectangular field, with banks and valves to allow the water to be controlled.  On the bus ride there, we had seen the big pipes propped up over the road, presumably to take the water across to the fields from the mountain.

The road bent this way and that, and finally came to a line of housing.  We turned onto a dusty street, with the usual holes dug at the side, and piles of construction materials.  We weren't sure if we were heading the right way - but further along a narrow street we suddenly emerged into a wider space between the buildings, where a little market was in full swing.  A butcher was carving up a large carcass in a doorway, whilst women were selling vegetables on the steps, and other older people sat thoughtfully and watched.  They didn't seem troubled when I stopped on the bike, and took a couple of photos, before we moved off again.  It was great to come upon a scene like this. 

Not much further on along the narrow street, we turned left and quickly arrived at a pier leading out into the lake.  It was a hazy scene, probably just atmospheric moisture rather than the pollution that reduces visibility in the cities.  A man waved to us as he carried a large inflated rubber raft down to the water's edge, and proceeded to push himself out onto the calm surface of the lake among tall rushes.  We could see a couple of others further along the edge of the water - pushing themselves along with poles, and looking for fish to catch with small nets.

An old woman walked past us, with her basket of washing which she had been cleaning on the stones in the water.  After gazing out across the smooth water to the low hills on the other side, we decided to explore the shoreline on foot, and scrambled down the bank of the pier to the grassland that fringed the lake.  We walked over to a bank where a group of men sat under trees, talking and admiring their horses.  They cheerfully agreed to have their photo taken, and then we moved on. 

Two young boys, entirely naked, were playing in the rushes, splashing around with pieces of wood and calling out to us as we walked past.  Crossing the next patch of ground between scrubby bushes we past a man with a young child on his back, and then reached a path leading to the water's edge beside some taller trees.  A small herd of goats were climbing up with their front legs, trying to pull off leaves and bark, whilst a goatherd sat and had a smoke.

We spent a couple more minutes beside the lake, enjoying the tranquility, then turned back.  It had been good to stretch our legs after the bumpy bike ride, but now we had to get back on the bikes again.  We continued south through the village, guessing which way to go.  We passed lots of children, most of whom called out "hello" to us, then laughed as we replied in Chinese.  There were more rural activities going on amongst the buildings, and in the shallow water at the edge of a large pool, a line of women were washing bunches of onions.  Just up the bank behind them was a large rubbish tip - not particularly reassuring for when eating our next fresh salad.

We had to find a way back across the fields, and tried one alleyway that led into watery fields, before choosing another road that led us in the right direction.  Suddenly the heavy skies opened up and rain began to pour down.  We carried on for a little way, passing a woman trying to cycle along with an enormous load on the back of her bike.  Then we decided to shelter for a while under the trees, and the poor woman slowly pedalled past us on the bumpy road.

The rain didn't deter the men working in the field nearby, and as it eased off we got moving again.  Quarter of an hour later we were back at the Tibetan Lodge, ready to go and find something to eat.

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Contributed by: Andrew Llanwarne

Photos by Andrew and Catriona Llanwarne