10/4/24
Weds: Was up at 6am for the pick-up at 7am for a five-minute ride to昆明动车站. *Almost had my Swiss
knife confiscated cos we’re not allowed sharp objects longer than 6cm in bag.*
Bought one braised egg, two small breads and one yoghurt drink for breakfast on
the train to大理. We departed
exactly at 8.05am and arrived at 10.15am.
Met
up with our 31-year-old纳西族guide
cum driver, 李小龙. *Apparently,
his mum likes Bruce Lee, hence the name lol.* Had to bring our luggage across
a bridge to where he parked his own car. Did some simple introductions of
ourselves but really, I couldn’t quite get his mandarin sometimes haha. He drove
us to lunch at海之东农庄at
10.45am. We were seated at the outdoor garden behind the restaurant and one can
see the vegetables the owners grow themselves. The weather was cooling so we can
eat outside. *He showed us photos of his wife and two children too.*
啊龙drove us to near the jetty where tourists had
to hop onto the ferry to visit金梭岛，白族的居住地之一，这里的三座岛屿之一。Before that, we had to pay for a short buggy
ride (RMB 20 per pax) that took us from the carpark to the jetty. There were
many tour groups and guides going onto that island. After some commotion, we left
at about 1.20pm for a two-minute ferry ride over to金梭岛.
Had
to be careful not to “get lost” on that small island and we tried to keep close
to our guide, 金华. She
explained to us what白族’s roof
structure signified: two tiers meant a rich family and three would mean something
to do with government officials. Also, if the daughter was the eldest in the
family, they’re supposed to招女婿
and not marry into another family.
Saw
people braiding their hairs but we did not. We did, however, go to take the “tourist
shots” at one corner and bought two eight-inch photos for RMB 40. After that,
we went into the “dragon’s palace”, which was a cooling and natural cave to
watch白族的捕鱼舞.
Their animated backdrops were very pretty and the dancers were elegant, albeit
the crowd was packed so we took some time to go out of the cave.
Left
the island at 3.15pm and啊龙sent
us back on洱海上关area.
*It’s called洱海because
it’s shaped like a ear and old people thought this place was big and it was a
sea. Nope, it’s only a huge lake.* While
we were at彩虹公路,
the scenery across was quite hazy and啊龙explained there was a fire nearby a few days
ago, hence the haze.He
helped us take some photos before we went to visit some noisy seagulls not far away.
Visited双廊古镇at 5pm. Saw南诏风情岛opposite while we were
strolling down the pretty town. There were lots of shops for clothes and Alina
bought a colourful shawl there. 啊龙treated
us to乳扇randomly
from a street vendor and they put rose syrup. It tasted quite nice, like milk
crepe.
We
had dinner at好再来, a shop啊龙frequents. We ordered the砂锅米线and小锅饵丝 (RMB
27). Both noodles were too soggy for my liking but I preferred Alina’s 饵丝because mine had mala taste
to it.
Left
at 7pm and we somehow ended up at金沙半岛海景酒店
and not the美丽之冠hotel喜妹said she’d booked for us. Could
not get through to her at night and it was already 8pm by then, so we ended up
checking in and was given a room with “sea view” on the 21st floor! *But the
receptionist’s attitude was not very good.* To our pleasant surprise, the room
had quite a spectacular view of洱海and大理, and it was a ”smart hotel”
with小度智能控! We had some fun filming short videos and playing with the小度app haha.
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