The boat ride was a non-event. If you have been on water in a steel hulled boat, seen Buddhist temples on the top of hills, seen little fishing-based villages, then you have done the Erhai boat ride. One reason it costs so much is they reward anyone who gets you to the dock with a commission. Unbridled capitalism=strong recommendation by everyone to get on boat, and no mileage on taxi to pay for gas.

I just enjoyed going up the old road north from Old Dali. No huge trucks to sweep by you with gusts of wind and wipe you off the road. The villages are great for touring, so stop everywhere and wander around. A few touristy villages with one or two tour buses, but not even close to the mayhem of Old City Dali and Lijiang.

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Mr.rploehn 2008-4-8 17:08

The ferry boats on the lake near Dali, Erhai Hu, now only seem to run across to Haidong, and not to Wase or other destinations. They are also charging 150 yuan for a return trip, which is a complete rip off. Smaller boats are not allowed to pick up tourists, according to signs by the ferry port. At the price, it is not worth crossing the lake, and better to stick to the roads on the Dali side, which are also flatter.

We have also found that the cable car up to Zhonghe Shan mountain doesnt seem to be running at the moment, although you are still charged 30 yuan to get into the park area before you find this out (cable cars are not included in the price). There are touts selling cable car tickets at the entrance and at the 3 pagodas temple, even on days when they know the cable car isnt running.

Two small irritations in a beautiful town!

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Mr.Jeff Fus 2008-4-8 17:08

Accommodation and laundry considerations in Dali

Make note...as far as we could find out, everywhere that charges for laundry (mostly the places mentioned in a guide book) does it PER ITEM (2 yuan for one underwear, 5 yuan for a shirt) - if we paid that we'd have 100 yuan worth of laundry! Anyway, the point is, there is accommodation that does laundry for FREE. We stayed at the Yu Yuan Hotel (#8 Honglong Jing, old town), just a couple blocks away from Remnin Lu. It was great, 60 yuan for a big double with private toilet and bathtub - television (that didn't get turned on), super clean, electric blankets (key item) plus unlimited laundry and free Internet (+ Wifi). The staff were super friendly although didn't speak much English.

By the way, we first checked into the Tibetan Lodge on Remnin Lu and she skirted around the laundry issue until we checked in. When we found out that they charged per item and told her we were leaving she all of a sudden turned very nasty and rude! And the room was tiny (itty bitty) for 50 yuan.

Client's information:

Mr.Due Passie 2008-4-8 17:07