Days 8 and 9 -- Dali, China

I flew from Beijing to Kunming in the southern province of Yunnan, China.  My sister, Kathy has been living and working in Kunming for a year. She and Gregg, her husband met me at the airport and took me to their apartment by taxi.

The next morning Kathy and I got up early, and met two other ladies at a bus stop. We took a local bus to the long distance bus station and then got on a big bus for the 4-hour ride to the town of Dali near the mountains.

Much of the countryside looked like this as we climbed up to Dali at 6000 ft and in the foothills of the mountains. While the other ladies were in a meeting, Kathy and I walked to a beautiful garden on top of a hill in Dali.

 This big shiny ball is a landmark in the center of Dali. 

We climbed quite a few steps to reach the garden at the top of the hill. This is looking back down towards Dali.

 

There was a lake in the center of the garden, with stones, trees, pagodas and walkways around it.

 

In this area the decorative painting on the buildings is often done in shades of black and grey. Here is a typical example of a decorated gable.

This colorful style is more typical of the parts of China that I have visited before.  I see so much of this style of decorative painting that I forget to photograph it. 

  We were both surprised when we realized this was a poinsettia. 

  In case you didn't believe me, here is a close-up.

Dali is on a big lake, which you see here.  You can tell by the brown grass that this in January, but I would forget that because the temperature was in the 60's F (15-20C)

 

I don't know if these trees grow this way or are trained, but I found them  delightful.

 I'm going to save the pictures I took that evening in the old town of Dali for the next post.