Chickens feet

I had a few relaxing days in Dali, or maybe not so relaxing as they have involved recovering from having a few big nights particularly around the full moon! I was feeling a bit annoyed with myself so it was time to get out and see a bit more around the area.
Last Saturday I grabbed a bike at the Jade Emu and set off exploring the lake and its surrounds. First off I headed to Xi Zhou which is the most inland point of the lake and famous for its architecture. It was interesting to cycle through the villages and markets and all the kids and some older Bai people all run out and shout 'hello' as you ride through. It is also great to see lots of locals getting around in the local minority dress. From there I headed to the top of the lake where I stopped in a local restaurant for lunch before heading into the north east saying hello to more and more locals as I went and checking out the huge vegetable plantations that line the road. I eventually decided to turn around and after a very long ride back I made it to the Jade Emu just around sunset. I slept pretty well that night - maybe too well as the following day the plan was to head to Jizu Shan or chicken foot mountain.
After helpful directions from the Jade Emu staff I started my journey around midday, it involved 3 buses and a taxi ride. Jizu Shan is a sacred Buddhist mountain in China (1 of 5) and a point of pilgrimage. I waited for a while in a mini-van with a few others including a uni student, who eventually persuaded the driver to head off without a full van - we all payed a little extra. Overall the journey from Dali took around 4 hours before the mini-van dropped us off at a temple about half way up the mountain.
I was heading to the top so I could get up and watch the sunrise and found my way up the path after reading that the cable car that covers the last 2.5 kms shuts down at 5pm. I starting walking up at a pretty fast pace, the walk through the forests was beautiful - maybe a bit to hard to be rushing! I eventually made it to the cable car and it was still running - which I was quite pleased about - especially as I hadn't really had lunch. I attempted to get the cable car but the attendants wouldn't let me in! They pointed at watches and while I was gesticulating at them the last people got out of a carriage and it all shut down. I was pretty tired but it looked like my trip to Jizu Shan was also going to be a pilgrimage too.

I set off on foot and the first thing I came across was a staircase with about 500 steps up - some Bai women selling things including accommodation waited at the bottom watching me as I went up.

It actually felt quite good walking all the way up myself. The top is around 3200 meters up and I arrived at the top sections just at dusk which was really quite beautiful. I also had a few feelings of insignificance as I was trying to take photos on lookout points with no railings and huge gusts of wind made me sit down with fright!

I was the only foreigner on the mountain top that night and you could tell that they weren't used to having too many stay up there as there was no English and whilst the Chinese were eating large delicious meals I was eating small plates of vegetables which cost me a lot of money in Chinese terms.
It was pretty cold being so high up so I went to bed early - ready to get up for the sunrise.
It was still cold in the am but the colors in the sky were fantastic as the sun came up. I had a look around the temples at the top and climbed the pagoda before starting my decent.
The walk down through the forest was great again and for the first time in China there were birds chirping in the trees. There are a number of temples, nunneries and convents to visit on the way down and I stopped at them all aside from the few near the top I checked out the night before.





Eventually I made it down to the half way point of the mountain where the main temple for the mountain is and there is a memorial to one of the grandfathers of Buddhism in China. This temple was nice - particularly compared to a lot of the others which were much more simple and low key. I was feeling pretty tired by this time and after meeting up with a friendly Chinese girl I met the night before we jumped on a bus back to Binchuan which luckily for me headed onto Dali new town which is an easy stop from the old town and the Jade Emu. I've found some muscles in my legs that I must have previously forgotten about so it looks like a couple more relaxing days ahead! I was having a chat to the guys who own the 'Bad Monkey' bar in Dali - which is a bit famous for being here for so long - and they need some help with their website..