China 2007

Spent a fantastic few days in Dali, a lovely old Chinese (Bai minority) town in the shadow of a 15,000 foot mountain by a huge lake.

I spent one day taking Kung-Fu lessons on the North gate of the Old Town, with a Chinese fella who had spent ten years training in a Shaolin temple. Ouch, they make you do horrible stretches and all sorts, learnt quite a lot for a day.

Ate some tremendous stuff, including a casserole of the local river fish, some kind of spicy chicken thing, some great dumplings, a tibetan lamb stew and the local potato pancake (suspiciously similar to Rosti).

Also, went cormorant fishing - this is where the fishermen use trained cormorants to catch fish in the lake, and the cormorants regurgitate them into a bucket. Fantastic!

Stayed at the Dali old town inn where the nice ensuite double room was a bargain 100 yuan, and there was a nice leafy courtyard and viewing platform with views of the mountain, staff could have been a bit more helpful though.