Donglianghua @ Dali

Half way between Dali and Weishan is a little 800 year old Muslim village called Donglianghua. On my way back from Weishan I decided to catch the small green bus and make a stop at there. I've been exploring dusty, crumbling places for the past week; so I was surprised to see that this place was clean as a whistle and in pristine shape in general.

Yunnanyi @ Dali

Yunnanyi is a two thousand year old Bai minority village south east of Dali which isn't lacking historical importance. The name of the entire province was derived from the the name of this town, which in older times was an integral stop between the south and northwest of Yunnan on the Tea and Horse Road.

I spotted this place on the blog Travel Cathay, a great blog documenting less popular attractions in south china. On the blog post were written detailed directions on how to get there from Dali including connections at 3 different bus stations and a ride in a rickshaw. Knowing that few foreigners are interested enough to go through the trouble made me more determined try.

Xizhou Village @ Dali

Xizhou Village is an old Minority Bai town about 20km north of Dali Old Town. Conveniently it's a straight shot on the highway north making it easy to find on your own. Since I had been on buses for the past 4 days, I decided to switch gears today and rent a bike for the journey. I realized after I had the bike in my hands that it may have been 10-12 years since the last time I rode one, the first 20 minutes were a little dangerous.

The highway north from Dali old town takes you through some beautiful farm land with a large mountain ridge always visible in the west. When I arrived I managed to miss the main entrance somehow and ended up first noticing the old architecture of the village when I reached the back side of it all, from here I decided to just lock my bike to a street light and started exploring.