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.




The area I entered from was peaceful, however as I made my way west the old dusty village morphed into a bit more of a tourist trap. From minority dolls to pot leaf died fabrics, they were selling just about anything you can think of out the shops lining the main roads. It was still fun negotiating with the locals to buy a fabric, and to try a Bai pancake as I wondered back and forth between the old allies.



Minority Dolls




Bai pancake
On the way back the view was beautiful, I stopped on the side of the rood to take pictures of the beautiful sun rays being cast over the peaks of the mountains and some sort of puppet show which utilized a live baby as the puppet.



Back at Dali

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