I have been in Dali for a couple of days but it’s hard to find quiet villages without young Chinese tourists racing around them on hired scooters. The people who live in these villages go about their daily work in the fields and markets and seem to tolerate the visitors.
However I was keen to meet some of the elderly women I had seen working in the fields and eventually came across this lovely woman who had just come back from somewhere where she had picked a bag full of what smelled like aniseed. We ‘chatted’ for a while and a few other locals rocked up and joined in.
At the edge of the lake there were several pairs of fishermen who turned out to be all husbands and wives, cleaning little white things out of their nets – they looked like plant roots – millions of them. I am not sure how clean the water is in this lake so I have been hesitant to try the fish here.
I did however, pluck up the courage to eat some shrimps in a pancake from a woman with a trolley this morning so I won’t be terribly surprised if it comes back to bite me later today.
There are still lots of people but the streets are wider and the town is not as extensive and easier to navigate. There is a street called Foreigner’s Street and if you sit in a cafe there, people will take your photo whether you like it or not. It’s almost as if you are an exhibit in a zoo.
At least I ask my subjects before photographing them and if they don’t want it, I don’t push it. If only others were as polite to me!