Dali: China's Amsterdam

So Dali was our second stop in the Yunnan province. A few travellers told us to skip this place, but both Jose and I were very glad that we didn't listen to them. Dali is a town that is at 3000m in elevation, with a lake a couple kms away, and a 4400m peak looming over it. The natural beauty of this place is only the beginning of the excitement we had here. My favourite hostel in China was located in this town. It was I believe called "No. 2." It was owned by Koreans, and therefore had many Koreans staying there. This excited me, because I was able to practice my quickly vanishing Korean skills. It was a super clean hostel, with warm showers, great beds, free internet, a beautiful courtyard to enjoy the sun, and all of this cost approximately $3CAD!

The funniest part of this town were the little old ladies, dressed in traditional minority ethnic group clothing, coming up to you and whispering "smoka ganja" as you walk by. This would happen approximately 5-6 times a day! You see, the hills surrounding Dali provide the perfect breeding grounds for marijuana to grow wild. The town's people pick it and sell it to tourists. This was really strange, because I thought of China as a nearly drug free country because of the strict laws they have against it. Apparently I was proven wrong. Another interesting byproduct of this wild weed were the multiple "coffee shops" around town that were owned by foreigners (aka hippies that want to live on the cheap and smoke weed every day in China.) This also gave a haven for backpackers that basically were planning to stay a couple days, and never really left. Kind of a crazy town. If you are travelling in the Yunnan province, however, I would highly recommend a stop in Dali, just make sure that it doesn't turn into a permanent stop.