South of the colorful clouds, my long-awaited encounter in Erhai Lake

This is my first time in Dali.

Erhai Lake, Cangshan Mountain. I have heard of this place countless times, and this scene has appeared in my mind countless times.

As I imagined, the Erhai Lake in the evening was so peaceful, with no noise or noise, no tourists or traffic. I can sit on a reef by the sea and blow the evening breeze, or I can drive on the seaside road in the hazy night and watch the beautiful scenery fly through the car window.

Perhaps after late autumn, the temperature in Dali is a little low.

The thick clouds were blown by the wind. I stopped the car by the roadside and quietly looked at the sky at 6:30.

I wonder if others have the habit of being in a daze, looking at the scenery and thinking about many stories. Looking back on the many places I have visited this year, I never stopped. I have been to many places, and every time I embark on a journey with surprises. Dali is the same. I have fantasized about the sea breeze blowing and clouds fluttering countless times. I drive the Jetta VS5 and look at the blue Erhai Lake, and I still feel a little excited.

I am deeply touched by Dali. When tourism was not so common more than 10 years ago, Dali was the first choice for domestic travel. Many years later, it still retains the artistic atmosphere. The people of Dali live around the Erhai Lake. Around the entire Erhai Lake, many ancient towns with complete buildings are good places to visit. The strong specialty flavor of the ancient city of Dali, the Bai-style buildings of Xizhou Ancient Town, and the tranquil sea view of Shuanglang Ancient Town, this place is perfect for a self-driving trip.

During my trip to Dali, I drove a Jetta VS5 owned by FAW-Volkswagen. The Jetta VS5 has a lot of space and is very comfortable to sit on. Whether it is a slim or a large person, there is room for movement in both legs and feet. When I put all the things in my bag on the back seats, I also carry 2 people on the road, and even 5 people in the car won't feel too crowded. The trunk space is also large, so it is not a problem to put in the luggage of four or five people. It is quite suitable for families or friends to travel. I don't like crowded places, and naturally I don't like too small spaces. Who would be uncomfortable in a car with a large space? Of course, I still like traveling for two people. I don't have too many opinions or differences. I chat on the road and find a coffee shop for a drink when I am tired. This is my favorite trip.

The reason why the Jetta VS5 was chosen is also because of its low fuel consumption. The fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is only 6.3L. After adding half a tank of oil from the urban area of Dali and circling the Erhai Lake, there is still a lot of oil left in the fuel tank. It is comfortable, comfortable, economical and practical. So, starting from the urban area of Dali, we headed for our first destination: the ancient city of Dali.

The ancient city of Dali, a bustling southwest place

It takes about ten minutes to drive from Dali City to Dali Ancient City. There are many scenic spots nearby, such as Tianlong Babu Film and Television City, Chongsheng Temple Three Towers and many other scenic spots.

The ancient city of Dali was built in the Ming Dynasty. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was always the political, economic and cultural center of Yunnan. It was also one of the first 24 historical and cultural cities in China. Speaking of the ancient city of Dali, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Duan Dynasty in Dali. Whether it is Duan Yu in the Eight Departments of the Dragon Dragon or the Yi Deng Master in the Legend of the Condor Heroes, they are all figures in Dali. Duan Yu in the novel has a historical archetype. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Dali State was a subsidiary state of the Central Plains. It has a long cultural and historical heritage and unique national characteristics.

The ancient city of Dali covers an area of three square kilometers. Enter from the entrance of the ancient city and stroll through the ancient city. This place is not as beautiful as imagined. It is like some places where residents live. There are many modern slogans on the walls on both sides, many electric vehicles and bicycles are parked on the roadside, and some local specialties and ethnic specialties are sold at the doorstep of every household.

There are not many tourists in the ancient city, but it seems very quiet and comfortable. The house is a modern residential building converted from the original building. Some trees and flowers are planted in the residents 'courtyard, and the air is filled with a faint fragrance.

The ancient city of Dali is very small in area. It takes a few steps to stroll through it. It is 1500 meters from the north gate to the south gate. Then there are many branch roads on the left and right sides. The branch roads may be cleaner and have the flavor of an ancient city. There are some B & Bs and cafes in the alley. I don't like coffee that much, but I like to sit in the cafe and rest and look out the window.

As I walked, I returned to the South Gate, where my car was parked. South Gate is the first of the four gates of the ancient city. It was built in the 15th year of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty. It is the oldest and majestic building in the ancient city and the symbol and symbol of the ancient city of Dali. The word "Dali" on the city gate was personally mentioned by Guo Moruo when he visited Dali in 1961. Dali means "governing Dali greatly, enriching the country and rejuvenating the country".

Xizhou Ancient Town, Golden Rice Fields

You can reach Xizhou Ancient Town about 18 kilometers north along the Erhai Lake. After driving for a while, I found that the Jetta VS5 was also very comfortable to control. It was equipped with Volkswagen's EA211 1.4T high-power engine and Aisin's six-speed automatic manual transmission. It was easy to put in gear and had sufficient power to step on the accelerator. For old drivers, I must like this feeling very much. The comfort of the car makes the journey more comfortable.

Others say that Xizhou Ancient Town is the essence of Dali. It is bordered by Erhai Lake in the east and Cangshan Mountain in the west. Xizhou Ancient Town is also a town inhabited by the Bai people. It has the most preserved and best Bai residential buildings.

The season when I came was in late autumn and the temperature was just right. The ancient town was surrounded by rice fields, overlooking the whole town. Not far away is the vast Erhai Lake. The villages and towns are rectangular, and the roads and alleys are neatly planned. With scattered buildings and orange-yellow Bai walls, this place is perfect for shooting portraits. The Jetta VS5 I drive is also lemon gold, which blends into the scenery and is also very beautiful.

I have seen many ancient buildings, whether they are white walls and blue tiles in Huizhou or small tiles and broken bricks in southern Zhejiang, the buildings of the Bai people in Dali also have their unique appearance. Small windows, yellow walls, and small pieces of tiles are piled up. The roofs are all very national characteristics.

It was already 4:30 in the evening when I traveled from the ancient city of Dali to the ancient town of Xizhou. The sun was not so dazzling and the picture was so soft.

In the cloudy season, with golden rice fields and white buildings behind them, passers-by tourists rushed to take photos here. I also casually photographed some landscapes and portraits, which looked so beautiful no matter how I took it. Over the years, I have been shuttling through European-style cities, or seeing island scenes and the smell of rice fields that I haven't seen for a long time. I suddenly feel that everything here is so beautiful.

There is no prosperity here as a city or as vastness as an island. Some are exquisite as small family jade, and some are intoxicating with the aroma of rice. I was born in Jiangnan, and I lived in rice fields full of rice fields, so I remembered how I was like when I was a child, shuttling through the rice fields with my friends, barefoot, chasing and fighting along the stream. When I was a child, I didn't feel how beautiful the environment I lived in was, but only when I grew up did I realize how charming the natural scenery was.

When I returned to the town from the rice fields, I heard from local people that this Dong 'anmen is currently the oldest preserved building in Xizhou Ancient Town. Many wedding photographers are taking pictures here. Because I was new here, I followed the wedding photographers to shoot, saving me a lot of time. They all know where to take pictures best.

The alley was a little deserted. I don't know if it was the evening or the off-season. There are not many tourists in Xizhou Ancient Town today, but I like them. Some residents can rent ethnic costumes for tourists to take photos. However, in recent years, it seems that more and more tourists do not like to rent local items and come here to take photos wearing beautiful clothes.

I walked deep into the town, and there shouldn't be many tourists coming in. Walking here, I occasionally met a few local residents. I admired the buildings of the Bai people. The dilapidated walls and falling powder bricks were all telling you head-on that this place has a long history and many unknown stories.

The sky in Dali is very blue and the buildings are beautiful. Both wooden windows and eaves are decorated with patterns, which is a characteristic of the Bai people in Yunnan. It is said that during the Nanzhao State period, a royal palace was built here. The layout of the city can be found in the current place names. There are village names such as Chengbei, Chengdong, and Chengnan around it. In the past, archaeologists also discovered characters, thick cloth patterns and lotus patterns in the town.

There are some shops on both sides of the main road of Xizhou Ancient Town. There are some teahouses, B & Bs, coffee shops, and handicraft workshops. The decoration styles are all ethnic. This ceramic shop is a bit dark. I am not interested in their ceramics, but rather interested in these wooden items. You can see the sense of age on the wood. It is small and exquisite, which is quite interesting.

There is a teahouse here, which is very quiet. There is a blackboard hanging at the door, on which some literary sentences are written with colored chalk. Presumably the boss is also a literary and artistic person. I like this door. It is simple but so monotonous. I keep walking around the door and taking photos. I walk in and out from time to time. The boss looks at me and doesn't speak.

The word "Tea" is written on a wooden stake at the door, and two door gods are posted on the door, and many oil-paper umbrellas are hanging inside. Walking in from here is where the teahouse is located, but I prefer this aisle.

In the ancient town, you can see the natural scenery, ancient buildings, and many traces of modern times. I like the wall with "Postal Savings" written on the desktop. I haven't seen a wall advertisement for a long time. I think it's a kind of retro art. There are also many buildings with words such as "public telephone" written on the walls, as if they were unique like the 1990s.

I don't know what historical origin this building has. This building is a must-check-in place for tourists. Many tourists coming and going are taking photos with it, and local wedding photos are also taken here. So, I also took a few photos of tourists here. Looking through the crack of the door, no one lived here and it seemed to have been abandoned for a long time.

There is a cafe next to this building, which is colorful and artistic. I squatted at the door and quietly took some photos. The blackboard at the door seemed to say that taking photos was prohibited, so I didn't go in and take a look. I just saw the owner of the cafe sitting in front of the counter playing with his mobile phone. This kind of slow life was quite good.

Shuanglang Ancient Town, the cultural customs of Erhai Lake

The next morning, I arrived early in Shuanglang Ancient Town. Shuanglang Ancient Town is about 30 kilometers away from Xizhou Ancient Town. Different from the style of Xizhou Ancient Town, Shuanglang Ancient Town is a little lively and more commercial. Many of the beautiful scenery photos that can be seen on the Internet were taken here. The fee is about 20-50 yuan, all set by coastal residents themselves.

Shuanglang Ancient Town has a magnificent facade, and the door says the No. 1 Town with Canger Scenery. It can be seen that Shuanglang Ancient Town actually represents Dali scenery. Shuanglang Town covers an area of 218 square kilometers, ranking second in Dali City, with a permanent population of nearly 20,000. The geographical location is in the northeast of the Erhai Lake and is just far away from the sea from Xizhou Ancient Town in the northwest. Xizhou Ancient Town is not facing the sea, so more people who like to shoot at the Erhai Lake will be in the Shuanglang.

Shuanglang Ancient Town was not open in the morning, so I came too early. It's very quiet here. I don't know if it will be particularly lively in the afternoon. It seems so. There are so many facades here.

The architectural style of Shuanglang Ancient Town is quite beautiful. The town is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea on one side. Jumping on the 19th Peak of Cangshan Mountain in the west, facing the vast blue waves of the Erhai Lake, on the east, on the "Buddhist resort" Jizu Mountain, and on the south, on the "Penglai Fairy Island" Xiaoputuo. The traffic volume here is the largest among the several villages and towns along the Erhai Lake, and it is also the most prosperous and lively.

Entering from the entrance, I saw local aunts preparing breakfast. In the morning, some tourists dragged their suitcases and left. Some literary and artistic characters were hung on the store's signboards, which resonated with tourists who liked literature and art. There are many clothes rented inside. The clothes here are better than those in Xizhou Ancient Town and are more modern and can be worn to take photos by the seaside.

There are many ancient buildings on the main road of this street, and some were later imitated. But you can see the length of some buildings. There are many B & Bs inside. The B & Bs here are slightly larger than those in other places. The B & Bs here should be group-style, with many rooms and better service. Living here will also be convenient for shopping at night and feel the night atmosphere of the double corridor.

There were slowly tourists on the street. The day I went, the weather was cloudy, and the sun came out occasionally. I like to walk on the tree-lined avenue like this. It is cool and comfortable. I like ethnic costumes, just looking at them but not buying them. Looking at the patterns on ethnic jewelry, there are many blue dyes in Yunnan. When blue is dyed on white cloth, the patterns present have white and light blue levels. I have also learned to dye cloth before, which is a very meaningful thing.

Perhaps they live by the Erhai Lake. Many families here have boats. Some restaurants use boats as decorations. They fill them with water, plant some flowers in the water, or put some fish in them. It is quite artistic.

The window sill of the house is covered with plants, and when I open the window in the morning, there is fresh air. I like these details, which will enrich this street.

Some murals and carvings can be seen everywhere on the street. Many residents have various interesting patterns carved on their gates. When I was a child, some old buildings were also carved, but the patterns in each place are different. The pictures of ethnic minorities are more fresh to me.

About 800 meters along the main road, there is a stage. It seems to be very well preserved and very clean. I believe local people will perform theater performances.

I walked into some alleys from the main road, which were much quieter and narrower than the outside. Not long after the National Day, some residents still hung the national flag at their homes. Walking inside you can reach the Erhai Lake. Many of the decorations in these alleys are what others like to take photos of.

Leaving the commercial street of the ancient town and driving on the hillside, you can see the large area of Shuanglang Ancient Town. In addition to the commercial street just now, there are also some good buildings here. Residential buildings are all unique. These buildings stand on the bank of Erhai Lake, giving it a more humanistic atmosphere and a beautiful scenery of Erhai Lake.

Erhai Lake, I believe there are many stories here

If you like sea views, there is a coastal road south from Shuanglang Ancient Town. I drove all the way and watched the scenery. If there are ancient towns on the west side of the Erhai Lake, then the east side is full of sea scenery. Xiaoputuo Island on the east coast is a famous scenic spot on the east side of Erhai Lake.

Xiaoputuo Island covers an area of about 100 square meters. 12 meters above the water surface. Because the island is shaped like a gold seal floating on the water, it is said that it is the seal of Zhenhai left by Dali, a scholar of Guanyin. Because the island's shape and pavilions are quite similar to the legendary Putuo Mountain in the South China Sea in my country's mythology, it is named Xiao Putuo.

I parked the Jetta VS5 on the roadside and looked out of the window. The blue Erhai Lake was very beautiful. There are not many people and cars on this road, so I can drive all the way. My Jetta VS5 has an ACC adaptive cruise system, which can automatically keep a distance from the car in front, so when there are many corners, driving is very safe.

This road has rock walls on one side and sea water on the other. I stopped and stopped, and stopped to watch the sea view when I encountered a large area. After all, the Erhai Lake is not particularly big. If you don't stop driving, you can finish driving in 2 hours. So, watch while driving and feel the atmosphere of Erhai Lake.

There are many independent small islands in the Erhai Lake, and many people also live on the islands. With the densely packed houses, they should only be able to row boats when they come to the shore, but from the shore, they are not a sight.

The weather along the Erhai Lake is changeable, sometimes sunny and sometimes cloudy, and sometimes a few drops of rain will fall. If you are lucky, you can still see rainbows. Who wouldn't fall in love with the double rainbows of seawater I saw? I sat by the sea and looked at the scenery on the other side. Many people left stories here and wrote stories. I also want to drive the Jetta VS5 and meet stories here.

I suddenly remembered the theme song of the movie "Happy Heart". In the play, Huang Bo was driving a car and singing "Go to Dali". I was also playing this song on the 8-inch touch-screen radio in the car, which was very suitable for the occasion. Especially when I am in Dali. Of course, the Jetta VS5 also has an in-vehicle interconnection system, which CarPlay, CarLife, and Welink can all support.

B & B by Erhai Lake, listening to the sound of the sea at night

The most important thing in Erhai Lake in Dali is B & B. However, the service environment is uneven. I live a few kilometers near Shuanglang Ancient Town. I like to be quiet. The room is large and the decoration is simple. There will be some local tea in the room. It should be Pu 'er tea bar.

You can have breakfast in the lobby in the morning. It seems that there is a lot of food available. You can continue to ask if you are not full. There are bookshelves in the back where you can read books if you have nothing to do. Outside the window, there is Erhai Lake across the road. The table in the middle is a tea table, where you can make tea and chat with the boss if you have nothing to do. I believe he has met many passers-by and exchanged many stories. I have always wanted to open a store to exchange stories with many people and listen to other people's lives.

Yunnan on the tip of the tongue, Dali farm specialties

Most of the dishes I eat in Dali are vegetarian dishes. I don't know if vegetarian dishes are popular here or something. Food prices in Dali are still quite expensive. After all, it is a scenic spot. Several meals are expensive. The locals told me that this is the only fish in the Erhai Lake in Dali, and the other big fish are from other places, so don't be fooled by the friends who go there.

My meals in Dali are vegetarian dishes, but Yunnan's taste is spicy. Locals will ask you if you eat spicy food and avoid it, but it doesn't seem to be spicy. However, the food is very good and recommended by the locals. The locals seem to like Chrysanthemum chrysanthemums a lot because we recommended it for several meals.

Fall in love with driving and see more scenery

Driving a Jetta VS5, you can drive a journey to Erhai Lake.

I checked in Dali, Cangshan Erhai, blue sky and white clouds, which I have long admired, and I always felt that this place was full of stories.

Later, I became more and more fond of driving myself, going to the mountains, going to the seaside, and driving to places I like.

I am lucky to see beautiful Yunnan rice fields in late autumn. When light and shadow fall on me, I think traveling is such a wonderful thing. It will allow you to see many beautiful scenery, and self-driving will take you to see many beautiful scenery. Beautiful scenery. If I have the opportunity, I hope to experience the local customs and customs of Dali again in different seasons.