After the initial uncomfortable nights stay at the Tibetan Lodge (name and shame them), the rest of our time in Dali was great. We stayed at the MCA hostel where we had a quite spacious suite to ourselves. Whilst I would argue that Dali itself is not a great place (especially when you have just visited Lijiang), it is a good place to establish ‘base’ and then head out to other places during the day. We had a couple of lovely walks in the mountains as well as a quick whizz on some bikes and a ferry tour on the lake. We also found a lovely place to eat, called the sunshine cafe, which we visited religiously for breakfast and dinner every day. Best of all was the cafe we discovered on the last couple of days which was run by deaf people and which made the most amazing cakes and coffees I have ever tasted!
We arrived in Dali last night and after deciding that our hostel was not up to scratch (definitely seen better days, I’ll say no more), we checked out this morning and found a nicer place. The last four or five days in Lijiang were excellent. The old town is a lovely little place with lots of nice coffee shops, restaurants and tea houses. You do have to watch out for the swarms of chinese tourists but apart from that its great. Here are some photos 
Spent the last few days in Lijiang. Yesterday we took the cablecar up Jade Dragon Snow mountain (to 4600m) where oxygen was a bit thin on top! Been wandering around the night markets and the Naxi food has been lovely. Today we took a trip to the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge which was as impressive as everyone has said! Couple more days left here before we move on to Dali. Hopefully get some more photos up soon, certainly when I get back to Beijing and have some time to organise things properly.
After our lovely boat trip down the Li River, we had an excellent few days at the Li River Retreat. The resort itself is absolutely lovely with large air-conditioned bedrooms and a large en-suite bathroom. The deco is also very modern and everything is spotlessly clean. If you are looking for somewhere to eat, you needn’t stray from the resorts very own restaurant where the food and beer is excellent and the service effecient and friendly. During our stay we enjoyed a great cycling trip around the surrounding countryside and went shopping round some of the markets. Well worth a stay. Recommended!
Jono
