Dali Things to Do

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Dali Museum is located on the main street that runs north-south through the old town, just inside from the South Gate. It was originally the mansion of the Qing governor and later served as the headquarters of Du Wen Xiu, leader of the Muslim Uprising of 1856. Inside are Buddhist figurines from the Nanzhao Kingdom, statues of serving girls and an orchestra excavated from a Ming-dynasty tomb. There are also small stone stele outside.

Open: 8.30am-6pm. Admission: RMB5.

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These are the views over Dali from Zhonghe Shan in the Cangshan Mountain range. You can see everything in the old town itself such as the walls, gates and reservoirs, the three pagodas and Chongsheng Temple and Er Hai Lake.

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This temple lies on Zhonghe Shan which is a mountain peak in the Cangshan Mountain range, to the west of the old town. It was originally built in the Ming dynasty and serves both Taoists and Buddhists. I was virtually the only visitor at the temple so it's a nice peaceful spot and the views over the town are superb.

Take the chairlift if you don't want to climb up - just follow the road that leads up the hill from the West Gate of the old town.

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This market is located outside the West Gate of the old town on a road that leads up to the chairlift that climbs Zhonghe Shan. The market is a great place to come to and witness everyday local life with Bai women dressed in traditional minority clothes and carrying baskets on their backs. The market sells all sorts of things such as food, clothes, reed baskets and brushes.

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A chairlift ascends up Zhonghe Shan, which is the easiest way to get to Zhonghe Temple. Just follow the road that leads up the hill from the West Gate of the old town. I reached the chairlift station and had to register in a book as there had been some robberies in the hills on paths up high. I got on the chairlift and climbed up past tombs and through pine forests to the sound of a Chinese woman announcing some message along with the instrumental version of "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, for some reason, which was used in the film Top Gun. The trip up took about 25 minutes and I was the only one on the chairlift. It gets much cooler up at the top so take something warm to wear.

Admission: RMB60 return. Then RNB32 to enter the Zhonghe Park.

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The Palace of Eleven-face Kwan-yin is a Ming style building of five open rooms with double eaves, in which was there is a nine meter high statue of Eleven-face Kwan-yin and eight embodiments of Kwan-yin (standing and seated statues of 4 meters high).

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The Hall of the Guardian Kings contains, in the middle, a 5.7m high Mahakala Buddha, on both sides of who stand four 5m high Guardian Heavenly Kings. Mahakala Buddha is very important Guardian King in the Secret School. And he is the reincarnation of Siva and Mahesvara and Creation Buddha, Happiness Buddha and also Destruction Buddha. The statue of Mahakala was made based on the portrait of Mahakala Buddha found in Qianxun Pagoda - the largest of the Three Pagodas. The statue is a single-faced, six-arm furious body, with a snake around his arms, death’s-head jade-like stone around his neck, a spear in his right hand and a bronze bell in his left.

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One of the first buildings you'll come to inside the Chongsheng Temple is that which houses the Nanzhao Jianji Bell. It was cast in 871 A.D. and is 3.86m high and weighs 16.3 tons. Its sound is said to be heard some 40km away.