摩旅Day1大理到沙溪，大理真好，让我想做云南人呐

Today the old Dali city has become a touristic enclave, but although it's very touristic, it's still worth visiting because there are so many good food and a lot of cheap but good souvenirs. Good morning everyone, welcome back to the channel and today I am in Yunnan Dali, in Dali by Autonomous Prefecture. Dali is the starting point of my ride from Yunnan to Tibet and yesterday I picked up my bike and I changed the tire, I prepared my bike a little bit and then I stayed in a guest house, this small guest house near Arhai Lake. Speaking of Dali, it is extremely popular for China's domestic tourism. Many people have visited Dali already and it is a historical place and for over 300 years in history, so starting from the I think 10th century to the 12th century, Dali was the capital of Dali kingdom and by then Dali kingdom covers part of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and even parts of India, of Myanmar, of Laos, of Vietnam, so it was quite a prospering kingdom. And apart from the rich history, Dali is simply very beautiful and look at here, outside my window, that's Sangshan mountain range, the highest peak is over 4,000 meters and here outside my window here, behind those buildings, that's Arhai Lake. So Dali is entirely on Yingu plateau, the elevation is about 2,000 meters and speaking of climate, it's never too hot or too cold but it's also sunny and dry all year round, there are lots of flowers, lots of fruits and I guess that's why it's so popular. Today I'll be riding from Dali to Shaxi. You can barely see the map because it's only 100 kilometers. This is Dali, this is Lijiang and Shaxi is somewhere in between. And by the way, this is a very useful western self-driving guide map that covers the provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi, of Tibet autonomous region, of Xinjiang autonomous region. And then I'll go to the market and then check out the old city. a touristic enclave but although it's very touristic, it's still worth visiting because there are so many good food and a lot of cheap but good souvenirs. My favorite thing is to start the day with a walk through the local market. It's a perfect place to get instantly versed in the diversity that Yunnan produce. Dali's market has bright colors, beautiful fruits, veggies, meat and even flowers. Everything looks incredibly fresh and everything has a reasonable price. So ethnically Dali is also very diverse. The main ethnic minorities here is Bai people and if you ever seen a woman with a flower head, it's very likely that they are Bai people. And there are also quite a lot of Hui people, the Muslim population here. So for those women, those women who are wearing scarves, they are Hui people. There is even a mosque in the old city. There are also some halal restaurants, halal butcher shops. In my last online streaming, people asked me which place, which part of China has the best food. Although it's hard to say which one is the best, I'm pretty sure that you will never be disappointed by Yunnan food because first of all the ingredients is just so fresh and so diverse. Look at that. There are also a lot of mountain delicacies. This is a fan, bamboo, beans, and then this is a mushroom and a rose. Yes, people in Yunnan eat rose. There are simply too much fresh vegetables. Yunnan province, because of the climate, has a lot of mushrooms. And this one. Wow. Yangmei food is indigenous to China. I really had it in outside China and that's mulberry. That's all kinds of rice noodles and wheat noodles. The round ones they call it are kui. It's basically rice cake. It's also the very few places in China that eat cheese. They produce cheese and they eat cheese. This is the local cheese called rushan and sometimes there is even rose petals in it. Flower jam. This is rose petal jam. Wow, what a long queue. This must be another internet famous shop. And they are selling wendoufan, the bean curd, which looks like this. Yunnan cuisine tends to be very spicy and salty. That's a famous mushroom, seasoned mushroom here. They are sliced and then fried and then cooked with chili pepper, salt. The most typical local breakfast is paru ersi, a rice noodle soup topped with melting tender stewed pork shoulder. And you can get it easily in restaurants. But I got liangji mixian, a cold rice noodle with poured chicken and some spices and a typical Yunnan dessert. And my dessert is a xian hua bing. It's a sweet pastry. It's so crumbly with rose jam in it. Those three white pagodas are cheng sheng si san ta. That's the landmark of Dali. It's also evidence of the rich history of that. Just some very brief information. Those three towers were built in different dynasties. The one in the middle was built in Tang dynasty. That's about 1200 years ago. So this tower has a style of Tang dynasty. It's rectangular if you see the section. And the other two smaller towers were built in Song dynasty. And by then, Dali is called Dali guo. If you see the section, it's ba bian xing, so octagon. It's getting crowded now. Everyone is taking picture of this building. Whoa, what a nice house. All the fabrics here. Those with blue patterns, that's the typical bai zu zha re, a traditional dyeing technique. You can even feel this uneven touch. Similar to Dali old town, Xizhou town is a lovely place with plenty of cafes, eateries, and shops. And after a brief stay, I continued biking. This navigation isn't so promising. Okay, hopefully this is the way, right? Yeah, Dali Xizhou is exactly this is the way. Now I am in Dengchuan town. Dengchuan town is particularly famous for one thing, it's cheese product. But I should see some near the road. If I see any cheese factories, I will just stop by and order a cheese. China isn't famous for cheese, but in Dengchuan town, the native Bai people have been producing a special cheese for centuries. In this small factory, two women are working magic. They roll the milk into a smooth, stretchy mozzarella ball. So I was thinking maybe they use some special stuff to solidify the milk, but they told me it's the secret liquid from the milk. It's naturally fermented. I've been to the cheese factories in Europe, but I know that they use a special product from, for example, the cow's stomach. But here they don't use that at all. They only use liquid from the milk. So I've got this Roushan Chou Tou and they also give me a chopstick. It looks like mozzarella to be honest. I feel like I'm eating noodles. And actually the taste feels like mozzarella. It's very fresh, not salty and a little bit sweet. After getting the mozzarella-like cheese ball, Roushan cheese is stretched on two bamboo sticks, dried for a couple of days until it gets a leathery, crispy texture. After stretching the cheese on the bamboo sticks, now all the cheese are dried in this room for one or two days. So this one is quite special. There is rose petal in it. Compared with the fresh ones, this one has a stronger flavor. It's not stink at all. It doesn't have a stinky flavor like many of the aged cheese, but it has a natural sweetness and the fragrance of the rose petal. by by people. There are very very few tourists. It's so quiet. I really love it. So I still have 90 kilometers to cover. Now it's about 4 p.m. I really have to hurry up. Yeah, about two hours. This road doesn't look so promising though. Maybe I'll have a very long ride tonight. Well, actually the road isn't too bad, but it's just that there are a lot of curves, because Shaxi is on the other side of the mountain. I hardly see cars nor motorbikes. I guess this isn't the fastest. It's not the fastest. There is even a cafe here. Just for a quick look. should be here. Ah, there is even a very beautiful courtyard. It's all real flowers. Beautiful. And today I actually arrived a little bit earlier than I expected. While I was on the mountains it was so windy, and I can feel the temperature drop. So I think I'm going to take a shower, have some dinner, and then take a good rest. I'm going to end my today's video. I hope you enjoy watching it. And tomorrow I will start from Shaxi and I will ride towards Lijiang. So thanks for watching and stay tuned!