Erhai Lake West Coast and Xizhou Ancient Town (Part 2)

🔧📸 Images tweaked with Magic Image — resize, watermark, blur, convert. Nothing fancy, but it works.

Walking along the edge of Erhai Lake(Dali City, Yunnan Province, China) , the sky gradually darkened, and I hadn’t tried Bai ethnic specialty dishes yet. Time to take a taxi to Xizhou Ancient Town!

We passed many farmhouses and fields before finally arriving at the Gate of Justice (正義门) of Xizhou Ancient Town.

As soon as we entered, I saw roadside stalls selling flowers and fruits. I bought several boxes of fruit. What’s interesting is that these fruits are sold by the box, not by weight.

The rainy weather combined with it not yet being summer vacation is great - there are few people on this street, which I really like.

There are quite a few tie-dye experience shops on both sides of the street. Since I already dyed a skirt during my last visit to Dali, I won’t do it again this time.

Suddenly I saw a tree with particularly beautiful flowers:

Ahead, a crowd had gathered. I thought they were opening gemstones, but it turned out to be freshly cut bodhi fruit - pretty fun too, haha.

Walking along this road, I could occasionally see bamboo baskets or dustpans filled with fresh flowers on both sides, smelling fragrant.

Previously in Lijiang, flower cakes were sold everywhere on the streets, but I never saw fresh flowers. No wonder they tasted bad - even freshly made ones weren’t good. The flower cakes here in Dali should be delicious.

There are many places selling flower cakes here too, but I wanted to try something different. I saw a shop selling Xizhou Crispy Baba (喜洲破酥粑粑) ahead, all 10 yuan each, and they looked quite appetizing.

The shopkeeper saw us hesitating and said theirs was the best. So I scanned the code and bought one to try - it was indeed quite delicious!

Maybe because there are many food vendors here, it’s crowded with people coming and going. Let’s continue walking to see what else is interesting.

Suddenly I saw a long row of tile-roofed houses that looked very old. They were beautiful, but hard to capture the feeling in photos.

Nearby there’s also a beautifully designed Dong’an Gate, but interestingly, right next to it is a garbage room.

After wandering around, I realized this place isn’t very big. I was getting hungry. There were signs for Bai cuisine along the road, but when I walked into the alley, it was different from what I expected.

So I searched online and found a restaurant that seemed good, called Maixiang Chuiyan (麦香炊烟). It was outside this street, so I followed the navigation there.

Haha, “I’m too busy in Xizhou to miss you.”

Ahead were fields, at this time just small rice seedlings. In the middle was an asphalt road, with pink wild chrysanthemums planted on both sides.

There was also a cute big squirrel by the roadside.

After walking several hundred meters and making several turns, we finally arrived!

It looked like a farmer’s self-built house with a large courtyard. As soon as we sat down, the owner brought laminated menus and a very primitive menu. I hadn’t seen handwritten menus in a long time, and it was written on red paper, haha!

The owner was making tea over there, and suddenly I noticed a very familiar teapot.

The tableware was all sterilized and sealed in packaging, which was good. The owner also brought sunflower seeds and nuts.

We ordered three dishes. Unexpectedly, the fish was caught fresh from the pond in the courtyard, then killed on the spot by tapping its head a few times nearby - truly fresh in the absolute sense!

Since it’s not pre-made food, we had to wait a while. During this time, the table next to us finished eating and paid over a hundred yuan. Later, two more customers came in to eat indoors.

But we preferred sitting on the corridor outside the door, enjoying the breeze. Suddenly I noticed this carved wooden door was so exquisite!

Old dustpans, wooden spoons, and slotted spoons were hanging above - all things I like.

The food finally arrived: Bai-style Sour Fish Soup, Stir-fried Mushroom with Beef Jerky, and Stir-fried Loofah Sprouts.

It was indeed very delicious, but this fish had quite a few bones, so I had to eat slowly. Moreover, the owner came over to correct us, saying the fish should be eaten from the plate, haha.

I don’t know how long it took, but we finished eating and it had gotten dark. Standing in the corridor looking at the plants in the courtyard, they were so well-maintained!

Suddenly I looked up and saw a woven children’s shoe model here - it was incredibly exquisite! The owner is truly multi-talented.

The rain was getting heavier, and the weather forecast showed no signs of it letting up. I chatted with the owner, who recommended waiting for a ride at the nearby Shenxian XX Inn - so nice~

A few minutes later, we got in a ride-hailing car and headed back~

The whole trip was 38.4 kilometers, taking 63 minutes to return to the hotel, and the actual payment was only 70.43 yuan! Time to shower and sleep, tomorrow I’ll find other delicious food and fun things to do ✌✌✌

I enjoy slow-paced travel and never do rushed, check-the-box sightseeing. If you also like this style of traveling, feel free to follow, like, save, comment, and share. Thank you for reading this far~