Yunnan Trip ( Kunming + Dali + Lijiang )

 Day 1 : KL - Kunming

Prebooked our hotels and flights and hotel transfer via Trip.com. 

When arrive in China, we saw the Airport Transfer from Trip.com at the exit point. We decided to buy a 6GB China sim card at the airport. 

China uses mostly electric cars as it is cheaper for them compared to petrol. Their whole journey is super smooth and quiet as there is no pit holes and their car quality is super good. 

We stayed for the 1st night at Crowne Hotel Plaza Kunming. The hotel overlooks to NanQiang Old Street.

It is about 20mins walking distance to NanQiang Old Street.

We had our Mi Xian dinner at Restaurant Jian Xin Yuan.

Day 2 : Kunming - Dali

After check out, we took their high speed train from Kunming to Dali, about 2 hours ride, a 2nd-class seat cost about RM100/pax. Do not worry about no food at the train station, there are water dispensers too. The station is clean and well equipped.

Dali is a super breathtaking place. From the moment we touched down and saw Erhai Lake 洱海 and Cangshan Mountain 苍山, we had nothing to say but totally in awe with their scenery there.

After much reviewed at XiaoHongShu, we stayed at a hotel along the Ecological Corridor 生态廊道 at CaiCun 才村 called Shanhai Yiyi booked through Trip.com. We booked the Family Suite as we have 3 adults.

The hotel is super modern, high tech, and the view totally blew us away. Our hotel balcony face directly to Erhai lake, whereby no cars is allowed to drive into the Ecological corridor. It was so peaceful, the water is crystal clear, and the sea breeze was keeping us awake.

After taking the photos and videos, we headed back to the Old Town for our lunch. As the hotel was quite deep inside, we directly ask the driver who sent us earlier to send us to the Old Town. He recommended us to a restaurant with Charcoal Grilled Fish. 

As the fish required some time to be grilled, we walked to the opposite road, lingering around. 

After half an hour, the 1.7kg fish is ready to be served. The fish tasted super delicious, filled with juicy mushrooms and noodles. I would strongly recommend if anyone is looking for charcoal grilled fish in Dali Old Town. 

Initially we thought we were not able to finish the fish, and ready to packed it for our dinner. But in the end we finished it all as it was too delicious.

We continued to walk around Dali Old Town.

After a leisure walk, we went back to hotel before the sky turned dark. We took a stroll along the famous Ecological Corridor, enjoying the peaceful evening scenery.

Before we ended our day, the hotel even contacted us to send us hot milk. How considerate that is!

Day 3 : Dali Day Tour

Before dawn, we were already up waiting for sunrise, which is one of the reason we booked this hotel. We couldn't see the sun itself as the horizon was filled with clouds, hence we only see the sky colour changes.

Early morning hotel breakfast in buffet style. All breakfast in Yunnan you'll definitely see Mi Xian (noodles), red potato, corn, bun and soy milk! 

After breakfast, we actually went back to our room to continue sleeping and enjoy the scenery from our balcony. We wanted to fully utilise every penny we spent on the hotel, hence we even went up to the rooftop where they have washing machine and dryer for guests to do their laundry!

Once we had enjoyed our room enough, we went for morning stroll and picture photo taking session.

Forgotten how, we came across Erhai lake cruise details, hence we continued heading towards the jetty via Didi (China e-hailing service), thinking of taking a cruise so we could fully enjoy the magnificent lake.

As the cruise ticketing counter do not allow us to purchase ticket beforehand, we then cross across the street to a restaurant opposite for our lunch.

Seeing there is still plenty of time to kill, we then took a stroll around looking for "Dali Ba-ba" (大理粑粑)