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| Hongqaio Airport |
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| working on my notes |
We took the Line 2 subway from People's Square to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. There was an ingenious promotional ad on the subway wall depicting a red dragon composed of consumer products. The
4-hour flight on China Eastern Airlines from Hongqiao to Dali was uneventful until the approach to Dali Airport
when high winds gusting off the mountains buffeted the aircraft for a
rather bumpy and tense descent and landing (one poor woman had to use
an airsick bag). As prearranged, we were met at the airport by a driver
from our hotel, the Ji Rui Hotel.
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look closely and you will see the myriad products
cunningly integrated into the design |
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| windmills on hills |
During the approach and landing, despite the
buffeting, I noticed many windmills and solar collectors dotting the
hillsides. I wondered how much the region was trying to develop
renewable energy sources. As we headed into the new city of Dali
(called Xiaguan by locals) along the southern shore of Erhai Lake we passed many seemingly abandoned
construction sites for large condo complexes many with loose
protective tarpaulins torn from the scaffolding and flapping in the wind. They look like
ghost towns as a Japanese acquaintance who lives in Dali old town we met later told us. They are
apparently government funded housing projects that have come to a
halt as a result of the recent downturn in the growth of the Chinese
economy.
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| Erhai Lake - many of the buildings in the background are unfinished and empty |
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| our driver to the Ji Rui |
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| the Ji Rui Hotel |
It
was rush hour and traffic was heavy with bottlenecks impeding
progress. The driver did a U-turn at one point to try another approach and we got
bogged down in another bottleneck, but we finally arrived at the
hotel. The Ji Rui was a charming old style Chinese inn. The hotel
desk clerk, a young woman, spoke reasonable English and we were able
to understand her and be understood by her. The location of the hotel
(which did not serve meals), however, outside the old town wall was
quite a long walk to restaurants, shops, etc. We were too tired by then to undertake the walk so went without dinner. Then we were quite
dismayed to discover that the room was unheated. The temperature
plunges quickly at night and, being old, the building was very
drafty, especially with the high gusts of wind that kept buffeting
it. There was also much dust borne on the high winds that seeped in
through the cracks of the old window frames and walls that left a
fine film on our computers and most everything else. Fortunately,
there was an electric blanket on the bed but we spent a cold
uncomfortable evening shivering and discussing what we should do
given the downsides of the otherwise charming hotel.
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| sleeping area - bed has an electric blanket |
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door had to barred
from the inside to lock it |
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the huge bathroom - latticed windows later
proved to have a nice view of the mountains |
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this type of ceramic bowl lavatory
is common in old hotels in China |
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| the sitting area of our room in the Ji Rui Hotel |
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