After
some nine days in Dali we were feeling comfortable getting around the
Old Town and venturing farther afield outside the walls. We heard
about a place called Butterfly Spring near a town called Zhoucheng
where they make indigo blue tie-dyed fabrics. Since we were looking
for a table cover made of the fabric we decided to take a day trip
and hired a car and driver for the 25km drive. There were three stops
on our agenda for the day: Butterfly Spring, Zhoucheng and an old
town called Xizhou.
BUTTERFLY SPRING
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| the aquamarine waters of the Butterfly Spring |
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| pink granite statue of Xu Xiake |
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| old and sagging gateway arch to Butterfly Spring |
Butterfly
Spring is a park containing a natural spring fed from underground
water running down from the Cangshan mountains. The spring was first described during the Ming Dynasty (14th to 17th Centuries) by a geographer named Xu Xiake. The spring is a
lovely blue green pool of clear water. In April many species of
butterflies migrate here and hang from the trees in colorful
profusion. Unfortunately, February was too early for the butterflies.
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| octagonal pavilion by the spring |
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| love you forever promises |
The site is popular with young lovers (and older ones too)
who come here and buy colorful ribbons and hang them from the trees
along a path festooned with thousands of them wishing for happy unions. The path is a riot of
undulating color when the wind ruffles and blows through the ribbons. There
is a romantic legend of a pair of star crossed lovers who jumped into
the pool a avoid an unwelcome suitor and died. They emerged as a pair
of beautiful butterflies—thus the name Butterfly Spring.
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the love boat -
doing damage control |
 |
You think it'll be fixed
for the next show? |
Dances are
performed by local young people dressed in Bai ethnic costumes. But
due to apparent technical difficulties we were unable to catch a performance.
ZHOUCHENG
Zhoucheng
turned out to be the highlight of the afternoon. As soon as the
driver pulled up to a city gate two women practically grabbed us by
the arm and pulled us along. Bewildered at first, we allowed
ourselves to be led when we noticed a large crowd of people gathered
around an outdoor stage with music and firecrackers. There was a
festival going on and we wanted to stop and have a look, but the two
determined ladies kept urging us forward.
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| people gathered around the outdoor stage |
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| one of our abductresses |
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| our circular tie-dye fits perfectly on the dining room table |
I soon spotted a tie-dye shop and pointed to an item and indicated by sign
language that we were interested in buying something. One of the ladies nodded and
indicted that she knew that and urged us on until we arrived at an
atelier where they make tie-dye fabrics. It suddenly dawned on me
that these ladies hadn't met us accidentally. They must have been
contacted by our driver on his cell phone, because they were
obviously waiting for us at the gate. One of the ladies showed us
around and demonstrated the process of making the fabrics and then
led us into the shop. We wanted to buy a large circular piece for our
dining room table and we were shown a couple of beauties, one just
the right size. I bargained (now becoming a veteran) until we arrived at a mutually acceptable price—240 ¥uan (about $35), a real bargain for
the piece which is all hand made.
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| the outdoor stage |
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| the audience |
After leaving the atelier we
wandered over to the festival and had a lot of fun watching a costume
show that reminded us of kabuki and kagura dances in Japan.
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| the performance |
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| no idea what the chicken's all about |
XIZHOU
We
were pretty foot sore from a lot of walking when we arrived at our
last destination, the old town of Xizhou. Maybe we were just tired
but the old town seemed all too familiar after spending eight days in
Dali Old Town and it seemed overrun with tourist souvenir shops. Just
took a couple of photos and slowly walked back to the car and told the
driver to take us back to Dali.
|
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| Xizhou Square |
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| one humongous tree |
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| "Fancy a ride, darlin'?" |
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