From Grits to Chopsticks

Last weekend, we had the privilege of joining our son Timothy and his wife Caitlyn in the nearby city of Dali for the weekend.  We stayed at the Sleepyfish Lodge so that Caitlyn could enjoy some time with their two golden retrievers:On Friday morning, we rode a gondola lift midway up Cangshan mountain.  Rain was falling outside, and as we began to cross some deep valleys, the roaring wind made us quite nervous.Apparently, it made the lift operators nervous too – they shut down the operation shortly after we reached the top.  This gave us the opportunity to hike back down:The walk down was scenic and peaceful, with a blending of new and old structures: After 4 to 5 hours, we finally made it back to the city and enjoyed dinner at a western restaurant called the Blue Gecko:The next day, we were thankful that the rain held off, allowing us to rent some bikes and ride through the farmland along the shore of ErHai Lake: We stopped for lunch at a small family restaurant:We returned to Dali Old Town to briefly experience the annual San Yue Jia festival, a time when the town’s population swells to a million people.  Most of them were on the other side of this gate:Other than the masses of people, there’s a lot to see (and smell) among the vendors: But by far the best part of our visit together was just talking about our lives in China.  It’s obvious that we’ve lived here a while when you see us squat…