We started off the morning at the Dali farmer’s market. It was fascinating to see such a wide range of vegetables and fruits, and most of them were foreign to Australia. There was also lots of meat, chicken and fish. We found seeing some of this produce challenging as much of it was sold still alive or recently slaughtered. We (Chloe and Elizabeth) think we’re going to consider becoming vegetarian!
Whilst we were here we had a wander through some of the town surrounding the market. We visited a silk weaving school and learnt the intricacies of weaving what were beautiful silk scarves and wall hangings. Another highlight was to see fresh locally made pizza made for us. It was quite different to what we traditionally call pizza in Australia – also cooked quite differently.
Next we visited the three pagodas. These were quite different to the pagodas we had seen previously on this trip. Unlike the colourful pagodas we saw in Beijing these were cream in colour and were quite a different shape. Two of the towers were leaning like the tower of Pisa due to past earthquakes. The views from the top of the temple behind the pagodas was quite special.
The best part of the day was the scenic boat cruise travelling to a small fishing island. Here we saw people dancing, more food markets, and more fish. We entered a school and played basketball and table tennis with some local kids. The two young boys playing table tennis were extremely talented, beating all the students from our school. After that, we reached the hotel with time to spare, so our group bonded over large games of UNO. There were some disputes over cheating and teaming up but overall we had a good laugh.
Special mention: Happy Birthday to Sunny!
When back at the hotel we continued work on our Journey Docs. We not only reflected on the exciting experiences of each day, but processed the historical, social, emotional and economical factors of the trip so far. A section of the booklet asked us to highlight the everyday differences between China and Australia. The hardest part for us would probably be the adjustment to squat toilets without toilet paper supplied.
To finish off the day we headed back to Foreigners Street where we could buy our own dinner in small groups. We were then given more time to explore the area and learn more about the culture. There was a group of mostly older women who were dancing in sync to a traditional song. We all joined in and had a laugh and also interacted with the locals by saying ‘Ni hao!’. This exploration time allowed us to be more independent and learn more about our own personalities and abilities.
– Elizabeth Moskal and Chloe Chin