Spending time with Lizy was one of the best experiences we had in China. Being able to speak English with a local and interact made all the difference!
We met her at a farm, where we had tea and snacks—including her parents' delicious homemade green beans. We harvested some vegetables for dinner, and then she took us to the local market in her cool car :)
We arrived home, and she prepared a delicious and fresh dinner, one of the best meals we had in China. We also enjoyed some local beers and talked a lot about Chinese culture.
Lizy is careful and such a kind person! We absolutely loved this experience!
Throughout the trip, Lucky, her adorable dog, was always with us!
We had an especially fun stand-up paddleboarding experience.
The guide was very easygoing, great at chatting, attentive throughout, and explained everything in detail. Even beginners could stand up and paddle quickly.
Along the way, we stopped at Dengchuan Town, where we tasted super fresh milk and yogurt (with a slight dairy flavor from the March Market), and authentic乳扇 (fermented milk fan), which tasted very traditional (better than those sold in the old town). Before entering the water, the guide prepared fruit and cake to fill us up; after coming ashore, we replenished our energy—very thoughtful.
I am naturally afraid of water and can't swim, but although I fell in at the end, I managed to overcome my fear. That's probably the charm of outdoor activities.
Afterward, we went to a restaurant for a meal, which was the best I’ve had in Dali so far.
Overall, the experience was very relaxing and healing. I want to try other activities when I return to Dali.
Following the guide into the mountains, we reached Guala Ban in Yangjiang Town. Deep inside, there is a farm with a peony plant. The cow was mooing loudly from hunger.
After passing the alpine meadow, we entered the forest. Avoid the nettles, first encounter the Nepal alder, then see many rhododendrons in the mountains, still in bloom with large patches of blood-red color. (Figures 10 and 11 show the rhododendron.) The guide used a stem as a straw for us to drink the nectar from the rhododendron flowers.
Then there are large mountain banyan trees, poplars, and a swing made from kudzu roots. We took turns sitting on it. The big trees often have cavities, and people can stand inside them. There are also some ancient trees that have been felled, leaving thick stumps behind.
In moist areas, the tree trunks are always covered with lichens and mosses. There are also some blue and yellow fungi. The guide said that now is the windy season, and by summer, these colorful tree trunks will grow mushrooms of similar colors.
The endpoint is a pasture with a long stone wall, said to have been built by an old man over a long period. Later, the old man no longer lived there, and occasionally other families came to graze. So we encountered yellow cattle and black sheep. Many households also kept beehives here, which was my first time seeing them.
People often feel anxious and tense in the city, but in the mountains, with no signal, they just keep moving forward, drawing energy from nature each time.
Very surprised, and went with a little dog
Following Wangwang and the feeling of 'Furball' makes the 5 hours pass by quickly. Hiking wasn't as exhausting as I imagined; overall, it was more joyful. I will come back during the mushroom season next time!
An extremely satisfying hiking experience! Guide Li was very professional and enthusiastic, introducing us to various plants and teaching us some hiking tips. Plus, the adorable dog 'Furball' accompanied us throughout, and the kids were excited all along. Although it’s not mushroom season, we were very lucky to find a porcini mushroom! Highly recommended!
My baby and I were very fortunate to enter the world of bees guided by a wonderful guide.
I first learned that bees are a matriarchal society. All the worker bees we see collecting nectar are female. The queen has a 'switch' inside her body that can freely control the sex of the eggs she lays; she only produces a small number of males. The only function of the male bees is reproduction. I can already recognize the larger male bees at a glance from the hive partition.
Bees have two stomachs. They use their mouthparts to extract nectar from flowers and store it in their crop, which is the source of honey we eat. It turns out honey isn’t made from pollen but from flower nectar. Before collecting nectar, each bee carries a bit of its own sticky honey to help turn pollen into a smooth spindle-shaped 'dough' that is tucked into their two sturdy hind legs. It’s easy to see in the hive—bright yellow, like two big chicken legs. My little one and I also saw how they unload these 'chicken legs' into the honeycomb cells. Guide Chunyu also said that after unloading, the honey is usually hammered with the head, similar to how we punch dough with our fists, to compress the pollen. Pollen is the main food for bees, like protein powder for humans. These details I couldn’t learn from books or documentaries before. Guide Chunyu gives a gentle and kind impression. I was very lucky to meet a beekeeper with over twenty years of experience working with bees, not someone who just started making money after a few years. All my curiosity and questions about bees were well answered.
Dali has always been caring towards me, including its natural environment.
Finally arrived at Cangshan and met guide Sister Waanwan. She took me along wild paths, picking flowers and identifying grasses, moving at a relaxed pace. We would stop to look at the shimmering leaves in the distance, bend down to touch the spores on the back of fern leaves; lift our heads to watch the wind pass through the treetops, blowing our hair askew.
I saw 'Lego' in plants, which can be disassembled and reassembled piece by piece; smelled the unripe goat milk fruit, carrying the unique grassy scent of the mountains and wilds; the firethorn flower, called 'Doujin' in dialect, which turns from white to fiery red when ripe; learned to braid a cool bracelet with sour-tasting buckwheat; saw the false sour jujube that can be made into icy jelly, hanging like little lanterns on the branches; even at the end of spring, a few forsythia flowers refused to leave the stage; and the leaf mimicry of the leafhopper, which looks completely different from the 'childhood shadow' in my memory.
Just like that, we gained a lot along the way. When we reached the creek, we sipped freshly picked black tea, enjoyed the slightly pink apple-flavored hawthorn, sweet blueberries, and mildly sweet green dates; while chatting about our hometowns, lives, work, and a bit of attitude.
When I started tapping the plants, I was still skeptical. Watching their shapes, textures, and colors, as the juice slowly seeped out and spread slightly, then came the rhythmic tapping hundreds of times. When I tore off the tape, I was truly amazed. I was so satisfied to have completed a co-creation with the plants.
