If you’re lookingfor a place to relax from the pace of Chinese traveling; somewhere to escape the pollution and the noise, you could do a lot worse than Dali. In the foothills of the Himalayas, Dali provides a refreshing mix of South East Asian chill and stunning Chinese architecture. Don’t be fooled though by the romantic oriental style- most of the buildings were erected the week before you arrived, but Dali retains its charm if only by virtue of the perilously placed streams running either side of the narrow streets. Watch out for them. Although Dali is a big hit with both Chinese and foreign tourists, you don’t need to travel too far to get a real sense of Yunnan country living and avoid the clichéd tourist spots.

If this is what you’re looking for, persevere. Cast aside your navigational instinct. Hire a bike, or use your legs, leave your map, and explore. That’s easy for me to say. Getting lost is something I’m good at. Reading maps is not. This it may seem is not an ideal quality for a vagabonder, but getting lost leads the traveler down unexplored paths. It was in Dali that getting lost led me to a small fishing village by the side of a lake.

 

This place seemed to me to  be the dictionary definition of ‘sleepy fishing village’. Just a few houses dotted around, hammocks swinging between trees, children running with the chickens by the side of the lake. Here a fisherman was keen to take me out on his boat to go fishing. There were no rods or nets, just a few huge birds; cormorants.

 

Cormorant fishing was something I was entirely unfamiliar with, and to this day I’m convinced it must be the least efficient method of catching fish possible. Imagine it – rowing out on a tiny boat into the middle of a lake surrounded by mountains with 7 or 8 winged beasts for company. Romantic, definitely. Practical? Hardly! Once we had reached a good distance from the shore the hungry birds were released and they set off to catch some fish. Unlucky for them, the string tied around their neck was just tight enough to prevent them from swallowing their prey – so they flew back to the boat to regurgitate the fish into a bowl. This is really quite a sight to see, and it’s hard to believe people use methods like these to catch a fish. By the time we rowed back to the shore, we’d spent nearly an hour out in the lake and caught around half a dozen whole fish and a few half fish – the other half presumably slipping through the string.

 

Having never read about this type of fishing, nor the existence of this village, it was really a gem found by chance. I’m unable to give you directions, as I have no idea how I got there. My only advice is to lose your map and go.