China Travel Stories

• Latest Stories
• Hot Stories
• Story Tags

Search Stories

keywords:

 

Erhai Lake

Posted at: 2009-1-13; By tomdavid25; Clicks:922

My friend and I stayed at Cai Cun Village on Erhai lake for one week in August. Cai Cun is one of several small villages along the Dali Old Town side of Erhai, and is remarkably quiet and inexpensive compared to some of the villages nearby which attract the most tourists. Like many of the villages by Erhai it has a stunning view of both the lake and Cangshan Mountain, and also happens to have several foreigner-friendly, and very laid back hostels.

Getting there from the main bus station at New Dali (Xiaguan), assuming you don't want to try and explain it all to a taxi driver, involves little more than catching the 8 bus to Old Town; and then jumping on the 2 bus there for a five or ten minute ride to the village. You could walk from Old Town to Cai Cun Village if you wanted, and would have a pleasant, and mostly-shaded walk taking you past tiny artisan shops and little houses up to the main road. Across the main road are the villages and Erhai.

There are several ways and several places to get out on the lake, including both ferry and a small rented boat. Although we never took the ferry which comes to the end of the old, wooden docks at Cai Cun and other spots, the villagers will take you out on their small boats for a negotiable price. I had originally decided I wasn't going to cave in to their persistent salesmanship (they will indeed follow you down the street and hang on to your elbow), but I finally ended up giving in.

One afternoon we had found a small path through some front lawns and gardens which ran along the lakeside, and had walked out along a narrow brick ledge going into the water. One of the locals found us yet again, and showed us that, just along the edge of the ledge, we could pick fruit straight out of the lake. She immediately found a few down in the water -- they grow attached to something looking like seaweed -- and broke one open for us. After a few goes myself I had the hang of it, and let her talk us into an hour on their metal boat, going wherever we wanted and stopping to pick the fruit. So she won, but I don't feel that I lost.

The boat businesses run by the villagers, by the way, may not be entirely accepted by the local authorities, so be forewarned. However, taking visitors out on the water is a regular activity along the lake. They let me name a price, and they were happy with the 50 RMB that I suggested. This may in fact be a little too high, but it didn't rock my world.

Our boatman, an elderly and wiry-built man, probably Bai, was friendly, and was a wealth of information, even giving us the altitude of Dali, of Cangshan, and the length and width of Erhai Lake. He also told us how long it takes him to cross the entire lake, something I didn't even want to imagine this small man doing in his metal boat, but mentioned he would never try it in bad weather.

The boat actually had a small hole in the bottom, making me glad we were staying along the water's edge and had such an experienced boatman. Altogether the ride was a very lovely and tranquil, and we passed along the swampy edge of Erhai, with trees and reeds rising out of the green water, and faced by the hills and villages of the distant opposite shore. We finally got a good quarter-hour picking the lake fruit, which lasted us as snack food for a few days.

The lake fruit, one of many local products coming from Erhai, looks somewhat like an elongated diamond, and has tiny spikes coming out of each point. You should watch the spikes. The fruit are green, with a skin that will usually pop open if you pinch hard enough. However, you can find a few which are tough and take a struggle. The small fruit inside, depending on how moist or dry it is, tastes a bit like an non-sweet pear or a soft, mild nut. There are also several varieties of green lake plants that may end up on your table, depending on where you eat, and of course plenty of fresh fishand a variety of ducks.

The small restaurants along the lake, and this may or may not be common to all of the villages, typically let you choose what you want put on your plate and will have no menu to offer you. If you are not sure, it should be quite easy as many of your meal choices are sitting back there at a table, and some of your choices may be floating in a tank. So just point at what you want and ask nicely.

A familiarity with Chinese names for meats could be useful to you, as they will not be in sight. Several restaurants along the lake of course specialize in seafood, or lake food, and you'd be hard pressed to find much else there. For one of the average restaurants, a filling meal for two (no drinks) could run you about 40-60 RMB. Not bad considering your beautiful locale.

One note, in case you like to take photographs, is that the lake is quite wider than it seems. If I remember correctly it's about seven miles at its shortest crossing. If you want to get a good clear photograph of the other side, you will want a camera that can get detail at such a long distance.

Quick Comment on This story

You can post a comment as a guest, or login first. (* are required fields)

*Overall Experience:

*Entitle your comment:

* Describe Your Comment:

Click to refresh the Valid Code

Your comment will be successfully submitted after one click and will be shown below after a few seconds. Please DO NOT double-click this button. You might also use the advanced mode »

There are 1 comments:

""

beijingexpat said at 2009-1-14 0:02:00

Rating: Excellent

More details 0 people found this information help. Click here to vote for it.