A thirty-minute bus ride north of Xiaguan and almost a satellite suburb, DALI draws swarms of tourists for various reasons. Aside from a beautiful setting, Chinese package groups come seeking some colourful history, while foreign backpackers try to escape the realities of China amongst Western-oriented beer gardens, massages, language courses, day trips and food. It might sound grim, but the town and surrounding villages are both pretty and interesting, full of old houses and an indigenous Bai population. To the east lies the great Er Hai Lake , while the invitingly green valleys and clouded peaks of the fifty-kilometre-long Cang Shan range rear up behind town, the perfect setting for a few days' walking or relaxation.

And there's much more to Dali than its modern profile. Favouring its profitable location near the Silk Road, an aspiring eighth-century Yunnanese prince named Piluoge invited his rivals to dinner, set fire to the tent, and afterwards established the Nanzhao Kingdom here, a realm later expanded to include much of modern Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. In 937, the Bai warlord Duan Siping toppled the Nanzhao and set up a smaller Dali Kingdom , which survived until Kublai Khan and his Mongolian hordes descended in 1252, subduing the Bai and imposing Chinese rule. This persisted until 1856 when, inspired by the Taipings, Du Wenxiu led the Muslim Uprising against the Qing empire to Dali, and again declared the town capital of an independent state. But in 1873 the the rebellion was crushed with the wholesale massacre of Yunnan's Muslim population; Du Wenxiu died and Dali was devastated, never to recover its former political position.

Muslims and Han remain today, but the majority of the regional population are still Bai. If you can, visit during the Spring Fair , held from the fifteenth day of the third lunar month (April or May). Originally a Buddhist festival, the event has grown into five hectic days of horse trading, wrestling, racing, dancing and singing, attracting thousands of people from all over the region to camp at the fairground just west of town. You'll probably have to follow suit, as beds in Dali will be in short supply.