Next day, we spent half day
hiking a very scenic trail around the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain after first riding the cable car to
a lookout point called ¡§Cloud Fir Platform¡¨, which was approximately 3,500
metres above sea level. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was a mysterious mountain to most of us.
You would never know what its real appearance would be because its 13 highest summits (over 5,000 metres elev.) were covered
by the moving clouds almost
all year round. You might be able to see some of its peaks by chance if
you were lucky enough. We did manage to take a group picture in front of the ever-changing cloudy snowy scenic backdrop.
Dali was our next stop after
Lijiang. Unfortunately, the weather in Dali was unpredictable. When we arrived,
it was raining all the time. We had to cancel the hiking trip to the Chongshen mountain
because the rain was especially heavy that morning. The rain finally stopped when we visited the
¡§Three Pagodas
of Chongshen Monastery¡¨ - the landmark of Dali. The pagodas were built in the late Tang Dynasty. We also enjoyed the boat cruise along the coast of Erhai Lake in the late afternoon and watched the
beautiful sunset with breathtaking views of the Chongshen mountains on the boat. I was
completely intoxicated by the romantic scene and the fresh air of Erhai Lake.
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