Dali services
Unless otherwise noted, only Chinese is spoken at these places – no English.
- Minivan Driver
- Bank
- Bike rental
- Bike repair
- Trains
- Plane tickets
- Cinema
- Photocopies / Printing
- Electrician
- Western cooking ingredients
- Picture framing
Minivan Driver
Zhang Long (张龙)
About: Known him for years; completely honest, reliable, friendly and a good (safe) driver. He can do day trips around Dali, or longer distances (Dali > Shaxi, one way three hour trip, RMB 250, maximum six people).
Contact: Tel. 13887257460
Bank
Bank of China
Location: 333 Fuxing Road, Dali Old Town (on the big pedestrian road between Renmin Road and Foreigners’ Street)
云南省大理州中国银行大理州分行南诏支行(大理古城) 复兴路333号 671003
Contact: Tel. 0872-2670171
Bike rental
Qike Dali Bike 骑客 —— 大理车友联盟
Location: The shop next to Black Dragon Cafe
大理古城洋人街中心广场41号
About: Run by Lao Liu (刘磊), an affable bloke who takes part in a lot of bike competitions, this is the best bike shop we’ve found so far (and they happen to be our neighbours, which is lucky). Bike rental ranges from RMB 40 – 100, he also does bike repair and can get hold of spare parts if you need them.
Contact: Tel. 13577222911, 15125225957
Bike repair
Shunfeng Bikes 顺风车行
Location: Right at the bottom of Renmin road (no.47), just down from the Bookworm – after Wenhua road and before the Erhaimen East Gate.
About: One of those “old man in a shed” bike repair shops. The old man is called Zhou Fuhui (周福会); he’s very good and very cheap.
Contact: Tel. 13987299590, 2676255
Trains
The enquiries number for Dali Train Station is:
Tel: 0872-3146002
About: Please note this is enquiries only, and half the time they don’t bother to pick up the phone – if you want to buy a ticket, you’ll have to trudge over there yourself anyway. The train takes twice as long as the coach, and is more uncomfortable. Really, the only things going for it are that it’s slightly cheaper, you’re less likely to crash, and there’s a different view out the window.
17.5 Cineplex 17.5影院
Location: On Wenhua road, which is the road between Renmin road and Tai’an road (Wal-Mart street) running south off the main drag of Jianshe road. It’s part of a shopping complex called Huifeng Xincheng (惠丰新城) but the most obvious thing you’ll see from the road is a Wonderful Supermarket (万德福超市). The cinema is a little door to the left of the supermarket, with stairs leading up to the second storey.
大理市下关文化路惠丰新城五幢二楼
About: Brand new multi-screen cinema, shows 3d films, sells popcorn and icecream, highly recommended. Tickets are RMB 60 (June 2012) but you can buy a card for RMB 300 which gives you 40% off.
Contact: Tel. 0872-8889175, 2177586
Plane tickets
One way to get tickets is to just book online through Ctrip or eLong and pay by credit card, though this isn’t always a smooth process. If you want to hand over cash to a real person, a lot of travel agents around town now have their computers hooked up so you can buy plane tickets directly from them. Here’s one that’s been recommended to us, next to the south gate:
Contact: Tel. 0872-2670606
Xinxing Digital Graphic 欣兴数码图文
Location: West side of the Bo’ai road / Yu’er road intersection.
大理古城博爱路129号（博爱路与玉洱路交叉口）
About: The owner is Li Xin (李欣), she worked in Kunming for years before opening up her own place here, so she knows her stuff. Good for business cards (RMB 20 / box of 100, takes 3 days, or RMB 10 same day, but poorer quality), and anything printed you can think of – posters, brochures, etc as well as burning DVDs.
Contact: Tel. 15208725069, 0872-2671465 Email: 565296847@qq.com
If there is anything that this company can’t do (fancy paper, food packaging etc) then this Kunming company, run by Ms. Gu Wenqing (顾文清) is highly recommended:
Mulan Brand Planning Co. 昆明木兰企业策划有限公司
Location: Around the corner from Kundu in Kunming.
昆明市瓦仓街116号怡嘉合510室 邮编：650021 www.mulan607.com.cn
Contact: Tel. 13888940083, 0871-3633719, Email: 6392gu@163.com
Electrician
Mr. Wang Lixiu 王理修
About: Fixed our waffle machine, and it’s worked like a dream since.
Contact: Tel. 13887253728
Western cooking ingredients
Jiayuan Shipin (jiā yuán shí pǐn 嘉源食品)
Location: In Xiaguan, right opposite Taixing market on East Jianshe Road. 下关建设东路31号（泰兴市场正对面）
About: Big bags of flour (good if you’ve got a bread machine), Anchor butter, cheese, chocolate, breakfast cereal, capers and olives etc.
Contact: Tel. 0872-2181176
Picture framing
Western framer [wood frame + card border]: Dali Yongfa Framer (dàlǐ yǒngfā huàyì kuàngyè 大理永发画艺框业)
Location:In the Purple Cloud Wholesale Market, on the second floor of the big building off Jianshe Lu. 下关紫云市场二楼西厅171号
About: What you’d expect, a variety of frames and card borders, with acrylic or non-reflective glass.
Contact: Tel. 0872-2198171 13608823892
Chinese framer [image glued to silk/backing]: Yan Yuan Xuan Gallery (yàn yuán xuān huàláng 砚缘轩画廊)
Location: In Xiaguan, same bus stop as the vet’s above (州制药厂 No. 4 bus stop). 下关新桥北州制药厂旁
About: They only do Chinese style framing, a neat black plastic frame and a border of about 3 inches of silk, the picture stuck (glued) in the middle. All the frames we’ve got have ranged in price from 50 to 100 kuai each.
Contact: Tel. 0872-6886302
