Black Dragon Cafe

Anyone living in Dali want to adopt a puppy?

admin — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 03:12:13 +0000

English teaching in Dali…

admin — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 02:27:05 +0000

If you’re interested in English teaching in Dali, here are a couple contacts:

Penny Chen
Weekend classes for school kids.
whoispenny@yahoo.com.cn
15911210993

One-to-one (school age)
The child of a Hong Long Jing cafe owner
13987275142

We are now a Penguin Roost bookshop!

admin — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 01:28:25 +0000

Very proud to announce we are now a Penguin Roost bookshop, part of Penguin China’s book club. So look out for special promotions and activities, including a reading group….

Here are some of the books Penguin have sent us to get things started…

Girl Stuff by Kaz Cooke
A girls guide to the teenage years. More.

Jane Austen
A lovely hardback edition of seven of Austen’s novels.

Judgement on the Front Line by Christopher DeRose
A business guide to front line leadership: Giving employees freedom of initiative in dealing with customers.

The Little Red Guard by Wenguang Huang
A family memoir of growing up in Mao’s China.

Paper Promises: Money, Debt and the New World Order by Philip Coggan
By taking the long view of money through history, Coggan presents an incisive look at the current financial crisis.

The Herb Garden

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:27:24 +0000

Another great venue with fantastic food… The Herb Garden (大理香草园) is on the road from Dali old town to Caicun by the lake, just look out for the windmill. It is run by a lovely Taiwanese lady Mrs. Xu (许太太) whose main business is making all natural soap and essential oils*. They haven’t formally opened yet, so if you’d like to eat you need to give her a call first (13988562366). It’s Western food (real Western food), salad, filled jacket potatoes, quiche, and they have a wood-fired pizza oven that can cook ten pizzas at a time.

* The brand name of their soap and essential oils is Bobobot, which is a combination of two words: “bot” as in “robot”, meaning they’re a manufacturer, and “bobo” which comes from the Chinese word “bobozu (波波族)”. “Bobozu” comes from bourgeoisie and bohemian, now meaning the trendy, health-conscious, well-heeled kind of people who are happy to buy artisan bread and organic veg.

Duan’s Kitchen – best local food in Dali

admin — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 03:44:10 +0000

It’s been hard recommending places to eat traditional Baizu food, as even the fun venues (around the Fuxing road Renmin road intersection) have food that’s on the salty/oily side. But now there’s Duan’s Kitchen, which has beautiful, delicious local dishes in a lovely old house. Just follow Renmin lu all the way down, it’s about thirty metres from the East Gate (no.12). There’s a weibo too.

Whale Town hotel

admin — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 02:58:51 +0000

Our friends’ hotel will formally open from 1st of January 2013, lovely place and lovely people, run by the travel writer Xu Song (许崧) and his family. It’s right next to the East Gate at the end of Renmin road. They all speak English…

TEL：0872-5364399,18987223372 大理古城洱海门东南角有蓝色鲸鱼的白房子。

Book-a-Saurus Children’s Library & Reading Club

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:11:53 +0000

Dali old town now has a children’s library in Jiulongju (the pedestrian street north of Honglongjing). There’s a paid annual membership, or if you just want to try it out for the day it’s RMB 20, you can take books home just like a regular library and there’s a reading club.

The reading club is 3.30pm every Saturday and lasts about an hour. Jason and I read a couple stories (always at least one in Chinese and English), but the best bit is the kids themselves stand up and tell stories. Every week we have about five kids reading aloud to everybody.

Please note that most of the books and the reading club are in Chinese, so your kids need to be fluent to enjoy it.

Photos of Chengjiang county, Kunming

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:45:10 +0000

Kunming Bird and Flower Market

admin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:32:53 +0000

Now with scorpions and naked frogs!

Where to buy Western cooking ingredients in Dali…

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:48:09 +0000

There are a few places to buy Western cooking ingredients (a small place in Taixing market, one on Bo’ai lu in the old town, but this place has bacon, big blocks of cheddar and flour (plain and wholemeal)…

Jiayuan Shipin, 31 East Jianshe Road, Xiaguan (directly opposite Taixing market) 0872 2181176
嘉源食品下关建设东路31号（泰兴市场正对面）