We’re in the Jade Emu hostel, which is just off the main road along the edge of Dali. We arrived at the hostel around 11:30am in desperate need of a shower and food. So we needed something to do in the afternoon. Luckily for us the Three Pagodas park is about a mile down the main road.

The temple complex is enormous. I recorded us walking back and we covered almost 1.1 miles – plus Google shows us descending from the clouds.

Old Dali is situated between Erhai lake to the east and pinned against the backbone of the Cangshan range to the west. The temples are at the foot of these mountains and slowly ascend up the slope. Each temple is higher than the last and gives a better view as you get deeper into the complex.

There was almost no information as we wandered around. All we had was a brief overview on our ticket, so we didn’t know what most of the buildings we were looking at were for; although a giant Buddha in many of them might have been a clue. Also in China it’s hard to know what is original, what is restored and what was totally rebuilt from scratch.

These photos are just the highlight, for all our photos of the Three Pagodas Park look here. Some excellent panorama shots too.

Posted from Dali, Yunnan, China.