The legendary Dali was absolutely over-run with tourists. My fault for going in August, and for showing up without a hotel reservation. Took quite a bit of work to find one. It's a decent enough place. The city itself is kitch-ified, I didn't much like it. But the surrounding countryside is spectacular. The big temple, the three pagodas or whatever it's called, charges more than 20 USD entrance fee, so I skipped it. I just mountain biked around the surrounding villages and had a grand old time of it.
The backpacker ghetto
Signs, signs, everywhere are signs
Golf cart minibuses ferrying around the lazy
Some streets were actually difficult to navigate so crowded were they.
One of the old gates
I finally made a sensible decision and got on a mountain bike to tour the countryside
Dali is lousey with spiders
Out by the Three Pagodas temple
Once you get out of the horrible city of Dali, you can actually mountain bike through some lovely small villages lining the lake