Gotta Getaway to Dali

A short while back, I was invited to guest host a travel show on Channel ICS in Shanghai called Getaway.  Once I was able to clear my schedule, I told the TV station I was more than ready to have an adventure to this popular tourist destination located in the Yunnan Province of China.  So over the last few days, I’ve been exploring and experiencing a lot of what Dali has to offer…and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying myself.  As much as I enjoy hosting and filming The Amazing Race Asia and The Amazing Race China Rush, I never have the opportunity to actually take a “pit stop” and really enjoy the various exciting locations we race through from season to season.  On Getaway, I actually do have the time to really get into the thick of things and enjoy all that Dali has to offer.  After spending the evening in the nearby town of Xia Guan, I awoke to crystal blue clear skies, which is always a fantastic way to kick off the day…

For our first location to visit, we took a cable car up to Cang Shan mountain.  I found out this cable car was constructed in 2009 and is the longest cable car line in the world at 1648 meters from top to bottom.  Also, the base elevation of the cable car to the top of Cang Shan mountain is 5,555 meters so you know we were all feeling the effects of high altitude oxygen deficiency.

One we finally reached the summit, our film crew discovered that we’d still need to walk at least half an hour to a historical pond along the recently built pathway…

Along the way, there was definitely a lot of beautiful scenery for our crew to decide and film…

Once we got the shots we needed, it was time to continue the trek up to the top of Cang Shan mountain…

After a surprisingly more tiring and taxing walk for about half an hour, we finally reached Xi Ma Tan, which literally translates to “Wash Horse Pond.”

According to Chinese history, Genghis Khan from Mongolia was not a big fan of maritime sea battles during his invasion of China and chose to cross of Cang Shan mountain.  Along the way, he had come across this majestic pond situated at the top of the mountain and decided to set up his campsite here.  During that period, the horses obviously needed to be cleaned too so hence this pond has called Xi Ma Tan.

With our first location in Dali all wrapped up, it was time to walk back to the cable car and head back down to the bottom so we can explore more of what this city has to offer.

I hope you enjoyed this first segment in my Getaway adventure and see you again soon!