Fighting the Curse of Lost Umbrellas

A hike up Cang mountain was planned for our last day in Dali. It was exhausting. The weather was not ideal, but we did not catch any major rain, so once we got to the top and stopped sweating like a herd of water buffalo, it was actually quite pleasant. The mountain slopes were covered with pine forests, and the trail we set out on took us through a naturally eroded archway towards a rushing cascade. On our way down – which we made by cable car – I once again saw Dali’s three pagodas against the backdrop of the Erhai. 
 Huge boulders with writing on them are very popular.
Taking pictures at huge boulders is also very popular (Shuting - on my right - made me do this)
 The forest trail
 A scene like from a Chinese classical painting
 The rock from up close
 Dali in the background
 A little cascade
 The waterfall
 CET at the waterfall
 My class at the waterfall
 At a rest stop feeling tired
 At the waterfall
 Yalies in Yunnan
Yalies trying to spell Yale (with an exclamation mark)
 The waterfall below the rest stop
 The view of Erhai from the cable car
 Dali's three pagodas
Another view of Dali's three pagodas

We spent the rest of the day riding back to Kunming by bus. The only vaguely remarkable episode from that stretch of time happened when several of our teachers got off the bus to catch a train and begin their own summer holidays. One of them forgot their umbrella on the bus, but I noticed it before we took off again, and – in rebellion against the forces of the universe that force us endlessly to lose our umbrellas – rushed to give it back to her.

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