Follow Liu Yifei and check out this hidden gem between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake.

The Dali Shanxia Lodge is no ordinary B&B. It was reborn from three abandoned Bai ethnic old courtyards. The local architectural master, Yang, took inspiration from the flowing rhythm of the Eighteen Streams of Cangshan Mountain and deconstructed and reorganized the traditional Bai architecture of "three rooms surrounding a courtyard with a screen wall". The mottled rammed earth wall of the main hall is completely preserved, and the cracks are inlaid with luminous Dali marble fragments, which look like a galaxy pouring down at night. The B&B has seventeen rooms. The full-length windows can be electrically atomized. When the weather is clear, you can watch the sea of clouds rolling. When it rains, it becomes an ink screen. The room has a mini roasting tea room, the bathroom walls are mixed with silver foil made by Heqing silversmiths, and all the furniture in the room is made of Eryuan walnut wood. The deliberately preserved tree tumors have become natural handles. The bathroom area is covered with marble, and the natural texture creates an unexpected landscape painting. Breakfast is by no means ordinary rice noodles. Instead, it is "Cangshan Small Dishes" served in a Jianchuan black pottery grid—milk fan rolls with rose sauce, Yangbi walnut cheese, Eryuan preserved plum, and Nuodeng ham with buckwheat cakes. The most amazing thing is the freshly brewed "Three-Course Tea Coffee", which uses Yunnan small-grain coffee to interpret the "bitter, sweet, and lingering" flavors. The "Cangshan Public Library", an 8-minute walk away, is actually a rebuilt lower courtyard of Gantong Temple in the Ming Dynasty, and houses a rare copy of the Dali Prefecture Chronicle from the Wanli period. Passing through the back alley of the March Street Market to the north, there is a private restaurant specializing in Bai ethnic "Eight Bowls", which can only be found with a hand-drawn map from the landlord.