This coming Tuesday Dali will host the Torch Festival (火把节, huobajie), the most important festival on the Yi calendar and a pyromaniac's dream.

Throughout old Dali torches ranging from one to four meters in size are being sold with bags of pine resin (松子, songzi) which can be thrown on lit torches to create a fireball effect. Torches are paraded and swung through the streets and fireballs launched at passersby - the airborne resin burns upquickly but can be very hot up close and cause burns.

For first-timers some basic recommendations include: 1) Don't wear anything you don't want burned, 2) Avoid torch-brandishing children and 3) Your torch can be used against you, beware of people throwing pine resin on your torch in your general direction.

Dali guesthouse Dragonfly Garden will hold a Torch Festival party from sunset on Tuesday until sunrise the next day. Fifteen yuan gets partygoers some live and DJed music and the opportunity to stare at a massive burning mushroom. Call Brian for info and accommodation: 15912600503.

Tags: Dali, Dragonfly Garden, torch festival

Dragonfly Garden in Dali will ring in the year of the pig with a party this Thursday, February 22nd featuring the first performance by a new Kunming hiphop collective plus all night food, drink and dancing.

One highlight of the party should be the debut of South Silk Road, a China-US bilingual hiphop crew featuring Kunming natives Hu Xuan aka Tangrenti and MC Jumpfish who will be sharing mike duties with MC Mike Wind and rapper/producer Marshall Hatfield. Word from Mike Wind is Jumpfish will be absent for the Dali performance but should be present for upcoming shows in Kunming to promote the first South Silk Road album, which is due for release in the next few weeks on Kunming label Codeword Records.

Kris Ariel, who produced the track 'Upwind Jumpoff' for MCs Jumpfish and Wind last year, will headline an all-night lineup of area DJs also featuring DJs Echo and Yan.

Entrance to the event is 20 yuan, which includes one beer and an Indian snack. Drinks, pizza and barbecue will be on sale all night. There will also be an all-night shuttle bus between the Dragonfly (on Erhai Lake) and the intersection of Renmin Lu and Bo'ai Lu in Dali Old Town.

For party information call Moe @ 138 8867 2754 or Dragonfly Garden at 135 2965 7680.

Click below to listen to mp3s by members of South Silk Road:

• MC Jumpfish/Mike Wind

• Tangrenti

Tags: Chinese New Year, Dali, Dragonfly Garden, Kris Ariel

Dragonfly Garden in Dali

Dragonfly Garden in Dali will be ringing in 2007 with a lakeside New Year's party on Erhai Lake.

The party begins at 8pm on New Year's Eve and will feature a DJ battle with DJ Scalp Latine vs DJ Laga. DJ Siku and an all-night drum circle will go until 8am.

The evening will also feature fireworks at midnight, bonfires and firedancing, all-night pizza and barbecue and a 2007 sunrise boat trip on Erhai Lake featuring a fully stocked bar with champagne, wine and German beer.

For those that don't know how to get there, there will be round-the-clock shuttle bus service from the intersection of Boai Lu and Renmin Lu (near the Bird Bar) to Dragonfly Garden, 3km outside of town on Erhai Lake near the Caicun Pier. Directions can also be found on Dragonfly Garden's website, which is still under construction but has some information up now.

To book accommodations, call Dragonfly Garden at 135 2965 7680.

Tags: Dali, Dragonfly Garden, travel

Playing with fire in the Bird Bar courtyard

Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a time to spend with family and friends admiring the full moon while eating, drinking and maybe forcing down a mooncake or two.

Dali is always a good place for Mid-Autumn moongazing and this year is no exception. Friday night there will be a couple of parties to celebrate the year's harvest.

The Bird Bar will be featuring the highly danceable musical stylings of DJ Kris1 inside the bar, with plenty of room in the courtyard out back for a lunar fa dai session. Festivities should kick off around 10 or 11ish.

Down on Erhai Lake, new arrival Dragonfly Garden is throwing their second big party since opening several weeks back. The Dragonfly party will feature 12 hours of live music and DJs from 8pm to 8am, fire shows, juggling, all-night barbecue and unlimited punch, all for the low entry fee of 15 yuan.

It's not too late to hop on a bus to Dali. Here are contact details for the Bird and the Dragonfly:

Bird Bar
鸟吧
22 Renmin Lu, Dali Old Town
大理古城人民路22号
(0872) 266 1843

Dragonfly Garden
蜻蜓花园
Caicun Matou, Erhai Lake, Dali Old Town
大理古城才村码头海滨饭馆
(0872) 269 1518
http://www.dragonflydali.com (site is unfinished, but has good directions on how to get there)
info@dragonflydali.com

Tags: Bird Bar, Dragonfly Garden, Mid-Autumn Festival