Also, if you going from Lijiang to old town Dali on the new expressway, you need to exit north of erhai or shuanglang at the latest, otherwise the expressway heads off on the eastside of erhai and deposits you way east of xiaguan. That's convenient if your final destination is Kunming, but a complete waste of time if it's old town

High speed rail from Dali to Lijiang ought to be complete this December.