Jason | 2024.10.05
A day in Dali: collecting water, visiting friends, and reflecting on a minimalist life.
Woke up at 10:30, had coffee, and headed out with a bucket to pick up packages and get spring water from Li Zhenhao's studio. Many locals collect free spring water from public taps. I also brought an iPad to give to Xiao 6. I've been decluttering—only keeping personal items like paintings, pottery, a plant frame, a lamp from Thailand, and a small urn for my cat's ashes.
I've rented for 30 years. My relationship with stuff evolved: from having nothing, to buying antiques and travel souvenirs, to painfully giving things away before moving to Dali. Now I live simply—everything fits on a motorcycle. The key was learning to let go: things don't go to waste if you sell or give them away.
I messaged Xiao 6 about the iPad; she needed it for her photography job at Longkan Pier. Photographers there often fight over spots, but she's adapting. I picked up my power bank from Fangfangmian, a real estate agent I respect for his honesty. He and his wife make successful short videos. I stopped by Hunter & Rou's private kitchen, run by a chef couple who moved from the city. They started it after getting bored, and it's now popular. I chatted with Rou between serving.
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Jason | Using AI to Create Your Own Mini Program/Website
Two months ago in Chiang Mai, I stumbled upon the chance to start learning how to build mini programs. My AI programming mentor, Wangshen, told me, 'Once you finish your mini program, write a summary report.' Now I've completed the new mini program for Cangshan Hiking Home, and it's already being tested. It not only solves problems I've wanted to address for a while, like adding age tags to filter activities and providing an English version, but it has also introduced new features, such as browsing restaurants, guesthouses, and meeting points on a map for a more intuitive experience, and using AI to provide quite intelligent responses.
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Celebrate the Torch Festival in a Nanzhao Royal Clan Village
Over the past two years, we have taken guests to celebrate the Torch Festival in Songhe Village, Eryuan. Together we slaughtered a sheep, and with the whole village, erected a huge torch in the center of the village square. Everyone made their own torches from hemp stalks, and together with the older and younger villagers, we rushed to grab the blessing baba (cakes) from the big torch, passing blessings to each other with fire. Even for me, a native Bai person, these are rare and precious traditional festival experiences. Dali has endless festivals, and I want to experience them more before they fade away. I remember the Torch Festival of my childhood: torches were no longer enough for me. Before the festival, I would tell my dad to prepare a bucket of waste engine oil and diesel, mix them together, and then I would tightly bind cotton and old cloth with rope into a ball (some kids would secretly take cotton from their quilts at home to make it). Finally, I would make an iron wire ball, soak it in the bucket of oil, and secretly take it out every day to look at it, looking forward to having a great time on the day of the Torch Festival. We would compete in the village and by the rice fields to see whose fireball or torch was more impressive. When the torches and fireballs were almost burned out, we would rush home, walk around the potted fruit trees in circles, and say blessing words, hoping they would grow even better in the coming year.