It was a good idea for us to have lunch at Xizhou Ancient Town: the town was laid back and quiet, compared to the very bustling — and clearly touristy — Shuanglang Ancient Town. The town was a 40-minute drive away and on the northern side of Erhai Lake. The street that runs along the lake shore was packed with shops, cafés and restaurants. When you see Chagee, KFC, and Luckin Coffee, you know you’re in an area planned for visitors. There were quite a lot of people about visiting this Saturday after lunch, though as this lakeside-facing town stretches across a lengthy section, the crowds were fairly well spread out. There are also numerous alleyways to explore: we spent about an hour here, and that honestly isn’t nearly enough for one to cover the area.
And I got to take the DJI Neo 2 for a first flight in the country! I found a secluded alley that led outwards to the lake, and took the Neo 2 for two flights to capture aerial videos of the general area. Nothing adventurous: I didn’t dare to fly too far, and I kept the flights short and at a fairly low altitude. To be sure, I was a little apprehensive about whether drones were permitted in the area: the company that assisted with drone registration said it was, but I think the best assurance I got was that I ran into a kiosk at a shop in the town that was renting out DJI Neos!
I was also a little worried about whether the Neo would be able to take off at all, since we were at around ~2,000 meters altitude, but the Neo didn’t flinch and didn’t look like it was working any harder than normal.
I wished we could have spent more time in this town, but we had to head out early afternoon for our next stop: Little Putuo Island.