Shaping, located a short distance but a bumpy ride north of Dali, is notable for its open air market held every Monday.  Most people there are locals doing their weekly shopping for food, clothes, and almost anything else one would need in this part of the world.  To them it’s a chore; to foreigners, it is a sight to behold.  Here, embroidered purses lie on a sheet near the entrance to the marketplace.

The entrance to the marketplace - which is basically a huge series of tents set up in a now-grassless field - starts with vendors lined up side by side along the paths, with sheets spread across the ground to hold trinkets such as these.

Old musical instruments for sale.

It doesn’t look like they’re going to sell out of noodles anytime soon.

Peanuts.

A village dentist hard at work.

Heavy clouds roll over the Jade Green Mountains, viewed from the edge of the marketplace.

Smile!  The marketplace shoppers were made up of as many minority people in traditional dress as people in normal dress, making the market a colorful affair.

A colorful shop of blankets and clothes for children.  Most of the stalls were about this size, and hundreds of them were scattered about the marketplace.

The produce section of the marketplace.

Spicy produce.  There was no shortage of chilis here.

Chilis, from whole dried to crushed.  Sichuan province, noted for its incredibly spicy food, is just north of Yunnan - so no doubt these chilis are extremely hot.

After a couple of hours of walking the many aisles of the market, I too was ready to be carried around like this.

Surprisingly few of the items in the Monday marketplace are here for the sake of tourists.  This truly is shopping day for the local villagers.

This kind lady, a relative of my guide from Dali, served lunch for a group of us after the walk through the marketplace.  She got a kick out of seeing her picture on my digital camera.

A huge Bai-styled painting and sculpting on a wall near the Shaping marketplace.  The wall is part of a new complex of shops being built to mimic the “Foreigner Street” in Dali to draw tourists.  The scenery is local, looking west, with Erhai Lake in the foreground and the Three Pagodas against a backdrop of the Jade Green Mountains.

A small temple is located near the Shaping marketplace.  The arrangement of tea, leaves, and incense shown here seems to be a standard offering; I saw it many times throughout the region.

When I turned around from taking the previous picture, I took this one, and it’s one of my favorites.  The man is holding a small pair of scissors, which he is using to cut this small field of grass.  He has completed cutting the area behind him; the rest of his day will be spent cutting the remaining grass in front of him.