Yunnan Holiday

Here we are again reporting our third trip in China. This time we traveled in Yunnan Province, which according to “Lonely Planet” is one of the most alluring destinations in China. After our trip we agree - it is so beautiful. The province shares borders with Tibet, Myanmar and Laos (and of course our province of Guizhou). We went to the NW part of Yunnan, up near Tibet.

We started our journey with a sleepless night, maybe we were both too excited to sleep. We left site early on Friday 15th Sept., with our friends Les and Wendy Prisk, heading first as usual to Guiyang (Les and Wendy had decided to take the same tour as us). We stayed overnight in Guiyang. We picked up a suit and some shirts that Roy had made. It is very cheap to get tailor-made clothes here. The next morning we left for Kun Ming, the capital of Yunnan Province. I spent 4 weeks there studying Chinese in August, so I knew my way around (only on buses, since I never took a taxi when I was a student). We had a 6-hour stopover so I led the troop (Roy, Les & Wendy) from the airport to the city. It only costs 2 RMB each (less than 40 cents) by bus. 

Well, Roy didn’t put much confidence on my sense of direction, and the pressure was on, but we made it there. We took Les & Wendy on a tour around the city centre. We also went to the Craft and Antique Market, and we bought 2 knapsacks, one big/one small, for the trip. The straps on our made-in-china “Northface” knapsack came apart during the flight. It turned out to be handy as we managed to fill up all our bags by the end of the trip (I got the old knapsack repaired in Lijiang for 5 RMB – 90 cents). 

Our flight to Dali, our first destination of the trip, left at around 7 pm. It only took around ½ hour from Kun Ming. We arrived in Dali with no dramas and were met by a taxi which took us to Yuyuan Guest House. The airport is 45 minute-drive from the city, which lies on the other side of Erhai Lake. The guesthouse was located in the Old City, very convenient. Once we got our rooms the 4 of us crashed for the night as it was quite late.

The next day we had a free day before the tour started. We slept in and decided to walk to the north of Dali to see the Three Pagodas, a famous landmark of Dali. When we got to the entrance, we almost turned back as the entrance fees were quite steep, 121 RMB each (about A$20), but then we thought what the heck, we would only be here once. We entered the park and decided to stay as long as we could and see everything to get our money’s worthJ. The views from the park were beautiful. The 3 Pagodas stood majestically, and their reflections could be seen on a pond nearby, quite amazing. There were lots of Chinese tour groups when we entered but it become quieter as lunch time approached. The 3 pagodas were the only remaining “real” old buildings in the complex (being over 1000 years old), the rest were burned down during the Cultural Revolution (the pagodas stayed because they weren’t made of wood). A series of temples were recently rebuilt from scratch based on the original layout.

After the Three Pagodas Temple Complex we then went to Zhonghe Mountain (Dali lies on its northern slope). We took a chairlift up the mountain to Zhonghe Temple. The temple itself was mediocre, but from there we could walk along a trail with beautiful views of Dali, Erhai Lake (a big fresh water lake located close to Dali), and the surrounding area. The views from the chairlift down the mountain were spectacular. 

Our “real” tour started on Monday. We were up early and met with the rest of the group for breakfast. There were 9 of us: 1 Australian (Roy), 2 Kiwis (Les & Wendy), 1 Indonesian (me), 2 Americans (Joan & Patrick), a British lady (Ruhi), our tour guide, Jonathon, and his wife, Juni. We were quite a mixed group. After breakfast we drove to Shaping, a village at the north end of Erhai Lake. Every Monday local people hold a market selling fresh produce, clothes, and many other things. At the entrance to the market there were rows of stalls selling traditional handicrafts and “antique” souvenirs for tourists. After lunch we drove to Erhai Lake, and had a cruise around the lake. We made a couple of stops along the way at a fisherman village and an old Chinese temple complex perched high on the hill. A storm was brewing when we were visiting the temple, so we made a hasty departure. The trip back was slow, rough, and wet. Many people got sea sick. But, we luckily made it back to shore safely.

On Tuesday, we left Dali and caught a local bus to Lijiang. It was a comfortable trip through some beautiful mountainous countryside. We arrived in Lijiang at around lunch time and checked into our hotel in the Old Town. After lunch we went for a bike ride to Baisha village. The countryside was beautiful, but Baisha Village was a bit disappointing. It was just full of streets with souvenir shops. We also had sore bums as the bike seats weren’t comfortable and some of the roads were bumpy. The Old Town of Lijiang is beautiful - lined with cobble streets and traditional houses, and crisscrossed by narrow canals (but as usual full of shops selling touristy things). At night, all the traditional style buildings were lit up, very pretty. There were many Chinese holiday makers. Domestic tourism is a very big industry in China. People really make use of the opportunity to see many beautiful parts of their country since they are now free to travel, not like before.

From Lijiang we drove to Lashi Lake, a bird sanctuary. Unfortunately it was not the right season for the birds, so there were no birds to be seen. There were replicas of minority people houses, but they are not well-kept. We could have given this place a miss, but it was part of the tour. From the lake we made our way to Tiger Leaping Gorge. The scenery along the way was spectacular, from soaring snow capped peaks, beautiful valleys, waterfalls, to a gushing river down below. 

We drove through the entire gorge along a road that at times was a track cut over huge landslides. It was a bit intimidating knowing that in a few days time we would be hiking through it. We stopped for lunch at Tina’s, one of the guesthouses in the area. It was a tasty lunch with a fantastic view across and along the gorge. We also celebrated Les’ birthday. Jonathon, our tour guide, brought along a cake from Lijiang. After lunch we drove to Baishutai and then walked 30 minutes uphill to the White Water Terraces – a series of terraces built up by a stream depositing calcium carbonate. Roy said it was geologically interesting – he was happy :-). We stayed the night in Baishuta. 

The next morning we departed Baishuta and again drove through spectacular mountainous countryside with glimpses of snow capped peaks in the distance. We stopped at Bita Lake. From the carpark it was a beautiful ¾ hours walk down a series of steps through the forest. The lake was serene and beautiful. The hike back proved to be a lot harder as the lake is at an elevation of 3500 m above sea level. Roy led the group up without any stops. I had to make a lot of stops on my way up to catch my breath. After the lake, we had a pleasant 1½ hour drive to Zhongdian (this town has recently been renamed Shangri-La by the Chinese authorities). Zhongdian is the start of Tibetan world, and principally a Tibetan town, quite different from other areas that we had visited. The Old Town is full of souvenir stalls, guesthouses, and cafes. We stayed in a beautiful Tibetan style hotel in the Old Town, called Nanka Mingdian. The Old section of Town was quite small so it didn’t take us too long to wander along all the streets and even climb the hill to see a giant prayer wheel. At night the town square was the place to go. At 7:30 traditional music started blaring from speakers and about 20 people formed a circle and started dancing. By 8:30 the place was full of local people, joined by tourists, dancing to traditional music. The dancers ranged from elderly ladies dressed in traditional clothes to teenagers wearing the latest fashions. The atmosphere was relaxed and quite enjoyable.

The following morning we left the ‘Old Town” of Zhongdian and made our way to Songzanlin Tibetan Monastery located about 20 minute drive from the city. This is an active Lamastery and about 300 monks live in the complex. We walked up to the 2 main temples and had a look inside. It was a shame that there were many other tour groups with their usual loudspeakers which disturbed the peace and serenity inside, not showing any respects to the monks who were doing their chanting. 

From Zhongdian we drove back to Tiger Leaping Gorge. After having lunch in a crowded restaurant, we started hiking. We had arranged to have 2 horses to carry our luggage and 3 others to carry Joan, Pat, and Wendy. Our itinerary told us that it would be a 2 hour hike to the Naxi Family Guesthouse where we would be staying that night, but we managed to reach the guesthouse in 1 hour. The hike was relatively easy, rising up above the river below, and entering Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had the rest of the day free once we arrived at the guesthouse. My British friend and I learned how to play Mahjong from some Chinese people staying at the same guesthouse. We were in bed by 9 pm in readiness for our hike up the ‘dreaded’ 28 bends the next day.

We woke up early, had breakfast and were off to tackle the 28 Bends (or more). The track started out as a slow rise up the steep gorge slope. There were beautiful views, down and across the gorge. The path began to get steeper and zigzagged up the mountainside. The track in this section was rocky and it was a strenuous climb to the top where the path rounded a ridge and you could get a spectacular view down the gorge. After this, the track was much easier, winding through forested slopes. We rounded a bend and were surprised to see our guesthouse for the night “The Teahorse Guesthouse”. We managed to complete our day’s hike in a bit over 2 hours. We were told it would take us 4 hours. We had a free afternoon again. We walked to a nearby waterfall just to have something to do. After that we relaxed and enjoyed the spectacular views of the soaring mountains on the other side of the gorge from our guesthouse. 

The next day was our last day of hiking. We were up early and ready for our next hike through Tiger Leaping Gorge. We were told it would take 3½ – 4 hours to get to Tina’s Guest House, our last destination back down on the road below. The walk was along a fairly flat track with magnificent views down and along the gorge. In some rocky sections the track narrowed to path that was cut into the rock, with shear drop offs over the edge. We passed by (or actually walked through) some waterfalls. The path was very slippery. Luckily we didn’t do it in the rain. There was a short steep uphill stretch through some rocky ground, and then it was all the way down till we reached Tina’s. We arrived in about 2 hours. We had a short rest and then decided to walk down to the bottom of the gorge. This walk turned out to be very steep and difficult. We walked/clambered down the track until we had a fantastic view of the raging river below. The walk back up was a struggle. This proved to be a lot harder than the 28 Bends, and it was an exhausted group of us that eventually staggered back onto the terrace of Tina’s. After much water and a bite to eat for lunch we were all then off to Liming.

Liming is famous for its spectacular red sandstone cliffs. To get there, we drove back through the gorge for our last look, and then up another valley where we briefly stopped at the first bend of the Yangtze river. We continued driving some way up the valley through a beautiful landscape of mountains, villages, and farmland, until it became clear to our driver that he was lost. The other car whose driver knew the way was faster and so we had lost sight of him. After making a few phone calls to the other driver, and asking locals for directions, our driver drove up to a bridge and we could see the other vehicle on the other side of a wide river. Apparently however, the bridge was not finished being built yet. People could walk across, but vehicles were transported by a small vehicular ferry. We walked across the bridge, met up with the others, and watched our car crossing the river. On our way again, it was a short 45 minutes to Liming. The place turned out to be a one street town. It was peaceful and laid back …. and no tourist shops lined the street. Liming will be developed as a tourist destination once the bridge is finished. We were lucky to be there before then. We had a great vegetarian dinner. After that, some of us played Mahjong, and the rest drank beer and talked. It was our last night together, an enjoyable evening. 

The next morning, Les, Jonathon, Ruhi, Roy and I woke up early and started off at 7 am to climb Thousand Turtle Mountain. We walked up the street from our guesthouse then turned up a flight of steps which led to a path into the forest above the town. Then basically a set of stairs led up to the top of the mountain. An hour later we made it to the top and were rewarded with a magnificent view of the surrounding red sandstone cliffs, as well as a spectacular sunrise. The mountain gets its name from the way the sandstone has weathered at its summit. The rounded summit resembles thousands of turtle shells. Near the top we had to take off our boots so as not to wear down the ‘turtles’. We eventually headed back down and made it back to the guesthouse at 9:30 am. After having a cold shower and simple breakfast, we packed our belongings and said goodbye to Liming. A pleasant 3 hour drive brought us back to Lijiang. We had our last ‘group’ lunch and then our American and British friends had to catch flights to their next destinations. Les, Wendy and us stayed for a couple more nights in Lijiang to relax (and to shop!) before heading back to Guiyang and then to Jinfeng site. 

Although at times with huffs and puffs it was hard going while climbing over rocky paths, Roy’s bum getting sore for three days after his bike ride (he is really getting too soft!), and trying (but eventually failing) to NOT use the very basic toilets at our guesthouses in Tiger Leaping Gorge – we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday !

Evi & Roy