China Travel Forum

[Guest]

I just cambe back not long ago from my holidays in Yunnan,China.I had been to Lijiang, Dali and Kunming.

Lijiang is a place which you must visit if you are thinking of going to China Yunnan. But however, there is one place in Lijiang which I will recommond not to go. There is a temple call Yufeng Temple which is situated in dense forest at the southern foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, some 11 kilometers (7 miles) northwest of Lijiang town. This temple cheat tourist money, but the place you have to go and see this camellia tree which happen to be near the temple. However, do remeber not to go the Yufeng Temple.Want to know more about Yunna China, do email me.

[Paul]

So try to answer a few questions.
PEGGY / Marielle
Going to the north of Yunnan in November/December might cause some problems. Roads in general are not in a good condition so e.g. travelling to Zhongdian is nearly impossible - which is really a pity ! In general don't travel through north of Yunnan on a too tight time schedule. It always might happen some landslides which block the road (happen to us a few times)
TIGER LEAPING GORGE - of course it's worth to see allthough Steve is right: There are lots of other beautiful spots in Yunnan...
But one comment on Steve: You wrote sth like "where are no tourists" - sounds funny: Don't forget that YOU also are a tourist ....
It takes about 2 days to do the whole gorge but it's also worth only to hike the first part of it. But take care: after rain it's getting very slippery !

The question if it's possible to get around on your own or to hire a guide:
A question everybody has to answer on his own. Of course it's possible to get around on your own. Sure, if you don't speak any mandarin it takes a little bit longer than in other countries BUT you will be able to manage it. The question is if you feel comfortable with that kind of travelling. Some spots you only can reach with a guide (or hire a taxi, which is common in China and still reasonable) because public transport in the remote areas of Yunnan is a little bit poor.
To book such trips is no problem at all. Almost every guesthouse or hotel will offer those trips in the surrounding area (or will recommand a guide)
To some spots you will need a guide (at least driver),to some spots it will be quite convinient - to many places it's no problem to arrange it on your own.
I recently visited Yunan and much enjoyed Dali where we visited Tiger Leaping Gorge and did some pony trekking, Lijiang (a bit twee) but very pretty and Zhongdian (sometimes known as Shangrila) where we visited Hot Springs, the Monastery and sampled Tibetan family life. All excellent.