China Travel Forum

[DAYLE]

Hi,
I will be travelling to Kunming, Dali, Lijang, Tiger Gorge and Zhongdian and possibly overlanding it to Lhasa this Sept.
I have read the LP and standard guidebook stuff. For people who have been there, any additional tips or suggestions ?
Also, any specific accomodation recommendations ?
Thanks a bunch

[kamal]

Everyone talks about Old Town Lijiang. Yes, it's really something to see, but hard to spend more than a day there. I think Dali was much less interesting than Lijiang. When I make this tour, I didn't get to Zhongdian or X-banna. Raining, so I only took the 2km level trail on the southern side of Tiger Leaping Gorge to the Upper Rapids - very cool. From Lijiang, Baisha and Shuhe are short bike rides. Baisha is modestly interesting - Dr. Ho is a hoot, and there was a Naxi band that invited tourists to play with them. Shuhe is the highlight, however. Take everything that is interesting about the architecture, shops, gardens, and terrain in Dali, Lijiang, and Baisha, remove the dirt, kitsch, and tourists, and that's Shuhe. Everything in the town looks recently restored - maybe that's why LP doesn't mention it. The Stone Forest is a 45m taxi ride out of Kunming, but well worth a whole day.I thought the sculptures at the Bamboo Temple mentioned in LP were spectacular and worth the trip. Note, though, LP only mentions the surfing monks in the center building of the temple. There are many others in two side rooms on either side as you enter. Not much else in Kunming, though, except nice weather year around.
There is a system of national parks in the rural areas near Anshun - Longgong Cave, Huangguoshu Falls, and Tianxing Landscape that I believe were undersold by the LP guide. They are really quite extensive, and well worth a day at the Cave, and another at the Falls & Landscape. Actually, there are several caves in these areas, and much more than just caves. Good day-long hikes through Karst terrain for someone in reasonable shape. Hard to find and get to, though. You'll need some good local help in Anshun. It must be regarded as counter-revolutionary to make good maps in China!!!
Note - rental bikes in China are pretty rough, profoundly uncomfortable for a tall person (I'm 6'2"), and the locks you get tend to not open when you get to your destination. Be sure to have a wrench for the seat, hubs, and brake systems with you - assume that every nut is either frozen or not tight enough to hold for a whole trip. The best rentals we found were about 100m in from the North entrance to Old Town Lijiang - they had at least 50 lightweight 10spds all piled in a heap.