Blogs from Yunnan, China, Asia - page 12

We got up early on the morning of October 26, and I said goodbye to Selective Tours' Managing Director Christine who was to return to Sydney. I, however, was lucky enough to be embarking on a short tour of other areas in the province. Our first stop this day was Kunming Airport, where we boarded our flight to Shangri-La. Shangri-La is the main county in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Dêqên, which is situated in north-west Yunnan, bordering Sichuan and Tibet. It can be reached by air from Kunming, with flights taking approximately one hour. The county was named Zhongdian until 2001, when it was renamed Shangri-La as it claims to be the inspiration for the fictional Shangri-La described in the 1933 novel ‘Lost Horizon’ by British author James Hilton. In the novel, Shangri-La is described ... read more

I absolutely love travelling. I love the excitement of being in a new place, and I love seeing amazing new things and meeting some incredible people. But I really don't like flying. My flight to Kunming went via Shanghai, and although it was only 10 hours, it felt so long. But in contrast, the flight from Shanghai to Kunming felt like nothing, because I slept most of the way. And it was a good thing that I did, too, because by the time we landed at Kunming, got our bags, were greeted at the airport by representatives from the China International Travel Mart, and were driven to our hotel, it was about 2.30am when I got to my room. That's 5.30am Sydney time! We had to get up at 6am this morning, so I only had ... read more

I guess it's third time lucky after all. Because of my scheduling difficulties with the short 15-day free visa I had, I decided to bypass the provincial capital of Kunming in transit twice during my first two weeks here in Yunnan as I made my way up through the province, telling myself I would come back again. And indeed I finally did. After an early morning 7h bus ride northwards again, I finally arrived back in Kunming for what I guess would be my last time in a while. And this time, I did indeed manage to stay several days to check it out. Kunming is pretty much everything you would expect from a large Chinese city. Sprawling, densely-populated with heavy traffic, and with a mixture of the spanking new skyscrapers that have become symbolic of ... read more

Hi All, I decided to stay a couple of days in Kunming before travelling back to Shaoyang but instead of staying in the city, because let's be honest Kunming isn't much different to other Chinese cities, I stayed in the Heart2Heart hostel in TuanJieZhen about 40 minutes outside of the city. If relaxing and walking, cycling and a host of other outdoor activities this is the place to go. I had lovely day and a half here walking off around the country lanes finding the old Bai minority dwellings. I wish I could have stayed longer. Again the people were amazing. I arrived late and having eaten nothing all day I walked back up the pathway to a small restaurant I had seen. The family who owned the restaurant were just about to eat so they ... read more

After two nights in busy, busy Lijiang, and threatened by the imminent hike in room rates due to the Chinese national day celebrations, I decided to pack up and make the slight detour southwards to the small town of Shaxi. Described by LP as similar to entering a wormhole and going back in time, Shaxi was indeed a stark change from noisy Lijiang. Apparently, it's one of only three ancient cities that still remain from the days when horse caravans of tea merchants used to traverse across the country along the famed Burma Road. It's also the best preserved, and they say that at the cobble-stoned bridge just outside of town that still remains, you can still see the etches from the horses' hooves if you look closely enough. (All I saw was horse manure though). ... read more