We went to the north of Yunnan Province on an 8 days trip.

The trip started in Kunming and from here we went to Dali, Lijiang and Shangrila and returned to Lijiang and Kunming.
Kunming is a big dirty and dusty city with traffic jam in the rush hours. Not a place to stay for a long time.
After we waiting 2 hours in the airport to get a new bus (not place enough in the trunk to keep the entire luggage) we went off for Dali (distance 400km).
We arrived in Dali at 10 p.m. dark a cold. The hotel room wasn’t warmed up and it became a cold night.
Early up in the morning and after breakfast the sun rose and I could get some photos of the nearby towers and the mountains.
We drove to the old city and walked around here while the local people started to arrive to do business. After some argumentation with the guides whether to go the mountain or the Erhai Lake we went to the lake. It’s a very big lake and the scenery around the lake is very beautiful with the mountains and real blue sky.

In the afternoon went off to Lijiang (distance 200 km) and before arriving in the hotel we eat dinner. We arrived at the hotel at 7 p.m. The hotel wasn’t an ordinary hotel. A very big area with small houses, each house has 3 room and a big living room and kitchen for sharing. Every house has its own made to serve the guests. Later in the evening we went to the old city in Lijiang. The most of the old city is now tourist-shops and bars. In Lijian you will find the Naxi and Mosuo people.

Next morning we waked up early. The sunrise was beautiful and it was now possible to see the mountains with the snow against a blue sky. We left the hotel early to drive to Shangrila. On the way we made a stop at the Hutiao (Tiger Jumping) Gorge

Walking down to the stream was not a problem, the problem was walking up. The thin air make us breathless and make the heart beating.
We arrived in Shangrila in the afternoon. Shangrila is a big plateau 3.900m above sea level and some guests in the bus already got the high mountain symptom (headache and breast pains). We first went to a farm. Here it was possible to ride the small horses or just walk around to explorer the way of living here. I also got some headache but didn’t know if it was caused by sinusitis which I got before starting the trip. The problem is that it’s not recommended to mix medicine with those pills you get to prevent high mountain symptoms. I got some plasters to stick on my head.
Later we walked around in the city. The place here is Tibetan and the people are much different from the other cites in the Yunnan Province.
In the evening we went to have some entertainment and local pig-and lamb meat. We also drink a lot of the goat-milk-tea.

The hotel in Shangrila was like a 5 star hotel but only cost HKD 250 a day.
Next morning we left and went back to Lijiang. We spent the afternoon in the old city.
We later went back to the same hotel we left 2 days earlier.
The next morning we went to the top of the plateau to se Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Arriving on the top it was very cloudy. Within half an hour the weather cleared up and the visibility became much better. What scenery up here almost like Austiria and Schweiz in Europe. I prefer this scenery. The colours of the vegetation on the mountainsides, the sky and clouds were amazing!!

Walking around up there is not easy and it’s recommended to take the high mountain medicine and bring a bottle of oxygen. The oxygen will help you to breath after walking up stairs or up hill. You can buy oxygen and pills in all hotel lobby shops.

This is a place I would like to visit one more time (by myself).
On the way back we stopped to see a famous waterfall but only got 10 minutes here.

In the evening we had our dinner in a farmhouse. Nice place to walk around and see the farmer village.

Next morning we went back to Kunming a long trip with some stops every 2 hours.

The next day in Kunming we went 90 km to Jiuxiang (nine villages) Scenic Region.

A nice scenery and a cave that is worth to explorer. Later in the afternoon we went to a park in Kunming to see the park and the seagulls. Amazing to see so many seagulls flying at the same time.

This was a short story of a long journey. China has amazing scenery and its worth to go there even it’s a little hard to travel this way.

View my shapshots on my Flickr website – it will take me many days before all photos are uploaded so be patient.