Travel to Yunnan, China – Episode 692

Hear about travel to the Yunnan province of China as the Amateur Traveler talks to Zach and Leah from peregrination-travel.com about their trip to this mountainous corner of the country.

Leah says, “Yunnan is such a unique section of China that has not been the main focus of any tourism up until the last 10 years or so. So it’s a very unique separate section of the country that has a lot to offer. Mainly, it has a lot of beautiful scenery that is worth seeing and worth going to.”

Yunnan is in the southwest corner of China, bordering Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. 

We start in the main city of Kunming. Most people will fly in, while Zach and Leah took a bus in from Vietnam. The airport is one of the 50 busiest airports in the world. Kunming is called the “City of eternal Spring”. It is at 6,000 feet on the edge of the Himalayas. They recently finished a new transit system and Leah recommends staying near a subway stop. The city has the world’s largest flower market. 

Outside of the city, they recommend visiting the Stone Forest which is a UNESCO World Heritage site as part of the South China Karst. They also recommend a visit to the Jiuxiang Caves.

They took the high-speed rail up to the city of Dali City. While they liked the more popular city of Lijiang, the found Dali to less over-run with tourists. The city is on the shore of a lake and they recommend renting bikes. The Cang Mountain UNESCO geopark is on the outside of the city. 

Shaxi is a 3 bus ride from Dali. Shaxi was on the ancient Tea Horse Road which is like the southern Silk Road. It is said to be one of the birthplaces of tea. It is the home of the Bai and Yee people. The trail up the nearby Shibaoshan (mountain) ends at the ruins of a Buddhist temple.

When you get to Lijiang you are in the mountains. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and its quite large.  It is an hour away from the snowcapped Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

The highlight of the entire trip was a multi-day hike on the Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge. 

Listen to this episode and plan a trip to the mountains of Yunnan.

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Show Notes

peregrination-travel.com
Peregrination on YouTube
Travel to and Working in Antarctica – Episode 49
Yunnan
Travel to the Yunnan Province of China – Episode 319
Kunming
Dounan Flower Market
Rubing (goat cheese)
Roses grown, made into flower delicacies at Yunnan University
Stone Forest
Jiuxiang Caves
Yiliang(Kunming) Attractions: Sightseeing for Yiliang(Kunming) Vacations, Tourist Sites,Yunnan Adventure Travel
Dali City
Cang Mountain
Shaxi, Yunnan
Tea Horse Road
Lijiang
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
Hiking along Tiger Leaping Gorge, Tiger Leaping Gorge Trekking – China Hiking
Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge
Bai people
Dazhong Dianping: A Guide to ‘Chinese Yelp’
China on Perigrination Youtube Channel

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