Yunnan Travel Notes Day 1: Lost Kunming

If you are a foreigner who is planning to travel to China, and you can only go to one province in China, then I would only recommend you to go to Yunnan.

 

If there are any places in China that a tourist should visit several times in his life, I would also recommend DuoCaiYunNan.

 

Why should I give Yunnan a different color? Because Yunnan is the province with the richest colors in China and the largest number of ethnic minorities. There are many more interesting places in Yunnan than in Guangdong where I am, such as Pudacuo National Park in Diqing Prefecture. This is a must-visit place in my life, and it should be visited in spring and winter. once. Diqing Prefecture also has Dukezong Ancient City and Songzanlin Scenic Area which is rich in Tibetan Buddhism. There is also Fairy Thousand Lakes which were carved out by glaciers 20,000 years ago. y7>, there is the sea in summer and grass in autumn Napa Haiyila Grassland , there is Kawagebo Peak that no one has ever successfully climbed to the top, and there is the spring water Calcium carbonate slowly accumulates over the years to form the terrace-like Baishui Terrace , there is the Yubeng which is called the most beautiful hiking route in the world, there is both a snow-capped mountain and a forest, and inside The Baima Snow Mountain is rich in rare animals and plants... there are too many. Just visiting one of the fun places in Diqing Prefecture in Yunnan Province will take you at least half a month, and that’s only if you have excellent physical fitness and fitness.

 

Needless to say, Lijiang City, Lijiang Old Town , Eternal Love , Shuhe Ancient Town , Baisha Ancient Town , Black Dragon Pool Park , Jade Dragon Snow Mountain , Lugu Lake , Laojun Mountain , Tiger Leaping Gorge , Shigu Town Big Turn; Dali City's Dali Ancient Town , Xizhou Ancient Town , Erhai Lake , Shuanglang Town , Nanzhao Style Island , Zhangjia Garden , Cangshan Mountain , Chongsheng Temple , Wuliang Mountain Cherry Blossom Valley ; Kunming City Xishan, Dianchi Lake, Red Earth Luoxiagou Scenic Area......

 

Of course, Yunnan not only has Lijiang, Dali, and Shangri-La, but also Puzhehei, Tengchong, Weixi County... and several other autonomous prefectures, such as Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Honghe Prefecture, Wenshan Prefecture, and Dehong Prefecture, and there are many in these prefectures. A landscape rich in unique regional culture that is rare in big cities. If you are really determined to complete most of the classic routes in Yunnan Province, even if you are physically fit and have a full schedule, I don’t think you can complete it in less than three months.

 

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It has been almost four years since I first traveled to Yunnan with Yuanyuan. When I recall my trip to Yunnan with Yuanyuan again, many of the pictures are incomplete. If I don’t record them, I may only be able to look at the pictures a few years later. I am a person who cannot control the future, so I am always greedy for the past. I hope that all the good experiences I have had in the past can be kept in my mind forever.

 

But time doesn't allow. That’s why I write travel notes.

I went to Yunnan twice in 2018. The first time was in late January and we went there for 11 days. The second time was at the end of September and I went there for 6 and a half days. However, both trips were pretty much the same. Why would I go on almost the same trip twice in the same year?

Because Yuanyuan and I met on March 28 of that year, and my first trip to Yunnan was in late January of that year. After being together with Yuanyuan for half a year, it was the National Day holiday and we planned to take a long trip.

 

Yuanyuan had traveled to many places before she met me, but she had never been to Yunnan. After I visited Yunnan that year, I thought it was truly a beautiful place on earth. Such beauty should be visited again with the one I love. I said to Yuanyuan, how about we go to Yunnan during the National Day?

 

She said no, I had already been there, and it would be pointless for me to go there again.

 

Yuanyuan is always considerate of others. She actually longs for a trip to Yunnan the most, but since I have already been there this year, she would feel bad if I had to go there again just for her sake. I told her that there are many places in Yunnan that are worth visiting twice in a lifetime. I only went there once and I can go there again. Moreover, this time you are going with me, so the meaning is even different.

 

After hearing this, she felt that what I said was right, so she accepted the arrangement to travel to Yunnan. I originally planned to find a driver who would take us around in Yunnan in January to arrange the itinerary for us, but I didn’t expect that their fee would be as high as over 10,000 per person. However, when we went there in January, we only spent 50,000 to 60,000 yuan for the six of us. If you can arrange it yourself, you can save a lot of money.

 

I have a friend who is engaged in outdoor activities in Guangzhou. She said that she has a group tour from Yunnan with more than 3,000 people. The itinerary is the most famous scenic spots in Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-La. I told Yuanyuan that there are several places that this group will not go to, such as Chongsheng Temple and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, but they are not expensive and save us the trouble of finding a hotel and a car. We can leave the group near the end and plan to go somewhere else on our own.

 

In this way, we participated in the National Day Yunnan tour group, and the tour fee cost more than 7,000 yuan.

 

At that time, Lijiang had not yet opened a high-speed rail station. Most tourists flew directly to Lijiang, or took a train to Kunming, and then transferred to a green train or bus from Kunming to Lijiang. Our itinerary is arranged to gather at a hotel in Kunming on the morning of September 30th. Tourists must arrive at the designated hotel in Kunming on the evening of September 29th to check in. Of course, the cost is also included in the tour fee.

 

Arrive at Kunming South Railway Station at 18:40 pm

Yuanyuan and I took the high-speed train to Kunming on the afternoon of September 29. I told Yuanyuan that I had been to Dianchi Lake in Kunming on February 3 this year. The scenery here was beautiful, and there were many red-billed gulls flying over from Siberia. I thought that the night of Dianchi Lake at this time was as brightly lit as the Pearl River in Guangzhou. The lake water reflected romantic sparkling waves under the light, with fish leaping in the water and seagulls flying at low altitude. On the long shore of the lake, some people are fishing at night, some are throwing bread crumbs to the red-billed gulls, some couples are hugging each other, some graceful beauties are running at night, some children are chasing and playing, and there are elderly people. Watching these people reminiscing about the past...

 

I hope to give Yuanyuan a wonderful surprise on the first night. However, we were stunned and disappointed. Because it's so dark here.

 

how could it be possible? This is the most famous scenic spot in a provincial capital city. This is the largest freshwater lake in Yunnan Province. Why is it so dark at night? I can understand if you want to talk about third- and fourth-tier cities, but this is Kunming.

I apologized to Yuanyuan in my heart, but I didn't say it out loud. At that time, we took the high-speed train for nearly 8 hours, did not go to the hotel, and had not eaten dinner. We came here with all our luggage and fatigue, just to see the imaginary night view of Dianchi Lake. The beautiful and confident expectations were met with darkness from top to bottom, and the whole person suddenly felt like a deflated rubber ball.

I think there are several reasons why Dianchi Lake has no lights at night: first, for energy saving and environmental protection; second reason is to protect the cleanliness of Dianchi Lake water. There are too many tourists at night and no one is watching. It is inevitable that poor quality tourists will throw garbage into the lake, causing pollution of fresh water resources and harmful to people, fish and birds. Without lights, nothing can be seen, and fewer people come.

 

This is Dianchi Lake that night:

We walked out of Haigeng Park and came to the side of the road that was completely different from the other world. Yuanyuan and I were already feeling thirsty and hungry, and planned to find a restaurant to eat before returning to the hotel. Yuanyuan said that Yunnan's mushrooms are very famous, and asked me if I had eaten them before. I said that I had, but I didn't think they were very special or delicious. But food that tastes average to me may be delicious to Yuanyuan. She said she wanted to try it and I said yes. We asked the taxi driver which restaurant in Kunming is more authentic for eating wild mushrooms? He thought about it and said that he felt good about having a time-honored restaurant. I said okay, let's go here.

 

Oh, it turns out that the name of this store is Laozihao. It was almost 21 o'clock at night, and the October night in Kunming was already quite cold. There were not many customers in the store, and the staff warmly greeted us to sit down. I have no interest in eating wild mushrooms, so I will let Yuanyuan order food tonight. I seem to be born with an immunity to so-called delicacies from the mountains and seas. I have eaten those Japanese dried abalones that cost thousands of dollars each. I have also eaten shark fin, fish maw, sea cucumber, and lobster. I really don’t think it is that special. For me, the best ones are the stir-fried pork with screw pepper, twice-cooked pork with green pepper and stinky tofu. Yuanyuan has always been puzzled that I eat very slowly every time and eat even less than she does. This is probably because I have been a picky eater since I was a child. Everyone else is choosing delicacies, but I only want a portion of fried pork with green peppers.

 

This is our late meal:

Just this little thing and a beer cost 422 yuan, and I could eat 10 plates of twice-cooked pork with green pepper. On February 3 of that year, I had already eaten various poisonous fungi at the most famous "Dongba Valley Wild Mushroom" in Lijiang. It was stewed with black-bone chicken. I thought it was okay, but just okay. But the one we ate tonight was lackluster in taste and texture. Even Yuanyuan, who found every food delicious, gave her an average evaluation. Even Yuanyuan thinks it’s just average food, so it’s definitely not good. Of course, there is also a possibility that the reputation of wild mushrooms in Yunnan is too great, so many people have too high expectations before coming here, and the taste and texture of the mushrooms are not proportional to its fame, so there is a lot of confusion A sense of gap.

 

Our first stop tonight, the night view of Dianchi Lake and the dinner were both disappointing. We returned to the hotel with a sigh. It was already past 22:00.

 

Our next day’s itinerary is from Kunming to Dali. At noon the next day, we would have the pleasure of eating the worst tour group meal we have ever had in our lives.