I'm back from my 8-day trip to Yunnan. I surprised many by joining an escorted tour to Yunnan, everyone (except my mother) expected me to go by myself.
I joined a tour from the Modern China Travel Agency, famous for its tours to "weird" unpopular places with poor hotels & food and minimal shopping. The tour is more expensive than similar tours provided by other travel agencies, but with no shopping and no commission, I think it is fair that the price is higher.
I have never had a better tour guide, she's very knowledgeable, and she provided more info about the various places we visited than the local tour guides. She pays attention to every little detail, and she said she's called the "Tibetian queen" coz she's been to Tibet a lot of times.
The initial parts of my trip was spoiled by heavy raining, I had to blow-dry my shoes in the hotels in the first few days, and I couldn't see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain at all, even when I went up the mountain at altitude 4680m, I could only see 10m in front of me... (Please look at my photo album to see how I look during my ascent & descent) I was breathless after just a few steps up the stairs at that kind of altitude, and after all that walk, I can still see nothing. I remembered Kim Sam Soon's hike up Hallasan, after all the hard work, she saw nothing...
I was really looking forward to Lijiang, however, I found it too commercialised. I still think it's beautiful especially at night and with a great atmosphere, even with the heavy raining.
The place I love most is Bitai Lake Nature Reserve at Shangri-La. It is a beautiful place. I can't help thinking how long a place can stay beautiful in China when I saw hordes of mainland Chinese tourists stepping on the trees to take good photos, smoking in a dry forest, sigh...
I was even more sad when I saw pieces of White Water Terrace being cut out and sold to tourists, one of the girls in my tour group bought one piece. No wonder the whole thing is disappearing...
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