Kunming...Chungdu: what do you know?

[onesp1ng]

Hey,

This Q is directed at anyone who has experience traveling to Chengdu and/or Kunming, located in the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. I'll be leaving tomorrow for a week or so trip. And I was thinking some of you may know a bit about the two places. Are there any special highlights that you might recommend me checking out? Plus I'm up for stopping into a few smaller places, like that of Leshan (where the biggest standing buddha in the world sits) and Emaishan , but are there any others that are worth a look?

It's short notice.... if you have a minute let me know.. Doc?

Thanks,

D


(Hey Doc, I can see your quite busy with the updates and videos( and you must have a life outside of the health- ask doc- division of the forum... so please take your time with the shoulder problem thread. It's not of grave importance. I'd love to know what you have to say though. A couple more days or weeks isn't going to bother anything for sure. I've had the problem a long while anyhow. take care..)

[doc]

In Sichuan, go to Emeishan. You won't have the time to go up the mountain and see all the temples. Just go directly to the top. It's a must see. Make sure that you look for the monkeys too. As for the big Buddha, I didn't get there, but, hey, if you're into that, it's not far from Emeishan.

When in Kunming, the only thing worth seeing is the Stone Forest. Then get the hell out of there and head north to Da Li. (Get a cab driver, pay him fifty bucks a day, and tell him to start driving). After Da Li, then drive to Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is on the way to Li Jiang. When in Li Jiang, make sure you go to Yu Long Xue Shan. Then, drive to Zhongdian, which the Chinese feel is Shangri La (it's not, actually Da Li and Li Jiang are closer to the legendary Shangri La). Then fly out of Zhongdian to go back to Kunming, on your way out. You probably won't have the time to go to Lu Gu Hu. That place was in the middle of nowhere, but, was really pretty fantastic. I've got pictures of all of these places in the Photo Library, and the site. Each stop is a few hours drive, except for Lu Gu Hu, which is a day each way. If you make it to Zhongdian, and have a few more days left, keep driving north to Mei Li Shan. It's about a three day trip out of Zhongdian, but highly worth it. (I didn't make it there the last trip). If you go to Mei Li Shan, be careful; there's a lot of crime up in that region.

Those are the must see spots in Yunnan. There are more, but you don't have time.

The shoulder thing is almost done; sorry, but I've been overwhelmed with the school and the web site. Just far too much work for the three of us.

Have a safe trip. Yunnan is the most beautiful part of China. Just incredible. I might go back this summer.

[onesp1ng]

Great! Thanks, Doc. I'll definitely take a look into some of that -- am leaving in about a half hour to the airport.

I'm not sure I'll be able to check back on the board, but, from Zhongdian, are there domestic flights besides back to Kunming. I'll need to come back to qingdao for a couple days before I move on...

Yes, da li, I heard great things as well. Wish I had a computer that could upload some images to the photo library.. It's just so darn slow. WOuld take me days. Yet I have some really fasinating pictures of the fujian and zheijian provinces, namely xiamen, shaoxing and putuoshan, and of course then from beijing and shanghai.O then again, I have alot from Qingdao, and Qufu, the resting place of kong fu si (confucious). Now to yunnan and sichuan. I had a late night with some friends cause it may be the last night I see them, though I'm really excited nonetheless. Now if I could just pack, I could get the hell out of here.


take care,

D

[Maestro]

hmm

shangri la isnt real....

[onesp1ng]

Chengdu is alright. Not really much to see accept a few cool parks. The cities nice. I didn't bring my travel book though so i don't really know. Might take a trip up to the zoo to check out the pandas, but other than that, I'm more interested in going down south to emei and leshan... And I await dali and lijiang with anticipation.

Two things. Doc, is the stone forest worth the trip or should i just move straight to dali? I saw the pictures in the photo library. They look interesting. Yet, I don't know if i's worth the trouble.

Then, what about the situation in zhongdian? Can you get demestic flights across the country?

(Just a thought...) I'm starting to feel the more south you go, the more amazing the women become... ;-)

D

[doc]

The women out west are different looking. More Tibetan, more Arab. Yes, they're stunners in the northwest, and I really love the smiles in Yunnan. Definitely an improvement from Beijing. Fell in love in Zhongdian, couldn't speak a damn word to her, and I fogot to get a picture. One of these days, I'm just gonna have to go back....

The Stone Forest is interesting, but if the photos in the photo gallery don't excite you, don't waste the day. Better you see Da Li and Li Jiang. Trust me on this. If you have time, head up to Yu Long Xue Shan from Li Jiang, about a one hour car trip, and very much worth the time. I then drove from Li Jiang to Zhongdian, though, other than the hot springs and the salt mountain, it wasn't that thrilling. The area is very unique. And there is a neat temple in the area, so I enjoyed it. It is not worth going back and forth to Kunming though, go directly from one city to the other. Kunming is east, all these cities are on a line in the west.

You can get domestic flights, but they all go in and out of Kunming. So, it's not worth it. Take a bus from one city to the other.