Job Discussion Forums

[oyanlan]

Any tips on cool stuff to do in Kunming for May hoilday? Also going to Dali and Lijiang and beyond.

[dan]

first, make sure that your bus trips are during the daytime. there are loads of sleeper buses that go overnight, but you will miss some of the most spectacular scenery in yunnan, especially the around lijiang. i recommend spending only a day or 2 there b/c its going to be insanely packed and tough to find decent accomodation. instead, head north to zhong dian. the tiger gorge is on the way, so you could make a go of this, but it would eat up 3 days of your trip. lijiang to zhong dian is about 8 hours by bus. you can push it even further north to de qe (i think that's what its called). both zhong dian and de qe are about as tibetian as you can get without actually going. the coolest thing in zhong dian are the monestaries. there is large one about 25 minutes due north of town which is very impressive. however, the city is littered with smaller ones, many of which are under renovation. i spent an good part of day hanging out and watching the copper and bronze workers hammer out various sculptures, etc (and probably annoying them a little, too but they were good sports). or, you could head south down to the golden triangle area which is also very interesting. lots of minority people, little infrastructure, good food, etc.

[Roger]

STone Forest is a day trip away, so save it for a long weekend. How about XISHUANGBANNA in the Southwest? Tropical, lush, reminiscent of Thailand. A bit foggy around May, though!

[oyanlan]

Great. Cheers guys.

[whitjohn]

You lucky bugger. I had my passport cut from my inside vest pocket this past week in #5 bus in Kunming, now I have to go to Shanghai to the Aussie Consulate. No holiday for me except a looong train ride!