An American family took a fantastic tour to Yunnan in early April, 2010

Fisher:
Some thoughts on our trip to Yunnan:
1. Overall, the trip was fantastic. We loved Yunnan and were pleased with everything we did, although we were a little tired by the end. A very big thank you to Fisher for arranging the large bus. We spent a lot of time on the road travelling and the bus was so much more comfortable than a van would have been. That made a big difference in our trip, especially on the long driving days coming back to Kunming from Yuanyang and going from Lijiang to Shangri-la.
2. Hotels:
a. Kunming – Green Lake Hotel. This was a very nice hotel with a fantastic location. We loved the park across the street. The restaurant in the hotel was good. I would definitely recommend that you continue to use this hotel for guests in Kunming.
b. Jianshui – Zhu Family Garden Hotel.We really liked this hotel and would definitely recommend it. It wasn’t a 4 or 5 star hotel, obviously, but was quite comfortable and a really unique experience to stay in and tour the Ching dynasty era house. We would recommend it for those like us making the trek down to see the rice terraces.
c. Yuanyang – Yunti Hotel. This hotel was acceptable, understanding that there just isn’t much available there. We saw signs of a developing tourist infrastructure and I would expect that in a few years there will be a nicer hotel available. (It appeared this hotel was being renovated right now, as well.) I wouldn’t discourage people from going to see the rice terraces because of this hotel but it would be nice to have a nicer alternative.
d. Dali – Landscape Hotel. This was a nice hotel and very comfortable. It was new and modern in terms of the rooms but very unique in terms of the design and the courtyards. Good location. We would recommend it.
e. Lijiang – Zen Garden Hotel. This was a beautiful hotel with a very good location above the Old City. Views were fantastic. The location was good – walking to the Old City was easy. Breakfast was good and the service was excellent. The only thing we would say about this hotel is that it is above the bar street in Lijiang, which is very, very loud. We were probably going to bed earlier than many travelers but the music would blast until after 11 p.m. and made it difficult to sleep. We didn’t like the bar street at all – even to walk along it or to eat there was unpleasant with the loud noise. It seemed to us very inconsistent with the atmosphere of the Old City to even have such an area of loud music. We are surprised that the city doesn’t address this noise problem – the bar street undoubtedly attracts young people, but it deters older tourists and those of us with families. We felt sorry for the hotel owners, who have a lovely facility but are harmed by a noise situation they can’t control.
f. Shangri-la -Songtsam Hotel. This was a fantastic hotel and a pleasant surprise in such a remote location. Service was great, the atmosphere was great and the food was excellent – both breakfast and dinner. We would highly recommend this hotel.
3. Tour Sites:
a. Stone Forest. Well worthwhile and we would recommend it.
b. Rice Terraces. Fantastic. Met our high expectations. We had seen many beautiful pictures and could have been disappointed but we were not. In person, the terraces were breathtaking. c. Dali. Another pleasant surprise. We thought of Dali as a place to stop on our way to Lijiang but were very impressed by the Old City and the sites to see there. We wish we had more time in Dali but we really enjoyed it (and we would consider going back for a longer time period). We took a chair lift up the mountain and walked along a beautiful path. If we had time, we would have liked to walk along that path for several hours and come down a cable car at the opposite end of the trail. (Instead we just walked for 30-40 minutes and returned to the chair lift). The three pagoda park was beautiful and we took a quick walk through there but did not have time to see the temple (which was fine --the temple is newly rebuilt and we have seen a lot of temples). The Old City was beautiful and we could have easily spent another night there.
d. Lijiang. The Old City was absolutely fantastic. We had heard about the crowds but didn’t think it was bad at all during the time that we were there. We bought more things in one afternoon there than we have during 8 months in China. We aren’t shoppers generally but thought the crafts there were nice and reasonably priced. The mountain and the cable car up the mountain was great and we had a perfect day. It was absolutely crystal clear – I think you could visit Lijiang for 10 or 20 years and not have such a nice day. We enjoyed the trip to Xizhou Village. The trip to the first bend of the Yangtze was interesting and worthwhile.
e. Shangri-la. We were somewhat disappointed with Tiger Leaping Gorge. At another time of year when the water was higher, it may have been more spectacular. The gorge seemed unsafe, numerous signs said to not stand and take pictures because of the danger of falling rocks and, in fact, on our return trip we saw two places where rocks had fallen on the path that could have killed a person if he or she was hit directly. It particularly made us nervous since we had our three children with us. It was a very long drive from Lijiang to Shangri-la, which we didn’t really expect. That day was as difficult as the long drive back to Kunming from the Rice Terraces. We arrived very late in Shangri-la, had a bad meal (more on that below) and we were so exhausted that the next day we cut the program short and didn’t even go to the National Park in the afternoon. Wandark did arrange a very good Tibetan lunch the second day.
4. Guides and Food.
It might seem odd to combine guides and food, but we found that the day went a little better if we had a good lunch (particularly true since we have three children who get cranky if they don’t eat) and that very much depended on the guide. Picking the restaurant was important, but even more important was the guide’s understanding what food we would enjoy and ordering well. All the guides spoke good English. In order, we would say that Holly had the best English, followed by Frank, SuLu and Wandark. Holly and Frank were excellent. Wandark’s English was good, but, for example, it was a little hard to follow some of his explanation of things that we weren’t familiar with – such as his descriptions of Buddhism at the Monastery.
a. SuLu – Kunming. SuLu was very pleasant and spoke good English. She had a little less confidence in her English and seemed to have a little difficulty understanding us at times. She did not do a very good job with meals. When we had dinner in Jianshui, she ordered for us, including the local specialty, without really asking our preferences. We did not enjoy the meal. The restaurant actually had an English menu and afterward we noticed several items on there that we would have enjoyed. In Yuanyang, the restaurant near the hotel was closed for a wedding when we got there so we had to have lunch in a local restaurant. That was not really her fault but again, we did not enjoy the lunch she ordered and saw items served to others that we would have enjoyed more. Heading back to Kunming, we stopped for lunch in Jianshui at restaurant that was not very nice (and not very clean) and although by this time we had told SuLu that we didn’t not like meat dishes with bones or that were deep fried, the main dish she ordered was chicken that had been deep fried and that had bones with very little meat on them. We ended up not eating a lot of the food that she ordered for us.
b. Frank – Dali. Frank spoke very good English and really knew and loved his city. He did a very good job and showing us the highlights in a single day without exhausting us. We would have liked more time in Dali. We had two very good lunches, he asked us very specifically what we liked and did a good job ordering. He also took us to a good breakfast place rather than eating at the hotel. He hung around the table and made sure we had what we needed and followed up with the waiter or kitchen if we needed something. We thought he did a very good job and would recommend him highly.
c. Holly – Lijiang. Holly spoke the best English of any of the guides. She did a very good job and was knowledgeable about the Old City and the Shuhe village. We enjoyed touring the Old City with her. Although we were on our own for dinner that night, she took us to a restaurant that was good and waited to take us back to our hotel. We had a good lunch in the village as well. The lunch place was very busy that day and she went back into the kitchen to make sure we got our food as quickly as possible. Lunch the next day was not as good, but there was very little choice at the little village near the first bend of the Yangtze River and we felt she did the best she could with the limited options available.
d. Wandark – Shangri-la. Wandark’s English was good and he was very knowledgeable about Buddhism and Tibetan life. When explaining complicated things to us, such as Buddhism, he was a little hard to follow. He was very nice, was flexible and did a good job. The only real mistake of the whole trip was on the night we got to Shangri-la. We were exhausted and it was very late (remember, you called us). We had not eaten dinner and we were tired. He asked me if we wanted to eat at the hotel or in the city. I thought the hotel was in the city, but he said no it was in a small village next to the monastery. I thought maybe we would have more choice in the city so I told him we would eat there. We wanted Western food because we had not had a very good lunch and my one son really doesn’t eat much of the Chinese food. Wandark didn’t tell me that the hotel had an absolutely wonderful restaurant, certainly the best in town. We could have gotten to our hotel earlier, freshened up and then had a wonderful relaxing meal at the hotel and gone to bed. Instead, he took us to a dreadful restaurant in the city that had bad food, was not very clean, and was filled with smoke from the young people there who were playing cards. By the time we got to the hotel, we were exhausted, still hungry and ended up cancelling half the next day’s program so that we could just relax at the hotel.
5. Drivers and Transportation.
There was no other way to see Yunnan as we did except to have the bus, driver and guide. As noted above, the bus was fantastic. Both drivers were good and careful drivers. The first driver in particular seemed very familiar and experienced with the roads in the Yuanyang area and we felt very comfortable with his driving on the mountain roads.
The only problem we had was that after getting up at 5:30 a.m. to see the sunrise over the rice terraces, our bus was blocked in its parking space and we had to wait about 45 minutes for them to finally get another driver to move his bus. We missed the darkness going to light over the rice terraces as we barely made it to the viewing spot before the sunrise. That was disappointing.
Overall, we had a wonderful trip, and we would definitely recommend this itinerary, these guides, and Easy Tour China to others.