Yunnan, China April 2016 Day 1-5
April 21- 25 2016
yunnan has been on the top of my list of places to visit in china for a long time and i felt that i needed to see it before i leave china. here are my first five days of my two week trip.
Day 1－ April 21 2016
Kunming （昆明）
my brother had a colleague who was also traveling in yunnan but she was going in the opposite direction i was going, however our paths did cross and we happened to be in kunming on the same day.
So we first decided to go to the Yunnan Nationalities Museum (雲南民族博物館). very touristy but a good glimpse and introduction to the 25 different ETHNIC minorities in yunnan. you can visit each minority village and see what kind of house they live in, what they might wear and eat, and any ethnic traditions they might have. some even had performances of dances and songs. it was actually quite InFORMATIVE.
next we took a cable car up to Xishan Forest Park (西山森林公园), here you can have a very nice view of Dianchi Lake (滇池）and the city of kunming. the forset park is quite interesting as you can wandering up and down paths that take you to different temples in the mountains.
for dinner we tried some local specialities at 1910 La Gare du Sud (火车南站). some of their popular dishes are the steamed potato spareribs（粉蒸排骨）and the fried shredded potato（干巴菌洋芋丝) which i would have to say was my favorite. i could eat that all the time. food was very good and the restaurant is made up of a few old mansions, it is definitely a place to try in kunming.
Day 2－ April 22 2016
tonghai（通海县） -> jianshui （建水县）
as yunnan is quite a large province with many places a far distance away from each other. i decided it would be easier to join a tour group as my time was also very limited. so for the next 10 days i will be touring yunnan with a nice german couple.
First stop was tonghai at mount xiushan （秀山公园), we walked around and looked at some traditional temples and PAVILIONS that dated back to the Jin dynasty.
Next stop was the city of Jianshui (建水县）we first stopped at our hotel that we were staying in for the night. it was actually an old residence of the zhu family who were quite wealthy and INFLUENTIAL in jianshui. they then converted the mansion into a hotel and gardens. The highlight of this place (朱家花园) is their garden but UNFORTUNATELY for us the whole garden was going through renovations. so we then walked around the city to the Confucius temple ( 建水文庙博物馆). a large and beautiful temple, very peaceful and quiet ALTHOUGH right in the city center. the town itself is very small and quiet, still lots of shops and things to see, but it doesn't feel overcrowded or too busy.
for dinner we tried more yunnan specialities. the main speciality from this particular region is the steamed pot chicken (气锅鸡) in which it is cooked in a specific clay pot that can be found at almost every store in town. but we tried many other dishes, all of them were delicious and many things i have never tried before.
day 3－ april 23 2016
jianshui (建水县）-> yuanyang （云阳梯田）
staying at zhu mansion you have a choice of breakfast, chinese/western buffet at the hotel or rice noodles at one of the oldest noodles soups in town. so we OBVIOUSLY opted for the second choice. just to the right of the main entrance of the hotel was this tiny shop (花园小吃肠旺米线) they had simple but delicious rice noodle soup. but get there early as it gets crowded with locals and tourists.
then we headed to the west gate to see from above the city which was actually quite lively for a weekday morning. we watched some bird fighting.
next we headed to the village of tuanshan but on the way there we stopped by the twin dragon bridge (双龙桥) and walked around the small village. then off to the ancient village of tuanshan (团山村), where the zhang family (张家) lived. many old buildings in which people still live in today, who are also still making old handicrafts.
Next stop was to the swallows cave (燕子洞) where we saw thousands of swallows flying in and out of this giant cave. we also watched some guys climb up the rocks without any saftey harness as they would do in the mountains. then into the caves to see some rock formations. what a long day, saw many things but long hours on the road.
Day 4－april 24 2016
Yuanyuang rice terraces (云阳梯田)
we had to get up very early in the morning to see the sunrise over the rice terraces but it was well worth it. the weather here is so unpredictable that it did pour rain at some point in the morning but then cleared up for the rest of the day. the best place to watch the sunrise and the moving clouds is at duoyishu (多依树景观). the view is stunning, you will see nothing else like this. but try to get there early as there will be crowds to get the right spot for taking pictures.
we then drove around and stopped at other scenic spots such as luomadian ( 倮马点) and bada (坝达景观) to take more pictures of the endless view of the rice terraces. we then stopped for lunch at a local village of qingkou ( 箐口观景点) and tried more local specialities, then walked around inside the town and surrounding areas to get closer to the rice terraces. the last stop was at laohuzui (老虎嘴景观), which people normally go to see the sunset, however we weren't so lucky as it was pouring rain and it did not let down. so we quickly walked to catch the view but was hard to see anything that day. the name translates to the mouth of the tiger which apparently can be seen in the rice fields.
back to the hotel to change into clean and warmer clothes and we were just in time to watch the sunset from the town square in front of our hotel. after that a quick and simple dinner at a restaurant in the town center.
Day 5- April 25 2016
xinjie (新街) -> Stone forest (石林风景区) -> Dali (大理)
