Lijiang

Lijiang is a beautiful city in Yunnan, China. Three weeks ago, I took my first overnight sleeper train from Kunming to get there. I think if I wasn’t sharing my compartment with friends, I would be so anxious about theft that I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep.

I absolutely advise against a solo trip to Lijiang. Because Yunnan is a poorer province, public transportation isn’t well developed, so you’ll need to hire a private driver. Just look for the blue-coloured vans available everywhere which seat 6 passengers.

Also, because, I’m conscious of my fancy mirrorless camera being stolen from my bag, I decided to leave it behind and use my phone instead. Except for some sacrifices in resolution and image quality, it was great. There weren’t out-of-focus issues, HDR was automatic, it was super convenient to take out my phone and Live Photos (new to the iPhone 6s) on occasion showed their value.

Without further ado, here are some of the places I went…

My favourite places (in descending order)

1. Blue Moon Valley

Absolutely beautiful. It’s in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Scenic Area, which takes an entire day to do it justice. We spent over two hours just walking around the perimeter of the lakes.

2. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

The peak is 4,680 metres in altitude, accessible through a cable car costing ¥170 return and a short climb. (There’s also a shuttle bus fee, Scenic Area entrance fee and Old Town maintenance fee). Tickets were sold out a day in advance during my stay. You will need to wear gloves and very warm clothes as it is freezing there in late November. Also, at such high altitudes, you should absolutely purchase oxygen too. I experienced altitude sickness while in line waiting for the cable car to go back down. For all our troubles, we were rewarded with spectacular scenery.

3. Jade Water Village

Decent walk.

4. Black Dragon Pool

Requires paying the Old Town maintenance fee (the receipt is valid for at least a few days).

Notes

Lijiang Old City is a must-go if you’re in Lijiang, though not a drawcard to the city for me.

If horse riding is your thing, you can go to Lashi Lake for an afternoon, where you will pay anywhere from ¥60 to over ¥300 depending on your ability to negotiate.

Jiuxiang Scenic Region is home to some beautiful caves, which you get to from Kunming.

Finally, because of time constraints, I regrettably had to miss out on visiting the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Next time…