Yunnan Mountain Trek

Hailed as the Oriental Grand Canyon, the Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiaoxia) is, to some extent, more attractive than the Grand Canyon. It is the most precipitous gorge in the vast China with an altitude difference of 3000 meters that is 600 meters more than that of the Grand Canyon. Therefore, the waterfalls here are amazingly marvelous, the stones here are surprisingly bizarre and landscapes on the cliffs here are spectacularly wonderful, all of which make Tiger Leaping Gorge a good place for adventure, photography and expedition.

Tiger Leaping Gorge with a splendid view of the swift turbulent current of the Golden River is formed through constant cutting by the waters between Jade Dragon Mountain and Haba Mountain. Spanning 17 kilometers long, the gorge, consists of the Upper Gorge, the Middle Gorge and the Lower Gorge, drops about 300 meters in a series of 18 rapids. The Lower Gorge is the most awe - inspiring part of all. The gorge, where the Golden Sand River pounds furiously at its rocky shores in an awesome fashion, sending up skilful of white froth, is a dream place for adventurers.

Seen from the bridge, the marvelous geological wonder, two huge mountains leaning close to each other and a large volume of fast moving water between them cutting deeper and deeper into the bottom of the gorge, will be more splendid. In addition, there is a drop of 3000 meters to the water, a beautiful and surprising place to go for photography.

Embraced by the arms of the picturesque Cangshan Mountain and guarded by an 8-meter-tall and 3.5-kilometer-long wall, the 600-year-old city of Dali was first built in 1683 and is characterized by the ancient stonewalls, grey tiled roofs, doors and windows carved with dragon and phoenix partners and gardens of varying sizes. The entire city is covered by a maze of streams, fed by runoffs from the Cangshan Mountain. Hence, the saying the gurgling of water can be heard in every house and flowers are planted in every family.

Opening Hours: 9:00 -- 18:00

Ticket Price: 50 CNY

Location: Naxi County, Lijiang City

Transportation: Bus from Lijiang Bus Station and taxi will bring you here.

Built at the foot of the Yufeng Mountain in Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), the Yufeng Monastery has experienced more than 400 years of history. What may amaze you most is the huge old camellia that planted in Ming Dynasty (1364-1644), 100 years earlier than the construction of the monastery. This camellia is praised as the King of the Camellia for the marvelous size of it.

From the beginning of the spring to the beginning of summer, the camellia will be fully blooming for 20 times without breaking off just like a peacock showing off her tail, and the amount of the flowers blooming at each time is more than 1000, therefore there are surprisingly 20,000 flowers blooming every year. This magic camellia is said to be improved through grafting, so the flowers blooming on this 2-meter-tall camellia are as large as a plate.

On the arrival of the spring, people will come all the way from near and far to have a close look at this huge camellia blooming under the reflecting of the gorgeous Yulong Mountain with the snow as the coat.

Opening Hours: 8:00 -- 18:00

Ticket Price: 20 CNY

Location: Yulong Mt., Lijiang City

Transportation: Taxi from Lijiang will bring you here.
 

With an average altitude of 4000, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (yu long xue shan) is the wonderful place with marvelous spectacles in the challenging environment. Ganhaizi is a piece of vast grassland in the east with beautiful sceneries that provides a good angle for people to enjoy the entire sight of the Jade Dragon Snow Mt. White River, originates from the Jade Dragon Snow Mt., is a crystal-like river flowing along the Mt.. Yunshanping, a virgin forest with abundant rare natural resources, is the holy land of the Naxi people. All of them make Jade Dragon Snow Mountain a good place for adventure, photography and expedition.

The mountains western flanks drop steeply to the Upper Yangtze River (Jinsha Jiang), helping to form magnificent, deep gorges, and the highest peak is Shanzidou. The summit, Shanzidou, is 5596 meters above sea level. Viewed from afar, the snow-capped range resembles a silver dragon with snow curling up its middle. Rich forest, herb and animal resources thrive on the mountain and a giant tram cart up here is one of the highest of its kind in China.

She is a botanist's paradise and a "kingdom of medicinal materials". Of the 13,000 kinds of plants in Yunnan, more than half of them can be found on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain as well as 400 types of trees in 20 primeval forest communities. From April to June the azaleas turn the mountain into a riot of brilliant color. In autumn, blue rough gentian flowers cover her marshlands. She is decorated with blooming flowers 10 months of the year.

The mountain is also a sanctuary for animals, many of them rare animals that live at different temperature levels. She is home to 30 kinds of animals protected by the state, such as the wild ass, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, the lesser panda, the forest musk deer, the clouded leopard, the blood pheasant, the silver pheasant, and the spotted, yellowish civet cat.

She has attracted the attention of many scholars and travelers. Early in 1837, the French writer Bacier introduced Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in his acclaimed book "Universe". And seven years ago the chairman of the international Mountainous Region led a team to the mountain for field work.

In Lijiang City, you can have a magnificent view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, with the main peak thrust into the clouds, the Old Man Peak standing out on the right and Black Snow Peak on its left.

Opening Hours: 7:30 -- 16:00

Ticket Price:
190 CNY
80 CNY for the kids below 1.1 m

Location: 15 km away from the Lijiang city center

Transportation: Bus No. 7 (15 CNY) and taxi (100 CNY) will bring you here.
 

The Baisha Mural is a group of murals scattered around Lijiang City, which took 300 years to complete, therefore it is a reflection of the true life in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. Having been undergone over 500 years of history, part of the Baisha mural group somewhat becomes indistinct, but a large part of which still can tell you about the culture of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

The mural group consists of more than 10 small groups, the amount of mural in all of which is up to 550. Those gorgeous murals with various styles, which are telling the stories of the religious belief and social life of the local, are a blooming intelligent show that you must visit.

Located in Baisha Township, 8km north of the seat of the Lijiang Naxi Nationality Autonomous County, the mural is a rich fusion that had resulted in a tremendously powerful art, heavy in spirit and awe-inspiring in its presentation of the mystical world. Dominated by black, silver, dark green, gold and red colors, the murals in the back hall, overlaid with centuries of brown soot, are bizarre, the scenes and figures, some still vivid in detail, are largely taken from Tibetan Buddhist iconography and include the wheel of life, judges of the underworld, the damned, titans and gods, Buddha and bodhisattvas. There are trigrams, lotus flowers and even Sanskrit inscriptions on the ceiling. The deliberate damage done to the paintings is apparent and terrible, but the loss of the irreplaceable wooden statuary that filled the temple, of which there is no trace, is even more tragic.

These mural paintings, with their fine and smooth lines, bright colors, vivid pattern and balanced and harmonious composition are a wonderful sight that is not only crucial to the history of Chinese painting, but also important to cultural heritage relics.

Opening Hours: 8:30 -- 17:00

Ticket Price: 40 CNY

Location: 12 km away from Lijiang city center

Transportation: Bus No. 6 from Lijiang will bring you here.
 

The Yangtze River Bend, as its name indicates, is the spot where the southwards running Yangtze River turns northeastward due to the block of the mountain, which, seen from a distance, looks like the letter V. Seeing the spectacular Yangtze River roaring down from the roof of the world and then making a sharp turn will be a wonderful experience.

From the sightseeing hill, in addition to the splendid view of the entire First Bend, you can have a good angle for the sunset. Under the shining of the sunset, the river shows off the most wonderful part by turning the green mountains around into shining golden mountains. In this paradise, flowers may fully bloom in spring and corps may grow into red and yellow in autumn, making a harmonious living environment on the bank of Yangtze River for the hospitable folks.

With the gradual deposit of fertile soil at this spot, a village slowly came into being, now called Shigu Town, meaning "stone drum" in Chinese. Since ancient times, this town has been important, linking Tibet with the outside world. Here Tibetan people bring their quality hide and herbal medicine to exchange with the local tea, salt, cloth and other necessities. If your tour schedule falls on the market day, you can join into the amazingly crowded and noisy town by yourself.

Opening Hours: the whole day

Ticket Price: free

Location: Naxi County, Lijiang

Transportation: Take the shuttle bus or the tour bus from the bus stations in Lijiang to the Shigu Town and then change the bus to here.
 

Stone village is in fact an ancient village with about 100 families living on the peak of the mountain with a mushroom shape. This mysterious village, facing the Chin-sha River, is embraced by steeps in the other sides. Therefore, there are only the North and South Gates as the access to the village. While, inside the gorgeous village the wide natural rock roads will show you around the amazingly splendid but simple stone-made architectures.

About 100km north of Lijiang, Baoshan Stone Village (baoshan shicheng) is located on a Herculean rock in the Jinsha River Valley. Virtually everything in the village is made of stone: stone ovens, stone water vats, stone beds, stone chairs and so on. The village is surrounded by cliffs on four sides with the Jinsha River flowing below and a small path leading to the outside world, one meter wide, creeps along the edge of the village.

The marvelous terraced fields created on the rocks with the clear mountain spring flowing down are a magic place where various sceneries can be seen. On the arrival of the spring, the newly transplanted corps is adorably green, while when the autumn falls, you will lose yourself at the scene that the golden rice, wheat and corns waving with the breeze. In addition, the huge stone carvings on the steep cliffs, created by the ancestors of the Naxi people, are the most spectacular scene that makes the tourists astonished.

Opening Hours: 8:00 -- 18:00

Ticket Price: 20 CNY

Location: 100 km away from Lijiang City

Transportation: Shuttle bus from Lijiang will bring you here.
 

Jade Spring Park (yuquan park), commonly known as Black Dragon Pond Park (heilongtan park), is one of the most beautiful parks in all of Lijiang. Inside the park, there is a pond, covering 40,000 km, formed by the springs welling up from the foot of the old trees, which looks like a piece of jade, from where the present name of the park is derived.

In the pond, fishes are having great fun across in the waterweeds. On the water, the Ottelia are blooming fully. Over, the Suocui Bridge, as a decoration of the pond, with three falls running below looks like a gorgeous Lady washing her hair by the pond. Around, the old trees are still flourishing, under the cover of which the pavilions and towers seem more peaceful.

A tower here houses numerous pictures and drawings on its beams, pillars, doors and windows, which is actually a museum, in which many precious historical cultural relics as well as calligraphic and paintings are displayed. On both sides of the gate, there are four huge stone lions, which though have experienced several hundreds of history, still look lifelike and magnificent.

Opening Hours:
8:00 -- 18:00 (from Dec. 1 to Mar. 31)
7:00 -- 19:00 (from Apr.  1 to Nov. 30)

Ticket Price:
30 CNY
15 CNY for the kids between 1.2m and 1.5 m

Location: At the north of the Ancient Town in Lijiang

Transportation: Bus No. 7 and 46 from Bus Station in Lijiang will bring you here
 

Simply dipping into Tiger Leaping Gorge as part of a tour group rarely allows visitors to appreciate the breathtaking beauty along the road. As such, many people set out on their own treks through the gorge, in search of breathtaking views and inspirational sights.

Although the new road through the gorge was unsuccessful (it has largely destroyed the natural harmony of the region), many people still try to trek through the whole gorge. Please note, however, that the great trek is for brave, adventurous and well-prepared people only.

Most trekkers begin their trip at Lijiang and take buses heading towards Zhongdian, getting off at Tiger Leaping Town that is 90 km away from Lijiang. It is a good idea to spend a night in the town and rise early for the trek ahead.

From the town, cross the bridge at Qiaotouto to the other side of the Jingsha River (Yangtze), a track leads up the mountain path to the summit. The route continues up the Haba Snow Mountain, with the great river below and the Yulong Snow Mountain opposite.

It should take about two hours to reach Luoyu (2400 m) where the route becomes steeper, and another three hours should find you at the half way. Bendi Wan village is a good spot for a brief rest. From here, continue down the route, passing a huge waterfall. By nightfall, you should have reached a village called Walnut Garden, a good spot to stay the night and prepare for the next day's challenge ahead of you. Although along the route there are too much stunningly beautiful scenes to see on both sides of the river, it is really dangerous to linger on the trekking route and fail to reach the Walnut Garden before it gets dark, since the route is too narrow and there are no lights available.(You can rent electric torches in the town).

After a good night's sleep, continue the trek to the most danerous part of the trek: the Slippery Talcum Plate where the route is slippery, the slightest carelessness can be treacherous (on average 3 people a year are killed in the gorge due to carelessness and poor preparation). At the end of the slippery road, a ferry awaits, marking the final victory of the trek. After crossing to the other side of the river (10 CNY), a few kilometers walk will lead to a small town called Daju. The last bus from Daju to Lijiaing leaves at 13:30. If you don't make it, be calm! There are a few guesthouses in the town itself to hole up for the night in.