I never did post this to the blog...life got busier than usual, lol! After we got back from Yunnan, I went right back to work preparing for the new school term, then three days before it was to start, I found out I'd be going to Shanghai for a week to an educational fair. So that's where I am now. Phew!

We spent an exhausting week on a tour of cities & villages in beautiful Yunnan Province. We landed in Kunming, saw the Stone Forest (an odd geological site)...then off to Dali by overnight train. Dali was a pretty spot, we got to go boating on the Erhai Lake and to visit a little fishing village. It was nice because people didn't swarm us or change their daily lives because we were there. Many of my favourite pictures from the trip were taken here :) The water reminded me of home...

After Dali, we headed to Lijiang, a perfect city ( I mean it has everything! A good balance of scenic spots, the Old Town had pretty little restaurants, tourist shopping, and it was a whole new experience at night...you could light a candle flower and sent it down the waterways, walk down the alleyways all lit up with red lanterns...so pretty)

The next day we went to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and we got close to a glacier! The southernmost glacier in the world. The altitude was new to me, 4506 meters, so I wasn't able to go as far as Mike...I think he went to 4600 or around there. So cold, but amazing! It took us almost an entire day to wait in line for our bus, wait in line for the cable car, see the glacier, wait in line to return by cable car & wait in line for the bus again, but it was so fun.



We left Lijiang for an 8 hour bumpy & crazy bus ride to Lugu Lake, visiting many minority villages along the way. China has 55-56 recognized minority nationalities (the number depends on which source you choose) and Yunnan Province has (I think) 36. Their traditional clothing & ways of life were fascinating...I could have taken a thousand pictures. We wound our way up and down 5 mountains to arrive at Lugu Lake, a beautiful alpine lake, which is located on one of the 5 roads to Tibet. We took a boat ride over to a small island temple, and the water was so clear you could see to the bottom even in the very center. One of our tourmates, Matt, took a turn with our local paddlers for half the way, then Mike took over (with huge blisters to prove it). Mike said it was made even harder because of the altitude, lol!



We stayed the night at Lugu Lake in a local hotel, some of us went exploring with our local guide the next morning, but not long after it was time to board the bus for the 8 hours back to Lijiang :(

After another night there, we boarded the bus for China's Shangri-La (Zhongdian), a Tibetan town in the northwest of Yunnan. Along the way we picked up another local guide and stopped at the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Going down & up the steps, we almost got run over by rickshaw drivers (walkers, actually). When they go down, one driver has it propped on his back, and when they come up, they have a heavy adult passenger who doesn't want to climb all the steps, lol! A few times I thought "I'll be taking a dive soon"...

Shangri-la was completely phenominal! So amazingly beautiful. I honestly thought it was heaven on earth. We saw the inside of a local home, visited a golden monastery and got to wander about. Very special place & hard to put into words...you'll just have to visit :)



And that's how we ended our week...we got to see many special places, didn't stay too long, so every moment was enjoyed by our group...met some very nice people, saw some old friends from the Harbin trip, and had great guides along the way who showed their love of these places in everything they said and did. If you ever come to China, visit Yunnan.

photo albums here & here :)