YUNNAN

Kunming, Lijiang & Dali

5 - 11 Feb 1997

Minority tribe lady with her colorful headdress

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Due to health problem and work commitment, I canceled the adventurous self-planned South Africa / Kenya and slotted myself into a nearly fully booked package tour to Yunnan.

Yunnan is located at the southern part of China, sharing the same border with Thailand, Loa and Vietnam. As this province is ontop of a 1900m plateau, the climate is like spring all year round. The temperature during my visit was between 2 - 14 degree C. More than 28 minority tribes resided in Yunnan. They were easily distinguished by their colorful traditional costumes.

Horse riding on Jade Dragon Mountain

Lijiang was my most memorable destination. I encountered snow fall for the first time in my life when I was touring the old city. I also got to throw snowball and rolled myself on snow went I went up to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain the following day.

The Chinese New Year mood was brought alive with fireworks and crackers which I had missed for almost 30 years ever since it was banned in Singapore. I had the best time of the trip as I had half a day on my own to photograph the Old Town.

The 6 hours journey bus journey from Lijiang to Dali was worth every second. Scenic along the way was marvelous! There were many changing landscape and the route passed by many villages. It was indeed a pity that I couldn’t record them on film.

The itinerary in Dali was less attractive to me. I would very much like to see (photograph) the reflection of the 3 pagodas from a distance instead of visiting the place itself. The half day cruise on ErHai Lake was indeed a waste of time and boring although I got to savour the famous Dali tea. We couldn’t see a single butterfly at Butterfly Spring as it was not the right season.

Stone Forest

The main attractions in Kunming were Alugu Cave and the Stone Forest. In Stone Forest, I was left behind and separated from the group at the beginning of the 2 hours tour as I set up my tripod to take pictures. This added a sense of adventure to me but Amy, the guide from Singapore who stayed and waited for me, was more than worried. In the end, we joined a Hong Kong group to tour the stone labyrinth.

Joining a package tour relieved myself from the hassle of research and planning but robbed away the freedom. I had to miss many good photo opportunities because I couldn’t stop the coach bus nor stay at a place a second longer to wait for good lighting. However, the tour guide always managed to find time to arrange for all the boring shopping.

Photos from Yunnan Trip

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