Lisa and George in CHINA
South West China with Shane
We flew from Bangkok to Kunming, China. I loved the STONE FOREST! It is a Karst forest. We have seen Karst formations in almost EVERY country on this trip.
South West China with Shane
We flew from Bangkok to Kunming, China. I loved the STONE FOREST! It is a Karst forest. We have seen Karst formations in almost EVERY country on this trip.
We picked up George’s friend Shane on the 23rd of April. It is GREAT to have a friend from home travel with us! Together we went to the ancient cities of Dali, and Lijiang. I thought it was an exaggeration that there would be crowds of Chinese tour groups with matching hats, and a guide with a microphone but there were hundreds of them. The cobblestone cities are picturesque with water wheels and Naxi people everywhere. Erle Lake and the village markets outside of Dali where great as was Black Dragon Pools and Baisha Shrine outside of Lijiang.
Hiking in Tiger Leaping Gorge
STEEEEEP hiking
Staying at Sean’s guest house, we woke up to climb for 5 hours in elevation. We went from 1900 to 2500m and the first hour was STRAIGHT UP! It was worth it to see the views and the water below. We walked across a waterfall with FREEZING water! This is a don’t miss stop in SW China! We saw many families doing the hiking together. Shangri-La
Zhong Dian or Gyeltang
Tibet is EVERYWHERE as we learned from a Hungarian man who lives in the USA but has a farm in Bolivia. He told us the Chinese name of Zhong Dian was changed to Shangri-la to increase tourism. The Tibetan name is Gyeltang. We were freezing there so we added gloves and coats to our backpacks and went off to the 300 year old monastery. Shane had seen Potala Palace in Lhasa 2 years ago and told us this was similar. We loved it! Due to many regulations, we decided not to go to Lhasa, Tibet on this trip BUT we will go soon. Tibetan Culture is so colorful and we loved to see the prayer flags on the chorten on the mountains.
STEEEEEP hiking
Staying at Sean’s guest house, we woke up to climb for 5 hours in elevation. We went from 1900 to 2500m and the first hour was STRAIGHT UP! It was worth it to see the views and the water below. We walked across a waterfall with FREEZING water! This is a don’t miss stop in SW China! We saw many families doing the hiking together. Shangri-La
Zhong Dian or Gyeltang
Tibet is EVERYWHERE as we learned from a Hungarian man who lives in the USA but has a farm in Bolivia. He told us the Chinese name of Zhong Dian was changed to Shangri-la to increase tourism. The Tibetan name is Gyeltang. We were freezing there so we added gloves and coats to our backpacks and went off to the 300 year old monastery. Shane had seen Potala Palace in Lhasa 2 years ago and told us this was similar. We loved it! Due to many regulations, we decided not to go to Lhasa, Tibet on this trip BUT we will go soon. Tibetan Culture is so colorful and we loved to see the prayer flags on the chorten on the mountains.
We will send more news about China soon! We have been here for over a month now and just got new visas at the Police Service Bureau. We are flying to Xi’an to see the Terracotta Warriors! More soon, Lisa and George
China April 21-May 4
Traveling in China is really VERY different than South East Asia. The trail is a bit more faint. BUT we can manage with some gestures and a book of pictures to order food and to buy our train tickets!!
Traveling in China is really VERY different than South East Asia. The trail is a bit more faint. BUT we can manage with some gestures and a book of pictures to order food and to buy our train tickets!!
It was 55degrees in Shangri-La so we accomplished our mission to get our of the heat of the South!! We have had limited internet access and have not uploaded our photos but look for them SOON!
I read that more than 1/3 of ALL freshwater: rivers and lakes is UNSAFE for INDUSTRIAL use. That is some super bad POLLUTION!! Unsafe for INDUSTRIAL use!!
In Gyeltang, 200 people were folkdancing in the square…so George and I joined in!
We go everywhere with our “bible” the Lonely Planet China!
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