Diary of a Full-Loop Self-Drive Tour Through the Land of Colorful Clouds: Part 2 (2021)
Our long-dreamed spring 2020 journey was delayed an entire year by the COVID pandemic, but we would finally make it to the Land of Colorful Clouds. This was a full-loop Yunnan road trip spanning 41 days. Our total expenses for two people came to over 16,000 yuan, including nearly 3,000 yuan in expressway tolls, close to 5,500 yuan for petrol, and over 2,200 yuan for entrance tickets, scenic shuttle buses and cable cars (one of us is a senior over 65, the other a person with a level-4 disability). Among the trip’s unexpected highlights were the Yuanmou Earth Forest and feeding black-headed gulls along the Haigeng Dike. The real stars of the journey were the Luoping rapeseed flower sea, Xishuangbanna, Dehong, Tengchong, the Nujiang, Dulong River, the Diqing Jinsha River Great Bend and Meili Snow Mountain, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Sanxingdui and more. Of course, a few spots remained on the wish list: Jiulong Waterfall, Tengchong’s volcanoes, the Degong Highway, Dali’s Cangshan, Balagezong National Park and the Upper, Middle and Lower Tiger Leaping Gorge.
We set out from home at 6:30 on Tuesday, 2 March 2021, to begin our Yunnan self-drive adventure. Here’s Part 2 of the diary.
21 March
After an hour’s drive in the morning, we arrived at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This place, a national AAAAA-rated scenic spot, sits on Calabash Island in Menglun Town, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan. It’s the largest botanical garden in China in terms of area, the richest in collected species and the one with the most specialized plant zones. It’s also a comprehensive research institution, a living gene bank and a scenic area all rolled into one.
We bought one half-price ticket for 40 yuan. The ticket seller told us that shuttle bus tickets for the East Zone were sold at the East Zone entrance.
We explored the West Zone on foot: the Hundred Flowers Garden, Hundred Bamboo Garden, Rare and Exotic Flower Garden, Banyan Tree Garden, Cycad Garden, Palm Garden, Shade Garden, Hundred Fruit Garden and Dragon’s Blood Tree Garden.
Around 11:45 we headed to the East Zone. We saw a queue but didn’t realise it was for the East Zone shuttle bus. We thought the bus stop was further ahead, so we kept walking—only to end up going further the wrong way. We decided to walk to the East Zone sights instead. On the way we met a young woman in her twenties who said she was walking to the East Zone alone, so we figured it should be fine for us too.
We quickly reached the Tropical Rainforest attraction and looped around in about half an hour. Then we headed for the Green Stone Forest attraction, a 3-plus-kilometre uphill road that shuttle buses normally take. Hot and exhausted, we finally got there. The main sights we saw were the Big Buttress Roots, the Tree Waterfall, and the strangler fig phenomenon. The Green Stone Forest is definitely worth visiting.
At Green Stone Forest we bought two shuttle bus tickets back to the West Zone (50 yuan each) and got off at the National Flower and National Tree Garden to continue exploring the smaller West Zone gardens: the National Flower & National Tree Garden, Celebrity and Famous Trees Garden, Liana Garden, Southern Medicinal Herb Garden and Hundred Fragrance Garden. We passed through the Hundred Flowers Garden on our way back to the main gate. It was so hot we bought ice lollies again. We decided to stay overnight in Menglun.
We booked the Cuixinyuan Hotel on Ctrip for 76 yuan. At a supermarket we bought tomatoes, pears and apples.
Our plan was to start heading toward Mangshi the next day. Since we’d be taking national or provincial roads—roughly 400–500 km a day—we would spend the first night in Gengma Township and reach Mangshi the day after.
22 March
We set off in the morning bound for Gengma. This was a day without any tourist sights to see—the first since we left home.
We rested from 13:30 to 14:00. Around 16:30 we reached the junction of National Highway 214 and Xiaocang Road. In about another hour we would have been in Gengma. But the police had set up a checkpoint and wouldn’t let non-local vehicles go toward Gengma, saying there were COVID cases in that direction. We had to detour via Lincang.
We had no choice but to change our route, which added at least an hour’s extra driving. Before 18:30 we found a hotel in Lincang. Ctrip quoted 103 yuan, but the front desk said they didn’t accept Ctrip bookings; the Meituan price was 112 yuan. Because a group from Chongqing checking in at the same time wanted six rooms, we managed to tag along and get our room for 100 yuan.
23 March
We hit the road at 8 a.m. Filled 30 litres of petrol. National Highway 214 was smooth. National Highway 357 was slightly worse. The most annoying part was a downhill stretch on a mountain road after Baoshan—a 30 km/h average-speed zone. Other cars didn’t seem bothered, but I was. Even without pressing the accelerator, I was doing 40–50 km/h. I had to stop about 2 km before the end of the speed-check zone and wait until my average dropped below 30 before proceeding. There were several vehicle inspections along this leg, too.
Around 5 p.m. we arrived at the Mingshun Hotel in Mangshi. Ctrip showed 118 yuan for a twin room with breakfast for two. The hotel offered us 108 yuan directly, so we paid at the front desk. Another full day of driving over 400 km with no sightseeing.
24 March
The hotel provided a self-service breakfast. Not a huge variety, but enough to fill up.
We drove first to Menbanaxi Rare Treasure Garden. Half-price ticket: 20 yuan. This garden, located in the southeast of Mangshi, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan, is a national AAAA-rated spot. It brings together a nationally rare collection of ancient and famous trees, precious plants, exotic flowers and the world’s rare silicified wood and jade. Its hallmarks are “rare, strange, ancient, peculiar”. It’s a boutique highlight of tourism and a gene bank of subtropical flora.
There were many tour groups. We walked in reverse of the recommended route. We saw a peacock in full display and a 300-year-old ancient banyan tree. The garden’s value lies in its exhibition of precious timbers and massive uncut jade. We spent 1.5 hours here.
We drove to the Tree-Embracing Pagoda. According to Dai historical records, this pagoda was built in 1778 (the 53rd year of the Qianlong reign) by Fang Yuzhu, the 17th tusi of Mangshi, to commemorate a victorious battle. It’s over 200 years old. Made of brick and stone, it stands over ten metres tall and is octagonal, with a Buddha statue inside a niche. A banyan tree has wrapped itself around the old pagoda, creating the remarkable ‘tree-embracing pagoda’ scene.
The tree on top has now grown over 30 metres tall, with a canopy covering nearly 1,000 square metres. The site has become a free car park. We took ten minutes to look around and left.
Menghuan Grand Golden Pagoda sits on a hill; you can drive up and there’s a car park. Menghuan Grand Golden Pagoda is situated atop Leiyarang Hill beside Peacock Lake in the southeast of Mangshi, Dehong Prefecture. In the green hills and clear waters, the golden pagoda shines brilliantly, majestic and even more sacred. It’s a landmark of Mangshi and a holy place for the local Dai people. It’s China’s premier golden Buddhist pagoda and Asia’s number-one hollow Buddhist pagoda.
We walked around the outside, gazing out over Mangshi’s panoramic views. We took off our shoes and circled twice inside the main hall, where there are a crystal Guanyin statue and a jade Buddha figure. (Photography was not allowed inside the hall.)
After that we went to Menghuan Silver Pagoda, on the hill opposite the Golden Pagoda. Also called Menghuan Thousand-Buddha Silver Pagoda, it stands in Menghuan Subdistrict, Mangshi, across from the Golden Pagoda. This is a contemporary new pagoda.
Once completed, the Silver Pagoda echoes the Golden Pagoda from afar. All its sculptures and structures are rendered in silver—quite beautiful. It forms a distinctive landscape and another landmark of Mangshi. We spent about 40 minutes going up and down the hill.
We filled 30 litres of petrol at a Sinopec station on the edge of town. At around 13:00 we took a 30-minute break to eat and nap.
At 14:40 we arrived at the Moli Tropical Rainforest Scenic Area. Half-price ticket: 18 yuan. You can drive inside.
Moli Tropical Rainforest Scenic Area focuses on original tropical valley rainforest vegetation paired with waterfalls. It’s home to over 1,500 wild plants and 479 species of flowers and aromatic plants, earning it the name ‘fairyland on earth’. Orchids growing outdoors were absolutely gorgeous!
The ancient trees in Moli soar skyward, and the dense forest blocks out the sun. Walking through made us feel cool breezes, with various floral scents soaking into our clothes.
At the end of the valley, we saw a waterfall plunging more than 60 metres over a sheer cliff, like a raging torrent. The valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a flat area of over 10 mu inside. Strolling a few dozen metres from the gate, we came to a hot spring pool, about a foot deep and crystal clear. Legend says it was a bathing pool that wild elephants built for the Buddha. Near the spring is a huge, ancient, gnarled banyan tree, under which stands a golden Dai-style pavilion.
Inside the pavilion is a winnowing-basket-shaped stone. Embedded in its sloping face is a giant ‘footprint’, with clearly visible toes and sole. This is the famous Buddha’s Footprint venerated in South and Southeast Asian Buddhist circles. The print is 96 cm long, 43 cm wide at the forefoot, 33 cm wide at the arch and 52 cm wide at the heel. Devotees have covered it in gold powder, making it even more lifelike. Not far behind the pavilion is a Buddhist temple, which is always crowded with pilgrims during Buddhist festivals.
The scenic area cultivates large numbers of orchids—very beautiful. It took us 50 minutes to walk to the Moli Waterfall at the very end.
Leaving Moli Tropical Rainforest, we headed to Dehong’s Single Tree Forest.
It’s located beside the road in Mangle Village, right by the China-Myanmar frontier. The tree is an ancient banyan, over 900 years old, with 31 aerial roots that have reached the ground, a height of more than 70 metres, and a crown spreading 120 square metres. Its branches and leaves form something like a hedge, and at the same time a green barrier—one of the great wonders of the rainforest. It defies the proverb, “a single thread cannot make a thread, nor a single tree a forest.”
Tickets were 15 yuan full price; our half-price ticket was 10 yuan.
We saw Guo Moruo’s inscription ‘Ruili’, two ‘single-tree forests’ (banyans), one banyan growing horizontally, and a peacock garden.
Ruili Zhong’ou Hotel claims to be four-star. Our twin room with breakfast cost 100 yuan—18 yuan cheaper than Ctrip.
We had hand-grasped rice and lemon-sa dish for dinner on the street.
25 March
After self-service breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Hansha Village. We drove up to the entrance, but the guard insisted we scan the health QR code. I offered to just park by the roadside, but he refused and used some unpleasant words. I said we wouldn’t visit then, but he still demanded we scan before leaving. We scanned and left.
We drove to ‘One Village, Two Countries’. Ticket: 20 yuan. This attraction is about 10 km from downtown Ruili, next to the famous China-Myanmar Boundary Marker 71. It’s a classic geographical wonder: one village in two countries. The border cuts through a Dai village, with the Chinese side called Yinjing and the Myanmar side called Mangxiu.
Inside you’ll find sights like the ‘One Village Two Countries Well’ and the ‘One Village Two Countries Swing’.
(A bridge linking two countries)
(A pagoda blessing two countries)
The park is full of ‘something-two-countries’ pairings. The border was fenced with barbed wire and closed.
We tried to visit Dadeng Han Village, but the road was closed and we weren’t allowed in, so we moved on to our next stop: Yingjiang Tiger Leaping Stone.
At 13:00 we reached Yingjiang Tiger Leaping Stone. Looking out, we saw two huge rocks in the river, the two banks less than 20 metres apart. They looked almost ready to block the Daying River. They’re like two giant doors, half-open, leaving a slit just 7.3 metres wide.
Even more interesting, not far away there’s another huge boulder lying across the middle of the river. The water was low, we couldn’t get close for good photos and the ‘water-cave’ feature was inaccessible. So we just ate our packed lunch and rested at the gate of a hydropower station.
At 14:00 we drove to Lotus Hot Spring. This hot spring is located in Lotus Township, about 28 km from Tengchong town toward Lianghe. When we reached the upper car park, a security guard said we couldn’t park there—it was for managers. He told us to park in the lower car park.
We took an electric buggy to the ticket office. The ticket seller said the price was 236 yuan per person. I’d booked on Ctrip for 188 yuan each, total 376 yuan. The hot spring complex covers over 300 mu. It’s a forest hot spring area, featuring unique sulphur springs, kaolin springs, carbonated springs, sodium chloride springs and other high-quality mineral waters. The flow is abundant and rich in trace elements beneficial to the body. Supposedly there are 25 open-air forest pools.
We soaked in practically all the small pools—rose, milk, aloe and others. At 5:30 p.m. we had a buffet dinner. We soaked in a few more pools, then left.
We went to the Tengchong Tongluo Hotel and booked on Meituan for 100 yuan. Ctrip was more expensive!
A hotel staff member told us that Volcano Park was closed because a staff member had died in a hot-air balloon accident. What a pity! We adjusted our itinerary: after Tengchong, head to Lushui, then Lijiang; and after that, Dali.
26 March
We drove to Heshun Ancient Town. Half-price ticket: 27.5 yuan. Heshun Ancient Town is 4 km southwest of Tengchong’s urban centre. It’s a notable trading, cultural and tourist town on the old Southern Silk Road.
With over 600 years of history, Heshun has a deep cultural heritage. Here, Central Plains culture, Western culture, Nanzhao culture and border-area culture mingled and collided, forming unique overseas-Chinese and horse-caravan cultures. Heshun has a long tradition of venerating culture and education; over 400 successful Ming-and-Qing imperial exam candidates came from here. The ancient town has beautiful natural scenery and starry distribution of historic architecture.
It also boasts China’s largest rural library—the Heshun Library—and is a famous overseas-Chinese homeland in southwest China, a living ancient town where over 7,000 residents still live in harmony.
Heshun has earned many accolades: China’s Most Charming Town, a National Historic and Cultural Town, a National Environmentally Beautiful Township, a National Cultural Industry Demonstration Base, etc. In December 2020, the Heshun Ancient Town Scenic Area passed the landscape-quality assessment for national AAAAA status and was officially placed on the AAAAA creation list. In the town we saw the Double Bridges, the library and inscribed plaques by celebrities like Hu Shi and Guo Shaoyu, the Li Family Ancestral Hall, Yuanlong Pavilion, the Da Yuetai (Grand Moon Platform), and Wanlouzi. Wenchang Palace was under renovation.
(Flowers planted by Heshun locals)
Total time spent: 2 hours 21 minutes.
From the ancient town we went to the National Memorial Cemetery. The navigation said we’d arrived, but we didn’t see the gate. We ignored Amap’s navigation and turned into a martyrs’ cemetery, which was closed. Driving a bit further, we spotted the gate of the National Memorial Cemetery. It required online booking.
The Tengchong National Memorial Cemetery (Western Yunnan War of Resistance Memorial Hall) was built to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the China Expeditionary Force’s 20th Army Group who died retaking Tengchong in 1944 and was completed on 7 July 1945. Its name comes from the ‘National Lament’ chapter of the ‘Verses of Chu’. The cemetery covers 37,884 square metres. It comprises the main gate, exhibition hall, memorial pagoda, and rows of tombstones: 3,346 for soldiers killed in the Tengchong campaign, plus 19 for Allied troops. There is also a ‘Japanese Tomb’.
Admission was free. There are inscribed plaques by Chiang Kai-shek, Yu Youren and others. We visited for 30 minutes.
By the time we reached the Rehai (Hot Sea) Scenic Area it was already 12:25. Half-price ticket: 25 yuan. We walked the whole route in 1 hour 45 minutes.
Yunnan is extremely rich in geothermal resources, accounting for a quarter of China’s known hot springs, with Tengchong County being the most concentrated. Tengchong is one of China’s three major geothermal zones. There are about 80 hot springs here, boiling springs everywhere. Rehai is the most representative.
It’s the second-largest geothermal field in China, made up of the Hot Sea Boulder, the Big Boiling Pot, Bathing Valley, Pearl Spring, Beauty Pool and more.
(Twin Springs, also called Spectacle Spring)
The maximum water temperature reaches 102°C, making this one of the best geothermal therapy sites in China. The Rehai area centres on Cucumber Gully, Bathing River and Sulphur Pond. There are numerous steam and hot springs.
The most spectacular is the Big Boiling Pot.
The moment we entered, we smelled a strong sulphur odour. Water gushing from spring vents was extremely hot—testing it with a hand was painful. Near the Big Boiling Pot lots of people were foot-soaking. The Rehai hot springs are inside the park, sealed off in a separate area with a separate charge. Since we’d already soaked at Lotus Hot Spring, we skipped the Rehai pools.
At 13:10 we left the scenic area and headed for Lushui. We took a rest on the expressway. We got off the expressway at Lujiangba Station, filled 30 litres of petrol, then got back on at Nujiang Grand Canyon Station.
Lushui is built along the river, with narrow streets and heavy traffic. Our car was filthy, so we washed it after arriving. We searched for a hotel but didn’t like the first one. We booked a hotel called Jinmumian on Ctrip, but while we were en route the hotel rang Ctrip to say the booking was confirmed but they had no rooms left. Ctrip chose a nearby similar hotel for us—we had to accept. Ctrip said they’d compensate us with 19 yuan.
27 March
In the morning we drove toward Zhiziluo. From Lushui we followed National Highway 219. Alongside the road a special path had been built, on which you can jog, walk or cycle. It stretched on for dozens of kilometres. The next day we would see similar sightseeing paths under construction in the Gongshan section—well over 200 km of them. Before climbing the mountain to Zhiziluo, National Highway 219 crossed from the west side of the Nujiang to the east side. The mountain road to Zhiziluo was in poor condition. We felt like we’d wound all the way to the summit.
I thought we had arrived, so we stopped at a village committee office to ask the way. They said Old Steam Church was nearby, but the ‘abandoned city’ was still 4 km ahead.
The Nujiang Old Steam Protestant Church: wherever there’s a village along the Nujiang valley, you can find churches built by French missionaries long ago and still used by villagers for services. Though the valley is home to Nu, Lisu, Bai, Han, Tibetan and other ethnic groups, most share a Christian faith. We went to the church first, but it was closed, and the ground outside was being repaired.
Then we drove to Zhiziluo village. In Lisu language, ‘Zhiziluo’ means ‘good place.’ It sits on a ridge of the Biluo Snow Mountains at 2,023 metres above sea level. It was once the prefectural seat of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture and the seat of old Bijiang county. Over 30 years ago it was the prefectural capital; over 20 years ago it was the thriving Bijiang county town.
(Former county hydropower bureau)
(Former county Xinhua Bookstore)
(Former county civil affairs bureau)
And now it’s Zhiziluo village. From prefectural seat to county seat to village, people often feel sad and call it the ‘City of Memory’, the ‘Abandoned City’ or ‘China’s Most Miserable City’. In 1974 the prefectural government moved from Zhiziluo in Bijiang County to Liuku Town by the Nujiang in Lushui County. Zhiziluo’s appearance was frozen in the historical period of 1986. We’d driven 20 km uphill from the Nujiang to reach Zhiziluo. People still live there, but the county government moved away. Just as we were leaving, another big bus unloaded a tour group.
(Looking across the Nujiang at the mountains opposite)
At 11:30 we started back down the mountain. It took half an hour to reach National Highway 219.
Along the way, whenever we saw nice scenery we stopped to take photos. In the middle section of the Gaoligong Mountains, at a peak 3,300 metres above sea level, there's a huge karst hole carved out of marble—a natural arch. The hole is a hundred metres deep, over 40 metres wide and about 60 metres high. Heading north along the Nujiang, from a hundred li away you can see this stone cave framing the white clouds and blue sky. It has a lovely name: Stone Moon. We wanted to rest at the Stone Moon pull-off area, but then a tour bus disgorged a crowd, so noisy we couldn’t even sleep. We moved on.
At 14:00 we reached Gongshan county seat. Amap’s navigation went haywire and took us on a one-and-a-half-loop tour inside the small county town without finding the road to Dulong River. We had to ask three times before we got the correct route. A passerby told us that entry onto the Gong-Du Highway was prohibited after 4 p.m.
The Gong-Du Highway, from Gongshan to Dulong River, must cross the Gaoligong Mountains. From October each year to the following May, ice and snow atop the mountains cut off the Dulong River township from the outside world. Now there’s a nearly 7-km tunnel, shrinking the highway to under 80 km and making year-round passage possible.
This road, tightly enclosed by the Gaoligong Mountains, feels very mysterious. It threads and winds among cliffs, precipices, waterfalls and dense forest, with one hairpin turn after another. Most stretches are difficult for vehicles to pass each other, and there were roadworks in many sections.
On the Gong-Du Highway we saw the Dandanglika Snow Mountain and stopped to take photos. Twice we were held up by roadworks: one stop was ten minutes, the next one an hour. It was nearly 8 p.m. by the time we got to Dulongjiang Town.
Who’d have thought accommodation in Dulong River would be so hot? We tried three or four hotels, all full. Finally, a guesthouse receptionist pointed us to Yana Guesthouse for 140 yuan, but the staff stubbornly demanded 150 yuan. The conditions were basic. The first room had a toilet that didn’t flush; they swapped us to another room.
Dinner on the street: the server introduced a dish and I thought she said 28 yuan. When paying, they said 88 yuan, and extras brought the total to 96 yuan.
Touring Dulong River roughly follows a southern and a northern route. The northern route mainly goes to Longyuan Village to look for the face-tattooed women. The southern route is a bit longer, all the way to Habang Waterfall. We decided to take the southern route the next day, then see how things went.
28 March
We set off at 7:30 in the morning for Habang Waterfall. By 8:20 we reached the hawksbill leaf monkey observation point. Large machinery was rumbling away in the nearby riverbed. We waited over ten minutes and figured the noise must have scared the monkeys off—they weren’t coming. So we stopped waiting.
The water of the Dulong River is incredibly clean and cool.
We decided to skip the village and go straight to Habang Waterfall. That’s when mobile signal problems made Amap useless. It gave us wrong directions repeatedly: telling us to turn when we should go straight, and go straight when we should turn. At a bridge it directed us back along another road. After 6 km we asked a construction worker, who said we were on the wrong road and had gone 6 km too far. We had to go back to that bridge and go left.
That road was terrible—narrow, full of tight bends, with roadworks, lots of heavy lorries and construction equipment.
Once we got onto the proper road to Habang Waterfall we fell in behind a convoy of seven or eight vehicles, mostly accompanied by someone deaf-mute. We followed them, occasionally stopping for photos, all the way to Habang Waterfall. Before reaching it, there was a border inspection post (unmanned). Near the waterfall was a fire-prevention checkpoint inspecting all vehicles and pedestrians, only allowing travel as far as the waterfall—no one was allowed to go toward the boundary marker.
Habang Waterfall is in Maku Village, Dulongjiang Township, Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County, Yunnan. ‘Habang’ means ‘a mighty water plunging from a gap in the towering cliff’ in the Dulong language. The waterfall drops about 200 metres between steep peaks, its massive column roaring down the cliff face and plunging straight into the Dulong River, kicking up water columns several zhang high. A magnificent sight.
The stretch of the Dulong River flowing past the waterfall was also very beautiful.
At 13:45 we turned back, heading to Gongshan to stay the night. Before 5 p.m. we arrived at Jincheng Hotel. Room price: 90 yuan. The hotel car park was beneath a one-way street, so we drove around the county town to fill up with petrol and then find the parking lot.
29 March
In the morning we bought breakfast on the street: fried doughsticks, soya milk, sugar cakes, buckwheat cakes and scallion flatbread.
After breakfast we set off for Bingzhongluo, which is praised as ‘a peach-blossom paradise where humans and gods dwell together’. Within Bingzhongluo there are three nationally recognised AAAA-level sights: the Nujiang First Bend, Shimen Pass and Bingzhongluo pastoral scenery.
The Nujiang First Bend lies to the south of Bingzhongluo. It forms when the Nujiang River encounters a hillside, diverting into a 270-degree great turn.
The Nujiang First Bend is on the way to Bingzhongluo, near Ridan Village. Flowing through this area, the river meets an obstructing cliff wall—the Wangqing Great Cliff—forcing it to change course from north–south to east–west. After over 300 metres, it’s blocked again by Danla Mountain and swerves sharply from west–east to southwest, creating a huge semicircular bend.
Bingzhongluo viewing platform.
Shimen Pass lies at the northern edge of the Bingzhongluo platform. The Gaoligong and Biluo snow mountains press close along the river’s course. Two sheer cliffs rise straight from the riverbank into the sky, forming an immense stone gateway over 500 metres high and nearly 200 metres wide. The Nujiang jets out through this gate, surging downward. Locals call it Nanli Wall; because of the landform, it’s also vividly named Shimen (‘Stone Gate’) Pass.
This is an essential passage into and out of Yunnan and Tibet.
The three sites took us 30 minutes.
It took us 44 minutes to drive back from Shimen Pass to the Pengdang Bridge, where we turned onto the Degong Highway. At the checkpoint we were stopped: they told us we couldn’t go to Deqin. A roadside notice board said the road was closed from 30 December 2020 to 31 March 2021 because of snow and roadworks, with reopening subject to conditions. We had no choice but to change our route and head for Dali. Multiple times along the way we were held up by roadworks. We reached Lushui at 15:20, got on the expressway and rested at the first service area till 4 p.m.
At 7 p.m. we arrived at Qingqing Inn in Dali. Conditions were good, and the price was 97 yuan. In the evening we strolled around Dali Ancient Town.
30 March
After breakfast we explored Dali Ancient Town on foot. First, we took a photo outside the Christian church. Then the Confucian Temple, the Dali West Gate Mosque, and finally Shangshudi (the Mansion of a Minister).
Shangshudi was just a plaque nailed to the outer wall of a house. The Confucian Temple was the only place we entered; the rest we only viewed from outside.
We saw a cute little mouse. And then we admired the flowers on Dali’s streets.
We drove to the East Gate 1 of Cangshan Scenic Area. The entrance was locked. Staff told us the big cable car was closed for forest-fire prevention, so you couldn’t enter. The main cable car was only running halfway, and visitors were confined to an area within 50 metres—not worth it, they said. They suggested we go to Gantong Temple and take the cable car from there, and warned us to go early or we’d queue.
When we got to the Gantong Temple scenic entrance, the ticket office was shut. Someone said the cable car was closed but you could walk up without a ticket. We had a short walk to the temple itself, then went back down—about 20 minutes. At 11 a.m. we arrived at Chongsheng Temple.
Chongsheng Temple, facing Erhai Lake to the east and backed by the Cangshan Mountains to the west, is about one kilometre north of Dali Ancient Town, at the foot of Cangshan and the shore of Erhai. Historically, nine Dali emperors renounced their thrones to become monks here. Chongsheng Temple was famous for five great treasures: the Nanzhao Jianji Great Bell, the Rain-Covered Bronze Guanyin, the ‘Buddha Capital’ plaque, and others. But the temple and its four other treasures were destroyed in wars and natural disasters over the centuries. The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple are listed by the State Council as one of the first batches of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units. The temple also contains a Hall of Five Hundred Arhats. Parking fee: 5 yuan for unlimited time. We spent two hours here.
We drove to Butterfly Spring and spent 1 hour 30 minutes. Butterfly Spring lies west of National Highway 214 in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. The spring covers over fifty square metres and is six metres deep.
The pool is edged by marble railings. On the western marble wall of the spring, Guo Moruo’s calligraphy ‘Butterfly Spring’ is engraved. The Butterfly Tree beside the pool lies across it like a blue-grey dragon.
Inside Butterfly Spring Scenic Area, there are also Five Dragon Pool and Lover’s Lake among other sights.
We left Butterfly Spring and drove an hour to Washe Town and Qianmo Inn. We were the only guests.
We strolled along the town streets, took in the Erhai Lake scenery and photographed black-headed gulls.
The road between Shuanglang Town and Washe Town was lined with brightly coloured convertible sports cars for rent. A lot of young men and women were renting them and taking photos in the cars. Since it wasn’t peak season, only a few restaurants and guesthouses were open.
31 March
We left at 8 a.m. for Jizu Mountain. Jizu Mountain, also known as Jiuqu Mountain or Qingdian Mountain, lies northwest of Binchuan County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture.
During the Song Dynasty, the monk Ciji came to the steep crags of Qingdian Mountain to practise asceticism and worship Buddhism, starting the rise of Buddhism on Jizu Mountain. It’s a key attraction within the Dali National Scenic Area. It’s a multifunctional tourism destination centred on Buddhist culture and natural ecology—for pilgrimage, Buddhist studies, sightseeing and scientific research. It’s a national AAAA-level scenic area, a Buddhist holy site for South and Southeast Asia, and one of China’s ten famous Buddhist mountains.
At 9 a.m. we arrived at Jizu Mountain and bought a half-price ticket for 27.5 yuan, plus two one-way scenic shuttle tickets for 20 yuan total, and two cable-car tickets for 90 yuan total. From the main gate we drove 10 km to Zhusheng Temple car park. Zhusheng Temple’s architecture has strong Yunnan Bai influences.
We saw Yulong (Jade Dragon) Waterfall. It’s said that the waterfall takes on different forms in different seasons.
Inside Muni Nunnery there’s ‘One Tree, Three Cypresses’. The nunnery is small, exquisite and distinctive, surrounded by dense, lush bamboo—a particularly serene environment.
(Tongwa Hall—roofed in copper tiles, pillars of nanmu wood)
From there we took the sightseeing bus to the cable car lower station and began the climb after alighting. We visited Huashoumen (the First Gate under Heaven), considered by Buddhists as ‘China’s Premier Gate’. It’s the most sacred place on Jizu Mountain. Here, the Venerable Kasyapa entered deep meditation, holding the Buddha’s robe and awaiting the coming of Maitreya.
(Seen from a little distance, it resembles a face sculpture)
After the Buddha’s nirvana, according to the Buddha’s instructions, Kasyapa took the golden-threaded robe the Buddha had worn and entered samadhi at Huashoumen, waiting in stillness for the future Buddha—Maitreya—to be born. We climbed to Jizu Mountain’s highest peak, Tianzhu Peak (the Golden Summit), at 3,248 metres above sea level.
On the Golden Summit is a gilded copper temple moved here from Taihe Palace on Yingwu Mountain in the eastern suburbs of Kunming; hence the summit temple is called Jinding (‘Golden Summit’) Temple.
Inside the temple there’s also the Lengyan Pagoda.
At 12:47 we began to walk down. Jiaye (Kasyapa) Hall houses a camphorwood statue of Kasyapa, said to have been hand-carved by Ananda.
(Descending from Jiaye Hall, there’s a very steep, long staircase at the start.)
It is called the ‘First Temple on the Mountain’ and ‘Source Temple of All Temples on the Mountain’. At 13:47 we reached the cable car lower station.
We walked to Fanguang Temple, which is undergoing major renovations. Lying directly below Huashoumen, it was one of the eight great temples of Jizu Mountain during the Ming Dynasty. Because the famous ‘Heavenly Pillar Buddha Light’—one of the eight famous sights of Jizu Mountain—often appears here, it was named Fanguang (‘Emitting Light’) Temple.
We walked back to the cable car lower station and took the bus to Biyun Temple. Around 3:30. We encountered a troop of monkeys.
We drove to Eryuan Jiutai Yuantong Hotel. Room price: 80 yuan.
Eryuan was interesting. When checking in, the front desk told us there’s an open-air hot spring not far from the hotel where you can soak your feet for free. Out of curiosity, we strolled over after dinner to check it out. We walked to Fenghuang (‘Phoenix’) Town to watch local people foot-soaking right on the street.
In the middle of a block of buildings not far from the road, there was a little water channel.
Since it wasn’t yet the appointed time, only a few people were sitting along the channel soaking their feet. We followed the winding channel about 500 metres to see its source: a pipe gushing water up from underground. Locals said the pumping station starts working every evening to draw the water.
On our way back, next to the road we saw a yard that looked like a swimming pool. I asked the guard, and he said it was a hot spring, 20 yuan per person.
1 April
We departed Eryuan and drove to First Bend of the Yangtze River. It started raining along the way. At one roadside spot, a large patch of white peonies was blooming.
The navigation took us to the First Bend of the Yangtze, about 50 km from Lijiang county town. It’s in a car park. The site is free.
Standing on the riverbank, the First Bend didn’t seem especially distinctive—just a big river making a big turn. I wondered what it looked like from a drone.
There are two ‘First Bend’ sights along this travel route. One is called the First Bend of the Yangtze; the other is the ‘First Bend of the Jinsha River’ (locally called Jinsha River Great Bend). Although the Yangtze First Bend is also on the Jinsha River, the Jinsha First Bend is something else—a different name and location. The Jinsha River has many bends; this so-called ‘First Bend’ is not the first at all, but the most dramatically abrupt bend—its character is ‘dramatic’.
The Jinsha River First Bend marks the border between Yunnan and Sichuan. On one side is Benzilan Town, Deqin County, Diqing Prefecture, Yunnan; on the other is Zigeng Township, Derong County, Sichuan. At this strategic Yunnan-Sichuan pass, the river draws a breathtaking ‘Ω’-shaped curve around a pyramid-shaped peak—Rizhui Peak—creating one of the world’s great wonders: the Jinsha River First Bend.
It’s part of the Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve as well as part of the ‘Three Parallel Rivers’ World Natural Heritage site.
To go from the Yangtze First Bend to Jinsha Great Bend Viewing Platform No.1, I entered the address for the Jinsha Great Bend.
Once again, the navigation made a mistake: it took us past Benzilan toward Derong in Sichuan. The further we went, the more we felt something was wrong. We stopped and asked a local, who told us we’d gone past it and needed to go back. We drove back more than ten minutes, crossed a bridge with width-limiting bollards, and reached Benzilan.
Driving a bit further, we arrived at the Jinsha Great Bend Viewing Platform No.1, right by the roadside. You can drive into the yard. We bought a half-price ticket for 10 yuan. The view was genuinely impressive. The stop took us just over 20 minutes. A notice said peak season starts on 28 April.
As we drove past the Baima Snow Mountain area, snowflakes began to fall. The road was wet and foggy. After turning a mountain head, the sun even came out for a bit.
From the Jinsha Great Bend Viewing Platform No.1 to the Wunongding Viewing Platform, I made the same mistake: I entered only the destination ‘Wunongding’ without adding ‘Viewing Platform’.
The navigation took us into Wunongding Village. I quickly corrected the destination.
When we got to the Wunongding Viewing Platform, the view was wonderful and it was still sunny. But soon dark clouds filled the sky, so we didn’t linger. Actually, there are hotels right here with rooms looking directly onto Meili Snow Mountain, offering an ideal view. Unfortunately, we’d already booked a hotel in Feilai Monastery, so we had to push on.
At the Deqin Dian-Tibet Business Hotel, we had a yak hotpot to warm up.
After dinner, from the hotel’s fire-escape stairs, we saw Meili Snow Mountain peek out from the clouds. It was a gorgeous sight. Then we walked to the Feilai Monastery Viewing Platform to check it out. We learnt we could get half-price tickets for 20 yuan, and the gate opens at 6:40 in the morning.
At the hotel, we met several motorcyclists warming themselves by a fire. I chatted for a bit with one rider from Daxing, Beijing. He said he was travelling alone, but had bumped into this group en route and joined them.
The Feilai Monastery Viewing Platform is a key gateway for accessing Meili Snow Mountain or the Yubeng valley, and it’s one of the passages into the Tibetan area. The viewing platform directly faces Kawa Garbo, the main peak of Meili Snow Mountain. At sunrise, when sunlight strikes the main peak, the whole snow mountain seems to emit a golden glow—a spectacular sight.
2 April
In the morning we went to the Feilai Monastery Viewing Platform to take photos. We caught faint, elusive glimpses of Meili Snow Mountain.
Although we were only at about 3,500 metres, both of us felt some altitude sickness. Why hadn’t we had any trouble at the 5,200-metre Everest Base Camp in 2018?
On the way downhill, there had been snowfall overnight in the Baima Snow Mountain speed-check zone. We and other vehicles proceeded cautiously, all below 40 mph.
At a thick snowy patch, passing cars stopped one after another to play in the snow. Two carfuls of people from Guizhou had never seen such heavy snow and were having a ball. Further ahead, the road was covered in churned-up slush. Even further, it was dry. There was a cluster of little mani piles by the roadside—quite amusing.
I set the navigation for Balagezong National Park. But once again, the navigation malfunctioned: it kept directing us to Shangri-La City (Zhongdian), and at one point it displayed our speed as 70 mph while our car’s speedometer showed only 30. Because of speed limits along the whole route, I didn’t dare speed up anyway. Turning back to Balagezong now would have meant an extra 70–80 km. We had no choice but to go to Pudacuo National Park instead. The road was under construction the whole way—dirty and rough. We asked a local and learnt the road was being built toward Baishuitai, and further ahead it was blocked. If we wanted to go to Baishuitai, we’d have to come back the same way. With no time to make a return trip that day, we scrapped Baishuitai.
Pudacuo half-price ticket: 20 yuan. Scenic shuttle bus: 60 yuan per person. To be honest, Pudacuo is all reputation and little substance. Only a small part was open. Originally the site comprised Bita Lake, Shudu Lake and Milichang Alpine Pasture as the main components; now only Shudu Lake was accessible. The visit involved taking a shuttle bus for a stretch, then walking the 3.3 km plank path around the lake, which takes about an hour, and finally getting a bus back to the gate. Pudacuo ranges from 3,500 to 4,200 metres in altitude. We felt the altitude again—our heads were a bit woozy. Personally, I thought it fell far short of AAAAA standard.
Returning from Pudacuo to Shangri-La City, we wanted to stay near the ticket office for Songzanlin Monastery. I first found a Tibetan-style guesthouse on Ctrip for an amazingly low 32 yuan. After changing rooms three times—one had a busted toilet, another a faulty electric blanket—we were unhappy. We asked Ctrip for a cancellation; the owner agreed, and Ctrip processed the refund instantly (superb service!). We then checked into the Zanpulingka Hotel across the street for 100 yuan. It had an electric blanket, underfloor heating and wool blankets—so warm! The big advantage was its proximity to Songzanlin Monastery—just a two-minute walk. The downside was few dining options (probably due to the season—early April hadn’t yet hit peak tourist time).
Gadan Songzanlin Monastery is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan and one of the renowned large monasteries of the Kham region. It is also a Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) Buddhist centre for the Sichuan-Yunnan border area, holding a pivotal position throughout the Tibetan region and hailed as the ‘Little Potala Palace’. Built against a hillside, it resembles an ancient fortress. It’s an amalgam of Tibetan sculptural arts and is known as a ‘Tibetan Art Museum’. Also called the Guihua Monastery, it is an ancient fortress-like architectural complex. Construction started in 1679 and finished in 1681. The Fifth Dalai Lama personally gave it the name ‘Gadan Songzanlin’.
3 April
The next morning we walked to the Songzanlin tourist centre and used WeChat to buy one half-price ticket for 27 yuan and two one-way shuttle-bus tickets for 20 yuan total.
At Songzanlin we visited several kangtsangs (sub-organisations under the larger assembly halls), the main assembly hall and so on. We walked back to the tourist centre in ten minutes.
We checked out and drove to Dukezong Ancient Town. Dukezong is China’s best-preserved and largest Tibetan settlement. It was a key town on the Tea Horse Road and the first stop for caravans entering Tibet.
We passed Sifang Street, Guishan Park and other sights, spending about 1.5 hours.
At midday we left Shangri-La and headed for Tiger Leaping Gorge, getting on the expressway. Before many tunnels, we had to drive in the opposite lane due to roadworks. Once on the expressway, I started feeling drowsy again. I drank a can of Red Bull. Just as I finished it, we reached Chongjianghe Interchange, and without warning, all vehicles were forced off the expressway (mind you, it was a free expressway day!). We were diverted onto National Highway 214. Aw, my Red Bull was wasted! When we got to Tiger Leaping Gorge Town, road signs announced that the Tiger Leaping Gorge scenic area was closed due to roadworks. We asked a passerby, who confirmed that the Upper, Middle and Lower Tiger Leaping Gorges were all inaccessible and likely wouldn’t open until around May. What rotten luck! Looking back, this Yunnan trip had accumulated several disappointments already: Jiulong Waterfall, Tengchong’s volcanoes, the Degong Highway, Dali’s Cangshan, Balagezong National Park… My experience is that a first visit to any place always comes with regrets—you can’t have absolutely everything.
Once again feeling helpless, we drove on to Lijiang. After crossing the Jinsha River Bridge, we got onto the Xili Expressway. We reached the Jinjiang Inn just after 3 p.m., checked in, then drove to Black Dragon Pool Park. Lijiang’s Black Dragon Pool was first built in the second year of the Qianlong reign (1737). Parking was free.
