"Yunnan: tropical home to China's minorities" Yunnan Sheng by GillianMcLaughlin

Yunnan Sheng Travel Guide: 2,541 reviews and 5,671 photos

Lijiang: fantastic ceiling - Yunnan Sheng

I could have spend a month here

China's Yunnan province nestles in a tropical corner, with Laos and Thailand to the south and the start of the Himalayas to the north. It is home to a wide range of China's minority communities, many of whom still live as they have always done. After a month spent in the China that we all imagine, it came as a wonderful surprise, and a place I would happilly return to for a substantial amount of time. I had just over a week there, and could only just scratch the surface.

Mountains to the north, tropics to the south

Door to door gas sales

Although Yunnan is far less visited than Beijing, Shangai or Xi'an, it has nevertheless managed to create for itself a sort of classic tourist route. This involved a visit to the Capital city - Kunming - a sprawling metropolis that is a very pleasant place to spend some time, and then north to Dali and Lijiang.

I arrived here from Shanghai and was desperate to get away from cities, and also desperate to see some of the diversity of this region that I had read so much about. To the classic tour I therefore added some time in the south, near the Laos border, in the wonderfully named Xishuang Banna prefecture. It was not a mistake.

Hard to spend $100 in a week

Dai bamboo house hotel room

Being so far off the regular China tourist track, Yunnan province is an amazingly inexpensive place to spend some time. Accommodation though is plentiful, and word has clearly got out that there are many international and independant travellers looking for good value for money in accommodation and a variety of cuisine.

It will take me some time to complete my pages on Yunnan, but I hope that this already gives you a taster, and in the meantime do visit the other pages on Yunnan - they are fantastic.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Diversity: high mountains to low fertile tropical plains - a great sense of culture and tradition
Cons:It's a large province, but forever changing so long slow journeys are a must, but a pleasure
In a nutshell:An absolute must see!

Last visit to Yunnan Sheng: Jan 2001
Intro Updated Mar 13, 2004
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Comments (7)

hotsauce28 May 3, 2006 at 2:32 PM Report Abuse

sounds like a diamond in the rough!
ray_d Dec 11, 2005 at 12:14 AM Report Abuse

I never would have realised
alza Feb 23, 2005 at 5:13 PM Report Abuse

Yunnan is it!
sue_stone Aug 11, 2004 at 1:36 AM Report Abuse

Hmmmm....not sure that ceiling would go with my lounge room decor!! ; )
XenoHumph May 1, 2004 at 3:56 PM Report Abuse

Excellent intro page! I can't wait to see more tips! I am going there end of May, and your comments made me very impatient to get there!!
Confucius Mar 30, 2004 at 11:42 AM Report Abuse

Nice ceiling!
Dumpymotel Mar 15, 2004 at 10:53 PM Report Abuse

That Ceiling Made Me Dizzy... THANK YOU