Round Trip Yunnan

Hey folks,

I'm in my final preperations for my trip to yunnan. Pick-up and return place is Kunming, so this is my route so far:

http://goo.gl/AMuHvi
Attachment 14779

Nothing strictly planned so far, guess we'll change the route a lot on the go. Only "boundary conditions" are Kunming->Kunming & the places we definetly want to visit (Dali, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Stone Forest) - and time of course (Start Jan. 12, End Jan 28, so 17 days)

So if any locals got suggestions for must-see-places, roads to take or to avoid (offroad up to medium difficulty welcome) or general advice, I'd be happy about any input.

Thanks & Greetings,
Andy

Hello Andy,

I travelled a similar route last year. You can find the route, including ups and downs here.

Thanks, of course i've already read the RR here, yours has been a great inspiration!

I see you're going down as far as xishuangbanna, good plan but make sure you don't just stay on main roads or there's no point in going down that far. Here's a little loop i did a month ago that made the trip down there entirely worth it:

http://goo.gl/maps/3QSqw

Don't mind googlemaps, there is a dirt road that connects villages of manwa and zhanglang so you can make a full circle. That loop will take you through little villages of Dai and Bulang minorities, there are old buddhist temples in Manwa Laozhai and Zhanglang, don't miss them. They practice theravada buddhism down there, it feels like being in thailand.


You're also going to the yuanyang rice terraces, which is cool. The road from yuanyang to lvchun is a total piece of shit, luckily for you there's a beautiful new road not featured on google maps. You can find it here on baidu maps:

http://j.map.baidu.com/EJjep

Make sure you take this road and not the old one that google wants you to take. The new road does have a turn off to go to the rice terraces so don't worry about that.


If you can make a little detour towards Yunlong, visit the old town of Nuodeng. Beautiful old village where they make the best cured ham i've ever tried in china.

http://goo.gl/maps/uhCL3



Final recommendation, don't just stay on G and S roads or you'll drive the whole way round china's most interesting province and miss all of it. Take the time to do some detours via small roads. Have fun and post lots of pictures!

Thanks, that's really helping a lot! If the detours fit into the timetable we'll definetly try them out. Special thanks for the hints on the new road!

My roadmate also sends his kind regards for your help :)