Live Your Best Lives
Yunnan and Guizhou, this magical land, are home to so many beautiful sights. This time, I want to explore Yunnan and Guizhou, traveling through southeastern Yunnan and southwestern Guizhou, to discover unique scenery!
Take a small boat and stray into the depths of a vast lotus pond; ride the Jianshui train and journey through a century of time; take a boat into Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring, temporarily escaping the mundane world and becoming a free man; step into the world of karst landforms and experience the splendor of mountains and rivers stretching for thousands of miles...
Escape the summer heat on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and experience the peaceful days in the small towns of Yunnan and Guizhou.
D1: Full-day tour of Kunming
D2: Kunming - Fuxian Lake - Jianshui Ancient City
D3: Jianshui Train - Puzhehei
D4: Puzhehei-Bamai
D5: Bamei-Wanfenglin
D6: Wanfenglin-Maliang River Grand Canyon-Xingyi
D7: Xingyi-Kunming
People who travel to Yunnan often consider Kunming a transit point and rarely stay there. However, many people overlook the fact that Kunming has many interesting places to visit!
Dounan Flower Market, a place where flowers and romance meet, is located in Kunming's Chenggong District. It's the largest fresh cut flower market in China, and even in Asia. It's said that 90% of China's flowers come from here. At Dounan Flower Market, flowers can be bought by the pound, and for just a few dozen yuan, you can take home a large bouquet.
Tips:
Directions: Take Metro Line 1 to Dounan Station and walk about 1 km
Main venue: Dounan Flower Market, Kunming, China
Dianchi Lake is the largest lake in the southwest. From December to March every year, thousands of seagulls come to Kunming to spend the winter. If you come to the Dianchi Dam at this time, you can not only see countless seagulls flying overhead, but you can also feed them!
Tips:
Directions: Take bus No. 24, 44, or 73 to Haigeng Park
Cuihu Park, a emerald gem embedded in the heart of Kunming, offers tranquility amidst the bustle of the city. Enjoy lotus viewing in the summer and red-billed gulls in the winter.
Tips:
Directions: Take bus No. 100, 101, 133, 235 or Z5 to the East Gate of Cuihu Lake
Yunnan Military Academy is a famous military academy in modern Chinese history, which has trained a large number of outstanding military strategists and revolutionaries.
Tips:
Cuihu Park is very close to the main campus of Yunnan University and the Army Military Academy;
Kunming accommodation reference: Home Inn Select Cuihu Branch
Yunnan not only has Erhai Lake and Lugu Lake, but also the vast glazed Fuxian Lake.
Fuxian Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China. When Xu Xiake, a traveler in the Ming Dynasty, visited here, he said, "The mountains in Yunnan are mostly soil, so many rivers are blocked and become seas. The rivers are mostly turbid, and only Fuxian Lake is the clearest."
Singer Li Jian came to Fuxian Lake with his friends and was also attracted by the scenery here. He wrote a song "Fuxian Lake", which attracted countless fans to check in.
This is Kunming's most beautiful back garden, a vast expanse of glazed waters, shimmering with dazzling reflections. The lake is a deep, deep blue in the distance, crystal clear near the shore. As the sun sets and the evening breeze blows, the lake shimmers in the twilight and sunset glow, creating a breathtaking scenery. Climb Bijia Hill for a panoramic view of Fuxian Lake.
Jianshui, a little-known town hidden in the southeast of Yunnan, has attracted many variety shows such as "A Bite of China", "Where Are We Going, Dad", and "12 Tastes of Life".
Jianshui, formerly known as Lin'an, is an ancient city with a history of more than 1,200 years. Time seems to have stopped here. Walking in Jianshui, you can see traces of the times everywhere.
Chaoyang Tower is still quietly guarding the ancient city, just as it did 600 years ago. Climbing up the Chaoyang Tower, you can have a panoramic view of the entire ancient city.
Jianshui Confucian Temple is the third largest Confucian Temple after the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong and Beijing. It is said that the number of people who passed the imperial examination in Lin'an Prefecture (i.e. Jianshui) accounted for half of the number of people in Yunnan at that time.
Zhu Family Garden was a private garden owned by a wealthy merchant in the Qing Dynasty. It covers an area of more than 20,000 square meters and has 9 courtyards. It is exquisitely designed and can be called the Grand View Garden of the southwestern border. There are also many ancient buildings in the ancient city. You can stroll around slowly and enjoy the rare leisure time.
When visiting Jianshui, a trip on a vintage train is a must. Take a trip back in time. China's only meter-gauge railway, swaying old electric fans, and French-style buildings pass by along the way. The slow-moving train feels like a trip back to a time when travel was slow.
The Jianshui train stops at Lin'an, Shuanglong Bridge, Xianghui Bridge, and Tuanshan. The train stops for half an hour at Shuanglong Bridge and Xianghui Bridge, and for 1.5 hours at Tuanshan. After getting off at Tuanshan, it's a few minutes' walk to Tuanshan Ancient Village.
Tips:
Train ticket price: Soft seat 150/person, hard seat 120/person, half price for students
Jianshui accommodation reference: Jianshui Changyuan Hotel
Jianshui's cuisine is also exceptional, from the Jianshui tofu featured on "A Bite of China" to the Yunnan-style rice noodles and barbecue—everything is sure to whet your appetite. From the streets to the alleyways of this small city, the flavors of everyday life are palpable.
I love the lotus flowers in Puzhehei. In summer, Puzhehei is as beautiful as a painting, with 20,000 mu of lotus flowers spreading out in a vast expanse. It's really hard to feel the visual impact of "the endless green lotus leaves reaching the sky" without being there in person!
You can also go boating on the river, sailing through the lotus blossoms. The sky, clouds, clear water and green mountains make you feel like you're in a painting. When the weather is nice, you can even have a water fight with people on other boats and experience the unique joy of summer!
Puzhehei is not only famous for its lotus flowers, but also for its typical karst landforms, and its landscapes are equally stunning. Qinglong Mountain, located in the center of Puzhehei, offers a panoramic view of the scenery. It is also one of the best viewing platforms for appreciating sunrises and sunsets. When visiting Puzhehei, you must watch the sunrise and sunset.
Tips:
After arriving in Puzhehei, you can rent an electric car to travel around. You can go to the lotus base in Bailianshan Village to take photos. It is said that this is the place with the most lotus flowers in Puzhehei. You can also go to Torch Cave and Guanyin Cave to see the natural caves.
Then, the next morning, we went to Qinglong Mountain to watch the sunrise (about half an hour to go up and down the mountain), and then went to Puzhehei Lake for rafting (about 3 hours);
Eating: Restaurants are generally concentrated in Xianrendong Village and Puzhehei Village, but there are snacks sold along the way in the scenic area;
Transportation within the scenic area: sightseeing buses (valid for two days, covering all scenic spots except the filming location of Eternal Love), electric cars, and horse-drawn carriages;
Puzhehei accommodation reference: Fanyun Hotel
Bamei is a real-life version of Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring." Surrounded by mountains, Bamei Village is inaccessible by car. To enter Bamei, one must take a boat through a 1-kilometer-long cave.
The boat moved slowly for more than ten minutes and neared the cave entrance. Suddenly, the view opened up and the beautiful river valley, farmland water wheels, and green bamboo huts were all visible.
Green mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist, smoke from cooking rises in curls, and the clear water ripples. If there really is a Peach Blossom Spring in reality, it must look like Bamei.
Tips:
Play time: 2-3 hours
Bamei accommodation reference: Shanyu Taohuayuan Hotel
The Wanfenglin Forest in Xingyi, Guizhou, has an even more magnificent and magical karst landform. Xu Xiake called it "Only here do the peaks become forests."
The most beautiful times of Wanfenglin are early morning and evening. In the early morning, Wanfenglin is looming in the morning mist; at sunset, the evening glow casts a layer of soft light on the mountains and fields, which is extremely dreamy.
I love the feeling of cycling in the Wanfenglin. I pass through villages, encounter rice fields, and look up to see green mountains. I feel free and unrestrained. It is just like when I was a child returning to my grandmother's house and playing with my friends. All the worries in my mind are thrown away at this moment.
The best part is that the temperature here is not too high, making it a very pleasant place to visit in the summer. Guizhou is truly a summer resort.
The Maling River Grand Canyon, known as "Earth's Beautiful Scar," perfectly preserves the natural landscape created by land shifts. In summer, 13 waterfalls descend from the sky, creating a misty wonderland. The 176-meter-high "Ten Thousand Horses Leaping" waterfall resembles the Milky Way pouring down, a majestic spectacle.
Tips:
Xingyi accommodation reference: Xingyi Baihua Hotel
Yunnan is a place where you can't miss rice noodles. Yunnan offers more than just one type of rice noodle: small pot rice noodles, cross-bridge rice noodles, crispy rice noodles, tofu pudding rice noodles—there's sure to please your taste buds. Also, consider Jianshui tofu, featured on "A Bite of China." The roasted tofu dipped in the local chili sauce is divine. Wild mushrooms are also a must-try. A rich, locally-brewed chicken broth is combined with a variety of mushrooms, creating a delicious combination.
There are many delicious foods in Guizhou, such as sour soup hotpot, pan-fried pot, beef noodles, roasted pig's trotters... But when I arrived in Xingyi, what surprised me the most was the mutton noodles, which were very fresh and fragrant.
This time, we ingeniously combined Yunnan and Guizhou, two major tourist destinations, to travel together, immersing ourselves in the beautiful scenery of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and making the most of this beautiful summer.
