China: Requesting suggestions for an off the beaten path location.

Have a look, halfway down, at this post:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/yangshuo-or-not-peter-n-h-or-anyone-else.cfm

Peter N-H

You might want to keep looking. The reports on "Shangri La" are that it has become hopelessly touristy.

Turpan is less a destination in its own right than part of a Silk Road trip.

Do you have time for Turpan, Kashgar and the Karokorum Highway? One disadvantage is that you may have to connect in Urumqi & not sure how you feel about that due to the recent ethnic rioting.

Thanks for those responses.

We only have a week of unreserved travel time. I am leaning towards Turpan and a few other destinations on the silk road, but I am also tempted by the sichuan region. Does anyone have any suggestions for places sichuan?

I am heading to Chengdu later this month, so I will look to see if you get any responses for Sichuan.

YJ_LP,
If you go to Turpan, you could also visit Heaven Lake. We stayed in a yurt there and the scenery is beautiful. We also went horseback riding through beautiful mountain scenery. I don't remember where it was, though. It was in the Turpan/Heaven Lake portion of our trip. We stopped at a desert, saw old Buddhist caves, remains of an ancient village (wish I couldl remember the name). We went horseback riding in the mountains the same day we stopped at the desert. The mountains in May were cold & snowy but well worth it. We stayed in Urumqi 2 nights, one night before we left for Turpan and the night before we flew to Kashgar.