Yunnan Province Guide Request
Jan 9th, 2008, 06:55 PM
#2
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Syl,
I've used a guide name Kathy for Lijiang and Zhongdian and she was very good. She works for a big Chinese tour company but I was able to persuade her to guide us independently. She's very hard to get a hold of but I'll give you her contact information in case you get lucky.
Mobile #: 13988845153 Email: [email protected]
I've used a guide name Kathy for Lijiang and Zhongdian and she was very good. She works for a big Chinese tour company but I was able to persuade her to guide us independently. She's very hard to get a hold of but I'll give you her contact information in case you get lucky.
Mobile #: 13988845153 Email: [email protected]
Jan 10th, 2008, 06:48 PM
#3
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Hanuman,
As you warned me, Kathy is difficult to reach. Please give me the website of the tour company that she works for.Can you please also outline your daily Yunnan itinerary? We're trying to figure out a 5 day itinerary & your input is much appreciated. Is Zhongdian a must-see?
As you warned me, Kathy is difficult to reach. Please give me the website of the tour company that she works for.Can you please also outline your daily Yunnan itinerary? We're trying to figure out a 5 day itinerary & your input is much appreciated. Is Zhongdian a must-see?
Jan 10th, 2008, 11:11 PM
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We didn't have any preplanned itinerary and didn't book Kathy ahead of time either. We were going to do everything on our own but then on the first day in Lijiang, as soon as we arrived in the old town, we made friends with a couple from NJ. Kathy was their private guide and they invited us to join them for the day. Our Jersey friends were leaving the next day so we ask Kathy for her service for the next 2 days and luckily she accepted. I'll look for her business card and will let you know the company she works for.
Lijiang - I like walking and exploring around the old town with our guide. Shuhe, about 15 minutes drive away, has another "old town" but smaller and I like this place even more. Black Dragon Pool was good for a walk and some picture taking. There's a big production show at the foot of Jade Dragon mountain call "Impression of Lijiang" and I highly recommend that you see the show. What our guide did differently to the other tour group was to visit a couple of small Naxi villages on the slope of Jade Dragon mountain which we really enjoy exploring with no other tourist visible. On the drive to Zhongdian we stopped by Tiger Leaping Gorge which was quite nice.
Zhongdian - in hindsight we should have skipped this part of our journey and spend more time in Lijiang. The only thing that I like in Zhongdian was the Tibetan Monastery on the edge of town but everything else was so so.
I don't know if you've seen the photos that I took from our trip and if you haven't it will give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. Click the link below and click on the Lijiang and Shangri La gallery. If you're looking for a 5 star hotel then click the Banyan Tree gallery too.
http://khun-pook.smugmug.com/
Lijiang - I like walking and exploring around the old town with our guide. Shuhe, about 15 minutes drive away, has another "old town" but smaller and I like this place even more. Black Dragon Pool was good for a walk and some picture taking. There's a big production show at the foot of Jade Dragon mountain call "Impression of Lijiang" and I highly recommend that you see the show. What our guide did differently to the other tour group was to visit a couple of small Naxi villages on the slope of Jade Dragon mountain which we really enjoy exploring with no other tourist visible. On the drive to Zhongdian we stopped by Tiger Leaping Gorge which was quite nice.
Zhongdian - in hindsight we should have skipped this part of our journey and spend more time in Lijiang. The only thing that I like in Zhongdian was the Tibetan Monastery on the edge of town but everything else was so so.
I don't know if you've seen the photos that I took from our trip and if you haven't it will give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. Click the link below and click on the Lijiang and Shangri La gallery. If you're looking for a 5 star hotel then click the Banyan Tree gallery too.
http://khun-pook.smugmug.com/
Jan 11th, 2008, 06:04 AM
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Hanuman,
Thanks for your wonderful assistance as I anxiously await Kathy's co-ordinates.We plan to fly from Kunming to Dali,spend 1 night in Dali & drive on to Lijiang the following day(private taxi?Kathy to drive us?Bus?)Did you visit Dali & how did you get from Kunming to Lijiang? How did you get back from Lijiang to Kunming? How much time did you spend in TLG for a leisurely walk? Re Impression Show, what time is the show in order to fit into our plans? p.s fabulous photos!!
Thanks for your wonderful assistance as I anxiously await Kathy's co-ordinates.We plan to fly from Kunming to Dali,spend 1 night in Dali & drive on to Lijiang the following day(private taxi?Kathy to drive us?Bus?)Did you visit Dali & how did you get from Kunming to Lijiang? How did you get back from Lijiang to Kunming? How much time did you spend in TLG for a leisurely walk? Re Impression Show, what time is the show in order to fit into our plans? p.s fabulous photos!!
Jan 11th, 2008, 04:13 PM
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Syl,
We didn't visit Dali only Lijiang, Zhongdian and Kunming. After we met up with Kathy we asked her to arrange all of our transportation(huge savings from what our hotel quoted us). For the first day we just use the metered taxi to go around Lijiang, Black Dragon Pool and Shuhe. They were widely available and cheap but do make sure that they use their meters! The next day we went outside of town to Jade Dragon, the Impression show and all the Naxi villages etc and Kathy arranged a van(brand new and very comfortable Korean vehicle) and driver for us. The same van and driver took us to Zhongdian as well and we really appreciated the extra space and comfort of the van for the 5 hours drive. Roads around Yunnan were very good and smooth with only a few sectors where there're some constructions and bumps. From Zhongdian we flew China Eastern back to Kunming and the flight was only 1 hour from Diqing airport.
Tiger Leaping Gorge - you can visit the gorge from the two different embankments and I would call them the Lijiang side of the river and the "on the way to Zhongdian" side of the river. We visited the later one and we spent about 1 hour there looking at the sights, walk around a little and climb down a lot of stairs to get to the white water level. From what I saw I think the Lijiang side will be better for a visit as we could see kilometers of paved walkway along the embankment and coffee shops or restaurants leading all the way to the narrowest part of the gorge(TLG).
The Impression show - our show time was in the early afternoon, perhaps around 2 pm but I cannot recall precisely. There are two ticket fares, I think around 170 rmb and 270 rmb per person. We bought the more expensive tickets on the advise of our guide and we sat at the higher level of the arena, or show stage, and had a great view. They will give you a hat and bottle water with the ticket as well. You should plan to visit the show when you visit Jade Dragon mountain. The chair lift at Jade Dragon will take you up to the snow line and the view is magnificent, if there are clouds.
Lastly, if you're planning to visit Zhongdian then you should be prepare for the altitude. I took "daimox" a few days before our trip began until the end of our trip and didn't have any problem around Lijiang but around Zhongdian my heart felt like it was going to explode! Also, for the ladies I would a bring along a contraption call "Shewee". I first heard about this thing from reading someone's post about it and my wife and daughter thought it was very "useful".
Kathy's contact information. I've found her card and she works for CITS(Yunnan Lijiang China International Travel Service Co., Ltd.). As I've mentioned before she freelance for us and we did not contact the tour company(not sure if she played hooky for us). I would try calling her mobile and if you could get her it would be great. Our Jersey friend spent 1 and 1/2 month in China traveling and they rated her as the best guide they had through out China.
Good luck with arranging everything and let me know if you have any more questions.
We didn't visit Dali only Lijiang, Zhongdian and Kunming. After we met up with Kathy we asked her to arrange all of our transportation(huge savings from what our hotel quoted us). For the first day we just use the metered taxi to go around Lijiang, Black Dragon Pool and Shuhe. They were widely available and cheap but do make sure that they use their meters! The next day we went outside of town to Jade Dragon, the Impression show and all the Naxi villages etc and Kathy arranged a van(brand new and very comfortable Korean vehicle) and driver for us. The same van and driver took us to Zhongdian as well and we really appreciated the extra space and comfort of the van for the 5 hours drive. Roads around Yunnan were very good and smooth with only a few sectors where there're some constructions and bumps. From Zhongdian we flew China Eastern back to Kunming and the flight was only 1 hour from Diqing airport.
Tiger Leaping Gorge - you can visit the gorge from the two different embankments and I would call them the Lijiang side of the river and the "on the way to Zhongdian" side of the river. We visited the later one and we spent about 1 hour there looking at the sights, walk around a little and climb down a lot of stairs to get to the white water level. From what I saw I think the Lijiang side will be better for a visit as we could see kilometers of paved walkway along the embankment and coffee shops or restaurants leading all the way to the narrowest part of the gorge(TLG).
The Impression show - our show time was in the early afternoon, perhaps around 2 pm but I cannot recall precisely. There are two ticket fares, I think around 170 rmb and 270 rmb per person. We bought the more expensive tickets on the advise of our guide and we sat at the higher level of the arena, or show stage, and had a great view. They will give you a hat and bottle water with the ticket as well. You should plan to visit the show when you visit Jade Dragon mountain. The chair lift at Jade Dragon will take you up to the snow line and the view is magnificent, if there are clouds.
Lastly, if you're planning to visit Zhongdian then you should be prepare for the altitude. I took "daimox" a few days before our trip began until the end of our trip and didn't have any problem around Lijiang but around Zhongdian my heart felt like it was going to explode! Also, for the ladies I would a bring along a contraption call "Shewee". I first heard about this thing from reading someone's post about it and my wife and daughter thought it was very "useful".
Kathy's contact information. I've found her card and she works for CITS(Yunnan Lijiang China International Travel Service Co., Ltd.). As I've mentioned before she freelance for us and we did not contact the tour company(not sure if she played hooky for us). I would try calling her mobile and if you could get her it would be great. Our Jersey friend spent 1 and 1/2 month in China traveling and they rated her as the best guide they had through out China.
Good luck with arranging everything and let me know if you have any more questions.
Feb 5th, 2008, 04:02 PM
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