Any suggestions for an off the beaten path, exotic, traditional, and beautiful place to travel around in China? We are deciding between the Shangrila area, Turpan or Jiuzhaigou areas. Though we are open for other suggestions.

Have a look, halfway down, at this post:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...nyone-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.

Take a look at this video of a village called Laitan near Chongqing that we are considering visiting. Apparently lots of similar places nearby!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPxgoD2HWeM