jiejie

After a 3-week absence from Beijing (and Flyertalk), I return with some information and thoughts, which might be useful for those looking for some ideas and how-to’s for these areas of China. To start off, some parameters:

Length: 3 weeks, Beijing-to Beijing. Depart October 28, return November 18.

Travel Style: Independent Soloist on a budget but not backpacker/hosteler low budget. In other words, private rooms w/bath, not dorms, and a mix of transportation methods. No name brand or international chain hotels used (I ain't got no points!).

Travel Planning: Little to no advance planning—the “Non-Susiesan Method” or if you will, the Jiejie Maneuvers. For those of you who followed susiesan’s threads on this forum, and her meticulous 12-month planning process for the details of her 16-day trip....well, I confess to doing very little before I left Beijing except buy a plane ticket to Chengdu, make a reservation for there and Zigong on sinohotel.com, and grab a folder of notes on various places in these provinces that I’d been compiling over the last few years. This methodology allowed for quite a bit of flexibility, which definitely came into play later into the trip.

Useful Tools: #1) Laptop, which I decided to schlep along in my daypack, even though it is not exactly a lightweight piece. Proved to be useful in the evenings for doing a bit of research on the next few day’s sights, and for making onward hotel and air ticket arrangements. Also for writing diaries/narratives about my journey (I don’t have an online blog). Except for one location along the way, every place I stayed had either Ethernet cable or wifi access...all free in the room rate. #2) Master notebook where I jotted down info I found along the way on transport, entries, sketch maps made on the fly, onward planning, tidbits gleaned, impressions etc. as well as what I spent. I normally keep these travel notebooks in my archives after I return from each trip.

Funding Method: All cash RMB, except VISA credit card for one night splurge hotel and one air ticket booked along the way via Travelzen.com. (no, I was not DCC’d at either place). Yes, this means I was carrying around a pile of RMB cash except near the latter part of the trip, also carrying USD currency, ATM, and credit cards.

Final Itinerary (after adjustments on the way, the last half of itinerary changed markedly from the original plan):
--Beijing (flight)-->Chengdu (3 nights)-->Zigong (1 night)-->Chengdu (connection to overnight train)-->Kunming (2 nights)-->Jianshui (1 night)-->Yuanyang (2 nights)-->Kunming (connection to overnight train)-->Lijiang (3 nights)-->Shaxi/Shibaoshan (1 night)-->Lijiang (2 nights)—Zhongdian (= Shangrila, 1 night)-->Chengdu (1 night)-->Chongqing/Dazu (2 nights)-->Beijing. Total of 21 nights on the road.

Intercity Transportation Methods:
3 Flights: a) PEK-CTU (obtained week in advance of travel by phone booking with ctrip, paid cash at ctrip’s Beijing office); b) DIG-CTU (obtained 11/9 for travel 11/15, purchased with cash at MU’s Lijiang office); c) CKG-PEK (obtained 11/14 for travel 11/18, purchased online via Travelzen.com, which had better pricing than ctrip for this flight).

2 Overnight Trains, Hard Sleeper: a) Chengdu-Kunming (purchased 10/26 in Beijing satellite ticket office for travel 11/1); b) Kunming-Lijiang (purchased 11/3 at Kunming train station, for travel 11/7).

3 High-Speed Day Trains (“D” type): a/b) Chengdu-Dujiangyan-Chengdu; c) Chengdu-Chongqing. All purchased as walk-up day of travel.

Rest of travel: Intercity Buses. For four longer journey segments, I purchased a pair of seats to guarantee more comfort and to keep my daypack/computer/valuables with me: Yuanyang-Kunming, Lijiang-Jianchuan and Jianchuan-Lijiang, also Lijiang-Zhongdian (Shangrila). Longer journeys were usually purchased day before travel to ensure my preferred departure time; shorter journeys just walk-up purchasing next available bus.

Hotel Reservations: Generally made only a few days in advance, mostly through sinohotel.com except for one location on ctrip.com (not available through sinohotel). Three locations in small towns were walk-up, no advance reservation. Nothing required prepayment, all were pay on arrival. All places wanted a deposit as well, put on a credit card or additional cash, refunded upon departure. I used the cash deposit method and kept my credit cards pretty much under wraps.

Over the next few days or so, I’ll add information to this thread for each of these places, reflecting how I set up activities and in some cases, impressions/opinions.

jiejie

Had three must-sees on the list for Chengdu area:
1) Giant Panda Breeding Center
2) Sanxingdui Museum, in Guanghan city north of Chengdu
3) Dujiangyan, ancient river engineering works west of Chengdu

First day, had mid-afternoon to evening: Wenshu Temple (RMB 5 entry), a pleasant "filler" site, then subway'd down to Renmin Square and took a look at some of the new development going on. Walked all the way to "old street" Kuan Xiang Zi, lively and interesting in the evening. Nice people and good food in Chengdu, although the diagonal running streets mean you should take along a good map, preferably one better than Chinese one I had.

Second day, Pandas + Sanxingdui. Taxiied from hotel to Panda Breeding Center (RMB 41 taxi, RMB 58 entry). ARRIVE EARLY so you can see Pandas when they are eating and active. I arrived at the ticket booth at 08:20, not too many tour groups around then, and immediately went straight to the back part of the Center--the Panda Kitchen (where the chow that augments the bamboo is formulated), Panda House #1, then the Nursery, then Panda House #2. The keepers will be putting out the bamboo then, and the Pandas are pretty active. Most of the Chinese tours go to the front panda enclosures, so do the opposite and head up the hill and to the back. Trust me on this. There's also a tram you can take if you can't walk up (there is an upward road gradient though if you take it easy, not too bad to walk). After the feeding at Panda House 2 which has the 6 adults (check, but feeding commences usually 9:00 or 9:15), then work your way back to the front enclosures, which will be getting crowded by now...and the red pandas which look more like big red raccoons, and are not crowded. Also check out the continous-loop little cinema on the Breeding Center which is near the red panda houses. I finished up and exited the Center about 10:30, just as hordes of foreign and Chinese groups were entering. So...2 to 2.5 hours is a good time duration for a complete visit. Unless you want to queue for getting your picture taken holding a Panda (RMB 1000)--I didn't. And remember: EARLY!

Outside the Center's gate, I saw the bus I needed to Zhaojue Bus Station (near Zhaojue Temple) was pulling away and not wanting to wait for the next, I took a waiting taxi to the Bus Station (RMB 25). Arrived at 11:00 and bought an immediate ticket to Guanghan (RMB 15) for the 11:15 bus. Bus went down the north expressway about 30 minutes to Guanghan bus station, outside the station are smaller local buses, found #6 (sign also may read 006) which goes to Sanxingdui, hopped on, and after a short wait, bus went through downtown Guanghan, turned parallel to the river, and then to the entry of Sanxingdui Museum, total of about 15 minutes and RMB 1.50.

Once past the guard house, visitors should turn immediately left across the front parking lot, and enter the big gray monumental Tourist/Visitor Center. Follow the hallway on the first floor to the ticket booths (Entry: RMB 82), then continue down the hallway to the entry turnstiles. There are human guides and audio guides available for hire, and I believe English is available for both, but I didn’t get the cost. Once in the entry plaza, head to the closest building which is the Comprehensive Building—it’s well curated, well captioned, and designed and presented to international standards. Clearly not the usual dusty Chinese warehouse of relics. Very interesting background on ancient Shu culture. After this is about a kilometer walk down a long processional walk to the Bronzes Building, many of which are bizarrely non-Chinese. If you see them, you’ll probably agree you haven't seen anything quite like them before. Note: the ticket you get has to be presented not only at the initial entry point in the Visitor’s Center, but also at each of the two exhibit buildings (Comprehensive and Bronzes) which has its own turnstile, with the ticket being good for one entry to each. So, once inside each building, get your fill before you exit that building, because you can’t go back in for a second bite at the apple on that ticket. (This is a bit of an aberration in Chinese museum entry practices, so thought worth a warning.)

To the side of the Bronzes Building is a park with a series of moats and pathways. Unfortunately these were drained of water for reasons unknown, so weren’t very attractive. A ceremonial altar (rebuilt) is nearby, IMO a less important feature. There is a path to the “Back Rampart” of the Museum site, possibly with an excavation pit display, but it was a very very long walk to get there, and I got mixed messages on whether it was open and whether it was worth seeing or not. So I have no first hand knowledge of that area of Sanxingdui. The Conservation Building was being renovated with completion date unknown—this may in the future have some things open to the public on the more technical aspects of the excavation and preservation. On the subject of the Museum site itself, it is quite large, even overblown and overly spread out for the buildings it contains, and for no clear reason. It’s obvious a lot of money has been put into the place, but it doesn’t seem to receive many visitors, considering the great significance of the archeological finds here. And it's fairly easy to access from Chengdu. I spent about 12:20 -14:00 inside the museum grounds, then exited to the road to find my way back.

There are two options to get back to Chengdu on public transport: 1) The same way as inbound, just in reverse. In this case, the #6 bus stop for the return journey is about 5-8 minutes’ walk to the left of the Museum gate, at the intersection by the river. The #6 can be flagged down after it returns from drop-offs at the Museum on the outbound. 2) Direct bus to Chengdu, usually 2x per hour during the day. Stand outside the Sanxingdui gate at the left wall (with back to guardhouse), and flag down the bus when it comes by. RMB 16 paid on the bus. I found this bus by accident when I saw two locals obviously waiting around for something, and I asked them! It does not go back into central Guanghan and does not take the expressway, but instead takes the back roads and passes through some rather unattractive salvage yards and other similarly unappetizing scenery. It also takes a bit longer than the other bus (1 hour 15 minutes) but does not require any connections and also ends up at Chengdu Chengbei bus station, which is near the Main Railway station, the subway/Metro, tons of city bus lines, and a lot more convenient to most hotels than Zhaojue Bus Station. I arrived back at Chengdu Chengbei at 15:45 which still left plenty of time to do something else. Taxi to my hotel: RMB 13.

Total cost of Day Trip, hotel-to-hotel, as individual, public transport, no guided tour:
Transport: RMB 41 + 25 + 15 + 1.5 + 16 +13 = 111.50. Entry Fees: RMB 58 + 82 = 140. Total: RMB 251.50.

jiejie

Third day was supposed to be a long, active daytrip leaving early in the morning to Qingchengshan for a hike and climb, followed by an afternoon at nearby Dujiangyan to see the ancient dam-less river engineering works. Due to fatigue and lousy air quality, the Shan plan was dumped in favor of just going to Dujiangyan. Old method was getting to Dujiangyan from Chengdu by bus (1.5-2 hours). However, for the last couple of years, the new method is to take the high-speed D train from Chengdu (north) Rail Station. So I taxiied from hotel to station (RMB 13). Bought a ticket at 10:15 for the 11:12 train--remember passport is required to buy a C, D, or G train ticket. This train only takes 40 minutes to get to Dujiangyan, and that's with 3 intermediate stops! It functions more as a commuter train and there is a lot of development west of Chengdu. Cost is RMB 15 for train ticket (2nd class seat which is fine for this short journey). Train was quite full at midday though it was a Sunday.

Arrived at Dujiangyan Station just before noon and immediately went to the ticket office and bought a return ticket for the 15:17 back. (Had to get back to Chengdu in time to freshen up for dinner with mnredfox, who was coincidentally in Chengdu as a prelude to his own adventure trip!). Return ticket secured (also RMB 15), I set about finding a taxi. Had to wait awhile since the ones waiting for my train had all been taken while I was purchasing return ticket, and were gone. This new station for high-speed trains is out in the middle of nowhere. There are also buses, and as I found out later from a local, the #4 bus goes right to the Dujiangyan gate for RMB 1 or 2, but it takes about 30 minutes. After about 15 minutes' wait, I got a taxi which on meter was RMB 14 to the entry site, about 10 minutes. Remember: if you come to Dujiangyan by high-speed train, you must have motorized transport to cover the distance between station and town: either bus, taxi, or private car.

Arrived at Dujiangyan Irrigation System ticket booth about 12:30, a lot of tour groups there seemed to be leaving, probably for lunch. I hoped that the afternoon group schedule was also at lunch, leaving me with a smaller crowd to contend with for about another hour (this proved to be true). Entry ticket RMB 90, which is pricey. This is a site that really is best to come to with advance research under your belt, and probably also with some sort of interest in engineering sorts of things. Viewed in this light, it's a brilliant piece of engineering that exists nowhere else in the world. Water control without building a dam. (There has been a spillway constructed to the side in more recent times, but it doesn't diminish the original concept nor that it still works after 2000 years.) Walk over both the near and the far suspension bridges. You can cut your walking down the diversion island by taking a tram (RMB 10 one-way or 15 round trip) from one end to the other. Across the far suspension bridge, there is a hill with a number of pagodas that make for a nice ramble, but I didn't have time. Unfortunately, the Museum part of the park that normally has the exhibits and explanations, was under reconstruction when I was there. But if you do advance research and take a diagram with you, you can manage. Dujiangyan is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has decent signage. I'm a bit geeky for technical stuff, so I thought this was a very worthwhile site and was OK with the value I received for the entry fee. Unavailability of the museum/exhibition was a minor annoyance (and the first but not the last such instance on this trip.)

Although there are other entrances/exits to Dujiangyan which would be useful to avoid backtracking if you have a private car/driver at your disposal, I felt I needed to retrace steps back to main entrance to find taxi back to rail station. Exited at 14:20, so I was onsite for just under 2 hours which is probably about right for most people, unless you want to explore the previously mentioned pagodas on the far hill. Getting a taxi back wasn't too hard but wasn't effortless either. Tips: 1) BLUE taxis can go to the high speed train station but GREEN taxis cannot. If you are heading for the bus station to get back to Chengdu, then Green taxis are OK. They are zone-regulated. For BLUE taxis, out front of the gate there is signage and pavement marking indicating the taxi stop area. First taxi that came by wanted off-meter price of RMB 30 which I refused and waited for another. Two minutes later another one came by and I got in, he wanted RMB 20 which I agreed to. It was apparent that outbound to the station, taxis don't like to use meter. I also got a rant and an earful about how the location of the High-Speed rail station sucks, etc etc. Cabbies in this town seem to be a crabby bunch, indeed. And they drive dangerously and insanely--you have been warned. But at least the ride was mercifully short--maybe 15 minutes max. Dujiangyan town is quite a bit larger than I expected. It is also possible to spend the night here, possibly a good option if you are headed further west into the hills.

The 15:17 train got me back to Chengdu right at 16:00. Walked over to Chengbei Bus Station to buy tomorrow's ticket to Zigong, then taxiied back to hotel (RMB 14) for a freshen up for meet-up and dinner with mnredfox.

Total cost of Day Trip, hotel-to-hotel, as individual, no guided tour (English speaking site guides are available, cost unknown):
Transport: RMB 13 + 15 + 14 + 20 + 15 + 14 = 91. Entry: RMB 90. Tram onsite: RMB 10. Total: RMB 191.


Additional: While I was a bit late for the dinner meet-up with mnredfox, we eventually met, found a place for dinner, and had a nice chat. Fortuitously, he had brought a gift bottle of wine for me and equally fortuitously, our original plan of having beer with dinner had to be abandoned when the only cold "beer" the restaurant had was some ridiculously expensive alcohol-free crap. Remember Jiejie's Rule in China: Always have Plan B. Plan B was to have the staff produce a corkscrew and a couple of wine glasses, and we polished off that bottle of wine, which went surprisingly well with our Chinese dinner. So another thank you to, mnredfox for the wine and for the Japanese snack you brought from Tokyo.

Jiatong

Neat Chengdu posts jiejie;

About 6 years ago, it was only 400 rmb to hold the red panda for a pic. maybe abet of inflation.

anacapamalibu

That sounds about right. >150% increase in USD.

jiejie

Had wanted to see the Dinosaur Museum and Salt Museum for some time, so these were the reason for the trip to Zigong. Because Zigong is nearly 3.5 hours away from Chengdu by bus (and train is slow and impractical), it’s a little too far for daytripping and really makes for an overnight. As per a previous post, I purchased a ticket to Zigong (RMB 68) the afternoon before at the Bus Station when I returned from Dujiangyan. TIP: For any trip over about 2 hours or so, buying a ticket a day in advance to double-check the schedule and lock in your preferred departure time, is always a good bus strategy and saves queueing and anxiety at the window on departure day. My bus from the Chengbei Bus Station wasn’t until 10 am, but due to it being Monday, I checked out of the Chengdu hotel early (7 am) in order to guarantee myself a shot at a taxi before rush hour set in.

TIP: In a city with multiple bus stations, try to find out in advance where the “best” (fastest and highest quality) buses for your destination leave from, and exactly where they end up. Not paying close attention to this caused a bit of extra angst on this trip: 1) In the waiting room, I had a bit of anxiety because no bus to Zigong was on the schedule, 15 minutes before scheduled departure. Inquiring at the nice info desk, I found out my bus was called “Rongxian” which is a bit farther destination than Zigong, and that Zigong would be a stop on the way. A staff member walked this dumb foreigner direct to the right bus. 2) The bus was decent quality but not the very best on offer on this route (I’d only realize this on the return journey). 3) This bus didn’t actually go to Zigong Bus Station, but in fact dropped Zigong people off by the side of the road, on the outskirts of town in a commercial/industrial area . In retrospect, I remembered a torrent of Mandarin I only half caught the previous day—the info desk then was trying to tell me before I purchased the ticket, that this bus bypassed Zigong center and bus station....and that if I wanted the direct bus to the Zigong Bus Station, I should get a bus from Beimen Bus Station. Gave myself a Duh! Head Slap for Stupidity, as I waited by the side of the road in the outskirts of Zigong for about 10 minutes for an empty taxi to come by. Eventually one did, and to avoid competing with a young man from the same bus trying to grab the same taxi, I proposed we share the taxi and drop me first—he was thrilled and agreed. My share (prob paid for 3/4 of the cost): RMB 12. Zigong taxis are cheap. (BTW, the intercity bus ride itself was fine, and we had a brief comfort break about 2 hours into the journey.)

TIP: If you are picky about your comfort, and particularly on bus rides of >2 hours that are likely to be full...and when you have a bag or daypack with you that needs to be kept close, consider buying a pair of bus tickets for yourself rather than hope the seat next to you stays empty. The overhead storage space on most buses can’t accommodate anything much thicker than a briefcase or shopping bag. Whenever you buy two seats, let the ticket taker and the driver know when you board, so they don’t try to “sell” the extra to somebody else. Your proven purchase per ticket will ensure the extra seat stays yours, though you may have to defend against poaching attempts by other passengers by sitting in the aisle and putting bag at the window. It is uncommon for the Chinese to buy more than one seat for themselves so they tend to assume no butt-in-seat = availability. I did not do this on the Chengdu-Zigong-Chengdu segments, but would do so later in the trip in certain instances.

Zigong is not a large city by Chinese standards, but it is gritty and industrial and frankly unattractive, and also hilly like a mini-Chongqing. So you don’t see bicycles. There are not a huge number of places to stay in Zigong, and the decent ones are on the expensive side for the budget traveler. I stayed at the Xiong Fei Holiday Hotel in the middle of town, booked on sinohotel.com just before leaving Beijing. It was actually quite decent, with room overlooking the river. Staff was nice, too. One or two could speak a reasonable amount of English, though I was dealing with them mostly in Mandarin. By 14:00 I was checked in, dumped luggage in room, and headed out for the Dinosaur Museum. Asked the front desk where to catch a cab going the right direction and they pointed to a spot across the street. No problem getting cab to the Dinosaur Museum in about 15 minutes (RMB 18).

I loved the Dinosaur Museum (entry RMB 40). It has a huge 3-storey high room with the reconstructed skeletal remains displayed, and a couple of pits (one small, one large) with the partially exposed skeletons of dinosaurs displayed just as they were discovered, kind of Terra Cotta Warriors style for those who have been to Xi’an. They also have a display room with some intact skulls and decent displays on other flora/fauna of the period. Well worth the fee and effort to get here. There were very few visitors and no big tours, it was rather peaceful. Note: the back garden on the Museum property is being renovated and was off limits, as was the fanciful Dinosaur-shaped Visitor Center. Also, the immediate area outside and adjacent to the Museum property is under intense development, with new boulevards, a new toll plaza and parking lot, and some other structures under construction. (Likely a Dino mini-golf couse somewhere in there). Clearly the local government is wanting to put a bunch of tourist-support facilities in to increase tourism to this site. My guess is by mid-2012, will be mostly complete (on- and off-property). My visit took just over an hour total time on-site, though one could spend longer if you had the time.

Outside on the street, a short wait until a taxi came to drop someone off, and I took it back to town (RMB 16) to the hotel. Local city buses heading to town also frequently come by, so getting back isn't a problem. Then asked staff to point me towards the Salt Museum, which I knew wasn’t far from the hotel—about 10 minute walk. On the way, spied a fabulous old building which seemed to open into a courtyard—turns out it was a 300-year old teahouse complex. No entry fee. Took a look around, chatted with some old folks having their tea and playing mahjong, took photos. One of those serendipitous finds that you just run into in China, without planning for. Then another few minutes’ walk to the Salt Museum (RMB 20). I thought it was quite interesting...and I’d never been to a Salt Museum anywhere, nor thought much about salt at all. Best way to go to follow the exhibit logic is into the center courtyard, up to second floor and turn right, then clockwise, then to the back courtyard. (I did the opposite realizing part way into the visit that my direction wasn’t optimal). The building itself is also architecturally very interesting. Again, only a few individual visitors and one medium sized tour group. Spent about 45 minutes here, IMO a good investment of time and entry fee. Could have spent a bit longer but closing time was approaching.

More on Zigong: Finding eating places in the area around my hotel was fairly fruitless, so I ended up eating at the hotel. There were a few restaurants but at least 20-30 minutes’ walk uphill or a taxi ride, neither of which I felt like tackling at that point. This is clearly a working class Chinese city for which tourism has been completely incidental. Most commercial activity around this part of the river area are a couple of dozen bridal photo shops, a wealth of KTV parlors/clubs, all the town’s household appliance shops. Not even a nearby supermarket that I could find, which is pretty peculiar. During my earlier taxi rides, I had spotted no Wal-Mart, but I did see a “Mall-Mart!” Foreigners are rare in Zigong, as evidenced by the number of stares (not unfriendly) received. The locals like to play mahjong, and across the river from the hotel are a length of tea shops, also literally dozens of outdoor tables with umbrellas where group after group sets up to play cards and mahjong, and drink tea, when the weather cooperates.

Leaving Zigong the following day: Had a taxi (RMB 18) take me to the Chengtu (long distance bus station) about 08:15 and bought a ticket for the 09:10 bus to Chengdu (RMB 79). This bus was more luxurious than the inbound, only 24 seats and enough leg room for NBA basketball players. Again a comfort break half-way to Chengdu. Arrived Chengdu Beimen Bus Station in 3 hours 15 minutes, so about 12:30. Taxiied to Rail Station (RMB 11) to await my afternoon/overnight train to Kunming.

Bottom Line: If you have an interest in the subject matter of Zigong’s main attractions, Dinosaurs and Salt, it’s worth a visit. Otherwise, don’t make it a priority. Zigong can also be inserted as part of a triangle Chengdu-Leshan-Zigong (onward to Chengdu or Chongqing). However, the Leshan-Zigong road has not yet been upgraded (not sure of status), and last I heard, it is a 5 hour bumpy ride).

Total Zigong 1-day trip ex-Chengdu, solo, no group tour:
Intercity and Local Transport: RMB 68 (IC bus) + 12 + 18 + 16 + 18 + 79 (IC bus) = 211. Entry fees: 40 + 20 = 60. Total: RMB 271.

rkkwan

Sanxingdui is incredible, and still relatively unknown and under-rated. It's a place I'd highly recommend any visitor to Chengdu to visit. The level of technology is unbelievable for a "lost" civilization that is still mostly a mystery.

mnredfox

jiejie, I'll find a way to get your thread into the master tour places somehow.

Ah yes, was a fine bottle of wine. Too funny, went to dinner with someone from Zhejiang a few days later and we ended up paying a 开瓶费. Never had seen that before in China.

GinFizz

I definitely support the idea that visiting the Sanxingdui museum is a must if you are visiting Chengdu. The archeological finds (especially in terms of the bronze castings) are quite incredible - and present a real challenge to the conventional theory of Chinese history.

On the subject of advanced technology and the salt museum visited by Jiejie, it is less well known that Li Bing (of Dujiangyan fame) is also accredited with the idea to drill down to find brine reserves. Later it was found that workers would drop dead near boreholes, and occasionally flames would roar out of the ground. This was attributed at first to "evil spirits".

Eventually (around 100AD if my reference is correct) it was realized these "evil spirits" could be tapped and distributed via bamboo/mud pipes to heat the brine collected from other boreholes. So about 1800 years ago, while in Europe we were struggling with wood fires, the Chinese in Sichuan had a distribution system for industrial production of salt using natural gas (the "evil spirit")!

GinFizz

Too bad you didn't make it to the Qingchengshans (Qingchengqianshan and Qingchenghoushan). Given how easy they are to get to they are a good choice for a easy day out of the city (though I would definitely recommend using a day for this rather than trying to fit in this and Dujiangyan).

jiejie

There are some who believe that due to the alien appearance of the bronzes, that the Shu civilization was actually the product of visitors not-of-this-earth. OK FT readers, if this doesn't pique your interest in Sanxingdui, nothing will!

A visit to this area of China reveals a wealth of inventiveness and creativeness in the "1500-2000 years ago" category. Really clever stuff and not copied from other civilizations. When considering the situation of 2011, it makes one wonder about the modern Chinese...why have these inclinations seemingly disappeared?!

Yeah, sometimes plans are just not meant to happen during a given trip. But it does leave something on the "to-do" list for a future pass through Chengdu area. But glad you made a plug for it, so that other FT'ers with a free day around Chengdu can consider visiting. Qingchengshan is the final station on the high-speed rail line right after Dujiangyan, takes about 5 minutes more and about RMB 5 extra (so from Chengdu-Qingchengshan, around 45 minutes travel time and RMB 20.) Time frame: If one is only hiking around Qingchengqianshan (the front mountain) then it is possible, with an early start, to combine it with Dujiangyan Irrigation System visit. However, if wanting to hike both the front mountain and Qingchenghoushan (the back mountain) also, you'll need a full day--in this case, a good strategy would be mountains on Day 1, staying overnight at Dujiangyan town and doing the Irrigation system the morning of Day 2 then returning to Chengdu (or wherever), rather than trying to daytrip it all from Chengdu.

BTW, to all: please keep chiming in with your own experiences, anecdotes, thoughts, impressions, etc. on these places being mentioned. The hope is that the entire thread will spark some interest in some of these places (many on the less-travelled circuit) and also provide FT travelers to China with solid logistics and cost info on how to make it all happen. Sometimes the most useful way to process information is seeing it in context via actual trip reports.

Coming shortly....Kunming segment.

MrHalliday

fine reports !
Thanks... and keep them coming. ^

jiejie

Zigong is a bit off the main grid and therefore not very useful as a transport hub, so my route to Kunming necessitated taking a morning bus back to Chengdu, then getting over to the train station by about 13:00, in order to have plenty of time for lunch and then getting on the K165 train departing 15:00 for an overnight journey to Kunming. However, this was one of those rare occasions where the Chinese Railway system let me down, and the train was delayed by nearly 2 hours. Which leads me to give FT readers RAIL TRAVEL TIP #1: If you have a choice between two trains on roughly similar time frames, it’s nearly always better to choose the one that originates from where you are starting, rather than one originating someplace else previously up the line. The K165 originated in Xi’an not Chengdu, and somewhere on that first long-distance segment was the holdup. If I had chosen the K145 originating in Chengdu itself and scheduled for 15:30 departure (it left on time), I would have been better off. Also, the train staff did not have time to properly prepare the K165 after the Xi’an-Chengdu passengers got off, so the condition of the sleeper berths for the Chengdu-Kunming passengers made me rather unhappy. (Jiejie gives herself another Duh! Head Slap for Stupidity.)

I had purchased my ticket in Beijing for this train segment on October 26, about 7 days in advance of actual travel. Cost was RMB 253 for hard sleeper middle bunk. In Beijing, it’s now generally possible to advance purchase tickets for any journey in the system, as long as it’s within the sales period (for most train types, usually begins 10 days in advance of departure). And it can be done at a remote sales office, no need to go to train station. This facility should also exist at other major Chinese cities, though possibly not yet in smaller cities. While there were plenty of berths when I bought my ticket on October 26—even getting my preferred hard sleeper, middle berth—on the day of travel November 1, the train went out completely full in both hard and soft sleeper. RAIL TRAVEL TIP #2: If you will be taking long-distance overnight sleeper trains from anywhere to anywhere and have a fairly good idea of your dates, and will start your journey in a place like Beijing or Shanghai, go ahead and try to get those tickets purchased if the sales period has opened up. Or when in a big city where the sales period opens for a future train journey, find the station or a remote office and get that future ticket. If you end up not needing the ticket, it can be returned/refunded, minus a 5% penalty.

At any rate, my train got going about 17:00 and everybody got settled. I shared my hard sleeper compartment with an old couple, a middle-aged couple, and a single fellow, all unrelated. Went to the dining car about 18:00, friendly old fellow taking orders shoved a hand-scribbled list of about 10 dishes at me to choose from. Uh, right. I decided to keep things simple, told him I couldn’t read his menu, what did he have with pork and bu la (not spicy). He rattled two things off and I asked which one was really best. He confidently told me the pork, cabbage, and ? I ordered that and hoped the “?” wasn’t something disgustingly inedible. Plus rice and drink. The “?” turned out to be some sort of mushroom/fungus which was fine. RAIL TRAVEL TIP #3: Before the journey, buy one of those ramen noodles in a bowl packages to take with you, in case you need a midnight snack, breakfast, or the dining car serves you up a Dining Disaster of a meal and you need a backup Plan B. Safe boiling water to plump them up is always available at the end of each train carriage.

Unusual for me, I did not sleep well on this train, as my legs and feet decided to ache much of the night. I did manage to fall asleep around 04:00 a.m., waking up about 07:00 a.m. to find that half of the passengers in my train car (and compartment) had disappeared and disembarked in the interim (at Panzhihua). Had my Plan B ramen for breakfast and a nice chat with the middle-aged couple still left in the compartment. We had long passed from Sichuan into Yunnan province and the countryside out the window looked quite different...and we went from hazy, smoggy, air to clean blue skies. Arrival at Kunming Rail Station, November 2 about 11:30, well over 1.5 hours late.

In keeping with the Jiejie Methodology of making things up as one goes, I had made a reservation for Kunming hotel only 2 days previously on my last night in Chengdu. Used one of my favorites again, sinohotel.com in combination with some review-checking on tripadvisor. Purposely chose something close enough to the train station to be walkable, and had address, hotel phone (critical jiejie Rule), and in my notebook, a sketch map plotting location against streets. Worked like a charm—less than 10 minutes and I was at front desk checking in.

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jiejie

Kunming itself is not flush with classic tourist sites, and my list of must-sees was short:
1) Green Lake Park (Cui Hu Gongyuan)
2) Bamboo Temple (Qiongzhu Si)
3) Western Hills (Xi Shan) and Dian Chi Lake
4) Yunnan Nationalities Museum (Minzu Bowuguan)
5) Central city downtown walk-around

On the Stone Forest (Shilin): Long ago I had seen this and so had no interest in returning, since it would eat up much of a precious day and the entry fee is now an extortionate RMB 175. At this price point, it gets mixed reviews and particularly from foreigners. Those who seem to enjoy their visit the most, know enough to get away from the tour group areas and penetrate more deeply into the Forest and leave the crowds behind—just don’t get lost. As an alternative that is less visited than the main Shilin, the Naigu Stone Forest might be a possibility.

First thing that struck me on arriving in Kunming: the weather. It was cool and pleasant, with clean fresh air. Because of this relatively constant climate year-round and without extremes, it has the reputation of being one of China’s more pleasant big cities. And without a lot of heavy industry, plus wind that tends to keep air circulating, absent is the smoggy haze that affects most other large Chinese cities (and a lot of small ones). Although Kunming is rather far south in latitude, it’s nearly 1900 meters above sea level so doesn’t get muggy or oppressive in the summer months. All this makes Kunming a decent place to live, and for visitors, a place they can comfortably visit at any time of year. Kunming also has decent airline connections to SE Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore) in both inbound and outbound directions. (Sidebar: Kunming’s new international airport is nearly ready to open, probably early in 2012. It will be much further away from the city than the existing airport but will be much larger and have modern facilities. The existing airport will eventually be demolished.)

My plan for the remainder of the first afternoon was simple: walk a lot around the central city and all the way to Green Lake Park, saving items 2-4 on the list for the following day. The very center of town is a huge construction zone, as are some of the major streets. A new transportation hub is being constructed, as is a new subway/light rail system, which Kunming does not currently have. First lines will start running in about 2 years, but construction will be continuing for a number of years after that. There is also a huge amount of general building and development going on. (Caveat: If looking to book a Kunming hotel, be aware that many of the more well-known hotels are on or near these construction zones and they work 24/7, so noise could be a problem. Carefully check location and ask status before you make a booking.) Primary public transport mode in Kunming is bus and taxi. Compared to other Chinese cities, the bus system appears relatively more straightforward to use though no English of course. Empty taxis are difficult to find during rush hours. Central Kunming has a pleasant pedestrian-only zone which is very lively in the late afternoon and early evening, plenty of shops and eateries. It is a fairly clean city physically. Very little of the truly older architecture of Kunming still stands, so this is not the city to come to if looking for the real thing rather than re-creations. The area around Green Lake Park is much more tranquil and clearly a very nice part of town. I spent a very pleasant 40 minutes or so at twilight, walking in the park and just generally decompressing. I’m sure it gets busy and boisterous on weekends, as it has kid-friendly attractions.

The following day was my only full day in Kunming before moving on. Having fleshed out a plan for the next few days, after getting up that morning, I first went to the train station nearby to buy a Kunming-Lijiang train ticket for the night of November 7 (4 days hence), hard sleeper lower berth. Then decided to simplify my transport issues, speed things up, and increase my costs, by hiring a taxi off-meter to cart me around to a couple of errand-stops, then to the Bamboo Temple, then drop me off at one of the access points for Xishan. I estimated about 3 hours worth of driving and waiting. Deal was struck with a driver outside the train station for RMB 200, which I believe was overpriced by at least RMB 30-40 per my gut feel...but there comes a time when you have to trade off for convenience.

After errands were run, first true sightseeing stop was the Bamboo Temple. My guidebook readings on the location of this place did not give me an accurate impression of just how inconveniently located it is. It is on the western edge of town (development has moved out to meet the formerly isolated temple), it is up a hill though vehicular access is right to the entry, and few people are around. There is public transport in the form of small buses, but they looked to be very infrequent. Entry fee was only RMB 6, a bargain. The main claim to fame of this temple are the stunning sculptural figures (arhats) in the main worship space. The “surfing Buddhas” are brilliant, and lifelike. Unfortunately, you cannot get close to them as the low picket fence barrier into the inside of the worship hall closes the space to visitors. But you can see them pretty well by standing at the barrier and looking in. Photography of them is forbidden, but if there is no dragon lady sitting up on the platform watching you, it might be possible to sneak a non-flash attempt. More photo-possible are the ancillary buildings which have dozens more arhats, each appearing to be modeled after an actual human, as they are all individual. Some of them are hilarious, others are downright scary with the facial expressions. The ancillary buildings range from very dark (no lights on) to reasonably light enough from outside windows, to take non-flash photos. Though photography is supposedly forbidden, there is normally nobody sitting around in the ancillary buildings standing watch...so if you go and can’t resist trying to photograph, be discreet. Bamboo Temple is an active Chinese Buddhist place of worship and there are a few monks in residence. The courtyard is a popular place for local people to come and play mahjong and cards, chat with the monks, and generally relax. I highly recommend this place, and 30-40 minutes should be enough time. Just make sure you have either a private car, or take a taxi and have it wait for you so you don’t get stranded for awhile.

My next stop and final drop-off point for this taxi driver was Xishan, the Western Hills. I had heard a lot of raves about it and how it was a “must-do” when in Kunming. However, after having the experience, I found it neutral at best, certainly not a highlight. The main feature of Xishan is the Dragon’s Gate area which is a famous lookout clinging to the side of the rocky hill, and which gives a good view of the Lake (Dian Chi) and of Kunming city in the distance. Access to the lookout is by steps from below and above, and there are other platforms with small shrines and historic residence buildings on the stepped path. Mostly, they mean nothing to a foreigner. IMO, the impressive part was the older portions of infrastructure itself, specifically the paths and steps and mini-tunnels that were whittled into the rock by hand about 200 years ago. This area has an entry fee of RMB 40 which is payable at a Visitor’s Center that is midway up the entire hill. From this midpoint, you can do the classic climb up the steps and paths to Dragon’s Gate then walk or chair lift down. Or you can do what I did, and pay for a one-way chair lift up (RMB 25) then walk down through the Dragon’s Gate and other features back to the Visitors Center. Backwards, but it worked well as the small Chinese tour groups were huffing and puffing going the other way. The chair lift going up can be windy, a bit cold, and takes 25-30 minutes. Walking back down to the Visitor’s Center at a leisurely pace, stopping to take many panoramic photos, took me just over an hour. Note that to access the Visitor’s Center, you do have to get partway up the hill, which can be done by walking (not recommended unless one is an avid hiker), or by vehicle from base of hill to the parking lot/drop point nearby the VC. Or by enclosed cable car from the eastern side of the lake by Haigang Park. The latter is what I did (RMB 70 for a round trip). So, all total, this excursion cost me RMB 135 and 2.25 hours of time. Upon reflection, I do not think it was worth my time or money.

After the return trip by cable car (peaceful and quiet) to the east side of the lake, a waiting cab drove me the short 10 minutes (RMB 11) to the Yunnan Nationalities Museum. Note that this is NOT the Nationalities Village, which is a heavily-marketed tourist trap that has Chinese dressing up as Minorities and posing in staged “villages.” The Chinese tour bus scene is big on this place, but most foreigners are not. But across the street is the much more deserving though less-visited Museum. Entrance is free. The building is pleasant and nicely laid out, and the collections are very interesting—my favorite was probably the Costume/textile display of all the various Yunnan minorities. There are some good English speakers on staff there, and on my way out at closing time, came to me to give me some free postcards and an invitation to return. I really regret fooling around on that silly Xishan hill when my time would have been better spent in this museum. With time running out, I had to “speed visit” some of the galleries and completely skip over others. Bummer. Particularly if you will be starting from Kunming and venturing elsewhere in Yunnan, stopping by this museum first will help give some context to the rich demographic diversity that you’ll encounter in this province. I made a personal pledge to return next time I get to Kunming, and set aside a couple of hours for a proper visit.

Returning to the main street outside the Museum and across from the Village entrance around 5 pm, there were no waiting taxis but there was a bus stop. My Kunming city map (not the greatest and in Chinese only) told me there were at least a couple of buses going back to center of town, and queries to other people waiting at the bus stop confirmed this. So I chose a bus heading to the center and for RMB 1, got back to town center where I could focus on food, then eventually back to hotel. So, to-do list accomplished though not in a completely satisfying way.

For 1.5 days in Kunming, transport costs total: RMB 250 (incl 200 for 3-hour off-meter taxi hire). Entry Fees, Cable Car, Chair Lift: RMB 141. Total: 391.