Originally Posted by kgkg
Lijiang (LJG) is a nice old town on the edge of the Tibet Plateau. The majority population is the Chinese monority Naxi. There are many foreigners there. If you have read Lost Horizon, you can go from LJG to Shangri-la area at 13000 feet above sea level, but it takes a few days.
I second Lijiang. My wife and I were just there and loved it. The old town is pretty well preserved and has been turned into a tourist destination. There's lots of activity and energy at night. The rest of the City is a dump, so don't bother, but the old city should keep you occupied. The Tiger Leap gorge is worth seeing, but requires almost a full day driving back and forth.
Don't bother trying to arrange a hotel there, you can just show up and there are lots of guest houses in the old city.
In a couple of more hours you can get to Lhasa, which is an amazing place. Xian is worth seeing, Hangzhou is not.