Since it has been almost a year since I was last able to travel, I decided that I simply must take this opportunity to travel during our school’s Christmas break. I am not particularly keen on traveling in China during the winter months, but realizing that this was likely my only opportunity to do so, I decided I needed to make the time count (at least, at the time of writing this, I’m still assuming I won’t be traveling for Chinese New Year break).

I have already done the trip to Harbin for the Ice & Snow Festival, and I’m not a big fan of snow and ice to begin with, so I had to keep my interests somewhere down south. The beaches of Hainan were mentioned, but after doing some research and discussing it with some people, I decided that it just wasn’t worth the time and money right now. Xi’an was another place that I have wanted to visit for a while now, but after researching the weather for this time of year, I decided that it too was not quite worth the time and money right now. So, that only left one other area: Yunnan province.

Yunnan is often described as the place of “eternal spring” due to the moderate and stable temperatures and climate. It is located in the southernmost part of China, but it is also at a higher elevation, which also means that it is quite dry. I have visited there once before to visit a friend in Kunming. But since I learned more about other natural sites of beauty, I decided I needed to go back to explore more. Hence, I present to you my exploration.

The first place on my itinerary was Lijiang. It’s a popular tourist destination in Yunnan, so I wanted to make sure that I saw it during the low season. I believe the area I stayed in was called Shuhe. I originally wanted to go see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, but I was told just before the trip started that the cable car was closed for today due to high winds. Instead, my driver, “Dahua,” recommended that I go to see Blue Moon Valley, which is a part of the surrounding mountain area. From what I read on different sites, I was worried about it being too touristy. However, after I got there, I was more at ease since it didn’t seem overly busy and the sites and colors were amazing.

The first area I explored was called “Spruce Meadow.” It is winter, so there isn’t that much color left on the trees, but there was still green among the evergreens and plants. This, mixed with the clear blue skies, made for a lovely day. In fact, I ended up getting so much sun that I actually got sunburn, which resulted in my face getting dry and flaky soon after. Oh joy.

After visiting and returning via the cable car (the one cable car site that was still operating), I headed down to see the rest of Blue Moon Valley. When I first saw pictures of this on the internet, I just assumed that everyone was using filters to make it look amazing. However, I soon realized that, in fact, the water here really is amazing in real life!

Something that seems to be quite popular (understandably) is getting your wedding photos taken here. I lost count of how many brides and grooms were being photographed from Spruce Meadow all the way down to the end of the pools. Here is my wedding gallery from that day.

When it was finally time to head back to town, I took a quick walk around the “old town” area. Apparently, the old town area had been rebuilt after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake leveled it back in 1996, and then a 600-square-meter area of it burned down in March of 2013. I soon discovered that there really wasn’t any authentic culture inside the old town, but rather just a lot of shops and restaurants that you would see anywhere else. I really don’t think this had to do with either the earthquake or the fire, because when I visited other “old town” areas, I saw the same thing. The only things with any real character were the water wheels.

Although Yunnan is known as the place of eternal spring, it can get very cold at night and early in the morning, especially in the winter. The room I stayed in had an A/C unit on the wall, but it was clearly not powerful enough to properly heat the room. Showering that evening was my one relaxing escape from the chill. All evening and into the morning, I could also smell smoke from nearby fires, so that, plus the dry climate, irritated my sinuses. I’m glad I brought my NeilMed sinus bottle.

The next day, it was time to check out and move on to Shaxi. This is where my driver, Dahua, lives and operates his family-run boutique hotel (this is where I stayed).

The first site I visited was a small national park, which housed some temples, grottoes, and hiking trails. Ultimately, I felt underwhelmed by this area. However, I still managed to get some photos. While walking up and down the many steps (of course) of the first temple and grotto, I came across a monkey. I was told that there were some monkeys in this area, and I could see fresh poop on the steps, but I wasn’t sure if I would actually encounter any since it seemed so quiet. This monkey was clearly used to being close to people, as it didn’t seem to care that I was close.

After taking a short bus ride to another site (which didn’t yield any shots that I deemed worth taking, although I’m sure others would disagree), Dahua drove me to his town of Shaxi to check into his hotel and take a look around the very small old town area.

Although I again saw the same kinds of commercialized shops and restaurants, this old town area was nicely manicured and relatively quiet (near the river), and I honestly felt a sense of serenity.

(A mix of more authentic shops with unauthentic touristy shops.)

While walking around, I also noticed a small woodcarving institute. I asked Dahua if there was anything special about this place, and he said that woodcarving is something well known in this area.

Throughout the town, I saw quite a number of people painting. It looked like there was a shop that allowed people to buy or rent painting supplies to go and paint whatever they wanted around town.

The last place I visited while in Shaxi was Potatso (or Potatcoa) National Park. Once again, due to the time of year, most of the color is gone from the trees, so the boardwalk trail along the lake was not that great for me. The water had some interesting color at certain points, but I wish that I had seen it during another season. I still tried to get some photos, though.

Perhaps the best thing that I saw while walking along the boardwalk was a fantastic example of mistranslated English (otherwise known as “Engrish” in Asia), something that I haven’t seen in quite some time. I’m not sure if this has ever actually been a problem before. If it is a problem, what exactly does it look like? Have you ever been guilty of violating this rule? Enjoy.

Since I visited here in the winter, I can sort of obey this order, but honestly, how is anyone supposed to follow this during other seasons when there is so much more color and life? How will they know if I’m appreciating the scenery or not? Is there a blacklist for appreciators of scenery? What are the consequences of appreciating the scenery? Really, this just seems mean.

That is it for part one of my travels to Yunnan. Stay tuned for the second part.