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Lijiang

No-one is quite sure where Hilton's Shangri-La is but it is generally accepted to be in the Tibetan region. Zhongdian, in north-west Yunnan province, part of Greater Tibet was offically renamed Shangri-La after a competition in 2003. We decide not to visit Zhondian because of potential snow but head to Lijiang instead where we buy a copy of Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

Lijiang is a delightful old town. There are the charming water wheels at ...

... the Best View Under Heaven" — a convenience offering a
spectacular vista of the jagged peaks of the Jade Dragon Mountains.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packa ges ...

... extending the TLG trip to Baishui Tai, I decided to make it an out and back trek instead, stopping at guesthouses randomly.
http://www.chinatrekking.c om/maps/yunnan-maps/tiger-leaping-gorge -trekking-map

The next morning I left at about 8am and stopped at Tea Horse Guesthouse for baba, a local bread and later stopped at Halfway Guesthouse to take in the view from their "inspiration terrace". I made good time and left the trail at ...

Got to the leaping tiger gorge via a short bus trip from shangri-la and stayed at Jane's guest house. The gorge is a gorge high in the mountains where there is a stone that is said to of had a tiger leap the entire width of the gorge to get away from its pursuer. it is quite a tourist attraction so the path is well trodden. but it was a very beautiful place ...

... 1503; ועובר באחד הערוצ 97;ם העמוק 97;ם בעולם, אם לא העמוק מכולם. הנהר זורם לו בגובה 2000 מטר, בעוד פ ...

... of the mountain provides one side of the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which I would later hike through. The canals are as much a part of the beauty is they are a vital part of everyday life - used for cooking, washing, etc. Li Jiang is a major domestic tourist destination, but the site of huge hoards of tour groups everywhere does not diminish the charm of the town. It is full of winding alleys, away from the crowds, that can send your head spinning, but as Ankit ...

... good lesson to learn in our first couple of days because we were only going to reach higher and higher altitudes as the holiday progressed. For two girls with no Chinese language abilities and very little pre-planning, China treated us very kindly throughout our trip (culminating in our managing to make our way home 24 hours after our actual tickets were booked). So, in this spirit, we easily caught a bus up to ...

... for the next two days, so we decided we'd go and see for ourselves the next day. For the afternoon, we went to Black Dragon Pool Park. The entry fee was an exhorbitant 80 yuan each, but were told by some other tourists that the fee then gave you entrance to all the other parks in and around Lijiang. We were still not too sure about this, as their tickets had been arranged by their tour group, and we didn't get the ...

... into white tile dormitory rooms, wafting into classrooms where students practiced piano, or grim toilets where students squatted. There is no privacy in China. Not even in toilets, where you must squat in a stall along with others. Some constipated. Others obviously not. The hill has some privacy, afforded from high walls, newly-entwined barbed wire fences, steep slopes, thick vegetation. Eventually I got onto a quarry road where a truck was loading up with rectangular blocks ...

... writer who had written several books on China, and he wouldn't shut up. The couple who I was with quickly retreated to their room and left me to humour him. I didn't last long before needing an afternoon kip, so I did one to my dorm! After food later that evening he joined us again and there was no escape, so we just sat there and put up with his stories. The following morning we took a minibus back to Qiau Tou, before jumping on the local bus back to Lijiang.