The paparazzi continue to follow the kids. Sit down for lunch and it is like seagulls flocking around fish and chips in a Cornish seaside resort. While it was endearing at the start, the apparent lack of respect for personal space frustrates, with videos of every Rory meltdown (yep we have a lot), videos of kids crying after falling over and constant touching of blonde hair. Of course we understand no offence is intended. And in many respects I’m equally guilty, having shot a video of a street procession only to subsequently discover it was a funeral procession! And Molly has offended in her attempt to integrate saying xièxiè (thank you) to everyone, and being met with the response ‘Thanks, but we’re Korean’.

12 Days Exploring Yunnan

Yunnan is a province in south west China, boarding Myanmar and Laos. While in Yunnan we have trod a well worn tourist path, moving between Kunming, Dali and Lijiang. A month into our trip we are of course seasoned travellers and totally comfortable with public transportation. So we’ve taken the train (first class) between cities and slummed it a few times on the buses. The trains are considerably better and cheaper than experiences we’ve had in Europe. We’ve had to show our passports countless times, we’ve had our luggage scanned countless times, we are learning how not to queue and on every journey we avoided issues. We’re now at an airport leaving China, and the authorities have clearly spotted our potential as global terrorists and we’ll be travelling without the kids craft scissors that we mistakenly packed in hand luggage.

The weather has been largely dry, but as we’ve furthered our journey into Yunnan and gained greater elevation (Lijiang is over 2,400m above sea level) the temperatures have dropped below the contents of our suitcase. So our only pair of jeans and long sleeves are back on. The kids leave each morning wearing about 5 layers, and quickly overheat before stripping back to a t-shirt.

First stop Kunming, China’s Spring City

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan, a city of approximately 5m inhabitants on the Dian Lake. We had low expectations, and were only using the city as a base to visit Stone Forest and as a stopover between Guilin and Dali. However, Kunming surprised us, we were able to easily fill our 3 days around the city.

Kunming is a super easy city to navigate with an ever growing subway network. The subway feels remarkably similar to the Taipei MRT with the exception of manners. There is no queuing and standing for priority passengers.

While in Kunming we spent a day in the Western Hills that overlook the lake and city. The kids really enjoyed the long slightly rickety cable car ride and did a fantastic job walking back down. The walk took us to Dragon’s Gate through a series of paths and grottos carved into the cliff face hundreds of meters above the ground. As we walked back down through the wood to the entrance (about 4 km) we passed numerous temples the most impressive being Huating Temple. 

Searching for fairies in Stone Forest

On our second day we ventured further to ShiLin Stone Forest, a set of limestone formations about 80km east of the city. You would be correct in thinking, you can’t keep the Price Family away from rocks on this trip! Before arriving in China I enquired about a private driver for a day trip but ultimately opted for public transport. This proved to be both more enjoyable for the kids and about 1/10th of the cost. And I’m proving I can budget, a bit.

Given we had visited Kunming primarily for this attraction we were initially super disappointed to discover the Stone Forest resembled a huge theme park, albeit a theme park without restaurants – be warned don’t go into the park with hungry kids! Once we had ventured 50 meters past the first viewing platforms everything became quieter (except our kids). We had one of our best days with the kids taking in the unusual scenery while squeezing through gaps in rocks, playing hide-n-seek and searching for fairies. We found 3, plus a lot of fairy dust – it’s amazing what an iPhone torch can do.

Interspersed around the excursions we got our fix of Starbucks, Apple, Carrefour etc and the other obligatory stores every Chinese metropolis has inherited. Had we stayed longer beyond the Stone Forest and Western Hills, we could have easily added Jiuxuang Caves (the largest caves in China) and Yunnan Ethnic Village to our itinerary.

Dali fails to live up to expectations

After enjoying Kunming we headed 2 hours west on the train to Dali, a town on Erhai Lake. Where Kunming had few expectations, Dali came with higher expectations, but overall proved to be a bit disappointing. The 3 pagodas temple is undeniably impressive. If you squint the ancient town has an appeal. However, the recent Disney-style makeover of perfect streets, waterways and repetitive shopping makes for a town lacking any authenticity. That said, the redevelopment has clearly had the desired effect, literally thousands of tour groups converge on the city. As one guy in our accommodation accurately observed ‘it’s minging’.

Our first hope for exploring the lake and further afield was hiring bikes. However, we were unable to find suitable kids bikes or indeed roads that felt sufficiently quiet. So instead we walked a lot and also relied upon the local tuktuk style vehicles. These clearly weren’t getting much demand as they accepted a negotiated fare of 1/5th of the original price. Of course I came away feeling particularly happy with myself to save 80 cents!

Lijiang and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Dali wasn’t our last stop in China. We took the opportunity to spend 5 nights in Lijiang, the longest we had spent in a single place since Taipei. Lijiang is famous for its ancient town (x2) and the surrounding Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Tiger Leaping Gorge. Did I mention the temperature had dropped? Luckily we were in a nice hotel. Unluckily we only worked out how to enable the heating with the Chinese remote control on our final night in Lijiang. 

Lijiang was devastated by an earthquake in 1996, shortly before it received UNESCO world heritage status. Upon receiving the status the city was rebuilt for the benefit of tourism. So again it was very much a Disney experience, but both Lijiang and Shuhe (near our accommodation) were more enjoyable to walk around than Dali. 

The real attractions lay outside of Lijiang. On our first day with the sun shining we headed up to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain only to discover all 10k daily tickets had been sold by 8am that morning! After a short sob story and allowing Chinese to pat the childrens’ blonde hair we gained access.

Surrounded by hordes of people breathing compressed oxygen from canisters at 2,500m we headed up to 4,000m at Yak Meadow the furthest point from the entrance. Needless to say, after an hour long wait for the cable car, obligatory meltdowns and lunch, the blue sky had disappeared and the mountain peaks were behind clouds. Nevertheless the walk still offered a spectacular view that didn’t require oxygen. It is possible to venture higher to 4,700 meters on another cable car to one of the highest observation decks in the world, but given the weather, clothing and possibility we might need to sell Elsie to secure an illusive ticket we skipped this.

2 days hiking the upper trail at Tiger Leaping Gorge

The highlight of the trip so far has been the 2 day hike Molly and I took on the upper trail of the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The walk is quite a challenge, particularly for a 10 year old. There was 1,000m+ elevation on the first day and improvised ladders / bridges down to the river on the second day. I’ll write more about the hike, but overall it was an amazing experience. An opportunity for true father and eldest daughter bonding time, that even cold showers and a lack of electricity at our basic accommodation couldn’t take the shine off.

For the 2 days Molly and I were breaking her Fitbit steps record 100km north of Lijiang, Jennie entertained Elsie and Rory. She went for the old favourite of a quiet day catching up on laundry (the kids love nothing more) and playing games around the hotel. They did venture into the ancient town, and particularly enjoyed marvelling at the hundreds of young couples who use the city and surroundings as a backdrop for extravagant wedding photos. It would be no exaggeration to say there were probably 50 brides at Snow Mountain in the near zero temperatures. As we know, the Chinese love a photo opportunity. 

Feeding and entertaining the kids

Food has been more difficult than Taiwan. While there is significantly more choice, we’ve also found the pitfalls to be greater. Without Google recommendations and reviews we’ve put our trust in the popularity of locals. And, on the whole things have worked out. Needless to say, on a couple of days the kids have achieved the Chinese hat-trick…noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner (or tea as we come from up North). Occasionally they mix things up with dumplings. But ‘Mummy / Daddy, can you get rid of the green stuff off here?’

The one thing we’ve really struggled to find in China are outdoor children playgrounds. Adult exercise parks are everywhere, but playgrounds have been few and far between. So I’m currently watching the kids burn off pent up energy in the small play park at Kunming Airport. Beyond the play park, Kunming Airport is a pretty impressive place…if you are travelling on a domestic flight! If you leave China…’screw you’…you can see all the restaurants and shops, but make do with pot noodle or a restaurant with B level hygiene. 

Bye China, you’ve been great…next stop Thailand.