7 days in Yunnan 云南七天游

Day 1-2 (27-28 August 2014) - From Kunming to Dali 从昆明到大理

Day 1 (27 August 2014) – Arrived in Kunming 昆明

I arrived in Kunming in the afternoon. My first mission is to find my way to the guest house.

To go to Lost Garden guest house nearby Green Lake, at the airport, I caught a bus at route number 1 from exit 3. I did not wait for long as every half an hour, there is an airport bus heading to the city from outside of the airport. The Airport Express Bus line 1 (RMB25/person) has its final stop not far away from the guest house. After an hour's journey, the bus stopped in front of Hotel West Inn/Xiyi Hotel 西驿酒店. I walked for about 20 minutes to the guest house. Some tourists might opt to take a taxi at about RMB10 to the guest house. Since I preferred walking there, I had more chance to interact with the locals there to get the direction. It appeared to be easy to get the direction from the locals when I mentioned the landmark Green Lake or Cui Hu 翠湖.

从机场大巴坐空港一号线到西驿酒店/南疆宾馆(终点站)，25元每人，大概1 个小时到达，每30分钟一班车

Exit 3 at the Kunming airport 三号出口处

Bus ticket counter outside airport where I got ticket for Airport Express Bus line 1

机场外机场大巴空港一号线售票处

Final stop of Airport Express Bus line 1 is in front of Hotel West Inn/Xiyi Hotel

空港一号线最后一站于西驿酒店前

After walking while enjoying the scenery of Green Lake on the left for about 400 meters, I turned right into a small lane before Green Lake Hotel 翠湖宾馆.

Lost Garden Guest house (and other guest houses) are reachable by turning

into a lane beside Green Lake Hotel (where the car stopped)

转进翠湖宾馆旁边小巷 (车停处) 可至一丘田7号或其他客栈

Then I turned left for about 3 times and I could see the Lost Garden guest those. Having noticed that there were other guest houses along the

way, I told myself these were choices to go if I could not check in the Lost Garden guest house.

Given the strategic location of the guest house, it is advisable to do advanced booking. The website is http://www.lostgardenguesthouse.com.

The place I spent most for my first day in Yunnan was places around Green Lake as it was just 5 minutes’ walking distance from the guest house. In the evening, I had my dinner outside the Green Lake and then went into the Green Lake Garden for my evening walk. Surprisingly, even at night, there were still a lot of locals in Green Lake selling things, chatting, strolling, resting, playing musical instruments and dancing in groups.

I did not walk around for long as I was tired and needed to wake up early the next day to catch a bus to Dali.

Entrance of Green Lake 翠湖进口

Pavement outside of Green Lake is a jogging path for the locals

翠湖外人行道为当地人晨运地点

Night view in Green Lake 翠湖夜景

Roadside musical performances can be found near Green Lake at night

晚上可在翠湖附近沿路看到音乐表演

If I had more time in Kunming, I would go to Jiuxiang Caves, Stone Forest, etc. Some tourists opt for joining tours to go around in Kunming.

There are many travel agencies nearby Green Lake. One of those that I ever considered was 昆明康辉. More information can be found at http://www.km-cct.com/ or http://www.kmcct.com/. I can't tell if the service is good or not as I opted for using public transport to travel around in Yunnan.

Day 2 (28 Aug 14) – from Kunming 昆明 to Dali 大理

Early in the morning, I headed for West Bus Station in Kunming 西部客运站. To get there from Lost Garden guest house, I walked past HuangGong Dong Jie Road 黄公东街, Wuyi Lu Road 五一路, Guang Hua Jie Road 光华街 to Dongfeng XiLu Road 东风西路. At DongFeng XiLu Road 东风西路, I found a bus stop 车站 where I could wait for bus no. 82 to West Bus Station in Kunming 西部客运站.

Most travelers would go to West Bus Station in Kunming to take a bus to Dali

/Lijiang

多数游客会到昆明西部客运站搭车至大理或丽江

Queue up here to buy Express bus ticket to Dali/Lijiang

在此排队买车票(高快)至大理或丽江

Bus waiting area 候车处

I took an Express bus from West Bus Station 西部客运站 to Dali main bus station at Xia Guan Jian She Road 下关建设路 (大理客运总站).

The trip was about 4 hours. The Express bus costed me RMB138. The ticket was more expensive compared to that of normal bus.

Upon arriving Dali main bus station at Xia Guan Jian She Road, I took bus no. 8 (no. 4 bus would also pass Dali Old Town) to Dali Old Town. The journey took about 40 min.

I got off at Er Hai Meng nearby Dali Old Town 大理古城洱海门 and walked for about 200m distance to Reng Ming Road in Dali Old Town 大理古城人民路下段. From there I asked the locals for the direction to Lili Xiao Yuen guest house 莉莉小苑 where I decided to

put up for the night. I did not make any booking as I knew that there were plenty of nice guest houses around the area.

If you decide to take a taxi to Dali Old Town, you may tell the taxi driver to stop at Er Hai Meng nearby Dali Old Town 大理古城洱海门. From there, you may just need to walk for about 15 minutes to get to guest houses of Ren Ming Road at Dali Old Town 大理古城人民路下段.

坐8路或4路公交车到大理古城 (40分钟) 洱海门下车, 步行 200米到大理古城人民路下段

Tourists can take a bus or taxi to Er Hai Men entrance at Dali Old Town

游客可以搭公交车或计程车到大理古城洱海门下车

Dali Lily's Garden Inn 莉莉小苑

Mao Mao Cool Guest House 猫猫果儿客栈

At Dali Old Town 大理古城, I walked along Fuxing Road 复兴路 to Wu Hua Lou 五华楼. I could find the largest crowd of people around Wu Hua Lou 五华楼 as it is the main attraction at Dali Old Town. I could get up to the top floor of Wu Hua Lou and took picture of the old town there without having to pay anything as it was evening when I arrived there. During day time, visitors were charged RMB76 to enter Wu Hua Lou.