What's your favourite place in China?

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    43
    been to Lijiang, frankly, i didn't like it, totally fake and commercialized. Dali would be a better choice.
    Yes - it's quite galling, being thrust into a UNESCO world heritage site, vaunted for its stunning landscape and mountain backdrop, with truck loads of tourists with flag waving guides and loud speakers hollering down the street lanes every 5 minutes.

    Even in low season, I'm finding Lijiang rather trying - its still worth visiting, particularly early mornings.
    Dali is more conventional - it does not have the charm of the older smaller Song Dynasty Towns like Ci Xong; Shuhe and Bai Sha. The outlying villages and the forest parks are superb.

    If anything, Li Jiang is relatively easy to get to, and travel around if you do not speak Mandarin. Plenty of Japanese and French visitors there, and it is still relatively cheap compared to cities in China. Best to visit as soon as possible: once the new airport and road is completed, it will be a nightmare with even more tourists, so see it before it becomes commercialised beyond reproach.

    Fujian's Yong Ding is quite splendid for traveling around (but not easy to get to, unless joining a terrible tour).

    My favourite destination - I'd rather not say, since places in China have a habit of becoming rapidly commercialised and plagued by badly behaved tourists. I'd agree with Zhang Jia Jie being a superb destination. Over 20 years ago, before the mountain roads were completed, it was a far more natural and stunning landscape - a friend's father has photographs from his travels when he was a student. In contrast, in the past few years, there were truck loads of American tourists with their flag waving loudspeaker guides almost squashing visitors off the cliff tops in a desperate effort to catch the best views of Tian Zhe Shan. A mountain tour guide (with a porter) and residence in a mountain lodge is quite an experience! I don't remember itching so much in the bed, and with hot water only between 7.30pm and 8.00pm, with 4 degrees Celsius, the only heater was under the mahjong table with a local family who were very welcoming.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    43
    Quote Originally Posted by chuki:
    What made your trip to Zhangjiajie so amazing?
    'Avatar' has probably destroyed the chances of enjoying Zhang Jia Jie without the tourist crowds now.

    It is one of the most spectacular landscape vistas I've ever seen; the mountain rises above the clouds, like shi-mu-hua paintings drifting in and out of view with the clouds. It does require some walking, and it's possible to escape from tourists through the conservation park, spending 3 - 4 days there. The conservation movement in China more or less took root in Zhang Jia Jie, when a seminal painter, popularised the landscapes in his iconic paintings, leading the government to follow suite with an initiative to designate it as a national park. It is that powerful, as a natural experience - enough to turn government policy from materialism and self-interest, into preservation. For that reason, it's rather ironic that Hollywood have pushed the national park into that bandwagon of popularity - difficult to discern whether this will benefit Zhang Jia Jie in the long term.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Kowloon
    Posts
    18

    Thanks all for your suggestions. Now to the fun of planning my trips...