...oh, and I'm writing this partly as a travel report/guide for others who might like to do a similar tour in the future, and partly as a foundation for the essay content that's coming next. So I'll try to provide both travel details and some background info for each spot...

Dali: Dali was the only city on this trip that I'd visited before. It was the last stop on my loop tour but it could have been the first too, as it has many flights from everywhere and high-speed rail from Kunming. Dali City has just 660k people (versus the greater Dali

Lijiang. This trip started by flying into Lijiang and heading north. I've always categorized Dali and Lijiang as being the same in my head. But Lijiang, just a two hours' drive north of Dali, turned out to be a much smaller city, with only 300k in its metro area and 1.2m across

Diqing/Shangri-la: Shangri-la is a grubby little city with just 186k people that has been elevated to national travel wonderland status, but IMO has fairly limited merits on its own. Shangri-la is the capital of the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, total population 391k

Deqen County: Is administratively part of Diqing Prefecture, but is a 3.5 hour drive to the north, placing you right on the border with Tibet and Sichuan. This is squarely within Tibetan Yunnan, and it feels it, from the altitude (3400 meters) to the landscapes (snowcapped

Nujiang Prefecture: Northern Yunnan is defined by its rivers and mountain ranges that all run north-to-south, with the main roads running north-south as well, following the river gorges between the mountains. Any time you're traveling east-west, you're going to have to cross the

Some further general comments: Yunnan offpeak travel is incredibly affordable. A great destination - not just for someone with Shanghai or Beijing spending power, but for a median Chinese family on a median salary with median spending power. Northern Yunnan is a pretty

Once again, I drove for this trip, renting a PHEV for the first time (a Fengshen L7). The regenerative braking to recharge the battery on the mountain downgrades was a game changer and I highly recommend it if planning a mountainous trip. I couldn't believe how many daily

That's it for now. I need to get writing now...I have much content to generate. 😅 Amazing destination though - highly recommended everyone get some northern Yunnan travel in. Especially Nujiang - which I've been trying to visit for 2 years now and was truly a sleeper hit.

@pretentiouswhat Im on my 8th trip to China at present and I still haven't been to any of those places yet,the closest I've been is Kunming last year,i may go there this trip but its a long way to go from Fuzhou which is where I am at the moment

@William71714952 I've only been to Fuzhou very briefly, just once, perhaps...9 years ago? I'm sure it's nice but I can't be anywhere in southern China until the summer heat gives up for good...

@pretentiouswhat I wonder how much the real estate near the lake in Dali costs

@WattDisney Most are in the 10-15k/sqm range. High-end standalone villas will go for up to 30k/sqm. There's a lot of empty real estate in Dali...

@pretentiouswhat You're welcome to ski in Xinjiang.

@4W08kTt0k3tWM4H This trip was originally supposed to be to 阿勒泰 instead, but the temperatures already got too cold, so I decided to go to Yunnan instead...hah

@pretentiouswhat You did all that in 10 days?! I always prefer western china over eastern parts.

@maycontainnuts7 Yeah...10 days. There were a few long-ish driving days but it generally didn't feel TOO rushed. 14 days would have been slightly better though...would have let me visit a few more places I had my eye on...

@pretentiouswhat My favorite place was Xishuangbanna since I'm a Puer tea fanatic. When I went it was pretty undeveloped, so you felt like all the fellow tourists were the hard-core backpacker crowd. The airport then was worse than most bus stops. I understand it's much more developed now

@DarrenTJansen Banna is super developed now - I visited last year and ended up having a much better time driving out west to Jingmaishan (one of the tea planting regions).

@pretentiouswhat Great locations, and report. What 🔥 wall 🪜 s did you use?

@TaiwanBirding Thanks. I use Mullvad.

@pretentiouswhat Yunnan got the Most hospitable weather in China!

@rf0237 Some parts of it, yeah. Dali and Kunming and the central areas are very pleasant. But down south it's too hot...

@pretentiouswhat Do you suggest visiting on a bike?

@semab_awais It would be a great way to see the area, but you'd better be in good shape, because some of the climbs are pretty massive. Also, while some of the national roads have bike lanes, they are the exceptions, so you'd mostly find yourself trying to share the road with cars and

@pretentiouswhat Toured some of this area—Dali, Lijiang—in 2015. By bus back then! Beautiful! Fortunately had friends of friends near Lijiang who took us round 5 different Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. Had the loveliest time & drank much butter tea (which I'm afraid I couldn't get used to!🤣)

@DebbieGft74286 I like the taste, but it feels like i'm drinking 600 calories per sip..

@pretentiouswhat The east side of the Erhai has some great spots!

@AmericaInChina yeah, Wase Town and Haidong Town are both really chill and relaxed, especially at night. But they're far from amenities.

@pretentiouswhat 去看了梅里雪山和日照金山

@mogulcn 没看到 🥲 https://x.com/pretentiouswhat/...