Questions: Yunnan, South-West China
Q: All roads are they in good location in Kunming? Shillin to Luoping?
A: Roads are in good location. Most of time you will on the highway. Only from Lijiang to Zhongdian, 200Km is
on Mt. Road. From Shilin to Luoping is 85 Km, highway too.
Q: In this period of the year, the weather and the climate are hot and mountain climate but is it raining also?
A: Aug. & Sep. is the rain season in Kunming, 20 degree. At Zhongdian area, it will be around 12 degree.
Q: Do you not recommend us remaining based in Kunmimg? Are the other places you suggest more interesting?
A: Kunming is a nice place to visit, especialy the Stone Forest outside Kunming is absolutely a must see. From
both itineraries, you can easily extand 1-2 days alone in Kunming. Normally, we suggest to spend 1.5 days
there. The others we will suggest are more adventure-minorities, mountains and nature. You should visit all
of them, if you have time.
Q: If so, can we fly directly from Bangkok to Lijang and/or Zhongdian?
A: So far, you can only fly via Kunming to these places.
Q: What airline would we be on?
A: The domestic airlines in Yunnan are Yunnan Airlines. Airline code is 3Q.
Q: How safe is Yunnan airlines?
A: So far, we haven't had any bad news about these routes. The duration between the cities is around one hour.
The weather is usually quite fine in December-I don't think that there is any risk at flying. Of course, we are
the travel agent, and it is our job to encourage our guests travelling.
Q: I see that Zhongdian is in Tibet. We are incredibly interested in going to Tibet, but we thought it was unsafe.
Do you think all of Tibet is now safe, and if so, could we go to Lhassa and elsewhere?
A: Zhongdian is only at the edge of Tibet region, still far away from Lhasa. I don't think it is unsafe, otherwise,
we should say it is "too safe".
Going to Lhasa by road will be too hard. Flying from Chengdu will be the best way to do since there is a daily
flight. But I will suggest that you take Tibet region alone in another trip. December is not the perfect time to
visit.Especially after an exotic trip in Thailand. You should do between April and October.
Q: What exactly will the weather be like in each city in Dec? Do we need snow boots? Heavy winter coats?
A: It does not see that much rain in Yunnan in December and January. As the high altitude causes fluctuations
of temperature, the simple clothing consisting of layers that can be added or removed in response to varying
temperatures is recommended. For your information:
Monthly average temperature(degrees Centigrade)
Kun ming: 8.3 in December, and 7.8 in January
Li jiang: 6.3 in December, and 5.9 in January
Zhong dian: -2.8 in December, and -3.8 in January
Q: Lijiang: what is Yuhu you mention?
A: Yuhu is a simple village of Naxi minority with the former residence of Dr. Joseph Rock. Dr. Rock, an Austro-
American botanist and explorer who lived here off and on from 1922-1949, is the best remembered for the
introduction of innumerable plant species to the West and his rigorous works on Naxi ethnology.