I was lucky. My friend and I had been talking about me visiting her in her hometown of Dali. It took us one year to actually make it happen but when it did, I got the whole experience in the four days I spend in the south western corner of China called Yunnan which is also the gateway to South East Asia.
The minority park in Kunming gives you a glimpse into the traditional lives of 26 minority groups of Yunnan province.
When in Baihe, the first thing to do is to check the weather forecast. The Changbai Mountain area is cooler than the town and if it’s raining or too windy, the road to the Heavenly lake will be closed, and you don’t want that to happen because it’s quite pricy to get in.
Erdao Baihe was once a small village in the middle of the Korean Autonomous Region in the North Eastern part of China close to the border between China and North Korea. During the Chinese development, the local government in Jilin decided to create a tourist town out of Baihe. Why? Because Baihe is the closest town to the beautiful mountain Changbai.
It’s over now. It’s over! It may sound more aggressive than it is but she left. My sister has gone home again. Her boyfriend misses her and she’s looking forward to seeing him again and start her steady life in Denmark once again. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling with her for almost a month and we’ve had such a great time. Of course, there have been moments where we needed time off from each other but all in all it has been a successful trip around North East China.
I never had any high expectations for the capital city of Jilin province. We only bought train tickets there because my friend had previously posted a stunning picture of a lake, I just had to see. The lake was located far out of the capital city but the train was of course going to the capital city so we had to go. After spending a few days there, I don’t for a single second regret that we went because wow, what a place to explore.
Summer vacation is upon us and friends of friends have been asking about China. It seems like the country has become a more interesting travel destination than earlier. I’m so excited about that but it also means that there are more people asking me questions about traveling there. It’s usually concerning the same topics so I thought, hey, why not just write a short and simple post about some of the main things to remember, pack and prepare for. So without further small talk, let’s get straight into it.
Fenghuang, in English called Phoenix Ancient Town, is a beautiful little village in Hunan province in the middle of China. Fenghuang means phoenix in Chinese and the legend says that two of these majestic birds flew over the village long time ago and because of its beauty, they settled there. I would definitely agree on the beauty aspect of this story. When I first arrived, I was appalled by the charm of this old place. Some people call Suzhou the Venice of China but I personally think Fenghuang might as well have this title because of its nice river floating down through the town of small wooden houses.
After a fun day of climbing through the forest on top of the Zhangjiajie Avatar mountains, I was now up for more cultural inspiration so I found this little ethnic park on my way around town (Zhangjiajie). The people working there are from the ethnic minority called Tujia and they all wore the minority’s traditional clothing. When I arrived at the entrance (picture above), I couldn’t stop taking photos of these cute girls in their colourful outfits.
Zhangjiajie, also called the Avatar mountains, is a beautiful range of mountains in Hunan province of China. The national park is massive and full of stunning sights and curious monkeys (take care of your food because they’ll be there if you’re eating too obviously).
Today, I’ll take you through my trip from Beijing to Hunan’s Avatar mountains. I hope you’ll fall in love with this place as much as I did and who knows maybe you’ll even consider going there after seeing the beautiful pictures of stunning views because it is actually really easy to get around if you just prepare a bit beforehand (Get those Chinese names down on your phone to show the Chinese if you are lost at a train or bus station). Cheers!
