Yunnan And Hunan 2025: Part II

Sunday, 12 October 2025

Sleep was elusive again and I was up as I had been for the past week after 02:00. There are times when I was up after 01:00 and couldn’t sleep, worrying about the house. Anyway, that’s a different story.

I got up at 05:00, freshened up and performed prayers. I left at 06:50 and it was still dark. The Railway Station was only a five-minute stroll away. There were a few vendors selling hot food outside so I bought something that looked like a pancake and a corn. Then I went into the station and after security process, found my gate.

We boarded just after the earlier train departed and I soon settled in. The train was not full, at least not in my coach. We reached Xianggelila Station at 13:15. I walked out and headed for the bus stop but only bus showed up and it wasn’t going to the bus station. So in the end, I took a taxi to the bus station. It cost 25 yuan but the driver let me off for 20 yuan. I went into the bus station and bought a ticket for the following morning to Hutiaoxia Town for the Upper Tiger Leaping Gorge. The ticket cost 50 yuan. Then I walked to my hotel. The road name is slightly different, perhaps it’s been ’Tibetised’. The hotel is only a ten-minute walk from the bus station. I checked in and it took a short while before I was shown to my room on the third floor. I was gasping by then due to the thin air.

After resting and performing prayers, I ventured out to Sumtseling Gompa/Songzanlin monastery about 25 minutes’ walk away. I started feeling lethargic as I walked on, this due to the thin air. I finally reached the ticket office and paid for a ticket and shuttle bus. No way was I going to walk there and a good thing too because there was a road construction.

After taking photos, I walked in and my heart dropped when I saw the steps I had to climb. Indeed, I had to stop a few times to pause and catch my breath. Even the locals had to stop and some had oxygen tanks too. I didn’t even notice where those oxygen tanks were sold. Anyway, I finally made it to the top and walked around. It wasn’t too bad when you’re already up there.

I made my way down as I wanted to catch the bus out before 17:30. After exiting the complex, I walked until I reached a bus stop and what do you know, it served bus numbers 3 and another and I quickly searched and found that I could ride bus number 3 to Dukezong Ancient Town. The bus came at around 18:10 and I was at Dukezong within ten minutes. Dukezong Ancient Town is an ancient Tibetan town with a history of more than 1,300 years. ‘Dukezong’ is a Tibetan pronunciation, meaning ‘Moonlight City’ and ‘castle built on stone’. I stayed for an hour t before walking back to my hotel.

I did try to find dinner but in the end, bought some vegetarian ramen from a supermarket.

Monday, 13 October 2025

I woke up early this morning and left the hotel at 07:35 for my 08:00 bus to Hutiaoxia Town for the Tiger Leaping Gorge (Upper Gorge). The bus stopped at one point and a man got up. Turned out he was selling entrance tickets so I paid 45 yuan for my ticket. There was some confusion but finally I understood that I could get down at the Upper Gorge and return to the bus for the journey to Middle Gorge which is where I could take a bus to Lijiang. We reached Upper Gorge at 10:20 and after confirming with the driver that he would leave at 12:00 noon, I went down to the platform below.

And my, what a spectacular show of nature that was. It was simply incredible and breathtaking. Alhamdulillah, I felt so blessed that I was able to witness and experience the beauty and splendour of nature. It was humbling too to realise we are all just small creatures in this world and we could be swept away in the currents of life. And the currents at the Gorge was something else. If you accidentally drop something into the water, there is no way you’ll get it back. Nature is always more powerful than us mere mortals if we would only learn to accept it.

Visitors have a choice of going down and up by escalator but I decided to test my leg muscles so I climbed the stairs up. It was nowhere as challenging as the stairs at Songzanlin with its thin air.  We left Hutiaoxia and drove on to Middle Gorge. The parking spot didn’t offer much view of the gorge so one would need to walk downhill. I bought ticket for the 14:20 bus which was the first afternoon bus out to Lijiang. There, I also met five Malaysians who are travel buddies. We chatted for a while and they even kindly shared me their lunch of bread and tuna. Yes, they even haul rice cooker and food to be cooked from Malaysia.

The bus left at 14:15 and we reached Lijiang about two hours later. The driver dropped us not at the bus station. I walked about fifteen minutes to my guesthouse and I was so glad I chose to stay there because the neighbourhood was so charming, beautiful, peaceful and quiet. It’s like a little community tucked in and only about five minutes away from the bus station.

After checking in and a little rest, I went to the bus station to buy bus ticket to Yulong Snow Mountain or Jade Dragon Snow Mountain for Wednesday. Then I walked to the Old Town of Lijiang. Actually the Old Town of Lijiang comprises three parts: Dayan including Black Dragon Pool, Baisha and Shuhe Ancient Towns, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I spent 140 minutes in there. It was such a huge area.

I stopped at a Busy For You supermarket and headed back to the guesthouse after buying some food.

To be continued

Yunnan And Hunan 2025: Part I

This trip was planned back in May 2025 after I came back from East Africa. I decided to go in this trio after 7 October which is when the Golden Week ends. Did some research in the months before the trip, booked hotels, searched train times and made bookings, drew out my itinerary, etc.

Thursday, 9 October 2025

I left home after Asar prayers and made my way to the airport. I had spent enough to secure a pass tothe Plaza Premier lounge. I reached KLIA T1 just before 19:00 and made my way to the Batik Air drop-off counter. I must’ve missed the announcement that the airline had implemented self bag drop-off. Well, even a novice like me could do it.

After performing prayers, I went to Plaza Premium lounge and a good thing too as there’s no prayer room in there. And my, it was full. Tables were not cleared fast enough. I managed to get a seat after pushing away used plates and glasses. I found the food to be bland and almost tasteless except for the vegetarian noodles.

I made my way to the gate 30 minutes before take-off and was surprised to find myself the last person to board. I had a window seat but it didn’t matter as you couldn’t see outside anyway! We took off at 22:10 and I managed to doze off.

Friday, 10 October 2025

Well, I woke up just shortly after I dozed off and stayed awake despite trying to get some sleep. We landed just after 02:00. We had to fill up landing forms before going through immigration. My bag didn’t take long to emerge.

After collecting my bag, I went up to departure level to find somewhere to rest. I finally found a baby care room and rested there.

I was woken up by the cleaning lady just after 04:00. I switched off the light when she left only for her to come back in and saying something loudly to me which I took to mean not to have the light off.

After performing ablutions and prayers and freshening up, I went down to take the subway to the East Coach Bus Station. The metro fare was 5 yuan and it took a while to reach the East Coach Bus Station. There, I bought ticket to Shilin for 08:00. I saw a white man but the rest were local.

We boarded the bus and left for Shilin. The journey took about 80 minutes. We got down and changed buses (we didn’t get new ticket for the second bus so I suppose the fare was already included in the ticket) to Stone Forest. The trip took about ten minutes. There, I had to pay ten yuan to store my bag. If you have WeChat, you could store your bag without charge at storage lockers near the ticket counter. I was not able to create WeChat account.

I was not feeling well and was feeling nauseous in the bus so I rested for a bit and took a gastritis pill before making my way to the entrance of Stone Forest. Here, we had to board a shuttle into the park. We got down and walked in and before long, I found myself among the local tour groups, walking among them k dodging in between, slipping in and out from one group to another.

At Lotus Pond, I made my way up the hill and pretty soon, the crowd disappeared. I spent some time exploring and even met the white man again - he’s a Brazilian with Israhelli citizenship too.

I left the park at 12:30 and made my way back to the local bus station to get my bag, I bought the 13:00 ticket back to Kunming. From East Coach Bus Station, I rode the metro to West Coach Bus Station but when I got there, I was told there was no evening bus for the following day. Instead, there were two morning buses. I left and made my way to North Coach Bus Station - I could feel this was already at the outskirts of the city - and was told there were no buses to Shangri-La either on Saturday or Sunday.

I decided to head for my hotel to rest and ponder my next steps so I rode the metro to Chuanxingulou Station. It took me a while to find the hotel. After checking in and performing prayers, I went out to nearby Lane to find dinner. I had beef lamian for dinner.

Saturday, 11 October 2025

This morning, I headed out to Yangtou Temple, an ancient temple built in the late 8th and early 9th century. Entrance was only six yuan. I spent forty minutes there before continuing on to Green Lake. I spent another forty minutes there before walking on to Yunnan Memorial and Old Street Kunming. I spent some time wandering around the Old Street area and even went to check out Nancheng Mosque.

I walked back to my hotel and rested before checking out at 16:00. After buying some mooncakes, I had early dinner at the Muslim restaurant just next door before making my way to Yunni’s All Girls Hostel near Kunming Railway Station. It took me a while to get to the hostel, the metro exit provided by Trip was incorrect and I had to take the underground walkway to cross the rail tracks with all the stairs going down and up. The hostel is in Building 1 and I had to persuade the super to open the door for me. The hostel was clean but untidy with toothpaste tubes at the bathroom sink, plastic bags and pails in the bathroom, untidy kitchen... anyway, I was there for only a few hours. I didn’t bring a towel and had to buy a disposable one for one yuan.

After prayers, I settled myself in.

To be continued