who are dieter, chris, and/or joe mannix? and, where are
you guys?
*
i had posted something about the yunnan area (specifically a
route from chegdu-kunming... which direction is better?) and
i have been told the above three people are the experts on
this area.
*
i'd like to hear from any of these guys or at least get an
email address. or, if there are any other people that
can help me, please do. ... thank you in advance.
[There are 13 posts - the latest was added on Tue 25 May, 13:53]
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Hi, Eric--I did see your message but haven't had the time
to post anything for a few days. My wife leads small group
tours to China (including Yunnan) and we have been very
busy dealing with the fallout from the recent embassy
bombing crisis. A lot of people are rethinking their plans
to go to China and that has meant a great deal of time
getting information, trying to reassure them, dealing with
cancellations, etc. Anyway, I wouldn't really describe
myself as an "expert"--just someone who has been to the
area several times. Actually, my wife has been to Kunming-
Dali-Lijiang several dozen times in her career, and grew up
in the Kunming area, so lots of the information I post here
comes from her. As for your request--our experience is
limited to Kunming-Dali-Lijiang and the area around Chengdu
and Leshan. It sounds like you want to make the back-
country trip up through Kangding and Litang, and we haven't
done that. In September, we will be going to Yunnan again,
and extending our travels north from Lijiang to Zhongdian,
Benzilan and Deqin. If you'd like more about the areas we
do know about, please post and I'll reply--or, if your trip
will be after ours, we'll be glad to let you know what we
find out. By the way, I think Dieter may be in China now--
one of his last postings said he was on his way to Xiahe.
He has been to Zhongdian and posted some good information
about that. Good luck!
No way am I an expert; I just contribute what I know or have
done and what I have an opinion about. If you need to know
something about Chengdu, Leshan, Emei, parts of deep
southern Sichuan, or other general Sichuan information, I
can try. Yunnan is on the to-do list. Sorry.
chris, dieter, and joe mannix are guys who's postings make
this board what it is. Their info is always straight and
without BS, and they been very helpful to me in planning my
upcoming trip. I'm always skeptical of anyone who calls
him/herself an expert, and as you can see above, they
are also modest. To me, this adds greatly to their
credibility. My personal thanks for your continuing
contributions.
We always enjoy reading your posts and get a lot of good
information from them. You mentioned that you have visited
deep southern Sichuan--I'm curious about that area, too.
One of the first China travel guides I bought, some years
back, was "Southwest China off the Beaten Track". It's a
good ten years out of date now, but it was that book that
got me excited about traveling to remote parts of Yunnan,
etc., and I still take the book out to reread it now and
again. There is one wonderful section describing a
mountain known as the "Sun Bridge", somewhere along the
Jinshajiang upstream from the town of Leibo. That
description grabbed hold of my imagination and has never
let go. Do you know anything about this area? Again,
thanks for all your contributions, and please keep them
coming!
Thanks for your comments above--it's good to know that
others benefit from our postings, just as my wife and I
have benefited from what we find here. Unfortunately, not
all seem to agree--Dieter was the victim of a flaming
attack some time back, but I'm glad to see that he still
turns up to share his knowledge. We'll all look forward to
hearing from you when you return from your trip. Where did
you decide to go?
I suppose I should have been a bit more accurate with my
description of "deep south Sichuan": I've been through parts
closer to the border with Guizhou rather than with Yunnan.
A couple of queries to friends failed to turn up much more
of Leibo than locating it on a map and knowing that, if you
go, you'll probably find a lot of Yi in the surrounding
area. Certainly qualifies as Off The Beaten Track. Once
again, sorry.
While you're still with us Mr. Mannix, who is the author of
"Southwest China Off The Beaten Track" and, could you post
the email address for queries about this "Oriental List"
again? I copied down phn@axion.net from one of your prior
posts but must have gotten it wrong because the mail bounced
almost immediately after sending it. Thanks much.
Mark Stevens and George Wehrfritz are the authors of
"Southwest China off the Beaten Track". Good luck finding
the book, though--amazon.com lists it as out of print, and
I haven't seen it in bookstores in a long time.
As for the Oriental List, the address is "pnh@axion.net".
I hope it wasn't my typing mistake that led you astray!
Anyway, try again, and it should work.
Alas, the more i read, the more places i want to go. I've
decided to go to tibet, then kunming. In Kunming, i want to
head north of lijiang and try to go as far as Zhongdian and
Dechen, then work my way back through to Dali and back to
Kunming. Even by limiting my exploring to this, there seems
to be lots of nooks and crannies to explore, but i guess
thats why you keep going back. Is your wife connected with
an agency in Lijiang?
well, i'm glad i could start a reunion of sorts. i do
appreciate all the "helpful" posts on this webpage, because
i know how much junk sometimes comes in.
*
anyway, my trip in june is going to go as following: train
from shanghai to chengdu, train to jinjiang, bus to lijiang,
tiger leaping gorge mini-trek, onto dali, train to kunming,
return to shanghai.
*
i am doing all this in about 3 weeks. this is my first time
to yunnan area, so i can't do anything quite as
extensive/adventurous as you guys, but maybe someday... you
all sound quite knowledgable in this are, so i will keep
asking questions. i was going to go the zhongdian route,
but am fearful the backroads from chengdu-lijaing are
prohibited.
*
so, my question range from: which direction between
chengdu-kunming is the best? has anyone done the tiger
leaping gorger trek? is it very difficult to get from
jinjiang to lijiang (the LP makes it sound like a problem)?
what will the weather be like at in that area in june?
*
thank you in advance for all this help. i won't call you
"experts" again, but that is how i was referred to you guys.
-Eric
Hi out there,
greetings from KUNMING. We just returnt from our trip from
Lanzhou-xinning-xiahe-tongren-zoige-songpan-chengdu-
kunming...
I haven't too much time to answer Eric's question (I'll
come back to you next week when I'm back home again) BUT
just want to mention that I'm far away to call me
an 'expert'. For myself it was quite helpful in the past to
get some infos from other people to plan my trips so I just
want to pass my experiences - so far away from being an
expert.....
Hi, Eric--Wow!! That's quite a trip. My first reaction is
that if you are planning on traveling by train from
Shanghai to Chengdu and from Kunming to Shanghai, that you
are going to cut almost a week off your trip right there.
If you have the funds, I'd recommend flying out and back so
that you can maximize your time in Yunnan/Sichuan. Second
comment: in June, you may be getting into the rainy
season. Of course, it's unpredictable, but if heavy rains
hit you could find that the road between Jinjiang and
Lijiang is closed by slides. That's a common problem in
upper Yunnan during the summer--last year, my wife's August
group was shut out of Tiger Leaping Gorge by a sudden road
closure. Given your limited time and the risk of this kind
of problem, I might recommend that you reverse your
itinerary. Go from Shanghai to Kunming, then work your way
up to Dali and Lijiang. You should be OK, because the
roads on that end are pretty good. Once in Lijiang, you
can check the condition of the road to Jinjiang. If all is
well, on you go. (Just be sure to have someone in Lijiang
book a train ticket for you, because the Kunming-Chengdu
train is crowded.) If the road is closed, you have a fall-
back plan: drive or fly back to Kunming and catch the train
from there on to Chengdu. The risk in going the other way
is that you can get stranded in Jinjiang if the road is
closed. Any of the other "experts" have any thoughts on
this?
Next, about the Gorge--when we were last there, road
construction was pushing on to Walnut Garden and there were
lots of problems with blasting and rock slides on the old
lower trail. Most of the trekkers were using a new, higher
trail. Maybe someone else can address current conditions
more accurately--but I can recommend a very good Web page
describing a trek a couple of French guys took on the upper
trail last summer. It's at
"www.multimania.com/aelinik/j3.htm". The only downside is
that the text is in French, but the pictures are wonderful.
My wife and I are heading out there three times between us
this year, in August, September and October, so I hope
we'll have some good info. to post afterwards.
Hi, Kelly--re your no. 8--You're right, every time we go
out to Yunnan we see another side road, another valley,
another distant village, that makes us want to go back.
You might want to check this Web site--it was put together
by a graduate student who did a thesis on tourist
development in the Lijiang area, and has a lot of
interesting information about things to see:
"www.geocities.com/TheTropics/7486".
Once you get to the site, click on the button labeled "Site
Map", and once that opens up, follow the links for
Destinations/Lijiang/Research and Reports.
My wife isn't connected with any agency in Lijiang--
although she does know some of the people working there.
Mostly she does her own arrangements, since she knows the
hotels and has a list of local drivers she has worked with,
too. But she might be able to help you make some contacts
if you need them. When you will be up there?
thanks joe mannix for the info. i do agree that trains both
ways will cut a lot of time off. i will probably fly at
least one way.
*
i have also heard that the road between jinjiang and lijiang
is rained out sometimes, so i think i will begin in kunming
as you suggested. it makes the most sense. how easy is it
to book train tickets from jinjiang to chengdu while we are
still in lijiang?
*
a question about the gorge trek: is this a trek that is
well-marked and fairly easy to do on your own? the LP made
it sound like there are a few places (restaurants, hostels)
that can help you with everything once you are in lijiang.
is this correct?
*
keep the info coming...