Another Leisurely Day in Kunming
Day 106 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 8 in China
Lions at Yuantong temple
Another leisurely day in Kunming where we visited ONE site and ate food :\
A Green Kunming
Day 105 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 7 in China
Bridge in Green lake park (Cui Hu Park)
It was a leisurely day today. Didn't do a whole lot except walk around Green lake, ate Dairy Queen and had a surprisingly beefy noodle soup.
The City of Eternal Spring
Day 104 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 6 in China
Jade Chicken Arch
Kunming (昆明) is the capital of Yunnan province and naturally we had to head that way to get out of the province. We decided not to stop in the popular Dali (大理) because it didn't interest us that much. It didn't seem like there was much to see apart from the famous Three Pagodas.
Leaving Tiger Leaping Gorge
Day 103 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 5 in China
Yulong Mountain as seen from Tibet Guesthouse, Lower Tiger Leaping Gorge
Whoo hoo! A could tick off Tiger Leaping Gorge off his bucket list! Our plan for TLG had gone without a hitch and most importantly, there was no rain. Now, having bought our bus ticket back to Lijiang from Tibet guesthouse the night before, it was time to say good bye to this great wonder.
Tiger Leaping Gorge: Day 2
Day 102 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 4 in China
Stone marker for Middle Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shangri-La, Yunnan
Day 2 on the Tiger Leaping Gorge trail and our bodies were still kinda tired from the previous day.
Tiger Leaping Gorge: Day 1
Day 101 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 3 in China
The peaks of Yulong Mountain (5596m elevation), seen from Upper Tiger Leaping Gorge
Hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峽, hutiaoxia) was something that was on the top of A‘s list for this trip. This was his number one.
Tiger Leaping Gorge is an impressive gorge in between two huge mountain ranges - Haba Snow Mountain (5396m elevation) and Yulong Snow Mountain (5596m elevation). These two mountains are some of the tallest mountains in Yunnan province. The river that runs in the gorge is the Jinsha river (Gold Sand river).
Elephants and Dragons
Day 100 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 2 in China
Yulong Mountain on a bad day. Overcast and lots of clouds hovering around the peak
We were supposed to stay in Lijiang for one night and move on to Tiger Leaping Gorge. We stayed another night as the power of the sun was not enough to dry our clothes, which meant that it would need another day! It's a bit of a silly reason but I didn't mind so much, as this meant we could climb Elephant Hill, which was right beside Black Dragon Lake and had an elevation of 2700m. Lijiang itself has an elevation of 2400m.
Beautiful River
Day 99 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 1 in China
Rooftops of Lijiang Old Town
Lijiang (麗江 or if you prefer the bastardised version: 丽江) means “beautiful river”. I'm pretty sure the name refers to the Jinsha river (Gold Sand river), which is quite a signifant river as it flows into and forms the Yangtze river (a.k.a. Chang Jiang/Long river) in Sichuan province. The Jinsha itself is formed in Qinghai province and is used heavily for hydro power. Interestingly, Lijiang is bordered in the East and West by the Jinsha river.
Goodbye, South East Asia
Day 98 of Asia 2019 trip
Street in Hekou, China
A had checked the weather for Lijiang, China and the horizon was not looking good. The rain was forecast to start on Sunday, and he really really wanted to do Tiger Leaping Gorge in good weather (well, there's just no other way to do it, really) so we have to vamos and get out of Vietnam. It's supposedly rainy season around this time of the year for Lijiang (which looked like it would start this Sunday). Sigh, there goes my plan of staying in Sa Pa town for 2 more days :\
So… goodbye South East Asia. It's been fun. I'll miss you!
HELL-OH China! We will be spending a TONNE of time in the Middle Kingdom.
The Food Capital of Malaysia
Day 18 of Asia 2019 trip / Day 16 in Malaysia
George Town as seen from Butterworth Ferry Terminal
Today we were off to George Town on Penang Island! We had heard great things about George Town, and it would be our last stop in Malaysia. Previously, we considered going to Langkawi, another large island of Malaysia, known for its beaches and rainforests and duty free status. But looking past the glossy pretty photos from travel bloggers and on Instagram, we found insights saying that if we were going to Thailand anyway, then don't bother. So we weren't going to.
