Daily rental cost of a 4WD is around 500 rmb, while a 7-seater mini van (aka “bread van”, mianbaoche, 麵包車) is around 400 rmb. Please don’t mind paying that extra 100 rmb, and go for a 4WD. Not only it gives a more comfortable ride, but also much safer. Unless traveling alone, the extra spending probably costs less than a McD happy meal when splitting it among with others in the car.
bread van
The thin metal used to make the mini van makes the car crumble easily in car crashes. In addition, the lack of advanced safety features like stability control or airbags makes this “bread van” not a smart pick, especially for road trips to some snow mountains.
Yik and I are happy that we rent a 4WD for our Meili Snow Mountain trip
Ok, for those of you who have patience or don’t have Yunnan in your priority list, it may be a good idea to wait for another year or two. Apparently, the Yunnan local government is in the process of developing its tourism industry. When we were on our way to Lugu Lake (瀘沽湖) and Meili Snow Mountain (梅里雪山), we saw many road constructions. We are told that the roads, which will be ready in some time next year, will be much wilder and less bumpy. This means a safer and more comfortable ride, if not faster as well.
But of course, this also means that these places will get more touristy and lose the peace and quiet nature as they become more accessible to the outside world.
Yunnan: many road constructions
There were many road constructions like this on our way to Lugu Lake and Meili Snow Mountain.
Try to avoid traveling on the road on rainy or snowy days, especially if you are going to / from the mountain areas. Most of these areas have not yet been fully developed and their very narrow, winding roads become especially dangerous when it’s raining or snowing.
In fact, there are many fatal car accidents every year due to the poor road condition in the mountain areas. And the local government is aware of this that it blocks the roads in the mountains whenever it rains/snows heavily. It will be so bad if you are in the middle of your 8-hour ride, only to learn that you can’t proceed any further but change your plan, or even worse, cancel your trip and head back to wherever you are from.
It is very important to get a good driver. Yik and I were just very lucky that we met XiaoWu (小武) and XiaoMo (小莫) and had them to refer us to a responsible, friendly Tibetan driver – Zhaxipeichu (扎西培楚) . Even on the bumpy winding roads in the mountain, Zhaxi drove quite fast, yet very stable, that I felt safe enough when sitting in his car. And because he drove so fast, our ride from Meili to Shangri Las had cut short for almost two hours.
Btw, only until when we said our farewell, Zhaxi told us that he is a champion of a Shangri-La rally race
Here is Zhaxi’s business card. He told us that he also gives rides to Tibet. Yet, price is double of what he charges for Yunnan – 1000 rmb / day. He explained that it is due to the tough road condition and high gas price in Tibet.
Mini-bus to Lugu Lake from Lijiang costs 70 rmb, while the return ride costs only 50 rmb. These are the market prices. So, unless there is a special discount due to a particular situation, everyone pays the same prices. But while everyone pays the same, not everyone gets the same. With the same cost, you may be arranged to a comfy 20-seater bus, with spacious legroom and headroom, or a crappy, tiny 14-seater with little or no air-con, legroom, headroom, whatsoever.
So, my suggestion: always ask for more details when you book for a ride. Ask about the car model, the departure and arrival time, the stops made in between, the number of seats that are planned to leave empty to put luggages… it just won’t hurt to ask more
Yik and I didn’t know any better before we went to Lugu Lake from Lijiang. So we ended up taking this fully loaded 14-seater bus for our 8-hour bumpy ride to Lugu Lake. Lucky that everyone in the car was good passenger though; at least nobody was sickly coughing, or had car sick, or snored loudly when sleeping in the car, etc, etc.
This is the 14-seater we rid to Lugu Lake. O ya, we had a flat tier too…
We didn’t take the 14-seater bus back to Lijiang, but this 20-seater bus. They cost the same, but the 20-seater was so much better!
When we were in Lugu Lake (瀘沽湖), we didn’t stay in the very-touristy Lashui (落水), but in Lige (里格). Lige has only been redeveloped since the end of 2005, hence, all of the guesthouses there are very new.
All are newly built guesthouses. Because the government wants to keep the Mosuo (摩梭族) culture alive, it restricts all guesthouses to be built only in Mosuo architecture style.
When all the guesthouses look so much alike, one by one standing next to each other, tourists can’t really tell the difference when they first get to the town. When the hardware is very much the same, it is the software that counts. When the guesthouses look very much the same, with rooms charging closely to the market price, it is the customer service of the guesthouses that can make the difference.
And I think Luguoyizhan (路過憶棧), the guesthouse we stayed in Lige, understands this very well. The guesthouse is mainly managed by two people. Both of them are very friendly, and always do their best to accommodate their customers’ needs.
This is 葉大媽, a straight-forward and righteous woman who thinks that charging customers more than the market price is a terrible thing to do.
When she learnt that Yik and I got over-charged by our driver for a Naxi home visit, she got very upset with the driver, as if the driver was a wicked villain who had committed some ugly sins. But for us, while getting ripped-off wasn’t something worth celebrating, we were happy that we got over-charged by just 20 rmb, an affordable lesson which we have learned much from.
Instead of ordering from the menu, we went straight into the kitchen, checked out what fresh food they had for the day, and decided on our order.
Dinner time!
free internet for its customers, all with LCD monitor too
Due to the time we had, we chose the four-hour Mingyong Glacier (明永冰川) trail over the three-day Yubeng (雨崩) hike when we were in the beautiful Meili Snow Mountain (梅里雪山). Even though our Tibetan driver 扎西培楚 told us that the glacier wasn’t beautiful as how it was once known to be and didn’t worth going anymore, we went anyway.
Mingyong glacier is fed by the snow that fall on Meili. And at 28.5 degrees north and an elevation of 2,700 meters (8,858 ft), the glacier is located at the lowest latitude and elevation of any glacier in China. There is widespread evidence that glaciers are retreating in many mountain areas of the world, and those in Tibetan Plateau are retreating in especially high speed. Mingyong Glacier has receded about 530 meters in the last 10 years, making it one of the fastest receding glaciers in the world.
Blame it on global warming, for the only thing that affects a glacier is the climate.
This is the ugly melting Mingyong Glacier. Even though it has lost its beauty, I would suggest one to visit the glacier if she has a few hours to spare in Meili. It is a good experience to see the effect of global warming, and what all of us have done to our beautiful nature. Just remember, don’t put up any hope in seeing a beautiful glacier, else, you will be very disappointed.
Although we were a bit disappointed with the glacier, we had a great time hiking in the mountain. Beautiful snow mountains, autumn leaves, clear blue sky and cool breeze, it’s just awesome!
It took around 2.5 hour hiking up, and 1.5 hour hiking back down. Instead of going on feet, one can also ride a horse/donkey.
When my friends asked me what the favorite part of my trip is, I bet many of them would expect me to say that it’s the beautiful sunrise (日照金山) of Meili Snow Mountain (梅里雪山). Before the trip, I thought that would be my answer to this question too! But, now, I would say that my experience with the people whom I met in Yunnan is the No. 1 factor that has made my trip so good, so memorable.
People there are just so simple, plain honest and straight-forward. There were two separate incidents of my tip getting rejected, once by the tour guide of my horse ride in Lashihai (拉市海, a wetland park in Lijiang), and once by a taxi driver in Lijiang. While I would guess that tipping is more or less an expected thing for these people who are working directly with loads of tourists in the service industry, I tipped without feeling pressured, but only as a way to show my gratitude for their friendly and accommodating services.
But they rejected it! And I almost couldn’t believe it when the taxi driver said to me, “You came to Lijiang. You must need a lot of money during your trip. So, keep it for yourself…”
“OMG! What’s wrong??”
I was tipping this taxi driver 10 rmb for his half-day of service that cost only 20 rmb. And thru our conversations earlier, I learned that Yik and I were his only customers that day. I wonder if he knew that we stayed in guesthouses that cost 100-160 rmb a night, and the horse ride cost us 200 rmb per person…
Now, I recall another conversation we had when we got into the taxi on time, as previously promised, after sightseeing in Shuhe Old Town (束河古城).
The taxi driver said, “If you guys didn’t come back on time as said, I probably would just leave. I would wait for 30 minutes, at the very most…”
Yik said, “But if you did so, you wouldn’t be able to get the 20 rmb from us!” (We were asked to pay only by the end of the day.)
“That’s ok! It’s only money. I am tired and I want to go home and see my family. Rest and family are more important to me…” the driver replied.
What a reminder!
This is the tour guide of our horse ride in Lashihai (拉市海).
I had always wanted to see the famous sunrise (日照金山) of Meili Snow Mountain (梅里雪山) and it was at the top in the to-do list of my Yunnan trip. But because of the heavy snow and rain in Yunnan , the road to the snow mountain was blocked on the first 7 days of our trip.
One can find many travel agents selling local tour packages in Lijiang Old Town. So, in the first morning since our arrival, we went into the offices of these agents, chatted with many of them and tried to learn more about the current situation of Meili. We talked with no less than five travel agents. All of them, but one, told us that while they were not 100% sure, it should be alright to go to Meili Snow Mountain on the following day.
“Of course, safety is our first priority. If the weather doesn’t allow, we can’t help but make the most suitable arrangement accordingly. But the road to Meili should be ready in these two days….So, if you pay now, you can join our tour as soon as tomorrow…” all of the travel agents said similarly, except one.
And that exceptional one shot us with a big NO.
XiaoWu (小武) just plainly said, “Nope! And probably won’t have any as well for the coming few days. The road is blocked. And it’s too dangerous to go anyways…”
XiaoWu and XiaoMo (小莫, his wife) of Alading (阿拉丁) were the last travel agents we went to, for we believed that we had found a reliable source for information and professional help that we needed.
After confirming on the impossibility of going to Meili on the next few days, Yik and I decided to go to Luku Lake (瀘沽湖), and were considering the tour package Alading offered. But, as funny as it may sound, XiaoWu suggested us not to join his tour. Through our conversation, XiaoWu had learned more about us and our travel style, and he believed that we would enjoy the freedom that traveling by ourselves brings more than joining a tour. He said, “It is quite simple to go around Luku Lake. I am sure you two can handle it. If you like, I can help you book the bus tickets.” And he did so with no extra handling fee, commission, etc.
Later, when we wanted to go to Meili Snow Mountain in the last minutes, we also called XiaoWu and XiaoMo for their comments on weather and road condition, as well as referral for driver to Meili (they referred us to a very good Tibetan driver – 扎西培楚).
Now, thinking more about this, I have just realized that Yik and I actually hadn’t bought any travel packages and such from XiaoWu and XiaoMo, but only kept calling them up, asking for advices and help. And they were just so nice, treated us more like their friends than customers, and gave us help and suggestions anyways.
A man, who once worked for the KFC in Yuen Long Plaza, disclosed the disgusting acts of his ex-colleagues – picking chicken pieces that were once served from the trash and reuse them to serve its customers again. This is a common practice in this particular KFC that is known and practiced not only by a few workers, but also most of the delivery guys, the store manager and assistant manager.
Reusing chicken picked from the trash saves money, increases profit, “improves” store’s performance, and hence, leads to the possibility of getting a higher bonus by the end of the year. Apparently, this is the only thing this particular KFC store manager cares about. As for the other workers in this KFC, who mostly are youngsters, what they care most is getting paid and leaving work on time. Nobody would like to stay behind for another half an hour to fry only a few extra pieces of chicken for this last order that they just get right before the store closes.
