The Southeast Asia Travel Specialists Since 1999
China’s impressive UNESCO line-up includes no less than 37 cultural sites, 14 natural and a further 4 mixed entries. While we’re more than happy to consider any destination in this vast nation for potential tour add-ons or extensions, we’re going to stick to Yunnan World Heritage sites in this post as that’s the province our itineraries currently cover. With a…
An opportunity to post a few pretty photos from our recent visit to the fascinating, highly colourful and still very traditional hill-tribe market at Bac Ha. Every Sunday this otherwise quiet and somewhat remote little town in the mountains of northern Vietnam bursts into life as vendors from outlying villages flock into town to sell their wares; farm produce, household…
Perched atop a nearly 5,000 ft mountain the old French hill-station of Sapa in Vietnam’s far northern reaches can get a bit stuck in the clouds from time to time so a big cheer all round as we awoke on the morning of our projected one-day Sapa trek to this magnificent view. This was the breakfast vista from the restaurant…
A selection of Bac Ha photos from the famous hill-tribe market – Vietnam, taken on a recent visit during our Vietnam and China tour – South of the Clouds, Yunnan Province as well as some from an earlier Mountains and Hill-tribes – Lao and Vietnam tour led by Wi. The very colourful local market is relatively easily accessed from either…
Green Lake Park Kunming; a tiny park stuck smack bang in the midst of the modern tower blocks and urban sprawl that is Yunnan’s largest city but what a wonderful spot it is and, as my fellow park-goers said, ‘this is what all parks should be like’! As we said, tiny, and you could walk all around the park in…
In this one Chinese province alone we’ve found five Yunnan UNESCO World Heritage sites; 3 natural, 2 cultural plus an additional location on the tentative list. Indeed the fact that China already has over forty inscribed sites with an equal number on the ‘Tentative’ list just emphasizes the total futility of trying to ‘do’ the vast country in a single…
One of our very favourite spots in Vietnam, the picturesque town of Sapa lies amongst the high ranges of the ‘Tonkinese Alps’ in the far northwest of the country, close to the border with China. This small, mountain-top settlement became popular during the French era as a cool retreat for colonists from the rigours of the Hanoi climate. Now…
Whilst Tai groups had probably been gradually infiltrating southwards into what is now northern Vietnam, Laos and Thailand for several centuries from their homeland in Southern China the migration of Tai groups into Southeast Asia was hastened during the late 12th- and 13th-centuries as the Mongol armies under Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan extended their empire southwards. Ethnic Tai clans…
Another of Yunnan’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Shilin Stone Forest lies in the Shilin Yi Autonomous County some 2 hours drive from the provincial capital, Kunming City. Formerly the bed of a shallow sea, over hundreds of millions of years the sandstone and limestone rocks have been carved by the wind and the rain to form this spectacular labyrinth…
Not only is the UNESCO World Heritage site of Yuanyang’s rice terraces truly spectacular but the town itself would be well worth a visit in its own right even if the surrounding scenery was totally mundane. The bustling little market town – perched on a mountain top – is the main commercial and social site for all the surrounding Hani…
The tiny mountain-top town of Yuanyang lies just south of the steep Red River Valley in the southern reaches of Yunnan Province, not far from the Vietnamese border. Actually been there 3 times without seeing another foreign tourist, yet it is one of the most spectacular, and certainly photogenic landscapes in that part of the world! The rice terraces have…
Since being declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997 the spectacular and beautifully preserved old town of Lijiang has boomed in terms of domestic tourism – weekenders from Shanghai or Beijing – though sadly foreign visitors still seem to have difficulty finding their way here. China’s a vast country with tons to offer yet unfortunately many potential visitors can’t…
The Black Hmong sub group of Northern Vietnam are particularly well known due to Sapa’splace on the well-trodden tourist trail. Although the town itself is actually inhabited by Vietnamese traders and cafe and hotel staff Sapa is totally swamped on most days by Hmong from the surrounding villages. You’ll also come across the distinctively dressed Red Dzao, the more discreet…