The 9 day Yunnan Special Tour was from 20.9.03 to 28.9.03 and it took us to Kunming, Jiuxiang, Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Dali and Lijiang. We were taken to Yu Long Snow Mountain where a winter jacket and a bottle of oxygen were provided although most of the members of our group did not find the oxygen necessary, Pai Sui River, Yu Feng Temple, Bai Sha Wall Drawings, Black Dragon Pool, Shi Fang Jie Old Town, Butterfly Spring, Dali Old Town, General Tu museum, Er Hai Park, Three Pagodas, Mountain Chang by cable car, Yan Families + 3 cups of tea + Bai Minority Dancing, Yuan Tong Temple, Grand View Garden, Golden Hall, Loh Shi Bay Whole Sale Area, Western Hill by cable car, the Stone Forest and Jiuxiang Cave. Special meals provided included "Guoqiao" Bee Hoon, Clay Pot Chicken, Cantonese Seafood, "Yiliang" Roasted Duck, Sa Ni Da Bing Ai Ni Special, Chinese Herbs and Dali Fish Head Clay Pot. There was an overnight stay in Singapore before we flew to Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, to begin our tour.
The weather in Yunnan in September was ideal for walking tours and although it was a bit nippy at times, a jacket was suffice and provided comfortable warmth. At Jiuxiang caves there was a lot of walking to be done and at one stage we had to climb several hundred steps to see the stalactites and stalagmites. Senior citizens need to be quite fit to survive that climb but there was a gentleman in his seventies in our group who did not show any sign of stress in the climb. Most of us agreed that the hotel rooms were both clean and comfortable and the meals were good. As a matter of fact the hotel room we stayed in at Jiuxiang was equivalent to that of a 5 star hotel. Toilet facilities in the parks and gardens and in some restaurants where we had our meals, however, left much to be desired and in quite a number of places we could smell the toilets before we came to them, unlike in the big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. For one of the dinners we were taken to a farm-house where the farmer's family prepared the dishes for us. To reach the farm-house we had to trek through a field strewn with cow dung. Not a pleasant sight to behold prior to a meal! Visits to see the minority ethnic groups and to witness their dances were both interesting and educational. In all, the Yunnan Special Tour was well worth the money spent if we remember that it is not fair to compare rural environment with that of the cities. Most people are still apprehensive to take on a China tour because of the horror stories they have heard about the poor toilet facilities but apart from the fact that one should not expect toilets in the rural areas to be comparable to those in 5 star hotels, the necessity to hold an open umbrella, as the story goes, while you are doing your business of answering nature's call does not arise. In 1993 when we first went on a very extensive tour, 14 days in all, of China the hotels were already first class, some even more beautiful than the ones we have in Kuala Lumpur. For scenic beauty it is our opinion that no country, not even the European countries, can beat China.
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