thanks hugo and LIz I will have a look at your websites

To Ludwig, and or any other knowledgeable forum reader

can I ask one more favor, I can not find on the google map the following place

''Tuanshan village -团山村 enlisted in world's most endangered sites
Tuanshan, a village 220 km south off Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been enlisted by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) as one of the 100 Most Endangered Places for the year of 2006''

The only Tuanshan I can find is 81 km North West from Chuxiong or 240 km Nort West from Kunming!

Do you know this place? is it worth passing by? I mean the one south off Kunming because we will be on our way to Yangyuang

thanks peter

The Tuanshan they are referring to is about 12km west of Jianshui, just south of the modern expressway and the old road to Shiping 石屏. If I search this 中国云南省红河哈尼族彝族自治州建水县团山 on Google Maps, it throws up the right place.

Tuanshan is a nice old Han village where many of the imposing houses have been restored. The entrance fee gets you a tour of the houses, but it is also worthwhile to walk around a bit on your own as not all families are participating in the official restauration, but welcome guests into their houses (sometimes for a very modest fee). I have found their houses more interesting as they are full of old furniture, pictures, chickens etc.

It is best to take the old road to Shiping as this passes Jianshui's iconic Double Dragon Bridge 双龙桥 which has been restored in recent years. You will also see the remnants of the GeBiShi narrow-gauge railway (trains were discontinued maybe seven years ago), an even narrower branch railway that once connected Gejiu and Shiping to the Kunming-Haiphong railway at Bisezhai.

Hi Ludwig, I had send an email to your gmail account, did you receive that one?

I am planning on going to pu zhe hai and ba mei soon. I was wondering if anyone knew what the current prices are to enter these areas? I've heard they both charge an entrance fee, but I'm not sure how much it's suppose to cost. Thanks for your help!

Anyone? I'd really appreciate your help! I've looked all over online and it's hard to find a current price to enter pu zhe hei and ba mei.

Yadan, as I mentioned earlier in this thread - If you look in my website it will tell you clearly and specifically what you are looking for including the price of the entrance tickets.

This website is for information only.
WWW.HUGOYUNNANTRAVEL.COM

Pu Zhe Hei = 200 RMB - If you want to get in legally for free, let me know - NOT illegally
Ba Mei = 100 RMB

Peter7, if you really want to visit Tuan Shan then you must go to Jian Shui first. Give a taxi driver in Jian Shui 40 RMB or a motorcycle driver 30 RMB and they will take you there in less than 30 minutes. I suggest you go see the double dragon bridge first and hopefully this will pique your curiosity and challenge you to find the other 3 bridges. When you stop at Jian Shui, make sure you go to any big hotel and buy a map of Jian Shui for 5 RMB. Jian Shui has the best map I have found anywhere in China thus far. When you get the map, look for some of the wells and walk around until you find them. After you find one well, I am certain you will want to discover the others and will NOT rest until you have seen all 47 wells in Jian Shui.

For me, travel is exciting and wonderful because I discovered a certain place all by myself. I always seem to find more interesting places when I get lost or sidetracked. Additionally, after just 1 month in China, I realized I never have to wonder or ask anyone about buses or hotels because no matter where I go, how remote the place, buses, motorcycles, tuk tuks, minivans and guesthouses and hotels can always be found. I dont speak chinese, and I have no plans of learning, yet I can still manage to find and visit any place I have in my mind.

Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall Find!

Hugo

Thanks for your reply. I did look at your website and saw the prices. The reason I asked again is because I have heard many different prices from other people as well so I was wondering if anyone has gone there recently and knows what the current prices are. A Chinese friend of mine said it was only 60 RMB last year to enter pu zhe hei and a Vietnamese friend said it is now 100 RMB to enter pu zhe hei. Thanks again for your response and any tips you have (getting in for free!) would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Hugo,
On our previous travel in China I experienced the same, hotels every were, thanks for the tip re the wells We certainly will have a look at this, re jianshui, I was under the impression that there were only 2 small guesthouses, so your tip about going to any of the big hotels......! Was a surprise

On a other point we have put together our planned travel map on google maps, and our planning on route is based on having access to various files on the Internet, based on our previous trip we discovered that except for chizong and a small village in tiger leaping gorge we had every were access to Internet, it must be said that lugu lake was very slow but it worked, on this forum I have read somewhere that google maps, google mail are blocked in china, how is your experience with that, if any? There seems to be also ways around it, but have not figured out how.
We are leaving for Beijing may 7 and expect to be in kunming may 14 to start our 3 to 4 weeks trip in that area, your web site has helps us a lot, thanks for that one
Peter from spain

As you can see from my website, I have been living in Yunnan for the last 8 years. I have visited these 2 places many times and as recently as a few months ago. The ticket prices have changed considerably over that period of time. 8 years ago, the tickets to Pu Zhe Hei were only 100 RMB, 2 years ago they jumped to 160 RMB and now they are 200 RMB. I was there a few months ago. Obviously your chinese friend and Vietnamese friend passed on erroneous info when she told you they were 60 RMB. As for Ba Mei, the ticket prices were steady at 40 RMB for the last 7 years. However, when I went there a few months ago, they jumped to 100 RMB.