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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La

High speed rail train to Shangri-la will finally be completed and in operation this year. Five-hour trip from Kunming, passing through Dali and Lijiang train stations obviously.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Lao land border crossing

Passengers can book online. For example, you can try Qunar. Just type 去哪儿 in your WeChat miniprogram search bar. The white camel logo with aqua color backdrop should appear.

Qunar is basically the subsidiary of Ctrip (aka Trip.com). So for the longest time they nearly monopolized the domestic travel/hotel booking market in the Mainland. Ctrip has been expanding aggressively in the tour packages market, making a killing with their vertical integrations.

After registration (or login), click the train tab and type in 老挝 for destinations in Laos. The specific high speed rail stations in Laos will appear in Chinese.

It seems only Kunming South is available for departure everyday fixed at 8:08am. A 7 hour 37 min journey to Luang Prabang for 413 rmb. 8 hr 30min for Van Vieng (475rmb), etc. Even cheaper after claiming vouchers for first-time users of Qunar.

Tickets seem to be available for booking, even for next day travel.

Perhaps all the fuss making the rounds on Chinese social media regarding Myanmar human trafficking for forced spam labor is scaring netizens from traveling to neighboring SE countries. Domestic travel has been booming in its place. That's good news if you're planning a less jam-packed trip to Laos, albeit in the monsoon season.

I'm out of the loop on current border wait time (as @baiyuxiang mentioned) or the latest visa-on-arrival situation, but I do know the best exchange rates for cash are specific Chinese owned shops across towns, not the ATMs or local exchange vendors.

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Yesterday (on May 5, 2022), the 14.7km railway tunnel of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was finally penetrated after eight years of toil by a thousand workers.

This is not the same panoramic light rail in Lijiang discussed previously.

The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Tunnel, which exits the Jinsha River Tiger Leaping Gorge, is considered one the most arduous and important tunnel sections of the 139km Lijiang Shangri-la Railway. Also dubbed Lixiang Railway, aka 丽香铁路.

Slated for completion this year, the Lixiang Railway consists of 13 stations, crossing 34 bridges, and cutting through 20 tunnels.

The travel time will take about half an hour from Lijiang to Shangri-la, passing through Lashihai, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Haba Snow Mountain.

So far, 19 of 20 tunnels of Lixiang Railway have been completed. The remaining one being the 9,523-meter Haba Snow Mountain Tunnel, currently under construction.

Hopefully by the end of this year, it will only take five hours by high speed rail to travel to Shangri-la from Kunming.

Total cost of this endeavor is estimated ~10.5 billion yuan, but a vital link for the planned Yunnan-Tibet Railway.

For more details of the geological challenges and photos:

mp.weixin.qq.com/s/aieR51pUxrG1lMxI26KJUQ

A new light rail is being built in Lijiang that will reach Yulong Snow Mountain foothills in 20 minutes, traveling a distance of 20.45 km from the city's South.

Rail workers donning orange are visible along the incomplete track doing work, even during Labour Day holiday..

Slated for completion in December, this project is touted as "the world's first tourist train with a panoramic view of the mountain."

The illustration of this train is pretty cool:

www.chinadaily.com.cn/[...]

Update on bus #17 station, which is located at above photo of Yuhu Village Central Plaza (玉湖村广场), the terminal station. Final bus leaving the Yuhu Village foothill to 象山市场 (SE of Shuhe Old Town) is at 19:00pm. First bus 7am, to and fro.

Near the Yuhu reservoir, excavation of additional artificial lakes are being constructed by the boulder paved roads. The Lijiang government is doubling down on Jade Dragon tourism recovery in the post-pandemic.

Gold standard article by Jim worth an update.

No longer is the travel time to Weishan "an hour and a half" but just 22 minutes via high speed rail from Dali Rail Station. 19 - 22 rmb. The train tunnels through mountains for seemingly one third the journey.

As per Destination China feature video.The famous one strand noodle (yi gu mian) restaurant, located at 后所街 back alley, only opens from 7am to 12pm. The other famous er si noodle shop in old town closes early at 15pm.

Reviews

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For a limited time until June 26, 2022, the 66th top floor observatory will be open to public for free. Visiting hours: 14:00 - 21:00, weekends and holidays. One of the best breathtaking views of the cityscape. Great for family. Below the skyscraper is intersection of MRT Line 3 (pink) with Line 2/1.

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For those following the tragic saga of the baby calf elephant (born at Kunming Zoo), who was forcibly separated from its mother to perform as solo act elsewhere for profit, there's finally some good news. After months of social media uproar and complaints over the cruel treatments of the calf in tears during training in leaked vids, the calf is soon returning back to our local zoo. The visibly depressed mother and calf will soon be reunited after a brief quarantine period. One extra star for the zoo for adhering to the voices of the public. A step in the right direction. More compassion for our animal friends in captivity.