It was a very last minute decision to go for vacation in Yunnan and I contacted WoY. Somehow, they managed to organise everything - hotels, domestic air tickets and tour guides within a week (3 days actually, considering that they had 2 public holidays that week) and I flew out with my parents a week
later. Everything went smoothly, hotels booked were great, all meals were included and even when we decided not to go to their pre-arranged dinner location, they deducted the meals from the overall cost. We could also decide what we wanted to eat, particularly in Kunming and Lijiang where we tried some really good restaurants from the guide's recommendation and they made all the arrangements. We had different tour guides for different legs of the trip but all of them were knowledgeable and extremely helpful. My dad has some difficulty climbing up and down steps and every guide or driver who observed the difficulty all volunteered to hold his arm whenever they are around him. That attention to detail is simply going above and beyond. Chinese language was generally not a problem for us though it's not my first language. We even learnt the different ethnic ways of addressing each other. In terms of itinerary, some of the highlights were: 1. the Dali three pagodas - climbing up hill to see 11 Temples sequentially was pretty amazing. Every time you thought it was the highest temple, there's always another behind it. 2. Old towns in Dali and Lijiang - full of culture so try and stay within the old town. 3. The tiger leaping gorge - honestly if you can climb to see the 11 Temples in Dali, you can do this. We went when the water levels are seasonally low so it wasn't as majestic but still good. 4. Shangri la - just an experience in itself. The altitude is considered high for us and all of us had nose bleed every day we were there due to the dry air. We were however prepared with high altitude pills and the guide even took us to buy oxygen cans. It might look weird or funny but honestly, it made us breathe easier, particularly at night when you are in the hotel room. Alternatively, consider bringing a humidifier for the room. 5. Kunming Dynamic Yunnan show - I was so glad WoY recommended this as an add on. In my view, a must see if you like stage cultural performance! Last but not least, a big thank you to Cici Li - my travel consultant from WoY who made this trip possible. I have lots of pictures to remember this last minute trip and very happy parents!
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