Lugu Lake — The Kingdom of Women 美丽的女儿国—泸沽湖

Lugu Lake is located in the North West Yunnan plateau in the centre of Ningliang Yi Autonomous County. The middle of the lake forms the border between Yunnan Province and the Sichuan province. It is an alpine lake at an elevation of 2,685 metres and is the highest lake in the Yunnan Province. Lugu Lake is a popular side excursion from Lijiang. It usually takes around 7-8 hours bus ride(including a lunch stop), from Lijiang to Lugu Lake due to poor road condition. A highway to Lugu Lake is almost completed and will shorten the distance to 3-4 hours. And an airport in Lugu Lake will be completed in 2 years time. Soon, this place will be swamped with tourists. Lugu Lake has an admission fee of RMB78. More photos here.

The Amazing Red Soil of Dongchuan 东川红土地—上帝的调色板

Dongchuan, literally means River East, is located 180km north of Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, China. It is famous for its massive land of red soil. The soil contains such components as oxidized Iron, after a long period of oxidation, gradually added and mixed in the soil that produced this extra-ordinary reddish brown soil. Every inch of land are cultivated and planted to the maximum by the inhabitants, consequently causing unwanted damage to the place... erosion. Dongchuan mainly attacts photographers and not the mass tourist crowd, due to its remote location and poor infrastructure. Because of this, it stays relatively quiet and still a heaven for photographers. The scale of red soil in Dongchuan is second only to the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dongchuan is one of the remaining few places in China that are yet to collect any admission fee.

More photos here.

Shangri-La 香格里拉—心中的日月

Recently came back from a 16-days trip to Northwestern part of Yunnan Province, China. Shangri-La (Zhongdian) was part of my itinerary, a place so popular among travelers and backpackers.

Shangri-La County is a primarily Tibetan county in northwestern Yunnan province, Southwest China. The county is very close to Sichuan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region. The county was formerly called Zhongdian County but was renamed in 2001 after the fictional land of Shangri-La in the 1933 James Hilton novel Lost Horizon, in an effort to promote tourism in the area. Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. In the book, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. More photos.