There was a time not too long ago when private cars were allowed in to the Hua Ting Temple, Tai Hua Temple and Dragon Gate. Now, no cars are permitted and the road has been closed except to those who want to walk the 7 km to the top.
Bus 6, 51, and 94 all go to the Gao Yao bus stop where a new staging area has been built. Here everyone is herded into the Green Bus (15 Yuan one way or 25 Yuan round trip) that will take you to the Lower Dragon Gate Cable Car office.
When you disembark from the Green Bus you must purchase a ticket for Dragon Gate for 40 Yuan as well as a ticket for the cable car (25 Yuan one way or 50 Yuan round trip). You can skip the cable car and walk if you like.
I recommend you take a bus to the Gao Yao bus stop where you can find local drivers in minivans who will take you to the Upper Dragon Gate Cable car office for 15 Yuan. The minivan drivers are NOT permitted to use the road that has been made for the Green Bus. No one can use this road any more. The locals have found a way to get you to the Upper Dragon Gate office by using a back road that goes through Bi Ji Guan Village.
I think using the minivan driver (15 Yuan) is much better for 2 reasons. 1 - You dont need to purchase a cable car ticket (Save 25 Yuan) to take you up because the driver will take you to the top Gate which is at the top of the cable car and directly in front of the Dragon Gate entrance. 2 - You are helping the locals who have been stripped of their livelyhood by the new Green Bus.
www.hugoyunnantravel.com/des_kunming.asp?page=3
To be honest, I can see why they have done this. There are more and more local cars going up and not enough parking. Add to that the fact that local drivers really don't give a frig about people on foot.
You are talking about West Hills//Xi Shan//西山 aren't you? Readers less familiar with the area might not realize that.
BTW, some good photos on your blog.
Today I took a minivan up to Mao Mao Qing Village (Ma An Shan) for 40 yuan. If you have 2 or more people who want to go to Dragon Gate it is best to take the minivan and save on the Green Bus fee.
Mao Mao Village has 2 entrances into Long Men - Dragon Gate - Xi Shan - Western Hills. The entrance right next to the market (Village Center) will get you to the bottom of Dragon Gate right next to Nie Er Tomb. NO fee required because you are still outside of the Dragon Gate entrance. Then you have to walk or take the cable car up to the top.
Or you can take the south Gate (Nan Men) also called the Back Gate (Hou Men) which is about 1 km from the market or village center. This gate will take you to Ling Xu Pavilion which is at the highest point of Dragon Gate. This gate has a 40 Yuan fee because it puts you inside of Long Men. I think this is the best way to go because you are walking downhill the entire way and you do not need to purchase cable car tickets.
You can also take bus C70 from West Bus Station (Xi Bu Ke Yun Zhan) to Mao Mao Qing (Chi Song Ping Cun).
Its good, of course, to get all kinds of directions, bus numbers and advices to here or there.
One thing, however, well...theres quite a lack of knowledge on several places. This is not meant as any personal criticism, but just an observation that the overall knowledge is shallow.
Personally, well, I would like to hear the story of the monk who cut those stairs there, the stories of the snobby englishmen sitting up there in early 20th C watching the red light caravans arriving from Mengzi across Dian lake. The stories behind the poems up there and so on. Or how about John Blofeld living in one of those temples for over a year - thats long ago.
Thats just some examples. The point is, we got the bus numbers by now, maybe its about time to take it to a level higher. Hehe. No offence.
Peter, No offense taken, I understand what you mean because I love the stories and the history associated with all these places. We interact with many locals in all the places we go and they share their stories and all the extras that one does not get in the history books. I do not comment on those things here as it would take pages. I just post the info on getting there and let each person learn on their own as they visit each place.
No problem, its useful too.
hfcampo, do you need a vpn for your site? i got daohang.114so.cn when i clicked it. would be awesome if you started a traveling group.
My website has NOT been up and running in over a year.
ohhh i didnt look at the date of the post. my bad.
