having biked the area extensively and always on the lookout for traffic free areas, I can recommend the following:
Diqin (I assume you mean Shangri-la): head out east on the East Ring road, over Baishuitai, Haba and the east end of the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Go to the west end. Do the trek back to the east. Hop in a ferry or take the new bridge over to Daju. Get transport or hike or ride towards Lijiang on this old road. It has a couple inevitable touristy spots, though. From Lijiang, if you are walking, there's a beautiful hike over Shigu (at the first bend of the Yangtze) on an old horse trail towards Jianchuan. If you can't hike, you're stuck to a fairly tourist-laden road to Jianchuan.
At Jianchuan head out to Shaxi, do Shibaoshan etc. Continue down the valley over Yangbi, or head out to Yunlong if that's not too far out of your way, go into Dali. From Dali take the old road over Chuxiong to Kunming.
Of course, if you can meander more, I suggest you approach Kunming from the north.
Kunming-based think tank fighting Myanmar forest loss
Posted byPeter, interesting point of view but while monoculture plantations may still come at the expense of forests, the project in the first place aims to solidify and boost the livelihoods of rural dwellers in Myanmar, hence also the support of the LIFT fund (Livelihoods and Food Security).
Now when that proves viable, villagers may be less tempted to replace their land by monoculture plantations or indeed sell it to investors.
Kunming-based think tank fighting Myanmar forest loss
Posted byThe organization has the support of the government, and that's a pretty strong ally to have.
Of course, in a democratic country, governments change every so often, in the case of Myanmar in November, and everything may yet go down the drain if Aung San Suu Kyi wins - or it may not.
Or do you compare it to Borneo because you think corruption will prevail and big investors will win the day with monoculture plantations? Maybe, but showing in time that you can have high harvest yields _and_ keep healthy ecosystems could change public and industry opinions.
Around Town: Biking the trails of Changchong Mountain
Posted byThread here: www.gokunming.com/[...]
Map here:
www.google.com/[...]
Around Town: Wanda Twin Towers
Posted byneeds a bridge in between :)
who paid for it? Wanda is supposedly an integer development company but it is a little hard to believe.
The Petronas towers were built by tycoons with public money, then sold back to the city, after which the tycoons still occupy the building and are now charging the public to visit it.
* source: Asian Godfathers by Joe Studwell. Bit of a must-read that makes you question any of these gigantic projects.
Around Town: Biking the trails of Changchong Mountain
Posted bycheck out the Mountain Bike Thread, last post has a link to a Google map with 1-day routes around KMG. Feel free to add.