Exploring Yunnan province, China for two weeks, Khanh Trang (Rachael Nguyen) had many emotions that fluctuated with unforgettable experiences.
In September this year, Trang combined to explore the peaks in Yunnan (China) and took a coast guard ship to northern Laos to explore Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. Each country, girls stay for about two weeks to travel and work online.
Happy and sad on the road
The trip started quite a bit of a journey, right from the customs gate, the female tourist went alone for half an hour and was stopped by Chinese customs with a series of questions. Then the procedure to make a phone SIM card and install a VPN made her more sweat.
For Trang, from language, internet to payment methods in China, there are many surprises even though she had prepared in advance. Communicating with homestay owners, restaurants, and local tour guides in Yunnan is extremely difficult.
Every time she travels independently, female tourists often book a group bed (dorm) in homestays or find a homeowner on the Couchsurfing application. Thanks to sharing rooms with many foreign guests, Trang became friends with Jancy right when in Con Minh. Jancy made the Vietnamese girl realize that she had been in love with Con Minh for a long time and felt that this city was no longer simply a transit point.
The most contrasting impression is the time in Dai Ly and Lijiang. A morning walk in Dai Ly was no different from a market when street vendors and shops on both sides opened speakers to sell goods. However, the deeper you go into the heart of the old town, the more calm the space becomes, the most fascinating are the ancient houses lying next to each other under the blue sky, the white clouds behind the majestic Thuong Son mountain range (Cangshan).
In contrast to the excitement in Dai Ly ancient town, Lijiang is much lighter and more peaceful. The flowers and grass show off their beauty everywhere, adding to the poetic beauty of the ancient town that is in autumn. Lijiang is known as the "Eastern Venice", famous for its canal system combining unique architecture, and cultural blend between ethnic groups such as the Western Uplands, Han, Tang...
The scenery is so beautiful, but the young girl confided: "In many trips over the past 7 years, I have never felt as warm as when I went to Yunnan, wondering if traveling alone was worth it." Trang said that standing in front of her was a beautiful scene that she could not ask anyone to take a slow-motion photo of. Although he opened up asking for help from one person to another, he was ignored or said that he did not know how to take photos. The problem sounds small but quite significant for a girl who saves the whole year for a trip and always wants to keep her image.
Cllimbing mountains in Yunnan
Yunnan has many natural tourism destinations with beautiful scenery that captivates visitors. During her two travels here, Trang spent most of her time climbing mountains to sightsee, from Tay Mountain, Thuong Son Mountain, Ngoc Long Snow Mountain to Ho Nhat stream.
Western Hills in Con Minh, the second most popular tourist attraction is the wooden mountain climbing route nestled in the green forest. A rare thing on the climbing route is that there are very few young people, most of the visitors are elderly but they are very healthy, they climb the mountain and talk animatedly.
Thuong Son Mountain is another place that makes Trang truly overwhelmed by the natural landscape of China. On the mountain, there are countless streams, waterfalls, and trees covered with green trees, with roots clinging to the mountain rocks. It was so fascinating that after a short walk, I had to take a phone out to take a photo.
Impressive about the snow mountain of Ngoc Long (Yulong) is not the road to climb steep mountain slopes. This location, visitors can take a cable car to see the snow mountain at an altitude of over 4,000m, admire the Blue Moon Valley and immerse themselves in the historical and cultural space of the famous show "Le Giang Impressions".
The Ho Nhan Khe (Tiger Leaping Gorge) is the place Trang looks forward to the most when planning to go to Yunnan. From the center of Lijiang by bus takes about 2 hours, then there is another shuttle leg to reach the starting point to the mountain. The natural scene on the majestic, indescribable beauty of the road with the high mountains below the sky under the snow-white clouds. Tourists coming here often stay one night at a motel on the mountain.
Yunnan is a beautiful land from culture to nature, clean and secure, but in the heart of the Vietnamese girl, she realized that the trip still had many unnecessary carelessness. The day she left China, Trang felt relieved as if she had just lifted a heavy rock on her shoulder, and promised herself that she would prepare more carefully both mentally and physically for her next comeback.
