Report on our trip to Southern Yunnan + review of Yunnan Roads
Destinations: Kunming – Stone Forest – Yuanyang – Duoyishu – Jianshui – Kunming
How did we find Yunnan Roads?
By chance, while planning our trip and looking for information online. (I organised everything else myself: itinerary, accommodation, transport.)
First contact, quote, planning and exchanging information
Very friendly, quick and very detailed exchanges with Antoine while planning the trip. We could have a personalised programme, which was adjusted when we arrived in Kunming.
Payment
Convenient and reliable.
Programme document
Very comprehensive. We printed and bound it. Lots of practical and cultural information on top of the programme. Just one extra that would be useful for people like me who like to follow a map: a more detailed map of the route and the overnight stops.
Welcome and contact with the driver
We were met as planned when we got off the plane. Unfortunately for our driver, our flight was late. He put a French-speaking friend on the phone to explain that, because of the delay, we wouldn’t visit the Shilin Stone Forest that day but on the way back.
A very smiley and professional driver. He took us to the entrance (hotels, sites and visits) and wrote down our meeting time. He was always on time (but so were we, we’re nice clients, haha! ;-)).
How the programme went
The only downside: the driver skipped half of the first day’s programme. I really regretted not visiting the tofu workshop and the exhibition at the Chaoyang Gate. The market didn’t matter so much, as we saw others later on.
Responsiveness and contact during the trip
That same evening, I sent an email to express my disappointment. I got an immediate reply (from Paul and Lili). Lili offered us some solutions to make up for it, and we agreed on a dinner in Kunming before the show. A lovely gesture, and a pleasure to meet the very charming Lili. Not to mention that the meal was delicious!
Choice of accommodation
A haven of peace, both at the Zhu Family Gardens and at Jacky’s. A special mention for Jacky’s, where the staff are absolutely charming. The meals are generous and very good.
Sites, visits and activities
- Tuanshan village, the Double Dragon Bridge and the railway station (each time we also avoided the crowds; very peaceful visits thanks to good timing!)
- Jianshui old town and the Zhu family house
- The rice terraces with Jacky. A superb walk without a drop of rain.
- Shengcun market. So interesting to have an interpreter to explain what we were seeing and tell us about Yi and Hani cultures.
- Meal with a Yi family. A pleasure to share this delicious meal with Jacky and our driver. A very lovely singing performance, and the women were very friendly and warm.
- Shilin Stone Forest. Very disappointing: expensive and poorly signposted (the site map uses numbers for the points of interest, but on site they’re marked with letters!). The shuttle didn’t stop, so the only option was to join the dense, deafening crowds in the Small and Large Stone Forests. We didn’t leave the site, we fled it!
- Dynamic Yunnan show: SUMPTUOUS! Just one regret: they don’t sell a CD of the show’s music.
Would you recommend Yunnan Roads to friends?
Absolutely! (And maybe even to our enemies, but they don’t deserve you!) For everything written above. It also let us visit a mountainous region we probably wouldn’t have reached on our own (except as backpackers) and have an interpreter, at least some of the time. It was very relaxing for us to let ourselves be driven, literally and figuratively! Four days without having to deal with transport, meals or accommodation.