Lufeng Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in May)
Heijing Town Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in May)
Kunming Surroundings | The Millennium Salt Capital - Heijing Ancient Town
Heijing Ancient Town day trip, there is only one train per day.
🦦 Travel Tips:
🚄 Kunming Station to Heijing 22.5💰, there is only one train per day, departing at 6:25 am and 4:22 pm. The morning time is quite early, if possible, you can find a place to rest near Kunming Station for the night. It's advisable to bring more drinking water, as there are almost no shops in the area.
🐎 Transportation:
After the train arrives, there is a certain distance to Heijing Ancient Town. Upon exiting the station, there will be cars 🚗 and horse-drawn carriages 🐎 offering rides, with the price being five💰 per person.
About Food:
We randomly chose a small shop opposite the vegetable market to eat beef rice noodles, which were very affordable at only 8💰 per bowl and the meat was plentiful.
We ate at Wu's at noon, which was a bit pricey. We ordered salt-baked chicken and pomegranate flower, and personally, I think the taste was just homemade, not as amazing as some netizens have described.
Ancient Town Street: Suitable for a leisurely stroll, taking photos, and when tired, you can find a shop by the river to sit, rest, and space out.
Temples: There seem to be several temples, and they all appear to charge an entrance fee. Interested friends can go have a look, and at Dalong Temple, you should be able to see Heijing.
Baishi Spring Well: Requires a ride to get there (five💰 per person), tell the locals it's Yanyuan Valley, which is actually a place for hiking, the whole journey takes about half an hour. There are caves carved out on the mountain, so be sure to do good sun protection before climbing, although there are shaded pavilions along the way, it's really hot when the sun is out.
The peach blossoms are blooming one after another
🌟Highlights:
1. Take the high-speed train from Kunming to Lufeng, then transfer to the direct bus from Lufeng to Tuguan. It's a 70-plus kilometer drive, taking about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
2. The peach blossoms are blooming, and you can take beautiful photos effortlessly.
3. Few people and beautiful scenery
4. Cultural landscapes of Lufeng: the hometown of dinosaurs—Dinosaur Valley, the Western Yunnan Highway, Jiuguan Shida Pu including the Lianxiang Pass, the salt capital, and the salt-producing area—Heijing Ancient Town (there are direct buses to each attraction)
5. The food is inexpensive (Lufeng rice is very tasty)
Yunnan has another super niche and low-key ancient town worth visiting—Heijing Ancient Town
I discovered another super niche and low-key ancient town in Yunnan, the once prosperous but now forgotten 'Millennium Salt Capital'—Heijing Ancient Town. The ancient town and its surrounding natural scenery are all in earthy yellow, giving a sense of desolation and barrenness. Some remaining buildings and slogans make one feel as if they have traveled back to the 1960s and 1970s.
The ancient town is quite small, and it takes only about two hours to stroll around. There's not much commercial activity, so it's recommended to return on the same day or to visit other places.
📌Heijing Town, Lufeng City, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture.
🚃Take the green-skin train from Kunming to get there directly, about 2.5h.
🚗If driving by yourself, it takes about 2.5h from Kunming and about 1.5h from Chuxiong.
Chuxiong, Yunnan, is a hidden gem for travelers in Yunnan
It is known as the 'Hometown of Dinosaurs,' 'Lufengpithecus,' 'Yuanmou Man,' and features the Yuanmou Earth Forest, Lion Mountain Peony, Zixi Mountain Tea, and the Yi Solar Calendar. Come and experience the charm of the Yi people in China!
In Chuxiong, you can see dinosaurs, wander through the Earth Forest, dress in Yi ethnic clothing to stroll through the ancient Yi capital, and deeply experience the slow-paced lifestyle.
🚗Transportation: You can fly directly to Kunming and then take a train or bus to Yuanmou County.
📍Train: There are several train routes from Kunming to Yuanmou. Trains starting with 'K' take about 4 hours, and a hard seat ticket costs around 40 yuan.
📍Bus: There are public buses from the Northwest Bus Station in Kunming directly to Yuanmou County, which takes about 3 hours to reach Yuanmou.
☀️Attractions:
✅Yuanmou Earth Forest: The Earth Forest is a group of columnar landforms shaped by soil deposits. Here you can see a variety of sand sculptures and mud carvings and a mysterious and bewildering geological landscape, making you feel as if you are in a magical palace of art.
✅Heijing Ancient Town: One of the four great ancient towns of Yunnan, it has been a place for tribute salt since ancient times. There are streets and alleys with Tang and Song Dynasty styles, residential buildings with Ming and Qing Dynasty styles, as well as steles, stone carvings, ancient pagodas, stone archways, ancient stages, and ancient temples, ancient salt wells, salt boiling households, etc., especially the well-preserved Ming and Qing architectural typical Wu family courtyard, all worth exploring slowly.
📍Famous attractions in Heijing Ancient Town include the Wu Family Courtyard, Longci, and Feilai Temple.
✅Zixi Mountain Scenic Area: The forest and exotic flowers and trees cover more than 96% of the area, with over 1500 species of plants and various natural landscapes, making it the largest forest park in Yunnan.
📍The camellias produced locally are a unique feature of Zixi Mountain. In the camellia garden near Ziding Temple, there is a camellia mother tree from the Yuan Dynasty, which is over 600 years old.
✅World Dinosaur Valley: This site has world-class dinosaur burial and excavation sites, which are the Jurassic late period dinosaur graveyards that shocked the world 180 million years ago.
📍There is also the world's number one mounted dinosaur fossil specimen and fossil boutique display. More than sixty Lufeng dinosaur fossil skeletons are mounted and displayed on the Santaplatz, with a majestic and truly shocking presence, setting a Guinness World Record!
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Lianxiang Dak Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in May)
The tranquil and deserted Lianxiang Pass fades from its former bustle
Like a scene from a fantasy world of immortals and martial heroes, it is truly worth visiting for photography. This year, the rapeseed flowers bloomed particularly early, and recently it is the peak of their bloom, which perfectly complements the ancient post roads. The small path in front of the fortress gate, which is a necessary pass from Zhongqing to the ancient capital of Yunnan, was historically known as 'Yixi Road,' an important part of the ancient southwestern Silk Road. Among the 'Nine Passes and Eighteen Lodges,' only the third pass, Lianxiang Pass, still exists today! It was originally built during the Ming Dynasty.
The small village at this pass and the local residents live in harmony. Life is as plain as water yet profoundly real. From the entrance to the end of the pass, it stretches 750 meters, with five pass towers, one stone arch bridge, and dozens of salt merchant courtyards built along it. The ancient streets, residential courtyards, and Sanhua Temple are all there, with the hard bluestone road still clearly showing the hoof prints from years gone by.
Lianxiang Pass
The Ancient Tea Horse Road of Lianxiang Pass in Lufeng County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, is located on Yaostation Street, Jinshan Town. 'Lianxiang Pass' was established in the Ming Dynasty (the 16th year of Chongzhen, AD 1643). It consists of four major parts: five pass towers, ancient streets, residential courtyards, and Sanhua Temple. The total length from the entrance to the end of the pass is 750 meters, with five pass towers, one stone arch bridge, and dozens of salt merchant courtyards, truly a rare sight. The ancient post road of 'Lianxiang Pass' is 2 meters wide, paved with hard local bluestone. Despite years of erosion by wind and rain, the hoof prints left by horses can still be clearly seen. The 'Lianxiang Pass' tower is over 12 meters high and nearly 9 meters wide, a three-story building. The lower level is a semi-circular city gate hole made of bluestone, and the second and third levels are wooden structures with circular corridors, battlements, and more. After entering the gate, another 50 meters leads to a pass tower called 'Guojie Tower', which is also a three-story building with flying eaves and a majestic presence; 200 meters further inside the pass is the 'West Gate Tower'; 50 meters from the West Gate Tower is the 'Chongguan Tower', which is the exit passage; outside the Chongguan Tower is also built the 'Dengmen Tower'. When you enter the ancient houses of the past, they are almost more than 100 meters deep, with three quadrangles and a layout of interconnected towers. Inside the courtyard, there are carvings of dragons and phoenixes, and the craftsmanship of the hollow-carved doors and windows is exquisite.
The peach blossoms are blooming one after another
🌟Highlights:
1. Take the high-speed train from Kunming to Lufeng, then transfer to the direct bus from Lufeng to Tuguan. It's a 70-plus kilometer drive, taking about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
2. The peach blossoms are blooming, and you can take beautiful photos effortlessly.
3. Few people and beautiful scenery
4. Cultural landscapes of Lufeng: the hometown of dinosaurs—Dinosaur Valley, the Western Yunnan Highway, Jiuguan Shida Pu including the Lianxiang Pass, the salt capital, and the salt-producing area—Heijing Ancient Town (there are direct buses to each attraction)
5. The food is inexpensive (Lufeng rice is very tasty)
Lufeng Dinosaur Valley
The hiking trail at Lufeng Dinosaur Valley is truly amazing! Along the way, you can see the interesting settlement organization within the village of Dinosaur Valley, the beautiful Yunnan-style vernacular architecture, and an ancient path at the entrance of the village that is filled with historical vicissitudes. Then, as you reach the mountain, you walk along the old trail of the Yunnan-Burma Railway, overlooking from the mountain, the scenery of the valley below is unobstructed, and you can also see several beautiful bridges and tunnels—these are the nationally protected 'Yunnan-Burma Railway Dinosaur Valley Bridge and Tunnel Group'. The bridge and tunnel group, once part of the railway line, has now been abandoned and become a monument, but it has been revitalized in outdoor tourism, spontaneously completing adaptive reuse without the help of professional architects or planners.
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World Dinosaur Valley Hot Spring Hotel Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in May)
Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley Hot Spring Hotel, a five-star experience you deserve!
🏨Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley Hot Spring Hotel, a five-star experience you deserve!
👋Hello everyone, I'm back! This time I'm going to share my accommodation experience at Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley Hot Spring Hotel.👀
1️⃣Environment: 🌿The hotel is located in the Dinosaur Valley scenic area, with beautiful environment and fresh air, which is refreshing.
2️⃣Facilities: 🛁The hot spring facilities are complete, the water quality is excellent, soaking in the hot spring, as if the whole person has been healed.
3️⃣Service: 💁♀️The hotel's service staff are enthusiastic, attentive and thoughtful, making people feel at home.
4️⃣Catering: 🍽️The hotel's catering tastes rich, the ingredients are fresh, and people enjoy it.
5️⃣Room: 🛏️The room is luxuriously decorated, fully equipped, and comfortable.
Chuxiong: I booked the World Dinosaur Valley Hot Spring Hotel, which includes
Day3: Tickets for , two each, but not for .
(Interlude: If you are taking children to Time and Space Park, make sure to check whether the ticket includes the entrance to Time and Space Park. I didn't distinguish it at that time and thought that the ticket for Dinosaur Ruins Park includes the museum and Time and Space Park. So I was quite unhappy when I checked in. Another unhappy point is that the hotel check-in staff is not very professional.
I asked her, she said it's different and not included, I said then you help me buy two tickets, she said let me queue again, because my check-in has been completed, to do other things need to queue again, if I jump the queue, let me queue again I can understand, but I am queued up, after check-in, to buy me two tickets need to queue again is unreasonable, and the attitude is very bad, really quite.
--Morning I don't recommend children under 1.2 meters to go to Time and Space Park, there are very few projects that can be played inside, and there is no special feature, just a 4D Happy Cinema,
is Lufeng Dragon's small story is still worth watching, there is also a magic theater performance called Shen Xiao Legend live performance can also be seen, in addition, there is a point that every park has some small projects, not too many features. We probably played for about 2 hours and left, the main projects that children under 1.2 meters can play are in Duo Duo Park, children under 0.9 meters don't even need to go in, there should be no mouth can N column and day this side of the people less have the big punishment items day still not open.
Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in May)
Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley
Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley is located 23 kilometers south of Lufeng County, Chuxiong Prefecture, at Dinosaur Mountain in Anan Village, Chuanjie Township. Situated beside the Kunming-Chuxiong Expressway, it is 68 kilometers from Chuxiong City and is a dinosaur culture-themed park that integrates site protection, sightseeing, leisure, and scientific research.
The park is divided into two major areas: "Dinosaur Fossil Scientific Research and Sightseeing Area" and "Jurassic World Tourism Area". Since 1938, more than 120 relatively complete dinosaur fossil individuals have been excavated within Lufeng, spanning the Early, Middle, and Late Jurassic periods. Experts from China and abroad consider Lufeng to be one of the richest, most complete, oldest, and most primitive dinosaur fossil sites in the world, and it is known as the hometown of Chinese dinosaurs.
At the entrance plaza of the scenic area (Image 2), the sculpture above the words 'World Dinosaur Valley' is called 'Supreme Overlord', with a dinosaur claw holding up the entire Earth of the Jurassic period, symbolizing the dinosaurs as the absolute rulers of that era; the four pillars behind are called 'Dragon Pillars Supporting the Sky', which are said to be carved with 240 different dinosaurs (though that can't be verified by counting).
Scenic Area Map (Image 3) and Introduction to the Scenic Area (Image 4)
Entering the scenic area, you can see 1:1 dinosaur models everywhere (Image 5)
The core area of the entire scenic area, the China Lufeng Dinosaur Fossil Site (Image 6), is the world's largest indoor dinosaur fossil conservation site, a world-class dinosaur burial and excavation site, with the world's largest dinosaur fossil specimen mounting and display hall.
Dozens of mounted dinosaur fossils, majestic in appearance (Image 7)
The Anachuanjie Dragon, 27 meters long and 6.5 meters high, is the largest dinosaur mount in the exhibition hall (Image 8)
The famous Lufengosaurus (Image 9), Xu's Lufengosaurus is the first dinosaur excavated, studied, and mounted by the Chinese themselves, known as 'China's First Dragon', and has significant importance in the history of paleontological research in China (the first Xu's Lufengosaurus skeleton is currently housed in the Paleozoological Museum of China in Beijing)
Jiangyi Yuanmou Dragon, 17 meters long and 5.5 meters high (Image 10)
The world's largest indoor dinosaur fossil site - Lufeng Dinosaur Fossil Site excavation site (Image 11). Nearly 10,000 square meters of the dinosaur fossil conservation hall, with an excavation range of 130 meters long and more than 40 meters wide, contains over 400 dinosaur fossils, with more than 30 identifiable individuals exposed in the geological profile, and is one of the core conservation areas of the National Geological Park.
The site was discovered in 1995, and after two phases and five excavations, two deep pits were dug, covering an excavation area of 512 square meters, and the discovered dinosaur fossils span the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, named the Chuanjie Dinosaur Fauna (Image 12).
Dinosaur Science Museum, the vast dinosaur family (Image 13)
240 million years ago, it was the largest dinosaur family on Earth, dominating the world for 175 million years, until their sudden disappearance 65 million years ago. It is these dinosaur fossils hidden in nature that have let humanity know that there was such a long and mysterious era of dinosaurs on Earth.
PS:
1. Dinosaur Valley has a dedicated expressway exit, making transportation extremely convenient.
2. Dinosaur Valley tickets come in different categories, which can be bundled with the amusement park or purchased separately for the site.
3. Shortly after getting on the expressway, there is a Dinosaur Mountain service area, which is a scenic service area, don't miss it as you pass by.
The peach blossoms are blooming one after another
🌟Highlights:
1. Take the high-speed train from Kunming to Lufeng, then transfer to the direct bus from Lufeng to Tuguan. It's a 70-plus kilometer drive, taking about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
2. The peach blossoms are blooming, and you can take beautiful photos effortlessly.
3. Few people and beautiful scenery
4. Cultural landscapes of Lufeng: the hometown of dinosaurs—Dinosaur Valley, the Western Yunnan Highway, Jiuguan Shida Pu including the Lianxiang Pass, the salt capital, and the salt-producing area—Heijing Ancient Town (there are direct buses to each attraction)
5. The food is inexpensive (Lufeng rice is very tasty)
Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in May)
Kunming Surroundings｜Direct access by green-skin train, a low-key ancient town of a thousand years is explored like this
Fast-forwarding dramas at 1.5x speed
Running all the way during the morning rush hour
The daily chicken soup is very bland
...
If you are in the above situation
It's time to slow down
Go to an ancient town that was born for slowness and prospered because of salt
Eat salty, watch bland
Rediscover the rhythm of life~
🟢
2 days & 300 yuan budget
The green-skin train starts a leisurely journey
Heijing is one of the four major ancient towns in Yunnan, with only one green-skin train direct every day, it is unpopular and niche.
The Longchuan River meanders along the way, the rapeseed flowers are just blooming, and every frame of scenery can be seen clearly. The 2-hour journey is also enough to open a good book that has been put aside.
🟢
Ordinary lanes and worldly fireworks
It seems to see grandma's expectation
The neighborhoods of Heijing are known as living fossils of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition to houses and ancient buildings, every door, window, and shop front is also a feature. As time goes by, the shop front has become a flower stand. Every household has couplets and flowers everywhere, and the smell of worldly fireworks flows through the lanes.
On the way to Qing'an Embankment, I met an old man sunbathing, hunched over, old and kind. Perhaps when longing turns into expectation, time is dried by the wind and only the sun is accompanied, the only wish is for children and grandchildren to come home and have a hot meal together.
🟢
Watch the rise and fall of history and the ups and downs of the ancient town
A moment in life is the best script right now
The once wealthy wealth mystery area has also left many famous historical sites. It's just that the hustle and bustle of the martial arts courtyard, now only a few lively firecracker flowers are left to spit out the remaining flames. The ancient salt workshop was once prosperous, but it has also declined into a small handmade experience workshop...
When you plug in the 'Heijing' this pair of historical headphones, the cosmic radio is also quietly transmitting energy. Look, every script has an ending.
-
Go to Feilai Temple and climb three thousand steps to sweat a little
Go to the Confucian Temple to pick up a breeze in the shade of the green trees
Go to Qing'an Embankment to pick up a slightly yellowed leaf
Slow down
After all
The best plot is right now
-
💌Tips：
▪️Transportation: Train 7466/5, return journey can be transferred from Guangtong North, G2839 can seamlessly connect at the platform
▪️Must-visit attractions: Wu Family Courtyard, Confucian Temple, Profit Workshop, Five Horse Bridge, Festival Filial Piety General Workshop, Dragon Temple, Black Bull Salt Well, Feilai Temple, Ancient Salt Workshop
▪️The attractions are relatively concentrated, the ancient salt workshop is a bit far away, if you don't want to experience the manual work, you can ignore it
▪️Must-try food: Salt-braised chicken or salt-braised three-piece, gray tofu, bean yellow rice noodles, pear soup
▪️Recommended restaurants: Huiyoutang, Longchuan Halal Restaurant, Douhuang Rice Noodles
▪️Recommended hotel: Yueheng Hotel, next to Wu Family Courtyard, 200+/night
▪️You can't get a Didi in the town, you can leave a driver's phone number, 5/person from the train station to the ancient town, 15-20/trip for the return journey
▪️Don't take the horse-drawn carriage as soon as you get off the train, it's slow and bumpy. If you want to experience it, you can take it from the vegetable market to the ancient salt workshop
▪️It is recommended to arrange 2 days and 1 night, don't rush, the slower the rhythm, the more flavorful
▪️There will be a market on Sundays, which will be more lively
▪️It's very cold in the morning in winter, so wear more
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