Comments by "vangrails" (@vangrails) on "Top 5 Underrated Places in CHINA to Visit" video.

Lijiang is extremely crowded with Chinese visitors, however the area around Lijiang is still very interesting and more authentic, you will see Tibetan style temples around Lijiang and you can visit a mountain glacier on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, you can go up by cable car. There is also a yak meadow nearby that you can get to with another cable car. We were approached by a Chinese woman who spoke English and she guided us around in her car the next day when we were in Lijiang, that way we could visit the villages around Lijiang for not that much money. Lijiang itself is sadly for 90% a tourist trap. Lijiang city is beautiful but that beauty is hard to see, every old house in Lijiang has been converted into a souvenir shop, a hotel or a restaurant. Some of its temples have been destroyed by the cultural revolution but they have been rebuild. Dali is slightly less crowded, I explored the area around Dali with a rented bicycle and that was very nice, lots of different kinds of agriculture around Dali with farmers who use an ox for plowing and old pagoda's. i really liked the cycling. Kunming has the beautiful stone forest, also touristy but beautiful. There are also big caves near Kunming (JiuXiang caves). Very impressive. Kunming itself is probably a nice place to live but there isn't that much to see unless you are really interested in jade. You will not see that many Western tourists in these 3 places but lots of Chinese tourists.
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