I really enjoyed Kunming (the "City of Eternal Spring") and environs (the Stone Forest comes to mind immediately) but didn't have a chance to get up to Lijiang. My son, however, who has travelled in China a great deal (he speaks Mandarin) enjoyed Dali much more than Lijiang because he said the latter is very touristy. He still enjoyed it, though, by getting away from the mainstream, walking through back alleys (ie. off the beaten track). I've got a piece that he wrote about it somewhere at home (in hard copy) - shall see if I can scan it and send it to you.

Yangshuo is lovely and, of course, you'll be travelling down the famous Li River with it's incredible karst peaks to get to it. It's better than any photos (except - sometimes the river is so filled with tour boats you can hardly see the water!!).

An acquaintance owns a hotel in Yangshuo and can give you lots of information about it. Do you have accommodation there? He also has a travel agency in Guanghzou so he might be able to help on a lot of counts. You can also contrast his prices with those of a friend who is a travel agent in HK.

I'll look in my files for more specific info and suggestions to send along later.

I'll be in HK when you are here so would love to have a GTG. Let's 'talk' re. timing and then we can announce it in case others are in the vicinity.

Cheers! Judy in HK