  
I was in Lijiang for 7 nights and took a day trip**...** I hired a private guide / driver / car for one day (8am to 8pm) to take me to the following places and in this order: **Tiger Leaping Gorge, 1****^(st)** **Bend of Yangtze River, Shigu village, Jade Water Village & Dongba Temple, Yun Ti Yang Cafe, and Royal Banquet Dinner & Show.** My guide spoke really good English and was a safe driver – **if you need a private guide for Lijiang, Shanri-la, Dali etc then DM me and I’ll give you her contact details.**



**The cost of a private driver / guide varies from city to province and it depends on the size of the group, the time of year, the itinerary etc. The cheapest guide that I found was 600 CNY per day, but most charge around 800 CNY to 1,000 CNY per day. Its cheaper if you’re with a group of people – remember, I’m travelling solo here...**



**TIGER LEAPING GORGE =** Originally, I wanted to do a hike but changed my mind due to time and altitude sickness. I spent about 1.5hrs here, including the return shuttle bus that takes you to the main entrance and back to the carpark. **It was incredibly windy cold, in May, so please dress warmly! You can either walk down to the main viewing platform decks which takes 1hr+ or pay extra to ride x4 escalators down.** 

Due to time, I paid for the escalators, return trip. **There are x2 photo-spots where a staff member takes your photo for free and you can choose the 2 inch size photo for free or pay for an 8 inch size photo for 20 CNY** – make sure you take and keep the little numbered receipt to get these photos back at the main entrance, near the first escalator entrance and ticket office area… 

T**here’s only a few restaurants and cafes around the viewing platforms so I suggest to bring food / drinks or allocate more time to wait for your meals and find a table / seat. There’s a line to take photos with the famous tiger statue – I didn’t line up, I took a selfie on the staircase!**

 If you look across the gorge, you’ll see the other two tiger statues, a bridge and cliff walkway... you can go to the other side of the gorge… how? My guide told me that tour groups go to the other side for a different view and its less crowded. I went to the main area and it was enough, like I wouldn’t return here. One visit was great and memorable… I’ll post photos separately.



**PHOTOS ATTACHED ARE ALL OF TIGER LEAPNG GORGE.**



**1ST BEND OF YANGTZE RIVER =** it takes about 45min+ to drive from Tiger Leaping Gorge to the 1^(st) Bend of Yangtze River. **My guide took me to the main observation deck and within 5min of admiring the view, the weather changed! It was overcast cloudy then really sunny which allowed me to see the area in a different light, literally!!! If you want to see the 1st Bend of Yangtze River as you see online – the panoramic aerial drone type view, then you’ll need to hike up for about 1hr+** (high altitude will make you do things slower)... I didn’t have time or the energy for this so we left after 20min. I’m happy that we stopped by but don’t go out of your way just to visit this attraction... I’ll post photos separately.





**SHIGU VILLAGE =** it takes about 5min to drive from the 1^(st) Bend of Yangtze River to Shigu village. We had lunch here and my guide took me to her favourite local place that’s also popular with the residents. **We shared a hot and spicy noodle soup, and two different cold noodle jelly dishes = total cost 28 CNY.** We walked about 10min to visit the **Drum-Stone Tablet and Tiehong Bridge / Iron Rainbow Bridge which was part of the Ancient Silk Road route.** Shigu is really small and not commercialised like Dayan, Baisha or Shuhe so if you want a more “authentic ancient town experience”, perhaps Shigu is for you? I’ll post photos separately.





**JADE WATER VILLAGE & DONGBA TEMPLE =** not a lot of people visit this place. It’s like an open museum or cultural centre where you can learn about Naxi people, their religion, arts and crafts, music, way of living etc. It’s about 20min drive from Dayan Old Town. Allocate 1hr+ to walk through... **I**ts really peaceful and pleasant. **The main attraction is the Sanduo, Naxi god of nature gold statue and the Dongba Temple with a huge ritual furnace in front. Nearby is a Dongba pictograph workshop** (there was a group of adults learning how to write Dongba pictographs here), **a Naxi music performance hall…. As you walk through the garden areas you’ll see a Dongba Paper Mill, Dongba Brewery, little waterfall with viewing platform, prayer flags, etc.** I think its worth visiting. I’ll post photos separately.





**YUN TI YANG CAFE =** this is plastered all over social media and what they show you isn’t exactly what it’s like when you’re there! Well, I had a very different image… **Entrance is free but the staff do ask if you’ve purchased any food or drinks from their cafe – I guess many people just want to come to take photos!!!** T**he area where you take photos has several viewing platforms including the wooden hut rooftop (most popular), a massive chair and long grassy hilltop section that gives you a great view of Yulong Mountain. There’s also a seating area to bask in the sun and the cafe is a two-storey building that serves mainly modern cafe type dishes and drinks** (if I’ve remembered correctly, as I only ordered a drink).



Right next to this cafe is another popular photo-spot with food trucks and a helicopter pad – people were taking 5min helicopter rides, every 15min! You can’t walk over to these attraction as there’s a fence and road in between, so you’ll have to drive over… Anyways, **Yun Ti Yang Cafe is a good place to take photos but it depends on the weather for you to be able to see Yulong Mountain clearly.** When I was here, around 5pm, the top half of Yulong Mountain was covered with clouds, even though it was really sunny! I stayed for 1hr+… If you come here, it might be a 2hr+ visit especially if you want to take photos at each photo-spot.





**ROYAL BANQUET DINNER & SHOW =** I booked tickets on Klook. **The location of this place is quite remote and about 25min drive to Dayan Ancient Town. If you come here by taxi DiDi, I’m not sure how fast and easy it’ll be to get a ride back at 8:30pm?** My guide took a nap in the car while I was inside having **a hotpot meal (fresh and more than enough) and watching the 1hr performance of cultural dances and songs then a modern remix at the end**. If you come to these dinner and show places, **its best to arrive at least 30min earlier to join the games such as pitch-pot (throwing arrows or stick into a vase-like pot from a distance) and you could win prizes, play (or pretend to play) the guqin, take photos with the dancers etc.** You can also pay to rent hanfu and take photos...This one is really popular with the Chinese tour groups, it was full!



Visiting Tiger Leaping Gorge from Lijiang, Yunnan province.