Summary: China

Itinerary

• Day 0. June 18. Tuesday. United Airlines flight departed San Francisco at 11:35pm.
• Day 1. June 20. Thursday. Arrived Dunhuang at night. Stayed at hotel Dunhuang Zhongzhou International Hotel (敦煌中洲国际酒店)
• Day 2. June 21. Friday. Mogao Caves. Watched the show Dunhuang Celebration (敦煌盛典) at night 
• Day 3. June 22. Saturday. Mingsha Mountain (鸣沙山).
• Day 4. June 23. Sunday. Flew to Xi'an. Stayed at Sheraton Xi'an Hotel (西安喜来登大酒店).  
• Day 5. June 24. Monday. Visited Terracotta Warriors (兵马俑). Skipped the show Song of Everlasting Sorrow (长恨歌) because Claire got a fever. 
• Day 6. June 25. Tuesday. Visited the museum Shanxi History Museum (陕西历史博物馆) and a mall.
• Day 7. June 26. Wednesday. Visited Yisushe (易俗社), a Qin Opera (秦腔) and shadow show (皮影戏) museum and theatre
• Day 8. June 27. Thursday. Flew to Lijiang. Watched the show Lijiang Eternal Love Scenic Area (丽江千古情). Stayed at Hampton by Hilton Lijiang Old Town (丽江古城希尔顿欢朋酒店)
• Day 9. June 28. Friday. Visited Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡) and White Water Terraces (白水台). 
• Day 10. June 29. Saturday. Visited Qianguishan (千龟山).
• Day 11. June 30. Sunday. Visited Blue Valley (蓝月谷), Yulong Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山), Watched the show Impression Lijiang (丽江印象)
• Day 12. July 1. Monday. Transfer by bus and Didi to Eryuan (洱源), and stayed at the hotel Dali Geothermal Paradise (大理地热国)
• Day 13. July 2. Tuesday. Dali Geothermal Paradise (大理地热国)
• Day 14. July 3. Wednesday. Took Didi to Dali Erhai (大理洱海) and stayed at the hotel Yanyuan Health Sea View Inn (Erhai Talent Village Branch, Dali) - 大理晏园·养生海景客栈(大理洱海才村店)
• Day 15. July 4. Thursday. Tie-dye at Dali Old Town (大理古城)
• Day 16. July 5. Friday. Took bullet train to Kunming. Stayed at Double Tree by Hilton Kunming Airport (昆明空港希尔顿逸林酒店)
• Day 17. July 6. Saturday. Visited Shilin (石林)
• Day 18. July 7. Flew to Hong Kong. Visited Victoria Harbor. Flew back home at night. 

What I would change if I were to do it again

• I would skip Xi'an completely (Day 4-7). It was too crowded everywhere. 
• I would also skip the day trip to Blue Valley (蓝月谷), Yulong Snowy Mountain (玉龙雪山) and Impression Lijiang (丽江印象) on Day 11. Too crowded. 
• I would purchase a VPN service. Without a VPN, I was not able to access many websites that were not banned by China, for example, my bank account. The reason is that I use google authentication for some accounts and for some others I use my google voice number for two-factor authentication text. All of these were blocked in China.

Hotels I liked

In general, hotels are really good. The top ones that I would highly recommend are:

• Dunhuang Zhongzhou International Hotel (敦煌中洲国际酒店): Great location, helpful and friendly staff, nice room, a stuffed camel as a gift.
• Dali Geothermal Paradise (大理地热国): your own hot springs pool - super unique. Large room, access to many hot springs pools. Cons: dated facilities, far from restaurants, neighbors can be noisy.
• Yanyuan Health Sea View Inn (Erhai Talent Village Branch, Dali) - 大理晏园·养生海景客栈(大理洱海才村店): Great location, next to Dali Erhai (大理洱海) and night market, very scenic view from the cafe,  friendly staff.

Travel tips

• Book refundable hotels and check for price changes as the check-in dates get close. Quite often the hotel price dropped as the time got closer. I was able to save money that way.
• Travel light, many hotels have free laundry self-service.
• In Ctrip, when booking private drivers, you can specify that you want a non-smoker driver. Our driver in Lijiang was a smoker and his car had a cigarette smell that I did not like. of smoke even though he cleaned it. In Kunming, I asked for a non-smoker driver, and they did assign me a non-smoker.

Things I liked 

• Hotels
• Food
• Delivery Service (Meituan app)
• Transportation: On this trip we tried every thing: airplane, high speed train, bus, cars (taxi, hired driver from Ctrip, ride-hailing app Didi). All good.

Things I did not like

• Very crowded at popular tourist places
• Booking systems everywhere could not accommodate people with passports. Also we had to show our passport everywhere, like visiting a museum.
• Medicine. Surprised that ibuprofen was not working. 
• Lack of information / full of misinformation on the internet. No fact check or credible sources.
• It was a common practice to ask for good reviews. All hotels except the one in Dali asked me to give them 5 star, some offered a little cash reward. The drivers I hired all asked to see my review at the end of the trip.

Expenses

Total spending for Claire and me was about $8,000 in mainland China.

• Flights: ~$5,000
• $3690 round trip San Francisco-Hong Kong for two people.
• ~$1350 (9463 RMB) three domestic flights in China for two people.
• Lodging: ~1,300
• ~$240 (1677 RMB) 3 nights at Dunhuang Zhongzhou International Hotel 敦煌中洲国际酒店  
• ~$280 (1972 RMB) 4 nights at Sheraton Xi'an Hotel 西安喜来登大酒店
• ~$290 (2024 RMB) 4 nights at Hilton Lijiang Old Town 丽江古城希尔顿欢朋酒店
• ~$150 (1020 RMB) 2 nights at Dali Geothermal Paradise 大理地热国
• ~$110 (786 RMB) 2 nights at Yanyuan Health Sea View Inn (Erhai Talent Village Branch, Dali) 大理晏园·养生海景客栈(大理洱海才村店)
• ~$200 (1374 RMB) 2 nights at Double Tree by Hilton Kunming Airport 昆明空港希尔顿逸林酒店
• Tickets to attractions: ~$750
• (516 RMB) Mogao Caves
• (578 RMB) Dunhuang Celebration 敦煌盛典
• (260 RMB) Mingsha Mountain 鸣沙山
• (1152 RMB) Tickets in Xi'an 
• (580 RMB) Lijiang Eternal Love Scenic Area 丽江千古情 
• (208 RMB) Tiger Leaping Gorge 虎跳峡 
• (65 RMB) White Water Terraces 白水台 
• (385 RMB) Qianguishan 千龟山
• (1080 RMB) Day trip to Blue Valley (蓝月谷), Yulong Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山), Impression Lijiang (丽江印象)
• (196 RMB) Tie dye
• (245 RMB) Shilin 石林
• Transportation: ~$500. 
• (397 RMB) High-speed train tickets for two people from Dali to Kunming
• (1764 RMB) 2 day trips in Lijiang with a hired driver, and paid for toll road
• (475 RMB) 1 day trip to Shilin from Kunming with a hired driver
• (100 RMB) Two bus tickets to Eryuan 洱源
• (705 RMB) Various taxi and Didi trips. The cost of each trip ranged from $2 to $15. In Xi'an, my friend Bei drove us around, so we did not spend any on transportation. 
• SIM card: $36 (250RMB)
• Food, drinks, souvenirs: ~$400

In HongKong, we spent about $150 for transportation (Octopus card for airport express and star ferry), food, luggage storage etc.