Upcoming trip to Yunnan! (1 Viewer)

Hello friendly lovely birders,

I'm planning to head out to Yunnan from 1/23 - 2/20 (ish, end date is flexible) with a Chinese friend and her boyfriend. I know that this period is hell on earth for travelling around China, but unfortunately, it's the only spot of free time available.

To that end, does anybody have any recommendations for great (or even good) sites that are a bit off the beaten track? I'd personally love to see a Derbyan parakeet and Lady Amherst's pheasant, but I'm not picky! Unfortunately, cost is a bit restrictive--we're a group of broke students. Is camping a good idea to scrimp on money or should we look into hostels? Also, we'll have to hire a driver/look into transportation of some variety so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

best,

char

My friend and I have tentatively set out this itinerary, but any comments would be incredibly helpful. We're planning on arriving at Kunming around 1/26/12 (or 26/1/12), and we're thinking of hitting up these towns:

leg one--(hopefully not) all quiet on the western front:
1. Kunming -> 宾川鸡足山 (Binchuan Jizushan) -> 保山 (Baoshan) ->腾冲 (Tengchong) -> 瑞丽 (Ruili).
2. Return leg to Kunming, hoping to hit up 楚雄 (Chuxiong) 和楚雄紫滨山 (Chuxiong Purple Bank Mountain)

leg two--headin' down south
1. Kunming -> 红河州 (Red river state/Honghezhou)，个旧 (Gejiu)，思茅/普尔 (Simao/Pu'er) -> 西双版纳 (Xishuangbanna).

Ideally, we'd like to do a loop that wouldn't involve going back to Kunming in between, but I'm not sure about how feasible that is -- it sounds like Kunming is *the* central location for getting about. Also, again, we're a bit strapped for cash, so any recommendations on cheap hostels/camping/"tarping" (lazy people camping, best in dry locations like california), would be great. And if any of these places are going to be horribly overrun in this upcoming new year season, please let us know!

Hotels are very cheap in Yunnan.RMB30~50 u can find basic ones even with free phone call.

You'll find that there are plenty of local buses, and you don't really have to return to Kunming between the legs of your trip unless you want to. Get a good map of the province and you can get from town to town. Maybe some of the Yunnan Trip Reports here will be helpful...

http://johnjemi.hk/jj_cn/index.html

The birding around Ruili is accessible by Taxi rides from the hotels in the town centre.

I'd also recommend the Higherland Inn (above Dali) for birding the "Cloudy Tourist Walk" on Cang Shan - a good site for Lady A's Pheasant.

http://higherlandinn.com/htm/contact.htm

Good Luck !

hi mcaribou and john:

thanks for the helpful tips and the links to the trip reports! never thought of those as a resource (silly me). a belated happy new year!