Bingzhongluo



Bingzhongluo is a city/small town in Western Yunnan.

Understand
The town consists of a single street of hotels and restaurants. Internet is available via slow DSL. Very few people speak English.

Get in
Bus from Liuku or Gongshan. Police checkpoints will arrest illegal taxis/private drivers between Liuku and Gongshan and specifically target foreigners for questioning when entering or leaving Liuku.

The provincial government has imposed a ¥100 entry fee for any "tourists" going into Bing Zhongluo Xiang. It is hard to avoid the fee unless you look like local Chinese. The gate inspectors are not allowed to ask for ID cards, so they impose the fee on anyone they think is a tourist or from a different part of China.

Get around
Use your feet, or hire private drivers. If you get nervous with normal Chinese taxi drivers, you will have a heart attack going down partially collapsed one-lane roads on the edge cliffs with raging white water rapids below trying to pass tractor-trailers on blind corners. Do not go past Liuku if you can't accept this.

See
The whole place is a huge vista of mountains bathed in clouds with streams and a very natural environment for China.

Do
Go hiking, bring a stick to beat off poorly trained dogs. Consider getting rabies vaccine before travelling. The single hospital there was empty with a few mobile phone numbers to call on a blackboard.

Buy
Nothing to buy beyond food.

Eat
Only a few restaurants that serve nothing more than basic food. Can arrange to BBQ a piglet among other animals, and/or buy food at the market.

Drink
Rice wine.

Sleep
Sleep in the modest hotels.

Go next
Take the bus back to Gongshan or Liuku.