Yuanyang

Yuanyang is in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan, China.

Understand
It is important to understand that Yuanyang, in fact, refers to three things. There is Yuanyang County, Yuanyang New City (Nansha), and Yuanyang Old Town (Xinjiezhen). Yuanyang New City is the Yuanyang you will see on most maps and the capital of Yuanyang County, while Yuanyang Old Town is the traditional heart of the county and definitely the location you will be heading if you are a tourist. To make things complicated, if you are in Nansha, then you are in Yuanyang, and Yuangyang Old Town is Xinjiezhen (or simply Xinjie), and if you are in Xinjiezhen, then you are in Yuanyang, and Yuangyang New City is Nansha. Make sure you clarify which Yuanyang you are going to when you hop on a bus. For the sake of continuity, in this article "Yuanyang" will refer to Yuanyang Old Town and "Nansha" will refer to Yuanyang New City.

Get in
Note: The night bus arrives at around 2:00. You can either continue sleeping on the bus or find a cheap room at the bus station (from ¥40). Departure from Kunming South bus station. To get to the South Bus Station, take bus 154 close to the main train station. A taxi from the center will cost you around ¥50-60. The Metro takes 20 minutes and costs ¥4.
 * From Kunming - three buses every day, at 10:00, 12:00 and 18:00 (sleeping), ticket ¥140, about 7 hours.
 * !!TIP!! Over Gejiu - several buses everyday, get to Gejiu about ¥80, 4-5h, than ¥20 to Yuanyang (Nansha bus station), 1hour. Buses to Gejiu departure from Kunming East bus station.
 * From Jinghong - an interesting, two day trip through mountains and minority areas. Get the bus from Jinhong to Luchun (12 hours) and stay the night. Spend the morning in Luchun, taste the local Yi food and check out the tea terraces, then get the bus at midday to Xinjie (3-4 hours).

See

 * Terrace fields - lot of small buses at Nansha bus station. Most popular areas: Yishu village (依树村; yishucun, 24km), Bada village (坝达村; badacun, 16km), Habo village (哈播村, habocun, 80km), Longshu dam (龙树坝; longshuba, 5km), Xinjie city (新街镇; xinjie zhen). Gates have been put up and you will be charged ¥60 to visit certain areas. In January 2012 it was possible for some travellers to go there without paying the fee (so really just buy a ticket if you really have to). You can take bus, randomly get out and just walk, camp.

Go next

 * Kunming - Buses leave from Xinjie at 09:00, sleeper buses at 16:00 and 17:30.
 * Gejiu
 * Honghe
 * Jianshui - The most comfortable (and probably fastest) route is to get a shared taxi to Nansha (1 hour - ¥15), then a bus to Gejiu (1 hour), then a bus to Jianshui (1 hour).