We booked this tour on Trip dot com as it was virtually impossible for foreigners to secure the tickets to the cable car, which is extremely popular.
Yulong Snow Mountain, or Jade Dragon Mountain as it is also known, is an imposing set of peaks, the highest at 5,596 meters, overlooking Lijiang. It is a major tourist attraction in China, and we had to set off at 05.30 for reasons I later discovered – there was a traffic jam getting into the place before the sun came up.
We needed to show our passports to gain entry as they were tied to the tickets I’d booked online. The tourist center had a few shops and restaurants and sold portable oxygen cylinders for altitude sickness (we were given one included in the tour). The first stop was the Blue Moon Valley, a series of turquoise lakes and artificial waterfalls with a mountain backdrop. It was a very popular spot for weddings, and countless couples were having their photos taken with the picture postcard backgrounds.
The weather wasn’t great again, and the mountains were mostly shrouded in high cloud and mist, so brief glimpses had to be captured quickly with reflections or cherry blossoms for enhancement.
From there, it was a bus to the main center and a queue to get into another queue to enter a waiting room, followed by another passport and ticket check and photo before another queue to get on another bus that would take us to around 3,300 meters, where the cable car started.
After another queue and another ticket check, we finally got onto the cable car that would take us up to the peak at 4,506 meters. Crowded did not begin to describe this place, and the Chinese do not generally queue well. Our driver told me later that more than 30,000 people visit the mountain daily.
The oxygen cylinders were in full use now by most of the tourists, though I didn’t need one yet. We were met with a blast of icy cold temperatures when we got out, but had suitable attire for the trip. We started the hike to the peak slowly and took a quick hit of O2 now and then to prevent any onset of altitude sickness, but felt pretty good generally. The stairway took us to 4,576 meters, the highest I have ever been, but the final leg to 4,680 meters was closed due to the weather, which was a whiteout rain/snow storm, so there were no views up here, just cold wind and sleet.
It was another queue full of oxygen-supping tourists for the gondola back down and then another one to get on the bus to take us back to the main tourist center. The lunch included was a bland bowl of soup and veg, so we loaded up on sugar and caffeine at the minimart.
The next part of the trip was the Impressions Lijiang cultural show, but by then it had started to rain properly. However, the show must go on, so we grabbed a complimentary rain mac and took a seat among the hundreds of soaked tourists watching the event.
The show is a massive, open-air cultural performance staged at 3,100 meters above sea level with the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain as its live backdrop. It is directed by the renowned Zhang Yimou, who choreographed the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and features hundreds of local performers from ten different ethnic minorities who demonstrate their daily lives, traditions, and spiritual beliefs.
The show and tour had come to a conclusion, and we were driven back to town, thoroughly exhausted but glowing from such a fantastic experience that very few Westerners have seen.
Next: Shangri-la
Previous: Tiger Leaping Gorge
