Yunnan trekking vacation, Mt Meili to Cizhong

Planet

Our itinerary will take you to one of the quieter (and more beautiful) regions of China in the north-west area of Yunnan province. It helps ensure that the impacts of your visit to this stunning and spectacular location are minimised. Indeed, all of our tours maintain a great respect for the cultural and natural surroundings in which we visit and travel, and we have opted to use only essential methods of public or private transport for this itinerary.

Activity:
This pilgrim trekking has more than 600 years history, the scenery on the way is breathtakingly beautiful, the ecology system is well preserved, even the animals you meet are not afraid people because nobody want to hurt them, all the villagers are very friendly and hospitable. We maintain a great respect for the cultural and natural surroundings in which we visit and travel, and we have opted to use only essential methods of public or private transport for this itinerary. In addition, the car can only get to Xidang Village and travelers have to walk to Yubeng Village to get to the hotel. Big luggage can be left in the car, and travelers can get there with only backpacks. As we will spend large parts of the tour on foot, this will help us reduce our carbon footprints by using transport only when necessary.


Waste:
As we all know every traveling produces a surplus of waste and hard-to-use biomass that is best kept in the food chain by feeding it to livestock. Before our hiking , we will buy from local markets to prepare foods as the supply in moderation, such as bread, milk, instant coffee, jam, vegetable, sausage... We will try to eat them all, do not  leaving something too much on each scenic spots or picnic lunch site. And we will pack all unrecyclable waster into a certain bag and get rid of them at a suitable place.

Water:
It is certain that the water is very important during a trekking tour. We encourage our passengers to refill a water bottle from water 'bubblers' where available to avoid unnecessary purchasing of bottled water and the subsequent waste disposal issues. Even though the tap water is not drinkable in China, all of the hotels and restaurants we use will have a kettle which can be used to boil. Such measure could really reduce the amount of rubbish we produce.

Office:
It is advocated to recycle paper and ink cartridges to reduce the waste in landfill sites. We turn off printers, computers, battery chargers and transformers at the end of each day and use energy-efficient bulbs and low-energy appliances.

People

Accommodation:
Yubeng has few hotels; Xueyuzangjiale Hotel is one of the local best hotels, Yubeng is short of water, so maybe there is no water for shower. We will stay and have meals in rural villages, away from the standard tourist trail. Wherever possible, we use locally-owned guesthouses, hotels, restaurants, and services to ensure that local communities and business prosper in a highly competitive market. An added bonus of using locally-owned services and people is that they will often be highly enthusiastic, generous and proud to welcome you into the places where many have been born and raised.

Food and drinks:
The food and merchandises in Yubeng are transported from outside, as vehicles cannot get to Yubeng so things are expensive there. Travelers are advised to take food themselves such as biscuits, bread, milk, yoghurt, mineral water and fruit.

Local services:
We use all local guides and drivers so that we learn about the culture and way of life directly from those who live it and put money into local hands and economies. All receive fair wages and are provided with training opportunities both direct from us and from the local tourism bureau.

On the income of the family:
The whole north-west area of Yunnan province has been the under-developed areas compared to the eastern part of Yunnan, not mentioned to the coastal province, because the economy mostly relied on basic agriculture and forestry, in 1990, on average the income of each normal family was around 2000.00RMB, which only can narrowly feed the family. But now, the tourism has brought the opportunity for more money. The local people can earn money as being the local guide, local logistic material carrier, cook, pony fleet supervisor, etc. without any special training, local people just use their daily life skill, they can earn money from tourists, especially in the peak season, the profit is quite good.