The Forbidden Love Story That Haunts China's Most Beautiful Mountain Town | Lijiang, Yunnan

LIJIANG
Something burned in us after Guilin. Not dissatisfaction — the opposite. Guilin answered some questions and quietly opened new ones.

So we fly northwest to Lijiang. Two hours in the air. Somewhere between takeoff and landing, the China we thought we were starting to understand shifts again.

What Lijiang gives us: a sacred mountain at nearly 5,600 metres where you can rent oxygen cans and a warm jacket at the entrance. Dozens of brides in white gowns being photographed against snow-capped peaks at high altitude. A story about that mountain and love — one that nobody puts in the brochure. A gorge so deep that Asia's longest river squeezes to just 25 metres across. A 300-year-old monastery where monks still live. And an ancient town sprawling in every direction that gets us completely, thoroughly lost — and teaches us, the hard way, that Google Maps does not work in China.
🔗 Our private China tour was arranged by ChinaTours.com https://www.chinatours.com
private guides and drivers in every city,

📍 PLACES WE VISIT IN THIS VIDEO
• Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Xueshan) — 5,596m, 13 peaks
• Blue Moon Valley & Spruce Plateau — 4,500m
• Lijiang Old Town — UNESCO World Heritage Site, 800 years of continuous habitation
• Bai Sha Village (White Sand Village)
• Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiao Xia) — one of the world's deepest gorges
• First Bend of the Yangtze River
• Zhiyun Temple — a four-culture monastery built in 1727, still active today
• Black Dragon Pool Park

00:00:00 — What's waiting in Lijiang
00:00:44 — Who we are
00:01:19 — Our China tour operator
00:01:52 — Arriving in Lijiang
00:02:41 — Hot pot & local food
00:03:30 — Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
00:05:04 — The Spruce Plateau
00:06:34 — Brides everywhere
00:07:06 — The love story nobody mentions
00:08:16 — Marriage in China: the honest story
00:12:20 — Why we skipped the show
00:12:37 — How we travel (private vs group)
00:13:30 — Bai Sha Village
00:14:13 — Lijiang Old Town
00:15:19 — The evening market
00:15:46 — Getting lost (Google Maps fails in China)
00:16:34 — Day 3: heading to Tiger Leaping Gorge
00:17:02 — The ancient Tea Horse Road
00:17:36 — Tiger Leaping Gorge
00:18:49 — First Bend of the Yangtze River
00:19:15 — Zhiyun Temple: the hidden monastery
00:20:54 — Rural China through the window
00:21:40 — Black Dragon Pool at dawn
00:22:21 — Farewell to Lijiang

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