Nujiang

Day1 Meet in Kunming
Day2 Kunming - Dali
Day3 Dali -Nuo deng village
Day4 Nuo Deng village  - Pianma old village of Camden
Day5 old Dengmu zhiziluo village - - - - - - Fugong Gongshan Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, Dulong Township
Day6 DuLongjiang - Gong mountain -Bingzhongluo
Day7 Bingzhongluo - Dingcun - Shimen - Guan - Wuli Village qiunatong
Day8 qiunatong - chawa long starting today, we will enter the real cross-country road C Chahar left Tibet line, this route is the most difficult in the eight Tibet line, the scenery is the most beautiful and original line Day9. Chawa long - Bitu Zuogong
Day10  Zuogong Yela mountain ranwu - Laigu village
Day11 - Ran Wuhu - midui glacier
Day12 Bomi Township - Bomi Tangmai natural barrier - Rouland palongcangbu River - Lin Hai Shergyla Mountain - Linzhi
Day13 Linzhi - the mainstay - Tang Fan Road - Lhasa

Three Parallel Rivers Protected Area is the world’s only existing “pure land”, depositing an everlasting dream; it is a paradise integrating magnificence, beauty, steepness, wonder, seclusion, and mystery. 

Day 1* In the morning we meet in Dali, then driver 4.5 hours to LiuKu, the city beside the Nujiang. Sightseeing in Liuku.Overnight at Liuku hotel (3*)

Day 2* Drive 240km along Nujiang (Salween) from Liuku to Gongshan, on the way visit beautiful gorge and local villages. It will take 6.5 hours. Overnight at Gongshan hotel (2*) 

Day 3* Drive 30km to Bingzhongluo, visit the first bend of Nu River, small trek to visit Puhua Lamaism temple, Chongding Catholic church. Then drive to Dimaluo Tibetan village. Overnight at local guest house

Day 4* Trek 6.5 hours to Balagong Pasture, via Baihanluo village. Overnight camping *

Day 5* Trek 7.5 hours to Benggu Pasture. Today we will cross Selalaka pass, Sewalongba valley and arrival Luolongjialong pass. Overnight camping

Day 16* Today we trek 6.5 hours to Cizhong village, a Tibetan village beside the Mekong River. Visit the church, and then drive 3 hours to Deqin. Overnight at Deqin Caihong hotel(2*)

Day 7* It will take 6 to 7 hours drive to Zhongdian. On the way, we will see Mud-pottery workshop in Nixi village, Town of Benzilan (an important transfer town between Yunnan and Tibet), the First Bend of Jinsha River, Baimang Snow Mountain, welcoming Pagodas of Deqin. You may also enjoy the view of meadow, Tibetan villages and the scenery on the way. Overnight at Zhongdian hotel(3*)

Day 8* In the morning, we drive 102 kilometers, or around 2 hours to Qiaotou (1850 meters), Visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge then drive to Lijiang (90 kilometers). End of our trip.

Present-day Zhiziluo Village (知子罗村) was once a redoubt on a minor branch of the Tea Horse Road — a mountain fortress nearly hidden amongst the crenelated slopes flanking the Nu River. GoKunming contributor and amateur photographer Tian Feng (田丰) recently visited the eerie town, which was almost completely abandoned in 1986 despite costly building projects that had only then been completed.

Bajiaoting (八角亭) was to be the main government building for Zhiziluo, which had been designated the Bijiang County Seat in 1986. Today it sits unused, its doors propped open so photographers and random tourists can climb the stairs to reach its wrap-around balconies.

The story of the town's decline begins with something seemingly innocuous — a rainstorm. In the fall of 1979, torrential rains began to pour down on Zhiziluo. Intense storms battered the area for two full weeks, marking the heaviest rains to hit the mountains in over half a century.

When the storm finally broke, much of the surrounding countryside was devastated. Fifty-meter mudslides were reported and after much digging out, it was discovered 23 people had died as a result of flooding and landslips.

The townspeople rebuilt their lives and eventually most things returned to normal. Then, in 1986, a full seven years after the deluge, a geological survey team arrived from Beijing to assess the safety of the mountaintop village.

What they found disturbed them — a variable and unstable terrain prone to minor earthquakes, mudslides and sinkholes. On the survey team's recommendation, government workers were relocated to Fugong (福贡) and other towns in the valley deemed more safe.

Without its cadres the town slowly began to disintegrate. Its only bank closed and other community services, such as the post office, packed up and left as well. Suddenly, the town that once had a few thousand residents was reduced largely to an afterthought.

People did remain however, despite official warnings and orders to evacuate. Most of those who stayed on were farmers who continued tilling their rocky, terraced fields during the day only to return to a hollowed out town at night.

Today, Zhiziluo has a small permanent population, possibly totaling as many as 300 when numbers are augmented by those living nearby in the countryside. Empty apartment blocks sit either entirely unoccupied or have been converted into pens for livestock. A school is still maintained and has new-looking basketball rims at either end of its otherwise abandoned square.

Much of the local populace are of the Lisu and Nu minorities and many of them practice Christianity. An old church is one of the few non-residential buildings put to use on a regular basis and is still a place of worship for those left in the village.

In the 1990s, Zhiziluo's population was briefly enlarged with the arrival of loggers from both Yunnan and Sichuan. For a few short years the town was revived. Shops and a hotel were put back into use, a KTV flourished at night and the streets were once again at least a little busy.

Strict laws against logging were enacted nationwide in the latter part of the decade and the loggers moved on to other businesses. Their departure left Zhiziluo to again slip back into its dreamy and hauntingly peaceful slumber.

For more on Zhiziluo and its few remaining Lisu and Nu residents, see GoKunming's interview with documentary director Zhao Dayong (赵大勇). In 2009, Zhao released a feature-length film about the village entitled Ghost Town (废城). The movie garnered international acclaim and was screened at the New York Film Festival. A theatrical trailer for Ghost Town can be viewed on Youtube (requires proxy).

Getting there

If leaving from Yunnan's capital, its is best to first set out for Lijiang, which can be reached from Kunming by plane, train and bus. Once in Lijiang, head to the main bus station and catch the 9am bus to Liuku (六库). Tickets should cost around 150 yuan for the 400-kilometer trip.

For the last leg of the journey you will need to arrange a ride in a minibus from one of the Liuku locals. Bargain hard, this should be very inexpensive. Keep in mind the final push from Liuku to Zhiziluo is another 108 kilometers and depending on road and weather conditions, can easily take four or more hours.