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Day 01: Kunming
Arrive in Kunming and get prepared. Stay overnight at the local hotel.


Day 02: Kunming - Lijiang
Take a morning flight to Lijiang. Lijiang is an intriguing and beautiful old town - ancient canal system, thriving central market, traditional architecture, with abundant cafes in the centre.


Day 03: Lijiang - Wenhai Village
For early birds, rising early provides a chance to see Lijiang at its most natural. After breakfast drive to the trailhead at Yuhu, a small village nestled on the lower slopes of Jade Dragon Mountain. Amongst other things this was the home of Joseph Rock - who was in parts an explorer, a plant collector, a scholar of Naxi language, and a bit of a master of fakery - who roamed southwestern China in the 20s, 30s and 40s. It's about a 5-hour trek to Wenhai, another Naxi village several hundred meters up on the slopes of Jade Dragon. The views of the snow peak on the way to and from Wenhai are beautiful and the trek, though up, relatively undemanding.


Day 04: Wenhai - Xuehua Village
A short day's trekking along the slopes to Xuehua, a much poorer Yi village and a chance to relax for the afternoon and check out a little local life. Interestingly Xuehua is also the home of one of the few 'bimo' of the area, an Yi shaman-like figure steeped in a ritualistic history infinitely longer and more complex than its newcomer counterpart amongst the Naxi - the 'Dongba priest'. Whether or not you'll get the chance to meet him is moot, but it does give some indication as to the depth of tradition in this village.


Day 05: Xuehua - Shanghai village
Another relaxed day's trekking under the snow peak to Shanghai, a relatively affluent Naxi village and the last stop before heading east away from Jade Dragon.


Day 06: Shanghai - Zhongdian
Trek 2 hours to the road and drive to and along Tiger Leaping Gorge. The trail is winding along the foothills of Haba Mountain (Yunnan's 3rd highest at 5396 meters) through Yi, Naxi, Tibetan and Lisu areas and passing the limestone terraces of Baishuitai before breaking out onto the edge of the eastern Himalayas to Zhongdian. In Zhongdian (Shangri-La), visit the magnificent Songzanlin Gompa, a very key monastery commissioned in the 17c by the 5th Dalai Lama, and the central monastery in the Gelukpa order’s south-eastern expansion.


Day 07: Zhongdian - Xidang Village
Drive following the Mekong northwest to Xidang, a small Tibetan village at the very foot of Kagebo Peak. This is the trailhead for the trek to come, as there's yet no motorable road to Yubeng - though there has been much talk about building one up the river valley from the Mekong (or even of building a gondola to serve tourists).


Day 08: Xidang - Yubeng
Today's trekking will be strenuous, for the first trekking section takes 4 hours or so to climb up to the Mountain Pass in the virgin forests. After a picnic at the summit (where there may still be snow in early spring), descend to the isolated village of Yubeng. Stay in the guest house there.


Day 09: Yubeng - Deqin
Trek downward back to the village of Xidang. Drive to Deqin. Deqin is worth a walk around and a browse through the shops.


Day 10: Deqin - Zhongdian
Drive back to Zhongdian. En route, visit a couple of monasteries - Dongzhulin and Shusong (a nunnery - a much rarer animal indeed). Both are sub-monasteries of the huge Songzanlin in Zhongdian, and both remote but active teaching gompas. Then the trail drops down to the Tibetan village Benzilan on the banks of the Yangtze, facing Sichuan province on the opposite side. For centuries it was an important stop on the old trading route into Tibet - indeed in central Tibet, imported Chinese tea, often known as 'Benzilan tea' ! From here it's a two-hour drive back to Zhongdian.


Day 11: Departure from Zhongdian
Leave Zhongdian according to your schedule.