Hong Kong and Yunnan make an odd pairing, but we've posted the images together because we stayed overnight in Hong Kong on our way to Yunnan.

Hong Kong has one of the most magnificent skylines of any city in the world, and the photos here only provide a hint of its grandeur.  We hope to post more Hong Kong photos later this year.

From Hong Kong, we flew to Yunnan, where we stayed several days in Li Jiang, a famous ancient market town (and UNESCO World Heritage site) that is home to the Naxi, a matrilineal minority descended from Tibetan tribes.  We visited the nearby "Tiger-Leaping Gorge," where the Yangzi River (Chang Jiang, or "Long River," to the Chinese) flows through a canyon 3900 meters below snowcapped peaks.  These photos include a couple views of a tranquil Yangzi just a few miles upstream from the gorge and one of the river surging through it.

We took a crowded bus from Li Jiang to Dali, which is famous for its three pagodas.  The tallest, shown on the right in one of the photos, was built in the mid-9th century AD and is 70 meters tall.

Photographs from Hong Kong and Yunnan

Maps of China and Yunnan