Yubeng, China: A Hiking and Visiting Guide (2026 info!)

Yubeng is a remote mountain village in the far north of Yunnan province in Southwestern China.

Surrounded by sacred mountain peaks, including the towering Meili Snow Mountain, Yubeng is just a stone’s throw from Tibet.

On my recent visit to Yunnan province, after visiting Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and Shangri-La, Yubeng was as far as I would go before returning to the latter and flying out.

I hiked in to the village, which was the only option, and spent a glorious full day soaking up the views before hiking out again.

A lot of the information I found about getting to Yubeng was wrong, including online and in the Lonely Planet.

In this article, I’ll share the most current information about getting to Yubeng (from Shangri-La, with optional stop in Feilaisi) and my personal recommendations for making the best of your visit.

Yubeng Quick Introduction

Yubeng (雨崩) is a Tibetan village deep inside a dramatic glacial valley. It lies within the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Local Tibetans call the village Kawagebo Yülbeng, which means “Village Beneath the Snow Mountain”, referring to Kawa Karpo (梅里雪山 or Meili Snow Mountain, 6740 meters), which dominates the view from town and has never been successfully climbed.

Yubeng lies on the kora (circular pilgrimage) around the mountain. Due to its remote location and lack of roads for most of its history, the village has long preserved a traditional way of life.

The village is divided into two very different sections: Lower Yubeng (下雨崩) and Upper Yubeng (上雨崩), with a steep, 30-minute trail between them.

Today, Yubeng is an off-the-beaten-track hot spot for hikers. Besides the gorgeous trek to get in and out, it serves as a base for two full-day side day treks: one to Sacred Waterfall (神瀑) and another to Glacier Lake (冰湖).

Best Time to Visit

Fall and late spring are generally considered the best times to visit Yubeng. October to November will give you pleasant temperatures, fall foliage, and access to all the trails. In May to June, you’ll get the same, but with spring flowers.

Summer is fine to visit, but there’s a slightly higher chance of rain, which can make the trails slippery. A hiking pole is recommended (I’ll share below where to rent one).

Winter would be the most challenging season. You can expect some snow, icy/slippery climb to the village, and the hikes to Sacred Waterfall and Glacier Lake may be dangerous or closed.

I visited Yubeng in mid-April. The hike to and from the village was perfectly fine. The temperature was pleasant in the daytime and only a little chilly at night.

However, there was still a lot of snow on the hikes to Sacred Waterfall and Glacier Lake. Both were closed on the day I arrived due to unsafe conditions (deep snow, slippery conditions, risk of avalanche).

The two hikes re-opened the next day, but I had already decided that I wanted to use my full day in Yubeng to just chill out and explore the two villages. If those hikes are a priority for you, I suggest waiting until May at least.

Time Needed and Recommended Itinerary

You will need anywhere from 2 to 4 days to visit Yubeng from Shangri-La.

Two Days: This would be crazy fast and I don’t recommend it. You’d catch a direct morning bus (or private vehicle) from Shangri-la to Ninong (尼农 or ní nóng, the trailhead), hike up to Yubeng, sleep there, hike back down the next day, and take the bus back to Shangri-La. It’s rushed, tiring, and gives you no time to explore Yubeng.

Three Days: I would consider this the bare minimum. It would give you one full day in Yubeng to explore the two villages or to do one of the day hikes there.

Four Days: This would give you two full days in Yubeng. Perfect if you want to do both of the day hikes there. Or do one day hike and spend one day just chilling or exploring the two villages.

Stopping in Feilaisi on the Way

When I went to Yubeng in April 2025, there wasn’t a direct bus from Shangri-La to Ninong. There were morning buses from Shangri-Lai to Feilaisi, but those didn’t reach Feilaisi on time to catch the bus from Feilaisi to Ninong.

Therefore, for many years, a lot of travelers, myself included, would spend a night in Feilaisi on the way to Ninong and Yubeng. This added a whole extra day to my itinerary.

Feilaisi (飞来寺 or fēi lái sì) is a tiny tourist town with a famous platform offering a view of Meili Snow Mountain. At sunrise, the rays of the rising sun light up the peak of the sacred mountain. Besides the sunrise view, there’s nothing else to see or do in Feilaisi.

When I stayed in Feilaisi, the mountain was blocked by clouds at sunrise. What’s more, I found the view of Meili Snow Mountain from Yubeng is much closer and better, not to mention it also lights up at sunrise.

Therefore, now that it’s possible to take a direct bus from Shangri-La to Ninong for hiking to Yubeng, I recommend skipping Feilaisi.

Staying at Feilaisi now only makes sense for travelers who want a quick view of Meili Snow Mountain without traveling to Yubeng.

However, my article below will still describe my stop in Feilaisi.

Getting to Yubeng

Your journey to Yubeng will start from Shangri-La. I recommend spending two nights in Shangri-La, which will give you a full day to explore it. Here’s my recommended Shangri-La two-day itinerary.

Most of the information I found online and in the Lonely Planet China for getting to Yubeng was outdated or wrong. Note: I was using the 2022 edition, which was super outdated. Since then, they released a 2025 edition, which has far less information about Yubeng than the 2025 one, yet some of it is still wrong.

I found out several things the hard way, so you don’t have to. To avoid confusing you, I’m not going to detail the mistakes I made in order to figure out how the buses actually work.

Basically I’m going to share all the info I wish I’d had before my trip! If you find that any of the info I provide here has changed, which it mostly likely will at some point, please let me know in the comments at the end.

And thank you to all those who have already left comments, which has allowed me to keep the information in this article current.

Direct Bus from Shangri-la to Ninong (Trailhead for Yubeng)

Recent travelers have commented on this article that there’s now a direct bus from Shangri-La to Ninong, the trailhead for hiking to Yubeng. I highly recommend taking this bus.

You need to make sure to get an early departure, because it’s a 4.5-hour (RMB 84) drive from Shangri-La to Ninong, and 4-6 hour hike to Yubeng (depending on your walking speed). You’d want to reach Yubeng before dark.

One commenter on this article mentioned that they took an 8:30 AM bus from Shangri-Lai, arrived at Ninong around 1 PM, and hiked to Yubeng by 6 PM. Personally, it took me a little longer to do the hike.

I recommend going to the Shangri-La bus station one day before to inquire about times and purchase your ticket.

If you can read Mandarin (or get help from a local), you can buy your bus tickets on WeChat’s Yunnan transport mini program (云南省道路客运电子客票). For me, this mini program was only visible in the app when I was physically in China.

Going from Ninong back to Shangri-La, the bus departure times (according to a recent reader) are 11:30, 13:30 and 16:30. If you wake up early, you should have no trouble catching the 11:30 AM departure – I found that hiking down was faster than hiking up.

For the return journey, you can just show up and pay the driver by scanning a QR code.

By Private Driver

Alternatively, you could take a private driver from Shangri-La to Ninong, the starting point of the hike. This should cost around RMB 500-600 (I know, because I took one from Ninong back to Shangri-La).

Ask your hotel in Shangri-La to find one for you. You can also check the comments at the end of this article – one commenter has shared a few driver phone numbers.

You’d want to leave early enough to hike to Yubeng before dark (I wouldn’t start the hike any later than 1 PM). This means you should leave Shangri-La no later than 9 AM (and personally, I’d aim for even earlier to be safe and not rushed while hikng.

Bus to Feilaisi

When I went, there was no direct bus from Shangri-La to Ninong, so this and the below sections describe how I traveled from Shangri-La to Feilaisi in 2025.

There are usually 3 to 5 buses per day from Shangri-La to Feilaisi. This can vary by season and the times may change over time.

At the time of my trip, there were departures at 9:00, 10:30, 12:30, and 14:30 and the ticket cost RMB 64. I went to Shangri-La Bus Station one day before to confirm the times and buy my ticket – bring your passport.

Return times from Feilaisi back to Shangri-La at the time of my trip were 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:30. If you want to buy your return ticket at the station, which I do recommend, then I recommend the the 14:00 one. I’ll give more details about why below.

On the bus ride, about halfway to Feilaisi, there was a short (15-minute) toilet stop at one of the most incredible viewpoints I’ve ever seen (see the above two photos).

There was also a little break in Deqen (德钦 or dé qīn), a town just before Feilaisi, also called Shengpingzhen on some map apps. In total, it took just under four hours to reach Feilaisi.

The Feilaisi Bus Station is basically just a parking lot and has no ticket office or staff.

Staying Overnight in Feilaisi

Feilaisi is a tiny settlement mainly consisting of tourist hotels. The tourists come exclusively for the famous sunrise view of Meili Snow Mountain and as a stepping stone to Yubeng.

There’s a dedicated sunrise platform (here) for watching the sunrise. It has a row of white stupas and some prayer flags but is primarily built for tourists.

For my stay, I chose Once Upon a Time in Meili (梅里往事酒店, see on Trip), which was a short walk from the bus station.

The hotel was expensive, but I chose it because it is directly across the street from the sunrise platform. It meant that (in theory) I could watch the sunrise from my balcony instead of standing on the platform with all the tourists. There are other cheaper options in town but without sunrise view.

From the platform (or your balcony if you choose the same hotel), you won’t actually be facing the sunrise. Rather, you’ll be looking west at Meili Snow Mountain as its peak turns golden when the early morning rays of sunrshine illuminate it.

At least that’s what you hope will happen. For my stay, it was so cloudy that I could barely see Meili Snow Mountain, and there were no nice colors at sunrise.

It was quite a disappointment, but at least I never had to leave my room and was able to sleep in a bit longer. (Note: I would make up for this experience later in Yubeng!)

Overall, there isn’t really anything to do in Feilaisi besides the sunrise. Since there’s no major rush to get here, you’d be fine taking a later bus from Shangri-La. I used my afternoon and evening in Feilaisi to rest after a long several weeks of travel – honestly, I was still tired from my trek in Tiger Leaping Gorge.

If the weather was nice (which it wasn’t for me), you could do some exploring around town and enjoy the mountain views.

If you’re headed to Yubeng, just remember that the view of Meili Snow Mountain from Yubeng is much closer and more impressive. I would enjoy the classic view of the mountain peak lighting up at sunrise from there a few days later!

Feilaisi to Ninong

I had a heck of a time figuring out the bus from Feilaisi to Ninong. But I have since come to understand that there are two rural minibuses per day, departing Feilaisi at 8:30 and 10:30 AM. I recommend the early bus so you have plenty of time to hike to Yubeng before dark, but you could still get there just before dark with the later bus.

The ticket price is RMB 20 and it takes about one hour to reach Ninong.

The return times from Ninong to Feilaisi at the time of my visit were 11:50 and 16:00. When leaving, I recommend that you hike out from Yubeng early (roughly 4 hours, but I did it in 3 by hiking quickly), catch the 11:50 bus from Ninong to Feilaisi, and connect to the 14:00 bus back to Shangri-La. You’d even have time to find lunch while transfering in Feilaisi.

Update: According to one reader (see comments at the end), when they took the bus from Feilaisi to Ninong, the return times posted on their bus (Ninong back to Shangri-La, with bus change in Feilaisi or Deqen) were 11:30, 12:30, 13:30, 14:30, and 16:30, with a QR code available to book them on WeChat. As the times are subject to change, make sure to check the current return times when you get off the bus at Ninong. If this is the case when you go, I suggest leaving early and aiming for the 11:30 bus, or taking your time and aiming for any later ones. Please comment at the end of the article if you find the bus times have changed again.

Note: after hiking out from Yubeng, I didn’t take the bus. I splurged on a private car back to Shangri-La – see the end of the article for the details.

The only way to get a ticket for the Feilaisi-Ninong bus and back is on WeChat’s Yunan Transport mini-app or by just showing up and paying for the ride by swiping your WeChat QR code. Locals or the driver will help you do this as needed. You may also be able to book a spot by asking a local to call 13988743022 or 13988724253 for you.

To make a long story short, I had never successfully registered my WeChat account for my China trip (I had been using AliPay for everything). Thus, I wasn’t able to book my spot on this bus (which stressed me out!) or even pay for it when I boarded. In the end, I had to transfer money to a fellow passenger using AliPay and they paid for my ride using WeChat.

In the past, most people hiked (or even caught rides) from a totally different village, Xidang to Yubeng, then hiked out via Ninong.

When I visited in 2025, the road from Xidang to Yubeng was closed, so you can only hike in and out via Ninong. If this changes, and I think it will someday when they fix the road from Xidang, please let me know in the comments at the end.

Arriving in Ninong

Ninong is a small village next to Langcang River, an upper tributary of the Mekong River. The drive into it is stunning. As we crossed the river just before it, I could see the zig-zagging trail I’d soon be walking up the valley wall on the opposite side.

The bus dropped us off at a shop selling drinks, hiking supplies like rain ponchos, and renting out hiking poles (I got one, and recommend it if there’s any chance of rain or ice on your hikes).

Since you most likely don’t want to carry all your luggage up to the mountain to Yubeng, you can also leave your luggage here for a small fee.

From the shop, it’s a short walk to the start of the hike. The staff pointed the way for me, but any hiking app (I use AllTrails) will get you there as well.

Hiking to Yubeng

The hike from Ninong to Yubeng Lower or Upper Village takes 5-6 hours (I did it in 5.5, at an average pace with some breaks). You should probably first decide which one you want to stay in (I recommend Upper Village – I’ll explain why below).

Route to Yubeng Lower or Upper Village

There’s only really one way to Yubeng Lower Village. It’s the way most people go and its mostly paved, so you can’t really get lost.

However, there are two ways to Yubeng Upper Village (where I stayed and recommend). The first and longer way would be to follow the path to the lower village, then make the steep, 30-minute uphill climb from the Lower Village to the Upper Village.

The second way, which I strongly recommend, is to follow this AllTrails map (see screenshot above). Note: there’s no AllTrails map for the route to the Lower Village, but you can see the dotted lines indicating it on the above map.

For this route, around halfway up, I got to take a smaller path, which felt like a secret shortcut and led directly (and more gradually uphill) to Yubeng Upper Village through some lovely farmland.

It had fewer people (none, actually), less trash, and none of the pesky motorbikes plying the main route to Lower Village.

In case this isn’t super clear, I’ve shared a map from AllTrails above.

Trailhead to Halfway Turnoff

From the shop where the bus had dropped me off and I had rented a hiking pole, it was a few minutes’ walk to the trailhead.

The trail immediately goes uphill on a series of switchbacks. Once I gained some elevation, the view looking back towards Ninong was incredible.

As soon as I reached the top, there was an booth where I had to pay a park entry fee of RMB 55.

After that, the trail was totally flat for three kilometers as it followed the Langcang River south towards the Yubeng Valley entrance. The views looking across the Langcang River Valley at the highway we’d come in on was jaw-dropping.

All my photos here are looking backwards towards Ninong. Why? I actually shot these on the hike out days later – which happened to be a much nicer day with blue skies.

Reaching the dramatic and stunning Yubeng Valley, the cliff-hugging trail veered sharply west into it. I could see the Yubeng River (雨崩隆曲) far, far below and would be following it all the way up to Yubeng Village.

Soon enough, the trail reached the same level as the river, then I crossed a bridge with prayer flags over to the left side of it.

The beauty and calming sound of the river as I continued to follow the path beside it was juxtaposed by the regular, repeating piles of cans and bottles left there by local hikers. I honestly couldn’t comprehend how so many people are unwilling to carry their trash out.

Some villagers actually ride motorbikes the whole way up to Lower Village, so once in a while I had to step off the path to let them pass. Try to listen for them, as they sometimes appear without warning!

Most of this path was paved and it got quite steep in a few sections. My pole came in handy! If it were wet or icy, it could be very slippery.

Close to the halfway point, I passed a rest stop called Jinni Store, with some simple drinks and snacks for sale.

The information provided by my hotel in Yubeng had said that it was possible to catch a ride from Jinni Store to Yubeng Lower and Upper Village. But when I inquired at the shop, there was no such ride available.

Shortly after the shop, I reached the unmarked turnoff on the right side for the direct route to Yubeng Upper Village (I wouldn’t have even noticed it without the AllTrails map).

Using Holafly eSIM on the Hike

Yubeng was the most remote place I visited on my China trip, so it was the best place to test out my Holafly eSIM (see their China eSIM, which I got, or their Asia eSIM) Use code NICKKEMBEL for a discount on either. Or just click either link, and the discount will automatically be applied.

I’ve written more about using Holafly in China here.

Not only was the eSIM super easy to set up, with 24-hour support, it worked the moment I landed in Shanghai, with no need to stop at any booths in the airport. The eSIM comes with unlimited data, so I didn’t have to worry about my data usage throughout my trip.

But most importantly, on this remote hike, I was connected the whole way through and in both villages. Yes, I’d already saved my AllTrails map in case I lost connection (one of the perks of the paid version). But even the “banned” apps, like Facebook, worked fine for me throughout the hike, because Holafly’s eSIM includes a VPN.

Therefore, I highly recommend it!

Halfway Turnoff to Yubeng Upper Village

I was very happy to take the turnoff recommended on my AllTrails app. I left behind the people, trash, and motorbikes of the main paved path. Instead, I got to enjoy the second half of the hike along a lovely, non-paved trail.

The trail first took me past some abandoned houses and through a farm with a few yaks as my companions.

I then took a small bridge back to the right side of the river and continued to follow it upstream through a lovely forest. I could still see the main path across the river for much of the way, so I always felt confident I was going the right way.

Eventually I started getting my first views of the snow covered peaks around Yubeng.

Finally, the farmland and then houses of Lower Yubeng became visible down on the valley floor to my left, with gorgeous Meili Snow Mountain poking up into the sky behind them.

It was cloudy when I first arrived, but I would capture some of my best shots of this same view in the days to come.

Yubeng Upper Village

Yubeng Upper Village (上雨崩) hugs a hillside at 3200 meters. This is pretty much the same as Shangri-La, so you d0n’t have to worry about elevation if you already stayed there for a few days like I did.

Just about any accommodation in Upper Yubeng has a fantastic view looking down on Yubeng Lower Village on the valley floor with the snowy peak of Meili Snow Mountain rising behind it.

The view is what inspired me to stay here, and I did not regret my choice.

As I arrived in the village, I reached an intersection point of three parallel roads. The middle road in the above photo is the one I had just come in on – you could call it the “main street”. If I kept following it, I would reach the village’s handful of simple shops, restaurants, and accommodations.  

The lower one led to a steep downhill trail across a small valley to Yubeng Lower Village.

And to reach the entrance of the hotel I’d booked, Yourlan Hotel (see on Trip), which is right at the entrance to Upper Village, and which I’d just walked past but couldn’t access from the middle road, I had to do a 180-degree turn and go up the upper road.

Incidentally, this “upper road” is also the road to Xidang, if that hiking route ever opens again.

Yourlan is a simple guesthouse with an unbelievably gorgeous view.

A cat named Tuan Tuan greeted me as I entered the premises. My room was simple, with a heater and hot shower, but my window and balcony faced that epic view and that’s all that mattered for me.

After checking in, I did a stroll to the end of the village and back. I chose a peaceful, hippie-esque looking restaurant-café called 不明飞行 Home Kitchen for dinner and drinks.

The interior of the café was just cozy and view of Meili Snow Mountain was fantastic.  

However, they seemed to be out of almost everything food-wise, so I just had a drink and then relocated to the one (and only) restaurant in town that seemed to have many people in it. Right on the main road, its name is Yubeng Nuobala Scenic Restaurant (雨崩诺巴啦观景餐厅).

The menu was surprisingly long, beer was cold, and dishes I ordered were delicious. It was packed with local hikers, which is always a good sign – a busy kitchen means the food should be fresher.

My Full Day in Yubeng

Something I haven’t mentioned until now is that I had caught a small cold in Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La, just before coming to Yubeng. My energy level was still lower than usual, so I was totally spent from my hike up to Yubeng.

Yubeng was also my final stop of a trip lasting several weeks. This, on top of the news that the two side hikes in Yubeng had been deemed unsafe just one day before, was enough reason for me to cancel my plan to hike either of them and just have a chill day exploring Yubeng instead.

The Two Hikes in Yubeng

There are two full-day hikes from Yubeng. If you want to hike both of them, you should plan to spend two full days (three nights) in Yubeng.

Glacier Lake Trail

Glacier Lake (冰湖) is the longer and more difficult of the two.

Starting from Yubeng Upper Village, the trail is 11.4 km (return), with 700 meters of elevation gain and taking 7-9 hours, depending on your walking speed and breaks. If you start from Lower Village, you’ll have to add that steep uphill hike between villages at the start. Here’s the AllTrails page for the hike, with lots of tips in the reviews.

I started my day by walking just the very start of this trail, which was easy and lovely. I followed the main road to the end of Upper Village, where it passes a white Tibetan stupa, orange-roofed temple, and then Holy Monk Mountain, a grassy hill with some prayer flags.

Around there, I also saw some stunning cherry blossoms with mountainous backdrops – it was shockingly beautiful.  

Looking up at the mountain slopes around me, I could see some waterfalls and more clusters of prayer flags.

After the hill, the trail entered the forest, with more strands of prayer flags, temples, and mani stones (stones carved with Tibetan mantras).

Had I continued, the trail would have soon started gaining elevation and entered areas that still had snow or ice on the trail, which I wasn’t adequately prepared to handle (you’d want shoe spikes at the very least – or come in May or later to avoid that).

The trail also supposedly passes the former base camp for climbing Meili Snow Mountain, which no one has ever successfully summited.

At the end, the trail reaches a small glacial lake, which would likely be frozen for half the year.  

Sacred Waterfall Trail

The second popular side-hike from Yubeng is the trail from Yubeng Lower Village to Sacred Waterfall (神瀑).

This one is supposedly a similar length, a hint easier, and 6-8 hours return, but it’s still a full-day hike with around 600 meters of elevation gain. The AllTrails page starts from Upper Yubeng, so if you stayed in Lower Yubeng, it would be a little shorter than indicated.

The trail is paved and not steep for most of it, but at the end it has a steep, long set of stairs up to the waterfall. The waterfall is frozen or partially frozen for half the year, with many prayer flags around it.

In my original plan before I cancelled it, I was going to spend my day doing this hike, so that I could also check out Lower Yubeng on the way to/from it.

Lower Yubeng Village

Lower Yubeng Village (下雨崩) is the second of the two twin villages. It sits at 3100 meters on the valley floor below Upper Yubeng.

You still get impressive views all around you in Lower Yubeng, but after visiting both, I feel that Upper Yubeng wins here.

After exploring the start of the trail to Glacier Lake, I returned to the Yubeng Upper Village center and then followed the trail down to Yubeng Lower Village.

There are two temples in Yubeng Lower Village which I wanted to check out, both clearly visible from above (see photo above).

As I walked down, there were some more cherry blossoms along the way.

The trail descends steeply into a small valley with beautiful prayer flags stretching across it. It crosses a bridge over the river and then climbs uphill to Yubeng Lower Village on the opposite side.

Once I arrived in Upper Lower Village, the path soon reached the first of the two temples, Yubeng Temple (雨崩寺). The temple is known for it’s incisor-shaped Sacred Tooth Rock (神牙石), which locals say gives Yubeng its name.

According to Tibetan legend, it represents a divine molar that fell from a protective deity of Kawagebo (Meili Snow Mountain). Pilgrims touch or circle this rock for blessings before setting off toward the Sacred Waterfall.

I continued on through the village to a small pond at its southern end. Next to it lies another temple, called Sacred Waterfall Temple (神瀑寺).    

The temple marks the start of the pilgrimage to the Sacred Waterfall. There are several beautiful mani stones and prayer flags around it.

Vehicles, if they are ever actually running to take people to Upper Village or down to the halfway point on the hike to Ninong, seem to wait here.

In Yubeng Lower Village, right next to Yubeng Temple (the first one above), I discovered my single best restaurant find in both villages: Mountain and Plains Bistro (山野 Bistro).  

This gorgeous restaurant was exactly what I needed for the final afternoon of my trip. Stepping inside, the ground floor was beautifully designed. But the second floor had an unbelievable view of Yubeng Temple backed by Meili Snow Mountain.

I spent the whole afternoon in this gorgeous cafe getting buzzed on Tibetan Pale Ale by Shangri-La Brewery, top-notch cocktails, and a very tasty yak meat pizza.

The next day, I’d be hiking out, traveling all the way back to Shangri-La, and flying out to Guangzhou, then Taipei, then home to Canada.

This is when I got all the feels – reminiscing on the successes and failures of this trip, missing family and home, and soaking up every drop of that incredible view.  

Before it got dark, I made the steep, 30-minute climb back to Upper Yubeng and ate dinner in the same restaurant as the night before.

From the restaurant, I got to witness the peak of Meili Snow Mountain turn pink at sunset. Then, as if the evening couldn’t get better, I met a litter of puppies in a box on the restaurant’s balcony.

Returning to my guesthouse, I watched the lights of Lower Yubeng come on at night. I was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Hiking out from Yubeng

Because I was paranoid about not having been able to book the bus back to Feilaisi (where I’d left my luggage in a hotel – in retrospect, I shouldn’t have done that) and the connecting bus Shangri-La, not to mention that I had a flight out of Shangri-La that evening, I decided to leave Yubeng at the crack of dawn (around 6:30 AM).

You don’t have to leave quite so early. Looking back on it, I recommend leaving Yubeng no later than 7 AM (slow hikers) to 8 AM (fast hikers), which should be more than enough time to hike down and catch the 11:50 AM bus to Feilaisi (and 14:00 bus from there to Shangri-La).

But waking up before sunrise, I have to say that the view of Meili Snow Mountain with the moon above it was absolutely stunning.

As I hiked out, the sun was just coming up and illuminating the peak of the mountain.

This breathtaking display truly felt like a final goodbye blessing from the village to me, as I set out for my long journey back to Canada. It totally made up for the non-sunrise I’d woken up for in Feilaisi.

I seriously booked it on my hike down from Yubeng. With all my energy back after finally recovering from my cold, I practically jogged down and don’t think I stopped once the whole the way down. I didn’t pass a single person until the very end, when a few people were just starting to hike up.

Weather-wise, it was a much nicer day than when I’d hiked in, so some of my best photos shared above (for the hiking in section) were actually from my hike out.

I finished the hike in three hours (9:30 AM), or just over half what it took me to hike up.

As I descended the final zig-zag trail down to Ninong village, I could see some cars waiting at the trailhead. I told myself: if one of those offers me a ride to Feilaisi, I’ll take it.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The driver was standing right at the trailhead and didn’t have to ask me twice. He offered me RMB 150 to Feilaisi (where my luggage was waiting for me) and I said yes.

As we drove out of town, he asked if I wanted to go all the way to Shangri-La, which of course I did. We agreed to a price of RMB 600 (USD 85), which I felt was a perfectly reasonable splurge for the last day of my trip and to ease any stress about catching my flight on time.

On the way, we had a minor delay as a small landslide was happening on the highway right in front of us – a little scary!

We stopped in Feilaisi for my luggage, but then faced a minor challenge at the drop off in Shangri-La. He hadn’t mentioned that he only had WeChat, and I hadn’t mentioned that I only had AliPay. I had no way to pay the guy!

We tried asking in several shops if they could assist us to make a transfer between accounts, but no one would agree.

Finally, I decided to try WeChat (for probably the 100^th time – I hadn’t been able to get it to work throughout my China trip). And, lo and behold, on the final day of my trip, WeChat finally worked!

In the end, I think I had missed completing some of the personal profile, including my job. I had added that a few days earlier (after trying MANY other things recommended online) and apparently that’s what did the trick.

Anyways, thanks to my early start and quick ride to Shangri-La, I arrived hours before my flight check-in time. I dropped my luggage at the hotel I’d stayed at before then did some final exploring and photo-taking in the city.

It was more enjoyable this time, since my cold had passed.

Finally, I caught a Didi to Diqing Shangri-La Airport, which is just outside the city. There are rows of prayer wheels outside and beautiful Tibetan paintings on the walls inside.

I had a directly flight to Guangzhou, where I would spend a night and enjoy some incredible dim sum, before flying out to Canada!