Malaysian traveller shares tips on getting around Yunnan for first-time visitors

The Lijiang Black Dragon Pool with the Jade Snow Mountain in the background. -- Photos: TAN HOCK CHUAN

As a non-Mandarin speaker, and someone who is not tech savvy, it was quite a challenge for me to travel to Yunnan, China for a holiday with my family.

Google map was not accurate there, so I had to depend on China’s Baidu map, which, of course, was only available in Chinese. I had learnt a few words and phrases in Mandarin prior to the trip to help me get by, but it wasn’t enough. Plus, some of the most basic words are actually phrased differently in Yunnan, something I discovered while trying to order at a fast food restaurant at the Kunming Railway Station.