When I told a few Yunnan-based expat friends about my plan to go to Shuanglang, they were very blunt: “don’t go there, you won’t like it”. I was also told that “Shuanglang represents everything that went wrong with the development of tourism in Yunnan”.
I was curious to see how bad it was, and it wasn’t sad.
So, Why Go to Shuanglang?
Many Chinese and foreign tourists are disappointed with Lijiang (丽江) or Fenghuang (凤凰), because of the year-round crowds and over-commercialisation. In spite of that, they are places worth seeing because there are enough narrow streets and hidden alleys. Shuanglang however is bad on a whole other level.
