Honestly, Shuanglang could have been an ideal town where travellers could wake up with an impressive view on the lake. However, the town is the antithesis of sustainable urban planning . It seems as though there was no oversight from the local government.
Parts of the lakefront have been de facto privatised by guesthouses which have been built along narrow streets perpendicular to the only car-jammed one-way street that runs through the village. Further down, another part of the lakefront, a boardwalk is lined with trinket stores and expensive restaurants (imagine Lijiang near a polluted lake).
Beyond the chaos, the noise, the dust, the deafening honking, what shocked the most was the pollution of the Erhai lake. My guess is that the wastewater coming from all the guesthouses in town go directly into the lake. Algues, plastic bottles and papers thrown by tourists who are off to the Nanzhao island (南诏岛) blankets the lake.
