Yunnan 2010

Visit to the Yunnan Province of China, Friday 5th November 2010 to Monday 15th, for the first meeting of Lead Authors of the IPCC WG1 AR5. The meeting took place at the Yijing Hotel on Dianchi Road in Kunming, Monday 8th to Thursday 11th.

Images are © Jonathan Gregory 2010.

See also the MOBILE VERSION of this album, and the OTHER ALBUMS.

Each thumbnail image below is a link to its own picture page, and each picture page has a link to the next one.

The building in which the plenary meetings took place at the hotel.

Kunming, Saturday 6th
Rowan Sutton, Cecilie Mauritzen, Glenn Milne and I looked round Kunming together.

Eastern Pagoda (early 9th century), which is set in a small and peaceful park.

View east along the street between the two pagodas.

Western Pagoda.

Typical modern buildings.

Yunnan Provincial Museum.

Green Lake Park.

Yuantong Si Pagoda, a Buddhist temple (founded 8th century).

Stone Forest at Shilin, Sunday 7th
Rowan Sutton, Cecilie Mauritzen, Jerry Meehl and I visited this limestone karst formation, a UNESCO World Heritage site 130 km from Kunming. It is a large area and we wandered around.

Maize hanging out to dry.

Journey to Lijiang, Friday 12th
After the meeting, John Church, Eric Guilyardi, Georg Kaser and I travelled to Lijiang, in the north-west of Yunnan, at 2400 m altitude. It was an eight-hour coach journey from Kunming by express bus. Many of these photos were taken through the window while the bus was moving.

Lunch stop where the motorway west from Kunming ends, near Xiaguan, after which the route follows smaller roads northwards.

Fields in flat areas.

Aqueduct for irrigation.

Typical buildings.

Terraced fields in the hills north of Dali.

Public toilets.

Tiger Leaping Gorge, Saturday 13th
John Church, George Kaser, Steve Rintoul and I travelled to Qiaotou, which is 100 km from Lijiang, by public bus, and walked up to the highest point (2670 m) of the high path along the gorge of the Yangtse. On the other side of the gorge, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain rises to 5600 m. From the high point, Steve continued to the end of the gorge and the rest of us turned back to Qiaotou.

First view of the Yangtse on the road to Qiaotou.

Climbing out of Qiaotou.

The road along the gorge seen from the high path.

The main gorge seen from the high point of the path, with the Tiger Leaping Rock.

A side valley.

Eric.

John.

Georg and Steve.

Views heading back down.

Lijiang, Sunday 14th
We stayed in Lijiang Old Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. John, Eric and Georg left on Saturday evening and Sunday morning and I looked round the town by myself.