Lijiang Zen Garden Hotel

The Lijiang Zen Garden Hotel (Runjing Wenchanggong Hotel) wasn’t the best hotel I stayed at. Neither did it have the best breakfast, Neither did it have the best view from my room (though it was still a great one to wake up to. If you see mountains upon waking up, it’s already a good view in my book) BUT their service was irreproachable. They went above and beyond what was expected which makes the Lijiang Zen Garden Hotel one the best hotels I’ve stayed at. Upon checking in, I was greeted by Jimmy, the manager of the hotel who introduced me to the facilities while also serving me tea. I really enjoyed the tea so I asked him about the brand of tea which he shared with me. I then went to several tea shops in old town, and I was shocked by the price. The reason I went to several tea shops is because I thought I was being scammed by the first one, but it turns out that it was an expensive tea. No wonder it was so good… Along with the tea, I got to eat flowers cake (Yunnan’s specialty (?)), and I had to control myself not to grab more because it was absolutely delicious. Jimmy was sensational throughout the duration of my trip. Again, he went above and beyond to make sure that I had a great stay, which I absolutely did. He shared the best spots to visit not only in the old town and Lijiang, but also outside of the city, and went on to help me book some activities such as the Tiger Leaping Gorge as well as one afternoon with local farmers. The latter was a request from me and my friend as we wished to help local with whatever they need for one afternoon. He reached out to some friends to find out if any would be interested in having a couple of foreigners help out, and to my surprise, he did find someone, and it was a fantastic afternoon. Whatever we harvested, they cooked it for us, the local way, and it was better than anything I ate at restaurants. Though, there was a time during dinner which I believed they wanted to end me with their homemade alcohol, it was so damn strong, but good! My biggest regret is not staying at this hotel for my entire stay in Lijiang. Indeed, I also stayed at more reputable brands such as the InterContinental and Hyatt, and while the latter had better facilities and breakfast – though not a better view – I enjoyed the Lijiang Zen Garden Hotel way more mainly because of the quality of the service provided by not only Jimmy, but also Lukas (the owner of the hotel) and his staff. During my stay at the InterContinental (which is at the entrance of the Old Town, and therefore close to the Lijiang Zen Garden Hotel), I decided to visit say hello to Jimmy, and while I was no longer staying at “his” hotel, he still greeted me with the same kindness and generosity as the first day I checked in – with tea and flowers cake. Even though I had plans on that day, I ended up staying in the lobby for hours talking to him and other customers. Before going back to my hotel, he invited me and my friend – who didn’t stay in this hotel before – for dinner the following day. When we both arrived the next day, we saw a table with a dozen of different dishes. It was our dinner, a homecooked one. The most disappointing part of that dinner is that Jimmy wasn’t even there for the most part because he had to take care of other customers, but Lukas (the owner) was there along with other customers that we met the day before. The night ended at around 2AM, and it was honestly one of the best dinners I had while in Lijiang, and I had many good dinners!!! Oh, did I forget to mention about the jar of spice that their cook made for me because I praised it for breakfast? I apparently did! So I ate noodle for breakfast because I absolutely loved it, and I shared with Jimmy my love for the spice used for this dish so his cook made an entire jar for me, for free. I was speechless! Alright, this review is getting a bit long, so I will just sum this up by saying that I had an amazing stay at this hotel, and that I’m already planning on coming back this year because of Jimmy, Lukas and the rest as the staff though I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t interested in the hikes! Shoutout to Jimmy and Lukas as well as the rest of the staff for helping make my stay in Lijiang a memorable one. Until next time…