Not until 1982 was a road built to Lugu Lake (Lugu Hu, 泸沽湖), a beautiful horseshoe-shaped body of water on the Sichuan-Yunnan border some 2,685 meters above sea level. Now, almost three decades years later, plans are afoot to connect the remote plateau and its famous lake by air with nearby Lijiang, making it accessible to ever more tourists but also threatening to irreversibly change the nature of the indigenous peoples who have helped make Lugu Hu so unique. 

The lakeshore is home to the Mosuo, a matrilineal minority numbering some 40,000 whose unusual practices have earned Lugu the nickname "Lake of Free Love," where women take on lovers and live in their own homes while the men reside in their mothers' homes, visiting their paramours at night but leaving before sunrise in an arrangement termed "walking marriages." For more on the often-romanticized Mosuo, take a look at the autobiographical Leaving Mother Lake and the film The Women's Kingdom.

Matrilineal traditions aside, the Mosuo have much culturally in common with the regions other indigenous populations of Tibetans Yi and Naxi, including strong Buddhist beliefs.

The lake itself is stunning, covering over 50 square kilometers, renowned for changing color with the seasons and surrounded by high mountains. It encompasses eight islands, the most notable of which (Heiwawu Island, Liwubi Island and Lige Island) are accessible via traditional Mosuo wooden boats.

The best (and inevitably most popular) time to visit is in late July (around the 25th) for the Zhuanshan Festival (the Festival of Turning around the Mountain), at which time the locals pray for protection and engage in all manner of traditional revelry.

Lugu lies on the border between two provinces, and thus has a Sichuan shore and a Yunnan shore. Opinions vary concerning which side is "better," but backpacker wisdom has it that the Sichuan side is more of a slapdash and occasionally grungey tourist affair, while the Yunnan side is more developed and comfortable, but not necessarily as interesting.

Somewhere in between the abovementioned alternatives lies Lige, a low-key village on the northeast shore where homestays and guest houses welcome backpackers. Luoshui on the other hand, is the largest town on the lake, and provides the widest range of options for accommodations, dining and entertainment (and is where the bus will drop you off if you're traveling from the south). 

Wherever you go, you'll see the effects of the Lugu Lake tourism boom, which has pumped much money into the region—not always necessarily for the best, a fact attested to by prostition driven in part by exaggerated tales of a "Girl's Kingdom" where easy hookups are part of the culture.  

Lion Mountain (also known as Goddess Mountain), part of the Hengduan mountain range that straddes the borders between Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet, rises in the distance and is sacred to local Buddhists. 

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