Gap stopping

Simplistic

On the way from the tourist hub of Dali to the even bigger tourist hub of Lijiang, lies the hot spring of Er Yuan. Though the SeeYunnan web site says it's

'simple and inexpensive',

it looks quite far from simple.

There is this extensive review of the Er Yuan Hot Springs hotel which has comments such as:

'The Er Yuan Hot Spring Hotel had well cleaned and well swept grounds which provided for a pleasant ambiance'.

Image source.

Hotspring Tours adds this description:

'Dali Geothermal State is located 2 kilometers northeast of Er’yuan county seat and adjacent to Cibi Lake. It’s about 50 kilometers from Dali Old Town. Er’yuan is known as hometown of hot springs in Dali. It’s said that Jianwen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty once enjoyed hot spring bath here. Most of the hot springs in Er’yuan County exhibits water temperature from 70 to 90 degrees Celsius, and contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, ferrum and other minerals. Bathing and “steamed” in such springs is believed to help cure some diseases, for which Er’yuan geothermal state is regarded as “a natural therapy hospital”. Covering nearly 1,000 Mu (Chinese acre), it has been the largest open-air hot spring bath spot in Asia'.

There are even claims that Er Yuan hot springs are the largest in Asia.

Crusty
Further away in Dali AP there is the hot spring located not far out of town of Xiaguan also known under it's commercial name of Phoenix (Fenghuang) Hot Spring Resort.

'The Resort is characterized by natural hot spring development. Dali hot spring comes from 3800 meters deep below the earth's crust, therefore, the water quality is very high'.

Damnation
On the other side of Yunnan, in the northeast, lies the Western Grand Canyon hot springs in Shuifu county of Zhaotong prefecture.
Eyes on China adds:

'There is a wonderful spring hidden under the beautiful canyon at the depth of 2380 meters. It was discovered by the Surveying Party of Yunnan province while they were drilling a well. Evaluated by the national-grade experts, the high temperature (85℃ ) , the high pressure and large amount (more than 8000 cubic meters every day) are the No.1 in the country. The hot spring is rich in partial-silici acid, sulfur, technetium, lithium, selenium, selenium-radon, copper and strontium, etc, which are beneficial for human health'.

On her journey she comes aware that by now the hot springs will have gone underwater as a dam is being built just downstream.