Sorry, another 60's flashback. That would be the Stone Forest.
When informing some of our more China savvy colleagues about China's sudden decision to close Tibet and the addition of Yunnan to our travel itinerary to fill that void, we were informed that Yunnan was the home of China's cannabis industry. So Stoned Forest seemed like the logical place to go and explore. The forest is the "#1, must go to" place if you are visiting Kunming.



What we found at the Stone Forest was a beautiful park filled with the coolest limestone karst formations that we will remember for the rest or our lives and the munchies. Did I mention the munchies? Maybe flashbacks again, but I couldn't stop thinking of food while we spent hours wandering, climbing and admiring Mother Nature's own creations. One karst looked like a ice cream cone, another a carrot while several looked like medium rare t-bone steaks smothered in mushrooms and fried onions, with a baked potato and vegetable de jour on the side. Did I mention we had the munchies?

Our next stop was Dragon Gate, a Buddhist site that clings to the side of a 2,000 foot cliff. Built in 1781, it has successfully withstood wind, rain and the odd earthquake. Anyone with acrophobia, claustrophobia, bathmophobia, cremnophobia, iconophobia, seismophobia, agoraphobia and sinophobia should think twice before visiting this very high (not to be confused with "a high") scenic spot.

Our trip to Dragon Gate involved a 10 minute chairlift ride to the start of the 700 feet climb on skinny little trails, carved out of the cliff. Along the way, were areas to stop and commune with your god or Buddha or just to enjoy the view of Kunming and Dian Lake. If a trail wasn't possible then a tunnel was cut through the cliff. At the top, was a cool and quiet grotto which we did not see as the lines were too long. There were lots of tourists that day. We made the mistake of sitting down at one of the benches carved out of the cliff. As we sat, we were approached by a young Chinese girl asking to have our picture taken with her. Within a minute we had a lineup of Chinese families wanting to take a picture with us. We had to cut them off after 20 minutes as we still had one more stop before our day was over.
Our last stop was a seudo minority village containing examples of the village housing and living conditions of the 25 minorities currently listed in Yunan. We were outta there in under 30 minutes. Nuff said.
This is our last stop before we leave China for the second time and we are safe to say, not the last time.
No comments:
Post a Comment