Stone Forest and Caves

I was meeting my guide at 1:30 today. I didn't really do much at all before the pick up. I had gotten home around 11 or 12 the night before so I didn't rush to get up. I did want to get breakfast in before the masses arrived so I was down there by around 8. I was watching the chef make the noodles. Once you decide that you want noodles, they boil them for you. Then it's like a noodle bar and there are something like 7-10 toppings you can add on your own. When I come back here I'm going to try that for breakfast.

I was psyched for the Stone Forest. When I went to China 6 years ago, I remember seeing pictures in the guide books and really wanting to go there. This time I finally will. It was about a 90 minute drive.

When we got there it was about 3:00. Vikki said we would go to the local village first, then the big Stone Forest, and then the minor Stone Forest. I think something got lost in translation. We were supposed to go to the town of Lu Man (now named Stone Forest) for the local village market. Instead we walked around the Stone Forest proper, to look at the village where people still lived. In some places they had built houses by using part of the rocks. I also saw a water buffalo swimming. Otherwise, the entire village must all work in the park because it was completely deserted.

I had also forgotten what the guides tell you about during the tours. This peak looks like a turtle. This one is two lovers parting. This shape is an eagle. Use you imagination. I was able to determine that the rocks are millions of years old and this area used to be an ocean. The land rose up from the sea at a certain point.

The shapes and sizes of the rocks/stones were so dramatic. Mostly they were pointed and made of gray limestone. They looked like they would be rough to the touch but in most cases they were smoother than they looked.

There were a ton of paths. At first Vikki didn't want to take me anywhere off the main paths. But I tried to tell her that I was here and I wanted to spend the rest of the day here. So finally she let me. Whew!

I really enjoyed the dramatic knife-like points on the peaks the most. I got Vikki to take me up to some of the viewpoints too. She kept telling me that most tourists don't want to do this. But I kept telling her I did! The rocks were actually pretty slippery. There was a bit of water around too. Some of it was from the rain and some of it was natural little lakes. What I really wanted to do was ditch her and tell her to pick me up at dark, but that's not really allowed. Because we were there late in the afternoon it wasn't really crowded in the major forest. There were some tour groups but they were smaller. We were able to get away from them by going off the major paths. It was actually pretty enjoyable.

We went to the minor forest next. It's got a lot of grass and other landscaping in this area. It's pretty but not as raw or dramatic. It was definitely more crowded here. So we walked around some large circular paths and Vikki was telling me that was it. I could have sworn she told me we were going to see the highest peaks in the forest. I must have misunderstood. She said she had only ever gone to one other section of the forest and that part has a nice view. She said it was nearby and she would take me there. We had to climb a bunch of stairs. It was sort of far from the actual rocks, but it did have a view of the rocks in the distance and was uncrowded. She said she took me to every section of the forest she knew. If you wanted to see all the forest you would need about a week. She said usually her groups go to the forest for around 90 minutes to two hours at the very most. We were there for a little more than 3 hours.

The driver, my guide, and I were all staying at the same hotel in the town of Lu Man or Stone Forest. We would go to the swallow caves tomorrow and meet at 8:30. Hopefully it won't be crowded at that hour. She said there were all sorts of restaurants around the hotel for dinner. And then we said our goodbyes for the evening.

I just changed clothes and went back out to look around the town. So this was the town that had a market. There were still some people around and many vendors. It was in a big enclosed area. It spilled over into the alleys. I walked around and there were all kinds of produce--eggplants, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and all kinds of fruit. Then there were seeds, ginger, mushrooms, chili pepper, and other dried herbs.

You could buy snacks there too. I should have. Everything looked so good. When I went back to the street to look for restaurants, they didn't look as good as the market food. Plus absolutely no one spoke English. I even tried my few words I have written down for noodles. Apparently the people I asked, either didn't know how to read or they didn't serve noodles? I decided to go to the hotel to eat. I might have success there.

They had an English menu so I got some noodles and pork buns. Plus they served a really nice puerh tea. I was sent to the "loser" dining room. This area only had three tables with a maximum of three seats at a table versus the monster main room for large groups. You know how you feel when you are sent to the kiddie table instead of the adult table? It was the same feeling.

A Chinese photographer came in shortly after I did. He had one of the largest lenses I ever saw. He must have been at the Stone Forest today too. He actually tried to talk to me in Chinese, but I know nothing. Then at the third table the servers were bringing all sorts of dishes out--rice, noodles, several meat and veggy dishes. Then this one Chinese guy showed up. He certainly got to try a lot of different items. I was jealous. I asked my server, who did know a little English, what was going on there. She said, he was supposed to be traveling with three others but they never came for dinner. I went to bed shortly after dinner. My hotel also had karaoke, but I was not interested.

So the next day, I found out that my guide Vikki had to share a room with another guide. She said they watched a movie and stayed up until 11. She said the other guide only spent 90 minutes at the Stone Forest and took her group to three other places first that same day. The other tour guide was surprised we spent so much time at the Stone Forest.

The last time I was in China and travelled with guides for 10 days, all my meals were included (not just breakfast at the hotel). So the guides always took me to eat with them. That was a little bit nicer I thought.

I went to breakfast early. They had the worst buffet of anyplace so far. Just nothing I really liked. I filled up on the pastries, fresh corn, fried rice, and tea. A young couple sat down at my table. All the tables are circular and they have a lazy susan on the top so you can pass dishes. They passed me a note "where are you from"? That made my day and I laughed. So did they. I told them the US. They didn't really want to speak English to me. But I obviously knew they could write it. I think that most Chinese know a lot of English but are not used to speaking it on a regular basis and they feel uncomfortable.

I met my team and we were off at 8:30. There was a little confusion when I was checking out of my room. They accused me of stealing hangers. To be honest, I cannot stuff much more tea in my bag. Do you think I'm really gonna steal hangers? I told my guide that you can look through my bag. We can go back to the room and explain to housekeeping that I didn't steal anything. She told me to go to the car and she would handle it.

The Yunnan province of China has 56 ethnic minority groups. It sounds like they get special privileges. Not only can they have 2 children but they also get extra points when applying for college and seem to get preferred admission over other Han Chinese. They also have traditional outfits which are very colorful. You can see them walking around in some of the tourist towns with this clothing on.

So we were off to the caves. The caves are the biggest in the Yunnan province. Supposedly they have thousands of caves in China. We were at the caves early so there was
really no waiting. The later it gets the longer you wait in line since most tours start around 8:30 from Kunming. They go to the caves first at around 10:30 and then the Stone Forest.

The first stop was a boat ride along the river surrounding the caves. You could see some formations from outside the cave walls. Just as the river started getting interesting and narrow, we turned around. Typical. From there we went into three sections of the caves. The first part, where they had built a dam, was probably the most interesting regarding formations. There were a lot of rock like pillars sticking up from the ground. The problem with the caves are that they appear to be fake because there are multi-colored spotlights surrounding the entire place. I really felt like I was at a ride at Disney Land. Too bad. There was another section I really liked as well. They called this the magical fields. They are little lakes formed by water and are in small and large pools. I don't think I had ever seen that type of formation before in a cave. We were there for about 2 hours. At the very end you have to climb up a bunch of steps but then you get to take a chairlift back to the parking area.

It was about a two hour drive back to Kunming. I slept some in the car. We coordinating for the following day. They will take me to the train station and we will meet at 8:40.

They also told me that I would have a different hotel in Kunming. I was a little bummed because I knew where the old one was, what was around it, was excited for the noodle bar, etc. Now I would have to move to a new part of the city. It turned out it was a nicer hotel and closer to the central part of the city. It would be easier for walking.

I had some Makaibari tea when I returned. Then I headed out for the Yuantong Temple. It was between my hotel and Green Lake. I figured I could head that way and then get something to eat and maybe explore a little more by the university. It was Sunday and a lot of people were outside enjoying the day. On the way, I found a little food stand with various homemade breads. The onion pancake was huge and very thin. I assumed they must cut it up. There was no one at the shop. But then a woman with her young child came by and yelled for someone to come out. She asked for 2 yuan worth. I saw the store owner cut it up for the woman. I ordered the same. Yum!

I went to the temple first and on the way saw a vegetarian place. There was a veggie restaurant recommended in the guidebook, but it was on the other side of the street.

The temple was beautiful and there was water all around and a hill in the background. This temple is right in the middle of the city. It's 1000 years old but has obviously gone through many renovations. Apparently it is the largest Buddhist complex in Kunming.

I went looking for the restaurant in the guidebook afterwards. I probably spent about 1/2 hour looking and asking about it. Turns out it was the same one I passed on the way to the temple. They had a silly menu with all sorts of meats used in the descriptions even though it was vegetarian. I ordered fried rice noodles and sautéed eggplant.

I headed towards the Green Lake area after as the road continued that way. My favorite stopping off place is the Green Lake Hotel. They must think I am staying there by now. I ordered a small pot of puerh tea to let my early dinner digest. Then I headed to the university area on the other side of the lake at about sunset. I was trying to find the Speakeasy tonight, but along the way spied many different cafes and restaurants. There was even a tea bar that I made a note of for when I return to Kunming in early June. I was in the same area as the Halfway House. I stopped by at Salvador's. It looked pretty hopping for a Sunday night so I went in. They have an outdoor seating area and a small indoor bar. Supposedly it's fair trade and mostly organic food as well. There were a lot of westerners there that all seemed to know each other. Turns out that many of them teach English at the same school together. Apparently they make about 6800 rmb a month. The guy I was talking to shared an apartment with another guy so the rent was 1000 rmb a month. He said if I wanted to do it, it would be pretty easy to get a job. They are always looking for English speaking teachers. I could check out a class when I was here, get all the contact info, and mull it over when I am back in the states. You can sign on for as long as you want but most people do it for about a year to start. He told me the cool thing about this job is that there is only the "present". There is no past and no future. This is both tempting and interesting. The guy I spoke with was from the UK but spoke no Chinese at all. Sounds to me like he was running away from his former life. His roommate was from Australia and actively trying to learn Chinese. I left after a beer. It was going to be an early morning as the train to Dali was almost 6 hours.