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Published: October 6th 2012
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Oct. 6. Kunming
Well, we can tell we're foreigners now if there were ever any doubt. The Golden Dragon Hotel is first class - don't get me wrong - but there must be few western travelers here, because the staff do not speak any English, and the breakfast did not make many accommodations for western tastes, except to have white bread for toasting. There was an interesting machine that looked something like an ice cream machine. I tried to ask what it was, which resulted in my receiving a glass of hot milk (?) or soy milk that was a bit sour and salty. It was indicated to me that I should add sugar. It was Ok, but I would rather have found some cold milk (the Mu type). Anyway, we had some yummy bean-paste-filled dumplings and melons and fish balls along with our cabbage and pea pods.
Without Michael at our side we are lost for communication, so we found the gym by accident and ignored the warning that it didn't open until 9:30. We didn't have much time anyway, as we gathered at 10:30 for the day's outing to the Stone Forest. Sadly, the weather is still
wet. We considered changing to tomorrow, but it will be similar weather then, plus, it will be the last day of the eight-day holiday, so traffic is expected to be horrendous.
Kunming is called the Flower City or City of Eternal Spring, because it is a major flower- growing center. The population is about 6 million, a "small" city for China. The elevation is about 5500 feet, so Denver is supposedly its sister city. Weather is mild all year. On our 90 minute drive to the Stone Forest we saw crop lands with buckwheat, soy, corn, beans, and spinach. Not much arable land goes unused.
We had our best lunch yet at a large tourist stop. It included slices of goat cheese and a buckwheat pancake and sliced apple, along with our more usual duck and various stir-fries. All the stir-fries are very heavy on vegetables and sparing with meat, which is fine and probably quite healthy.
At the Stone Forest, or Shilin, we got off the bus and boarded a tram to ride about two miles to some walking trails. It was drizzling pretty heavily, so we were feeling disappointed about our prospects for scenic views,
but as the afternoon went on, the rain stopped, and we became more engrossed in the pillars and natural sculptures all around us. The limestone has eroded into irregular shapes, mostly black and white but with splotches of yellow here and there, and through the years, people have named the stones for things they resemble such as "Mother and Child" (last photo below) and "Woman Waiting for her Husband." I just liked the broad vistas of formations that really did look like stone forests. One thing we hadn't expected were the hundreds of large orb-weaving spiders that graced every bush. Fortunately there is enough foot traffic that their webs didn't span the trails. Another treat was seeing the Yi minority people dressed in native costume.
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