The Stone Forest

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October 18th 2009

Published: October 18th 2009

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Stone Forest near Kunming

On our first day in Kunming we went to the Stone Forest which is quite the attraction for Chinese as well as foreign tourists. Though most of the morning was off-and-on rainy and dreary it didn take away from the charm of the forest (though we did have to be careful not to slip in some places). It also took a little talent to walk through the sea of umbrellas with ones own umbrella still intact by the end. Not only did I have to develop a method of bobbing up to the sky and crunching down my umbrella overy my head at the right times but there were some places where the path was so narrow I had to fold my umbrella up if I had any hope of passing through. Groups of people dressed in traditional Yi clothing (usually bright colors) stood out among the more subdued blues and grays of clothing and umbrellas. Mugs exclaimed over the bright orange lichen covering some of the rocks-not because of their brilliant color (of course not since he a biologist not an artist)-because lichen, being as delicate as it is, is a good indicator of clean air. Knowing that it can

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The Stone Forest near Kunming

take lichen hundreds of years to grow a rather small size (covering the same area as a quarter for example) made it all the more impressive. One of the famous stones there is one that our guide called the "boat" or "smooth sailing" stone. The name of course came about because it is incredibly smooth to the touch. The smoothness became a good luck charm and all who walk past the stone give it a rub in hopes that it will give them some good luck or "smooth sailing" in their lives. A couple other rocks are famous for looking like certain people though to be honest, the first one we looked at could have been just about anybody or anything if you put your imagination to work and I was not particularly impressed.

Later that same day we also went to a monestary and drove to the other end of Kunming to the hills near the city. We climbed up numerous steps to get to something known as the Dragons Gate....only to pass it after 300 (halfaway up the mountain) and continue on wondering when we would get there. I was impressed by the hills steepness on the

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interesting tree

side facing Kunming. The lake below looked too green though it was not entirely unpleasant to look at if you didn think too much about what it means to be so full of algae. Hiking it up the steps was the first time we felt any of the altitude, though some of my shortness of breath was likely due to the cloying scent of burning incense and cigarette smoke (numerous stops along the way were shallow alcoves dedicated to buddha or one of his followers or other powerful figures where people could pray and burn incense).

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