Tags
China PRC, Kunming, Shilin 石林, Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Stone Forest, travelling with friends, travels in China, Yunnan Province
Beautiful limestone formations in southern China!
Whilst holidaying in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in China, I arranged a tour guide to take my friend Jon and myself to Shilin (Stone Forest). I hadn’t visited there when I lived in China (2011 to 2014) so it was on my list of places to visit when I returned.
As with anywhere in China you are ‘never’ going to be the only people sightseeing…so I always try and arrive right on opening time to try and miss the masses (rarely works!!).
But visiting all the fabulous places in China is definitely worth the effort and the Stone Forest was worth it. So what is the Stone Forest, well it’s a set of limestone formations located in an area about 500 km2 – we certainly did not walk this distance and after about two and a half hours of walking in the heat and pushing past/being pushed by hundreds of people we were well and truly over it but did get to see some beautiful formations.
When we first arrived, our tour guide walked us over a little bridge to enter the forest…I always love reflections of a bridge on the water!
I also love the reflections of the stones on the water…
And I am not sure if these men were sitting in their boat for us tourists to take photos; they were gone after about twenty minutes…but it was a great photo opportunity anyway.
During our walk, our guide who told us he had visited this site tens and tens of times was able to show us natural stones in the shapes of animals…this one is very easy to identify…
We also saw minority people along the way; some sewing, some singing and dancing as well as playing musical instruments while others were selling their wares which of course we bought.
Another place ticked off my ‘things to do in China’ list.
In September this year my friend Jon and I travelled from Sichuan Province to Yunnan Province by bullet train and intended traveling around the province for about seven days. Jon had never been to Yunnan so I wanted to show him around but decided not to re-visit places I had been to. We didn’t want to stay very long in the capital so I arranged a tour guide and driver to take us to Dongchuan Redland which is about a four hour drive northeast of Kunming and has an altitude of around 1800 – 2600 metres. 
When we reached Dongchuan we stopped many times at Luoxiagou [Falling Cloud Ditch] to take photos of the beautiful landscape. Luoxiagou is surrounded by mountains and is adorned with traditional local villages and colourful fields – absolutely stunning!
We arrived later in the afternoon which is said to be the best time for photography.
It was then time to drive to our hotel which was chosen by our tour guide. This meant I had no idea what was in store apart from our guide was told we wanted four or five star! But in China this could mean ‘China 4 star hard bed’ and not ‘Western 4 star comfy bed’…
We were the only guests at the hotel along with our driver and guide and the staff asked us to select our fresh vegetables and meat [for Jon] from a large selection in the kitchen. Of course eggplant was selected for me and a local meat and vegetable dish for Jon. I enjoyed a lovely pot of Chinese tea whilst Jon tasted the local beer. Then it was time for bed. My room was lovely with a nice ensuite…bed pretty comfy…yay!!
The next morning, we enjoyed a pot of tea in the dining room after which we departed for Dongchuan Redland. The Redland has high temperatures and abundant rainfall which makes the iron in the earth oxidised and together with different crops and unpredictable light it brings about fabulous coloured [and spectacular] scenery. 
Autumn in China (September to November) is a great time to visit and photograph the red fields or red earth. Whilst I could see the red earth, our guide told us that it was a little late in the season to see the bright red colour. He did say that the farmers turn over the fields for new crops including highland barley and wheat which add more colour to the landscape.
We stopped off at a lovely local restaurant for lunch. Great views from here also and there was a walkway really high up across part of the river; there was no way [ever] I was walking on it…Jon did!
Then it was time to drive four hours back to Kunming for an overnight stay before we departed for another road trip to see the Yuanyang Terraces but more on that later!