Day 2: 27th June 2011
Pakdokter's previous two trips to Kunming were purely golfing trips. So pakdokter did not visit any of the tourist attarctions of the region. Our first itinerary of this tour was a visit to the famed Stone Forest of Kunming. During the one hour trip out of the city, our tour guide, Ms Liu, gave a general description on the basic facts about Yunnan. Ms Liu is a Han Chinese, from the community that makes up the majority of the folks in the whole of China. The Han Chinese is also the ones who have benefited the most from the newly-emerging economy of China and makes up the most of the upper and middle class population of the country. Yunnan as it is is a province made up of many minority communities steeped in traditional living customs and styles. If pakdokter remembers correctly, there are close to 20 minoritiy communities living in different parts of Yunnan.
Ms Liu speaks a 'passable' English. Some of her descriptions and explanations were somewhat difficult to follow due to the way she pronounced the words and she had the habit of ending every short sentences with unnecessary 'giggles'. But she did try her best.....
The Stone Forest was a sprawling region of rock/stone/limestone?/granite formation - pinncales jutting out from the ground, the bigger and taller ones becoming like hills which required quite an effort to climb. At a glance this region reminded pakdokter of the 'Pinnacles' around the the Niah? or Mulu? caves of Sarawak. According to Ms Liu, the region was once and prehistorically the bed of the ocean but after repeated earthquakes and plate movements, this region was forced out and up to what it is today.
The whole area was so widespread that it was impossible to walk to explore it - so for 200 Yuan - we hired an electric buggy with a 'Yi' minority girl to drive us around. The whole are could easily take 100 golf courses.....
at the entrance to the Stone Forest Park of Kunming...
the girl from the Yi minority clan who drove our buggy....the head-gear with the 2 projections at the sides denotes
the fact that she is single and available....
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