🙂 Fascinating rock formations.
🙁 Public transportation – the bus kept circling for an hour whilst two women yelled ‘Shilin! Shilin!’ from their loudspeakers on either side until the bus was so rammed that people were entering through the windows!
We had flown out of Chiang Mai in Thailand and landed in Kunming – there was not a soul to be seen at the airport!We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel for Y20. Our hotel was called Kunhu Hotel for Y90 (equivalent of £7!). We had quite the welcome on arrival – we were standing at reception to make payment when all of a sudden we were surrounded by literally a hundred people coming in off the street and all trying to touch Trent’s blonde hair and taking photos – very odd that people randomly carry cameras?! They all cheered and almost as quickly as they had appeared, they then disappeared leaving Trent cowering under a table!! Room was small but comfortable and there were several pairs of plastic shoes – all tiny! The bathroom was ‘interesting’!! It was open plan with a long drop and a low level tap to shower with…. presumably that is why were given buckets – to wash with!
Scaffolding on the buildings was made out of bamboo. At all cross roads two people stand on either side of the road and raise a rope to stop the cyclists – quite astonishing! We were up at 08h00 and had breakfast at Wei’s and then purchased ‘soft sleeper’ train tickets for $80 … there is no first or second class – only ‘soft sleeper’ or ‘hard sleeper’ options. Soft sleeper is confined to just our family and has a soft mattress.
Boarded the bus with the women screaming ‘Shilin! Shilin!’ from loudspeakers until the bus filled to the brim and people were trying to force themselves in through the windows! The bus stopped at a halfway point at a tacky tourist shop where we had the most disgusting fatty duck which cost Y30. It was interesting watching the world go by from the window as people harvest their rice on the roads! The locals are so small!!
We then stopped at a temple where everyone proceeded to get out and worship before rejoining the bus and continuing the journey! We saw a dreadful accident and a corpse on the road which was rather distressing. The rock formations were spectacular. Trent of course featured in trillions of photos – we were stopped every few steps so that people could touch his hair and talk to him and photograph him / us – even asking us to take photos of them with our own camera! I then needed to go to the toilet – this was a walled area with about 50 holes in the ground… the minute I entered the four walls I was immediately followed by 30 curious women … I of course got stage fright as it was completely disconcerting to have 60 eyes staring at my neither regions as I squatted! I tried to wave them away but to no avail so eventually we all gave up.
Perhaps the most famous karst formation in the Stone Forest is that of the mythical Ashima. According to legend, Ashima was a kind, intelligent, hard-working and beautiful girl from the Sani branch of the Yi ethnic minority. In some variations of the story, she falls in love with an orphaned shepherd named Ahei, whilst in other variations Ahei is her loving brother. Ashima’s happy life takes a turn for the worse when she catches the eye of Azhi, the son of a wealthy landowner. When she refuses his offer of marriage, Azhi arranges to have her kidnapped and brought to his fortress. On discovering his beloved is missing, Ahei rushes to confront Azhi and engages him in a riddle-singing contest. After three solid days of singing, Ahei won the contest and rescued Ashima. Tragically, as they are rode away from the fortress, the nefarious Azhi opened the floodgates and diverted the river into the valley. Ahei survived, but Ashima tragically drowned. When the immortals heard Ahei’s anguished cries, in an effort to comfort him they transformed Ashima’s body into stone. She now stands in the Stone Forest as a symbol of hope and freedom to choose who you wish to marry. Every year, on June 24th according to the Chinese lunar calendar, members of the Sani branch gather at the stone statue of Ashima and celebrate the Torch Festival. They take part in traditional performances, such as wrestling, bull fighting, pole-climbing, dragon-dancing, lion-dancing and the A-xi Moon Dance, and pay homage to their heroine. The story of Ashima was first transcribed in the 1940s and performed in Kunming. Nowadays, it is considered one of the top Chinese dance dramas and has been translated into eight different languages, enjoying performances across the globe.
We got back to Kunming for 7pm and had another meal at We’s – safe option!! Sneaked a shower and headed to the station to board our train to Guillin – a 33 hour journey!
Go Back to: China
Go to: Guilin
