To my friends and family:
1) Alone in the Naigu Stone Forest:
Stone Forest is Kunming's most famous attraction and it is 90 km south of the city. It is a giant forest of limestone rocks that were formed 270 million years ago when the ocean receded from the area around Kunming (Con Minh).
For million years, the tetonic plates shifted and rainwater carved out the soft parts of the limerocks and left the people of Kunming a gift from God.
There were 2 major Stone Forest in the area:
a) Shilin SF is where all the tourists go and the long waiting line and with the crowd inside the park jostling for space to take picture.
b) Naigu SF is the bigger, lesser known and quieter option. It predated the Shilin SF by 2 millions years. However, the park was closed at this time.
I became friend with a husband and wife German couple in the hostel. On the day before they left for Dali ( another Yunnan town), they told me they were able to get into the Naigu park for free.
With that tip in hand, I made up my mind that I will find the way to go to Naigu SF instead of being with the crowd at Shilin.
Sunday morning, I took the city bus to the South Train station. I ignored the touts who beckoned me to get on their bus, because their bus will stop at the shopping places on the way. I walked inside the bus station and bought a ticket to Shilin town for 25Y.
At Shilin bus terminus, while everyone headed left for the Shilin SF main entrance, I turned right and walked to the main road. I wanted to find a minibus driver who will take me to the Niagu, which is 8 km north of Shilin. I hailed a minibus and paid 30Y for the ride. I could not get any lower price, because the driver khew why I wanted to go to Naigu. The only reason to go there was to sneak in to park for free, while at Shilin, tourists have to pay 140Y.
The driver drove me on the backroad to Naigu SF and showed me the trail to walk to the park. Since this road was so remoted and had no car traffic, the chance of catching a ride back to town was very slim. So I told the driver to come back to pick me up 4 hours later.
Here was how I told him: '' Now, it is 11:03 AM, I'm going to take a walk around the park. I'll be back here at 15:00. I'll be here by the roadside. I pay you 30Y now. You come and take me back to the Shilin bus station, I'll pay you another 30Y. Agree ??''
And here was the action in sign language: I said ''wo'' ('' I ''), pointed at the forest, made a circle in the air. I wrote down ''15:00'', said ''wo'' and pointed at the roadside. I pointed at him ''ni'' (''you''), pointed at number '' 15:00 '', pointed at the ground. I gave him 30Y, and produced another 30Y, pointed at ''15:00'', said ''Shilin''. The smart guy, he understood.
After arranging the ride , I walked the backtrail into the forest.
From afar, the stone rocks looked just like a bunch of grey black chimneys tood tall together. Only when I got inside the rocks that when I began to appreciate the beauty. The rock formed a varieties of imaginary scuptures, which I was free to interpret the way I see. I saw an elephant with full legs and trunk, the Dalai Latma with praying hands, a turtle on top of a rock , a man gently kissing a woman on the nose, a giant mushroom, the head of Cleopatra with full egyptian crown...
There was nobody else in the park beside me. It was so quiet. The sound of birds chipping reverberated by the rocks. From one rock forest, I walked into another. I was glad there was the stoned walkway leading thru the forest. Without the walkway, I would be lost and could not find the way out. In some parts, the path was so narrow that only one person can pass through. Twice in the forest, I walked off the walkway to explore the lesser known area of the park, and almost got lost. I was scared and did not do it again. It was just like you was lost in a maze. You felt so disoriented in the jumbled rockpaths.
Never in my life that I had the whole park for myself, not even a small tiny park. Here, I experienced the solitudeness, no tourist, nobody. It was so eery. But at the same time, I felt happy and contended that I was alone.
At 14:30, the rain began to come down lightly. It was the time to head back to the road. The minibus was not there yet. I ducked into to the tree forest to waited out the rain. I smoked a cigarette and wondered would the driver keep his promise. At 10 minutes to 15:00 hour, he came.
I got back to city at 6:00 PM. It was time to have a chicken noodle (5Y) at the restaurant downstair.
Dat
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