A Forest of Stone in Yunnan, China

On June 7th, I caught a sleeper bus to Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. This is what the inside looks like, with three long rows of beds:




As we barrelled along the winding mountain highways of Yunnan Province, I tried to enjoy the views as much as possible when I wasn't sleeping:








Some ducklings were hanging out at one of our rest stops:




The bicycle/scooter lane on roads in Kunming is often very busy:




Outside the Kunming train/bus station:




Eating lychee is good for your health:




On June 9th, I caught a bus to Shilin, known in English as the Stone Forest. Instead of me describing it, just have a look at the photos here. I ended up befriending some businessmen visiting from the other side of China, as one of them had fairly good English skills, and spent the whole day with them!














Elephant!







These people were playing some traditional instruments and doing a little jig and a song, but it only lasted about 30 seconds each time then they'd stop and after a minute they'd do it again, exactly the same each time, just for tourists to feel that they were getting a cultural experience:






Fish in a pond:




A map of the Stone Forest tourist area:




Of course, no trip would be complete without changing into the traditional garb of the locals for photo opportunities, which is what one of the businessmen did:




This lady showed us around and one of the businessmen translated what she said when it was interesting:




My friend Haoran, who translated and conversed with me the whole time:




The traditional way to drink tea, apparently:




On the 10th I flew from Kunming to Beijing to Vancouver. On my Air China flight, this was an advertisement stuck to the fold-down dinner tray: