Tag china

Stone Forest

STONE FOREST

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Driving 85 km from Kunming, we reached the town of Shilin. (Shilin means ‘stone forest’) This is home to the Sani ethnic minority people. Here, the Stone Forest sits on 350 sq. km area. The GPS location 24 49′ 27.95″ N 103 19’24.41 E will put you at the entrance.

My friend Rose was my guide through this amazing place. It took us about 4 hours to explore about half of this Unesco World Heritage site. It is also considered the first natural wonder of the world, being formed over 270 million years ago.

Walking through these giant stone karsks is a sensation for both your eyes and ears. The rock itself is an extremely hard stone. It feels like steel. Some of the stones make a musical sound when struck, while others make no sound at all. With our trusty map in hand, we worked our way through to the various points of interest along the way. The typical Yunnan weather of clear blue skies and sunshine only added to the unique lighting environment inside the stone forest.

I would consider this a must see stop during your tour of China. The park area has it’s touristy feel to it, but not to the extreme. It is easy to find yourself along exploring this unique forest of stone. After leaving the park and returning to Kunming, we stopped in Yi Yang and ate the best Peking Duck ever. I always stop in there when I am going in this direction from Kunming.

Puerh

PUERH TEA AT FU JIAO COLLEGE

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I met with my friends Chen Tien and Yin Lang to go to a Buddhist monk school in Anning this morning. They were having a special celebration there that would involve monks from Tibet, Thailand, China, and Myanmar. On the way we stopped to pick up Mr. & Mrs. Ai, who are quite famous in Yunnan for their puerh tea. Mr Ai sells his puer tea here in Kunming where he has a very nice tea house. He is famous for his growing and packaging of puerh tea. You can see his company’s tea in the photo here. Mr Ai helped in establishing the Fu Jiao College.

Upon our arrival at the monk’s college, we joined in the celebrations for the Temple. With Mr Ai leading the way, we went to a private tea house there and relaxed inside while Mr. Ai served his famous puerh tea. High in the mountains, this retreat was a most enjoyable environment to savor the tea and just enjoy life. The temple and school are built on the hillside of the mountain. Walking trails lead you around this wooded enclave to the small houses where the monks live and study. I was the only Lauwai there, and I met with several of the monks from China and Tibet. We drank tea and I learned about some of the differences between the Thai, Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist practices. This was a perfect outing from the city and the weather couldn’t have been nicer.

Wait a week…… it will all change

WAIT A WEEK…IT WILL ALL CHANGE

Kunming, like all over China is changing faster than anyplace I have ever seen. In some of my past posts I referred to this as well. Much of this desire by the government to renew China is quickly wiping out it’s own cultural history. Hutongs in Beijing are almost extinct now. Historic villages and cities are torn down and rebuilt with modern condos.

Here in Kunming alone, thousands of condos have been torn down in just the last year. The old city center with buildings several hundred years old, is all gone save for about a 2 block strip. I think it is also earmarked for destruction. I was just through there and noticed the brick walls going up down the street. Soon after that they usually begin knocking down the buildings behind the walls.

These pictures show the destruction of two condo buildings downtown. 1 week later this park appears. Kunming seems to be replacing most of the old condo spaces with large parks, which really is a great improvement. All the people displaced by removing the condos, are given brand new condos that are being built SW of the city center. I must say that the new ones are quite impressive and a big step up for the people getting them. When a condo is ready for these people, they hold a lottery where they draw a number to see what condo you get. Seems like a fair enough system to me.

Still it is sad to see many historic buildings taken away to make room for high rise glass office buildings. Preservation of these buildings take a back seat to progress in China. I hope this attitude will change before China evolves into a place showcased by modern steel and glass cities. Time will tell.

stinkin horse!

I DON’T NEED NO STINKIN HORSE!

My car insurance agent just told me a story about one of his clients. I had taken my car to him for my free engine cleaning, a benefit this company provides to their customers. He says how nice it is to have me as a customer because we are good to take care of our car. Still, his job is hard because of so much trouble many customers make for him.

Then he told me of one customer that is a farmer who just came into some $$$ because they found iron ore on his property near Kunming. So this guy goes out and buys a new “E’ class Mercedes. It cost him over 1 million RMB.

I’m sure you all have seen pictures of the horse driven stone grinders used to make corn flour. This farmer dude decided to retire his horse, and rig up his new Benz for the task. He enjoys driving it in circles, day after day making his corn meal! I hope to go get some pics of this later.

Another farmer, who also bought a Benz, uses his on the farm as well. He’s a pig farmer! He actually crams pigs in his car to take them to the market. Now he doesn’t need a special license to bring animals into the city. This guys a thinker! No kidding, this stuff happens here.

LET EM EAT…CHICKEN

Slowly but surely China succumbs to western decadence. Hooters has just recently opened a branch in Shanghai. Actually they have 3 locations in Shanghai now! My friend Chris sent me this camera phone pic while he was there just last night. While Hooters is certainly no “strip joint”, it does symbolize the epitome of an establishment dedicated to eye candy. I don’t think you go to Hooters for the fine cuisine.

I was surprised to see that China would allow such a venue, even for Shanghai. China is quite conservative when it comes to the “nightclub” scene. Of course there are plenty of nightclub shows featuring scantily clothed girls, but these are produced like a stage show so they pass as “art”, making them allowable in China. These shows are not intended to titillate the audience in the manner of a traditional girl show like in a go-go bar. Frankly these productions are a lot more entertaining than just watching some girls shaking it on stage.

Hooters by definition is a family restaurant, but it’s real purpose is showcasing young girls dressed to show their assets. I mean you can’t possibly want to go there just to eat greasy chicken wings! I think this is why a Hooters in China earmarks a big change in Chinese attitudes toward “entertainment”. Maybe you have to live in China to really appreciate what a big deal this is for China. As for me, I guess I will have to go there and see for myself………. for the chicken I mean.