Getting to the forest was a bit of a drama as our trusty lonely planet had warned us away from tour buses which obsessively stop at temples along the way - so we were unsure of which bus to get on! The bus we decided to take offered a cheaper return rate, which was appealing but it could have been a very good scheme to get our money and leave us stranded at the forest! We decided to take a leap of faith and if it went wrong, to write it off as a lesson - however, our bus was waiting faithfully for us at the end of the day!
After making it to the Stone Forest with only one temple-stop on the way we were bombarded with hundreds (if not thousands) of tourists all jammed into the "Grand Stone Forest area". The crowds were very overwhelming until after seeing the main attractions, such as Sword Peak Pond, we found a path that led to 'the periheral' of the forest.
In the periheral we felt like we had the entire forest to ourselves, not seeing another tourist for 2 hours. We came across the 'Hidden Lake', rice paddies, plum-tree farms and small houses - we decided that the tourist site must have been built around peoples' (once quiet) homes.
After a stop in a pavillion for lunch and a rest from the rain, we ventured further into the 'Main Stone Forest' - which was an elaborate labyrinth that we spent the next hour wandering, one of the adlibers climbing (in the peripheral there was no one to stop him) until we became aware of the time and began to stress about making our return bus ride home! Not to worry, we eventually came out of the forest at a place we hadn't thought we would!
We made it back to the bus ( only 5 minutes late) and started the bumpy journey back to Kunming, where we set about finding some much needed food. Despite how great last night's meal was, we like to go to a new place for each meal, and ended up in another street kitchen in the other direction from the hostel. Here we had lots of fun conversing with the kitchen staff, Liv successfully ordering a great meal, and Adam confidently used his chinese skills to enquire after a beer! Adam even managed to decline the beer on offer telling the staff he didn't want a warm beer - Liv was ultra impressed!!Working our way back to the hostel we bypassed the bakery and fruit markets for supplies for our bus trip to Dali tomorrow. On the way back to the hostel Adam found his 50 cent cold pijiu (beer) to enjoy.
We're looking forward to moving on to Dali tomorrow where we hope to explore the nearby lake and villages.
Adlibing the Stone Forest labyrinth.
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