Shilin

On our last full day in Kunming, we decided to go tot Shilin, otherwise known as the Stone Forest.  I remember back in my childhood, my family went to a miniature park called "Splendid China" in Florida.  In that park, there were large models of many of the sights to see in China - one of which was Shilin.  It was the one I remembered the most.  I always wanted to go to the Stone Forest ever since that moment, and now the opportunity arose!

We agreed to take the hostel's rented vehicle to get there.  To decrease the cost per person, however, Mom did some recruiting.  She managed to get a German fellow named Asef and a Columbian woman named Lina to come with. Great making new travel friends!

Bert, Jim, Lina, Pat, and Asef at Shilin.

Once we got there, we were met with hordes of people and tour buses.  The entire forest was surrounded by a road in which golf carts drove through with Chinese tourists inside taking stops to take pictures at key locations.  Our group had none of that.  We walked.  And we saw a lot more. 

We went off the main road to go check out the "Eternal Mushroom" stone formation.  No tourist on a golf cart could get there, unless they decided to break away from the pack.  I have to say the Eternal Mushroom didn't really look like a mushroom at all, but at least we walked through some stunning scenery along the way.  Again, most tourists at Shilin did not get to see such things.

Not the eternal mushroom, but this was a better picture to post!

Walking through the trails away from the main road, we eventually came to a cavernous region of the forest.  We had to walk through places where we had to take off our backpacks and crouch down because it was too narrow to pass through.

No-backpack Asef takes point and leads us through a narrow crevice. Everyone else struggles with their backpacks.

Jim going though a big rock. Believe or not, it's part of the trail to get to another part of the forest.

On the other side of the rock.

 Getting back to the road, we walked towards the hordes of tourists, knowing very well that they only scratched the surface of this place.  We were greatly amused by the Chinglish descriptions on various plaques and billboards before we ate lunch and drove back to Kunming.

Shilin was one of the highlights of my HK-Macau-Kunming-Lijiang-Shanghai trip.  When I go back to Shilin with Cathy one day, we will definitely walk it for sure.

Kunming

I'm finally back in the furnace that is Wuhan.  This heat is killing me!  It's about 30 degrees here, and it's not even lunch time.  Better to have stayed in Kunming.  It's a really clean city and the weather is very temperate.

Relaxing at the hostel with a free beer after a rough (and late) flight from Hong Kong.

Vendors from ethnic minorities sell dried snacks all around Green Lake.

A Buddhist temple on the hills surrounding Kunming

Our black cab driver suggested we try this local Kunming noodle dish. Dad was nervous about it because it involved raw meat, but it was delicious and I didn't get the runs.

Mr. Wang, the blind masseur, massaging Mom.

Dad looking at photography in an art gallery.

Wine bar in the art district.

We planned to go to Shilin (The Stone Forest) in the evening of day two.  The hostel front desk offered a driver for 700Y.  There were 4 of us.  Mom reduced the cost per person by managing to get two other people to join us, a young German man and a young Colombian woman.  Both lived in China for a while. Our trip to Shilin proved to be quite the adventure, but that's another story...

Egg Tarts

I got this problem with my friends from Hong Kong.  Don't get me wrong!  I like my friends from Hong Kong! But there's this one issue that we just cannot agree upon. I am inflexible on the subject. They are inflexible too.

I'll just come out and say it.  Macau egg tarts are better than Hong Kong egg tarts.

Macau Egg Tarts are delicious.

HK ones are just meh...compared to Macau ones.

Sure, I like HK egg tarts.  I suppose they taste good.  And to be honest, I consciously go out of the way to find good ones when in HK.  But Macau egg tarts are just straight-up f--king awesome.


In Macau, I showed my parents and Jim around during our day trip.  It was more or less like my last visit to Macau, minus the gambling.  I focused on eating and sampling snack food. 

Our last day in Hong Kong included typical commoner Cantonese fare: wonton, barbecued meats, white bread with condensed milk (???) and the like.  I pigged out because it would be the last time I have Canto food for a few months, if not an entire year.

Starting Year 2: HK and Macau with the 'Rents

I'm back in Asia!  Back on the road of living another exciting year as a Canadian expat!  Starting Year Two off in Hong Kong with my family friend Jim and my parents. About a week ago, we landed in HK in the morning and went directly to our hotel at Causeway Bay.

Causeway Bay area

If you know me, you'll know that Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities the world over.  I love eating there.  I love the organization and cleanliness.  I love their subway.  I even love reading the business news every morning in HK...and this time it was really REALLY interesting with Asian markets plummeting.  I guess the only downside to HK is that it's a shopping city that's really expensive.

At the Star Ferry in  Central

Anyways, to sum up (since I'm writing this from Kunming, Yunnan and don't have time to linger on blogging), I showed my parents and Jim around the city from Lantau to Kowloon, Wanchai to SoHo.  For my own sanity, however, I demanded to go to the part of HK that I've never seen before: HK Island South.

The 'rents on a sampan in Aberdeen.

Aberdeen

St. Stephen's Beach in Stanley

That's more or less it in a nutshell.  Tomorrow, I relocate to Lijiang.  If I can get wi-fi at the place I'm staying at, then I might tell you about my travels to Macau with my parents. 

Year Two has started! I look forward to the next few weeks.  So many exciting things happening...travelling Yunnan province, going to Shanghai to see friends, and going back to Wuhan with wo de mama so she can meet Cathy.

I'll leave you with pictures of some dishes I've had in Hong Kong.