Kunming

I started my first full day in Kunming (the day before my round at Spring City)
at the Yuantong Temple, which is the largest Buddhist complex in Kunming and
over 1000 years old.  One of the statues at the temple was given by the King of
Thailand in 1985, and there are multiple buildings spread around a lake in the
middle of the complex.  The temple was really impressive, and I started there
because my Lonely Planet guide raved about a vegetarian restaurant next door.  I
went to the restaurant after the temple and it was actually pretty bad.  I had
the imitation sweet and sour pork, which was bland, and these fried noodles
which were inedible.  They only had really big tables at the restaurant, so I
was seated next to a Chinese family.  They saw that I wasn't eating my noodles
and then offered me some of their food (they had like a 7 course lunch) but I
declined, and asked my waitress to bring the same dumplings they were having,
which they seemed to be enjoying.  For some reason the waitress kept asking if I
was with that family and some other things about the dumplings, so the family
flipped out at the waitress, telling her my noodles weren't good and to bring
the dumplings quickly.  My dumplings came, and they were actually really good,
filled with imitation meat.  So in the end it was actually pretty good that they
seated me with that family.

I then went to Green Lake Park, which is about a ten minute walk from the
temple, and is supposed to be the best place to people watch.  The park was
really pretty, and there were actually a lot of people just hanging out, riding
in paddle boats or having lunch.  Finally, I went to the Bamboo Temple, which is
8 miles outside the city.  In this temple a famous Sichuanese sculptor and his
apprentices made 500 luohan (noble ones).  It took them eight years to make the
figures, which was an attempt to represent human existence in a snapshot.  The
story goes that the sculptures were so lifelike they were considered in bad
taste, so the sculptor disappeared and wasn't seen again.  The sculptures are
now in three rows in two different buildings in the complex, and some of them
are pretty spooky.

Today, the day after my round, I set off to Xi Shan (Western Hills), which are
also known as the "sleeping beauty hills" because they look like a woman
reclining with her hair falling into the sea.  I got off at the bus station at
the foot of the hills and walked around seven kilometers to the top.  Along the
way there are small detours you can take to different temples and gardens, but I
only stopped in at one of the temples because I'm getting a little tired of
temples right now.  The main attraction at the mountain is the Dragon Gate (long
men), which gives amazing views of Kunming.  This part was carved out of the
mountain from 1781 to 1835 by a Taoist monk.

Instead of walking back down to the foot of the hill, I  took a bus for 5 yuan
to one of the main bus stations, and then transferred onto another bus for 1
yuan to go to Yunnan University, where a restaurant I wanted to go to is.  I was
on the bus for about thirty minutes, and one thing that always amazes me is the
respect and deference that Chinese people have for their elders and past
generations. It's pretty well-known that Chinese people take care of their
parents and grandparents when they get old, but on this bus at every stop when
old people got on the bus the younger people immediately got up to give their
seats away.  There was no hesitation, they just did it, for total strangers.
This does not happen on New York City public transit...

Anyway, I got off and walked to Salvador's a cafe and restaurant that my
guidebook recommended.  My guidebook redeemed itself, because the restaurant was
really good.  It's all organic and uses filtered water to wash vegetables and
make ice, which isn't necessarily common. They even had Beer Lao, which I
haven't seen in China before.  The place was packed with Westerners, and all but
one of them spoke Chinese, which was really a strange sight.

Green Lake Park

Green Lake Park

The Yuantong Temple complex

A thousand-armed Guanyin (statue of the goddess of mercy) at the Yuantong Temple

Bamboo Temple

Bamboo Temple

 A few of the more interesting sculptures at the Bamboo Temple


Some more sculptures

The Huating Temple on Xi Shan

Dragon Gate

Another view of the Dragon Gate


Carved into Xi Shan beyond the Dragon Gate


A view of Kunming from Xi Shan

Looking down Xi Shan

I didn't go to Stone Forest (Shi Lin) this time in Kunming, since I went last year during spring break and it's about an hour and a half outside the city. However, I wanted to add some pictures of the Stone Forest since it's probably the best site in Kunming and a UNESCO Heritage Site. We spent almost a whole day in the Stone Forest last year, and it's unlike anything I have ever seen.

Maybe the most photographed part of the Stone Forest, with "Stone
Forest" in Chinese carved into one of the pieces of rock.
  

Another view inside the Stone Forest


The Stone Forest