Yunnan Province: Kunming

Okay, part two of my trip! We went to Kunming for 4 days and it was absolutely beautiful! The weather was comfortable, the scenery was amazing and there were a lot of places to visit and things to do. I kept thinking, "I wonder if I can put in a transfer and have everything arranged for next semester!?!" I had a hard time deciding which pictures to include in this blog because I had so many good ones and finally I just decided to include a whole lot of them! So, this blog will be primarily pictures with some explanations and stories along the way...

These first two pictures are from Dianchi Lake and during the winter this lake is filled with hungry birds! People sell bread to feed the birds and as soon as you throw a piece into the air, a bird swoops in for dinner its before it hits the ground. I began to realize that we were dooming ourselves and that there could be no happy ending to giving lots of food to lots of birds who were flying over our heads - one of us was sure to become a victim. I came out clean as a whistle but unfortunately Aroma wasn't so lucky! I had a good laugh at the white spot on her shirt as we were leaving. :)



Next, we went to a place called Yunnan Nationalities Village which I would compare to Epcot Center in Florida. There are about 25 different minorities in Yunnan Province and each minority has a section of the park where they show the typical housing, dress, dance or singing, and history of their minority.


I have a slight obsession with bridge pictures...


A dress that was worn by the Miao people.


A song and dance show by the Wa people.


The Stone Forest was next on the list for travel destinations. It is as it sounds - a forest with thousands of rocks that tower over you - most have been formed into points on the tips. They have built paths and walkways throughout the forest so we spent much of an afternoon hiking around and trying to locate the different places that are highlighted in the park. Some of the rock formations were named: elephant on a platform, two birds feeding each other, immortal tortoise, and a cat that we actually never found - I'm pretty sure they just made that one up!


This spot was on the path but you could only get through if you went head-first and slid your neck through a slightly tight spot! This would not be a good place for you claustrophobics!


Here is Aroma stuck between a rock and a hard place labeled "the narrowest path." Eventually we got her un-wedged but they are not joking when they say narrow! Again, if you're claustrophobic, consider yourself warned...


Also, while in Kunming we visited one of the largest university campuses in the province and went to the zoo. Some of you know that, along with bridges, I have an obsession with taking pictures of animals. I'll spare you this time and just include this final picture - flowers in bloom! It's been a while since I've seen any of those!!