So Thursday morning we had to decide between several places: Chongong flower village, Xishan (east mountains), and Shilin (Stone forest). The flower villages and East Mountains were written about as the less expensive option in Lonely Planet, while Shilin is an area that used to be underwater, and now has rock formations since the water has been long gone. The problem with Shilin is that the admissions is about 170+ kuai (about $22-25), and it costs an additional 100 kuai each way to get there (the ride is at least 1-2 hours)… all in all quite troublesome. The descriptions we’ve read described the area as beautiful but swarmed with tourists, especially during Chinese national holidays (Chinese New Year being one of the biggest holidays in China.)
We checked out of the hostel and left our luggage in the main office. After eating some noodles for breakfast, Laura and I decided to go to Xishan (western mountains). This area is known for a placed called Dragon Gate. The West Hills (西山 Xi Shan) provide a good view of the city and have a few ancient Daoist (Taoist) caves of sculptures. There are many of tombs, temples, and the dragon gate (group of grottos and sculptures, and corridors carved between 1731 and 1835 by Taoist monks). We asked the person at our hotel about how to take the bus there, but we wandered around aimlessly for about 15-20 minutes, and didn’t understand why we should take a bus East if we’re going West and then South. We finally took one bus (WEST) to a main bus station, where we finally found the bus that eventually took us to the Western mountains.
I would hardly describe our walk as a mountain walk. While it is technically a mountain, when we arrived we simply saw a winding paved road. It technically had two lanes of traffic, but if the car was large it was difficult for both cars to get through. The twisting roads reminded me of roads along the Amalfi Coast with more tour groups and the smell of gasoline. When we went through the gate we were immediately bombarded with Chinese asking if we wanted a ride up the hill. We did not want a ride to the top because our guide books both said there were a variety of temples we could stop by if we walked, and boy what a walk! We must have “hiked” uphill at least 5-10 miles. We stopped by three Buddhist/Taoist temples which were all beautiful (pictures to come). On our way to the temples there was a pedestrian path (away from the cars) which proved to be way more pleasant than walking uphill (with no sidewalk) along the road with cars/motorcycles honking every two seconds.
As we approached the main entrance that lead into the Dragon Gate, we were welcomed by many touristy stands where vendors sold various trinkets, including but not limited to cowboy hats, silver jewelry, and wood carvings. I’m sure the cowboy hats were quite authentic. We paid our entrance fee and started walking up the “cobblestone” pathways up, up and up. The walking paths were narrow and the people were numerous. It was quite overwhelming, especially since we were some of the only foreigners (read: Caucasians) there. We even had people trying to sneak pictures/videos of us with their cameras. We saw some amazing views of Dianchi (the huge lake south of Kunming), but we had been walking for many hours at this point. We considered going to the top to take a chairlift down, but we didn’t know how much it was or where it actually went. So we walked back DOWN the hill and tried getting a van to go back down. We finally negotiated with a driver and we paid 5 kuai/person. But that traffic I spoke about earlier? Well, it came back with a vengeance. After only 5 minutes of going downhill, the traffic backed up and stopped. We waited in the car 15-20 minutes and just gave up, got out of the van, and walked all the way down. At this point we were EXHAUSTED. We had seen many things and experienced life through Chinese tourism, but it was quite draining. In addition to that, we couldn’t find the bus stop. We approached a van to ask the price, but the driver was trying to rip us off with a price of 50 kuai/person. So, young as we are, we walked, and walked, and walked. I finally saw a cab, flagged it down, and we returned to the city for a mere 25 kuai.
We picked up our luggage and found a hot pot restaurant near our bus station. We ate hot pot, then got on our bus. I have been on a sleeper train before but never a sleeper bus. This was quite an experience. The bus had three rows of beds and each row had a lower bunk and a top bunk. The sheet, pillow, and “comforter” were a bright Halloween orange, and you had a small shelf above your feet to put a purse, bag, etc. The back of the bus had no isles between the beds, but instead had five beds in one row, with both a bottom bunk and a top bunk. My ticket number said I was in the row of five. I did not want to sleep next to a random stranger, so I was pretty unhappy. The entire bus was full, but luckily there were some foreigners, including a group of five, and I switched with one of them so three of them had the beds in the back.
I barely slept. We kept stopping for gas, the bus hit almost every bump along the way, and at one point a policeman stopped the bus and inspected it. I’m assuming the officer inspected it to make sure there were a correct amount of people on board. The beds were OKAY but the bumps in the road were just terrible.
We arrived in Lijiang on Friday morning around 4am, but we were allowed to stay on the bus and sleep until 7am. More about my Lijiang adventures later…
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