Stone Forest, Kunming, China (4/25/2013)
Our week-long $99 tour of Yunnan officially started today. Just a little background on this tour. We have seen ads on newspapers about these super cheap tours to different parts of China in the last couple of years and often wondered if they are legitimate. Friends came back with mixed feedbacks and we decided that we should try it even though it could be a gamble. These tours are sponsored by businesses and local tourism offices to promote tourism and trades. Shopping trips to designated stores are on the itineraries and attendance are mandatory. Even though you are not forced to buy but it can be intimidating depending on your tour guide. We were told that these tours are designed for overseas Chinese. The $99 covers the week-long land tour, including hotel and meals, which in fact is quite a deal. We have added one night before and one night after the tour and paid $100 a night just for the hotel alone.
We were to meet with our tour guide at 10:00am to go to the famous Yunnan attraction--Stone Forest. According to the itinerary, we were to go there on our last day of our tour because this was an optional add-on day for an additional USD $100. For some reason, they moved it over to the first day. Those people who did not pay for the extra day tour got lucky because our last day of the tour ended up to be a shopping day after all.
Breakfast at the hotel restaurant
a picture taken on the bus
Uh oh!
It wasn't us!
Wow! Donkey-meat restaurant! Good thing we didn't eat here.
Our first lunch as a group
I did not touch any of those.
Arriving Stone Forest
Did not expect such beautiful views.
Kind of reminded me of Bryce Canyon.
at the pavilion
performance of the local tribe of Yi
better than expected
one of the public restrooms
Overall, a good day at Stone Forest and not a bad start!
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