The Island Explorer

It was quite a struggle deciding on moving onto Lijiang or stopping by at Dali for a night. The German I talked to lived in Dali for 5 months, teaching English, and she couldn't stop sharing good things about Dali. So, with that, I decided to extend my stay in China, and catch a 4-hour bus ride to Dali in the morning. I arrived in Dali at 1PM, and the weather was fair. It was sunny but it grew colder than Kunming. I took a taxi to my guesthouse, the Jade Emu near the West Gate of Dali Old Town. It wasn't inside the old town, compared to all the other guesthouses, but the place was easily accessible as it was near the highway already. The guesthouse was spotless and the beds were comfortable. China really has great hostels. I only had a night, so I immediately unloaded my stuff and asked the receptionist the way to the Cangshan Mountains. I have read that one could take a chair lift to a village on top. So that's what I did. I took a sort of tuktuk to the mountain park entra...

Around 90 km from Kunming is the town of Shilin, known for only one thing: the Stone Forest. This UNESCO Geological Site has always been the main tourist draw in Kunming. When I got off the bus at a parking lot at the entrance of the park, I noticed that the Stone Forest didn't look like a natural wonder, because of all the manicured pasteurs and paved streets that led to the place. And the theme park look continued on, as I entered the park, after paying a fee of RMB80 I think. There was a long bridge that had a lake with limestone rocks jutting out, similar to what you may see in Palawan or Caramoan. The Stone Forest had a lot of Chinese tourists. I couldn't do anything but go with the flow. I managed to get off track for a while and head up to a a pagoda on a hill. I figured you could get a great view from there. And it did. I saw the seemingly small cluster of limestone rocks piercing through the ground. I said to myself, inside those rocks were thousands of Chinese tourist...

The plane landed smoothly at the Kunming International Airport. I quickly rushed to get out of the terminal to catch a taxi to my home in Kunming, the Cloudland International Youth Hostel. Kunming was a developing Chinese city. It wasn't like Shanghai or Guangzhou, but you could see it was experiencing a boom. Construction was everywhere. Roads and flyovers were being built. Kunming is also known as the Spring City, because of its eternal spring like weather. And what a welcoming change of wind, after a chilly stay in Guilin. The taxis here looked weird, as the driver had a cage that separated him from the passenger side. I witnessed a sunset when I was headed to the hostel, something that I haven't seen in 3 days. I arrived at the Cloudland Hostel at 6PM, again, tired. Fortunately, the hostel looked excellent and comfortable. It was a huge hostel, probably the biggest I have stayed in Asia. The hostel was 4 floors high, had a huge common area, a courtyard, and even a sun deck....

The next day, I woke up with my things packed. I was off to Yangshuo, around 90 km from Guilin. I decided to take the Li River Cruise, which was one of the 100 things I wanted to do in this world. Though costly at RMB 300 (P2,100), the Li River Cruise is known to be a spectacular and unforgettable journey across the river that snakes its way across the majestic limestone rocks that make Guilin and its surroundings magical. The cruise began with a pick up from the inn, and a 30 minute bus ride to the pier. From there, the cruise, that included lunch, is expected to last 4 to 5 hours long. I met a group of Europeans and an American on the boat who became my table buddies for the entire cruise. We were sharing stories of China, and I mostly listened to their experiences. We were off sailing, and our English speaking guide, Danny, invited us to go on the deck to witness the first bends of the river. Since the river was at its lowest level, the boat slowly treaded through the calm waters. I...