Stone Forest: Does what it says on the tin!

So after over 3 years of living in Kunming, I finally made it to the Stone Forest.

Nat and I had a free weekend so we decided to head there for an afternoon of sight seeing. We met for breakfast in the morning and spent a good hour trying to work out if it was going to rain. We consulted about six different weather forecast sites and they all told us something different. After giving up with the Internet we gave in an just went.

All we knew was that we could get a bus from the East bus station, so we went and managed to buy tickets with almost no problem. There were a bunch of buses heading to the forest so we got on one and just waited for it to fill up and move off. An hour later we were there!

The entrance is not very clearly marked so there was a fair amount of wandering about lost and confused. Eventually we found it but it was definitely more by luck and following people who looked like they knew where they were going.

Apart from the entrance and a few other popular photo spots, we managed to avoid most of the crowds. As soon as we could we got off the main paths and just walked about in the areas where there didn't seem to be too many people. A good tactic was to listen for the nasty blasted music and walk in the opposite direction!

The whole park is just one big view point so there is only so much to actually do but loads to see. We had been advised to take something to drink so I had made some pre-mix and just chilled out.


There is an area close the entrance which has the Stone Forest's name on the rocks. Most of the Chinese tourists were trying to get their pictures taken with the name in the background, so the whole place was rammed with people. We managed to get out of the area by blasting up a side road and getting back to the entrance.

We spent close to three hours in the park before the scenery started to feel repetitive and we decided to start home. Again the buses just wait to fill up and then they drive off, there was a bit of a scramble to get on the bus but we are well practised in the art of bus shoving and got on no problem.

All in all a good afternoon out, worth a visit but only once. I can finally say I have been though, Tick in the box.