冒险娘之旅 Part 2 Shilin day trip

It was interesting how fate worked and coincidence happened. Today itinerary was to go and explore Shilin stone forest alone. I took a local bus at Kunming East Bus station 东部汽车客运站 at around 10.30am and I was the last passenger on board the bus. Bus to shilin scenic area 石林风景区 will only leave when they are full and it took 2 hours to reach the destination. I got a seat near a old man. At first I was just listening to my music, vaguely aware that some Chineses were chatting non stop at the back row of the bus for the whole trip. I was not really interested but toward the end, old man left the bus on the highway before we reached the destination. That got my attention and I removed my earphones wanting to know where he was going. Just then one of the guys in the chatty group asked me if I was with the old man. That started our conversation.  He was really friendly and I realised that the group that he was chatting with did not travelled together. There was a elder mother with her teenage daughter from Shanghai.  There was another mother with her 6 years old daughter from Shenzhen. There was another pair of male colleagues from Chengdu. The friendly young guy himself is from Ningbo and his name is Fan Yang. Fan Yang suggested that we toured the place together, we agreed and that started our adventure.

After some discussion we decided not to pay for the 25rmb battery car shuttle service since we already paid for 175rmb entrance fee. Start of the walk towards the entrance was pretty interesting while we shared a little background about ourselves. But soon we realised that the entrance was quite a distance. 3km to be exact. After an hour, we made it and started our journey to see all the spots in the areas just to justify the fee we had paid. Up and down we climbed among the stone forest. Got a little lost here and there, sometime a little flustered but we did enjoyed it all as we chatted and laughed along the way. It was fun and the elderly auntie sure was strong. We worried that all the walk would be too much for her but she proofed us wrong. The area was indeed huge and quite magical. It was hot with the sun shining right on us but the limestone rocks were cool to touch and the occasional breezes among the rocks were refreshing. Taking mini breaks among shady rest points whenever we could find one were insightful as I learned a lot about the different provinces' cultures and lifestyles from the group.

We may have got a little carried away at the end and arrived late at the exit at 5.00pm. What greeted us was the decision either to paid the full shuttle fee of 25rmb as there were no 1 way ticket or walked the 3km back to the bus station. Problem being last bus back to kunming would leave at 6.30pm and the fact that we were all tired from the walk. In the end we walked back. All of us tired as we were, just refused to bow to the extortion. With great team spirit we encouraged each other on the way back. Now backed to the station, we were informed that there were only 5 seats on the 5.45pm bus and the next one will only leave at 6.30pm. We had 6 members in our group at that time. After much negotiations with the ticket attendant to see if we can squeezed into the 5.45pm bus, the elderly auntie and her daughter had graciously decided to stay back and take the next bus instead. We bid them goodbye with grateful hearts as we rushed to catch the bus. Bus back was uncomfortable since we were tired and only managed to secured the back row where it was crowded and bumpy.

After the ride, the 4 of us decided to take a rest in Dico fast food restaurant. Both the Chengdu guys will be taking the late night plane back to Chengdu. There I discovered one of the chengdu guy have the same birth date as me and all 4 of us would be in chengdu on that day. What a surprising coincidence as we chineses believed in fate so we decided to meet up on the day to celebrate. Hee. Today was really special as I got my first taste of the warm hospitality of the chineses. Would like to meet more of them and hear their life stories.