Our hostel in Chengdu helped us book some cheap plane tickets. We really didn't want to deal with trains for a while. We got in pretty early and checked out our rooms. We ate an area specialty for lunch: under-the-bridge noodles. They bring out a large personal bowl of hot broth and you throw in a combo platter of your choice. I got a couple strips of meat, veggies, and a healthy portion of noodles. It's kind of like a hot pot. You mix it all in and let it sit for a minute, then enjoy.
After lunch Brian, Andy, Peter, and I went to the Dwarf Empire. Peter found this on the top 10 weirdest places in the world to visit. This just happened to be a half hour drive outside of Kunming, China. It was also in the list of top 10 things to do while in Kunming. We didn't know what to expect. I saw some picture that Peter showed me online, but the whole thing sounded like a strange adventure. The scenery out there was beautiful (above). The story behind this special village is that a millionaire wanted to do something good with his money, so he created a place where dwarfed people could live and have a livelihood. If they lived elsewhere in the cities, they probably would not have jobs and they would be severely discriminated against. They showcase their talents for visitors, but the whole experience was very odd. They had a lot of odd things in their show too. Part of it felt like a circus, but part of it felt like these people are doing the best with what they have been given. It was a most awkward experience. (The king is pictured).
After catching up on sleep and talking about dwarfs a lot, we spent most of the next day at the Stone Forest. It was about 90 minutes outside of the city, but it was well worth it. The weather was beautiful and the sky was very blue - a change from the dirty, smoggy cities. This forest was special because it was made by the Creator. Has anyone ever gone into the effects of what massive amounts of water might do to the earth and large amounts of stone? This site remains a mystery as to just how all of it came about, but water seems to be involved, and I believe it is another visible evidence of the Almighty's power and plan for this earth. What beauty and majesty he shows us! Some of us came to the conclusion that we would just camp out for a couple days, sleeping by the rocks and climbing around trying to find the next gorge or crevice to crawl through. If only we had the time. We had fun walking off the beaten path. We found a lot of Chinese tourists on the path next to the "highlights" of the park, but the more interesting things were away from that, where things were quiet and we felt like the whole forest was ours. Take in the sites and give thanks to Him for his amazing creation!
There were plenty of other things to do in Kunming, but a lot of them were outside the city and usually required more than one day to see. We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the nice weather, but what travel journey isn't complete without a RAT. I never saw it, but as we ate our last meal in Kunming at a mediocre pizza buffet, Peter came back with a plate of food and a giggle in his throat. "A huge rat just ran from there to there right after I filled up my cup!" Or at least it went something like that. "Not just any rat," he said, "a fat ugly rat." And it had to be in our restaurant! Once again, the phrase that reminds us why we see, smell, taste, hear, and bump into the things we do comes into play: "This is China." And now it's time for another horrifying travel story. Stayed tuned for the next blog post!
After catching up on sleep and talking about dwarfs a lot, we spent most of the next day at the Stone Forest. It was about 90 minutes outside of the city, but it was well worth it. The weather was beautiful and the sky was very blue - a change from the dirty, smoggy cities. This forest was special because it was made by the Creator. Has anyone ever gone into the effects of what massive amounts of water might do to the earth and large amounts of stone? This site remains a mystery as to just how all of it came about, but water seems to be involved, and I believe it is another visible evidence of the Almighty's power and plan for this earth. What beauty and majesty he shows us! Some of us came to the conclusion that we would just camp out for a couple days, sleeping by the rocks and climbing around trying to find the next gorge or crevice to crawl through. If only we had the time. We had fun walking off the beaten path. We found a lot of Chinese tourists on the path next to the "highlights" of the park, but the more interesting things were away from that, where things were quiet and we felt like the whole forest was ours. Take in the sites and give thanks to Him for his amazing creation!
There were plenty of other things to do in Kunming, but a lot of them were outside the city and usually required more than one day to see. We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the nice weather, but what travel journey isn't complete without a RAT. I never saw it, but as we ate our last meal in Kunming at a mediocre pizza buffet, Peter came back with a plate of food and a giggle in his throat. "A huge rat just ran from there to there right after I filled up my cup!" Or at least it went something like that. "Not just any rat," he said, "a fat ugly rat." And it had to be in our restaurant! Once again, the phrase that reminds us why we see, smell, taste, hear, and bump into the things we do comes into play: "This is China." And now it's time for another horrifying travel story. Stayed tuned for the next blog post!
