|
Kunming
We drove back to Kunming in the afternoon & checked in at the Golden Dragon hotel.
That night Tony took us out for a local favourite meal: the Mushroom Hotpot.
The restaurant was above a department store for silk products. The dishes
consist of 4 different types of local wild mushrooms, some other vegetable
dishes plus fish balls & pork. All need to be cooked in the hotpot of superb
chicken stock. It was lovely.
Next morning we visited Shilin, 120km southeast of Kunming, for its famous
Stone Forest. Like the 3,000 spectacular limestone islands of Ha Long Bay
in Vietnam & limestone hills along the Li River in Guilin, the limestone in
Shilin are resting among a forest of trees & parkland.
This grey limestone is in many different sizes. Some are as tall as 30m high,
some are like small mountains, some are big rocks etc. Among the grey pinnacles
& peaks there are ponds, walkways & pavilions etc in the forest. Although it was
grey & rainy that day it was very enjoyable to walk around. This trip is also
very popular with the local Chinese tourists in groups. We will be touring our
client in the forest by the western route that is quieter way to explore this
fantastic parkland.
One more thing is famous in Shilin, the local dish of Yiliang duck. The duck
is sweetend with honey and cooked over smouldering pine needles. The meat is
tender & delicious. This is very different to the famous Beijing duck.
All along the road to & from Stone Forest there are stalls that hang their ducks
out to tempt you into their restaurant.
We tried it & it was the best duck dish that we had for a long time. It was
so good that Tony ordered another half duck after we had already eaten a whole duck between
four of us. I would say that if you had not tried the Yiliang duck you have
not been to Shilin.
We arrived back to Kunming & visited the 5* Green Lake hotel. This is the best
5* hotel in Kunming by the Green Lake. The hotel is a modern and elegant in
5* international standard. The grand entrance to the hotel is via a semicircular drive
lined with palm trees. We are using the Green Lake as our
deluxe hotel choice in Kunming.
That night Tony took us out for a seafood dinner. Good though it was, it could not
eclipse the memory of the Yiliang duck. Next day we left Kunming to UK.
Many of you may have already visited Beijing, Shanghai & Xian but if
you want to see the rural beauty of China with its magnificent mountains in
Tibet & Shangri-La, the ancient towns of Dali & Lijiang, the magical beauty of
Black Dragon Pool Park & the Yiliang duck this is the tour for you. We are
offering the same 15 day tour as our inspection trip or a 12 day tour
without the Yangzi River cruise but adding extra days in Lijiang, Dali,
Shangri-La or may be Lhasa to enjoy. You can see these two new tours
<here>.
I hope you enjoyed reading my story and 1 look forward to hearing
from you soon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
