I woke up at 6 and decided to get up and get the 8am train to Shilin. I showered, washed my bloodstained hair and got my things together including the last of the citrussy fruit, sone biscuits, nuts with shells, 2 tomatoes and 1 apple. I was wearing my thermal top as it was cold but I had a shirt to change into. Outside it was damp and drab and I tried to leave the apartment complex out a back entrance to get to the subway only there turned out to be no back exit and the only gates there were had locks on. I went out the front where there was nobody on duty to open the gate so I jumped the turnstile and then turned towards the station. I realised that there was still a high fence between me and the road. I saw a security guard and using hand signals tried to ask if there was an exit ahead, he pointed ahead as if to say yes there was so I carried on and it was a bit of a walk but when I got to the end there was an exit and it was right next to the subway. I got a ticket from the automatic machine and it gave me change in notes not like Guangzhou where it was coins. The train when it arrived went to the south railway station where I wanted to go and not the other branch line so it was not going too badly. I turned up around 7.40am and the train was at 8am, it was going to be a rush. I went upstairs with the crowd and found a fairly long queue and it was moving slowly. Another ticket line opened up so I went there and got to the front with 10 minutes to go but she wouldn't sell me a ticket to Shilin and told me to go to counter 14. I tried the ticket machine but it was all in Chinese so I asked like a madman for someone to help me and a young girl did but then I needed to scan my id card and if course I didn't have a Chinese id so I gave up and went to ticket line 14 which was even longer now. The woman at this window didn't speak English and it seemed the next train was at 10.50 which was a disappointingly long time away especially as a website had said there was one at 10am. It was 8.50 now so I had 2 hours to wait and I thought of wandering the local area but there really wasn't anything so I went to the subway to take it back north and go to Guandu a historical area I was planning to see. The train took 12 minutes to arrive and I got off at 9.40. I worked out that the train could be as much as 16 minutes wait and the journey had taken so long so I should get back by 10.10am to make my train. I jogged towards the site and my trainers were a little slippery with the damp floor but I got to the area and found a stone arch and then a temple. The place was nice and the temple was a decent size so worth seeing. After that I walked through a small park and along a road which had lots if old buildings. It was a bit of a tourist area but despite being Sunday most things were shut, maybe Sunday is not part of their weekend. I went to see a temple that turned out to be small and then some more of the old steets and another temple. It was getting late so I ran back and made it back about 10.20, later than planned. I got lucky and a train came and went where I was going a minute later. I kept checking my watch once I had cooled down from all the running and it was looking tight. I realised I was supposed to catch the subway train at 10.10 as it took 30 minutes on the train so I was likely to be late. I arrived about 10.45 and rushed to be first up the stairs. I was 2nd out of the underground but I overtook the girl and kept going up the stairs although I did flag a bit. I made my way to the entrance and the man there wasn't going to let me through but he didn't stop me when I said I could run. I rushed through but I didn't know which platform and there were so many each with its own display. Then I found a general display and my train was at platform 24a still 10 platforms away. I rushed there and my ticket didn't work. I was too late even though there was still 2 minutes to go. The man there had a look at my ticket and pointed to towards the entrance and gave me back my ticket. Was there a refund as I'd missed my train? I didn't know but I was tired so slumped down in a chair for a bit, maybe it had been bad luck the train had come otherwise I would have known I wasn't making it and might have gone seen something in Kunming and done Shilin the next day. I got up and headed towards the entrance stopping to use the toilet which was a squat pan like all toilets so far in Kunming had been. I noticed there was a hot and cold water tap, useful for pot noodles. I got to the front of the station and there was nowhere to exit so I looked around and found one nearer the middle. Then I found a ticket line that wasn't too long and thankfully the woman there spoke ok English. I could change my ticket but only for another one today. She was going to book me on the 8pm train but I asked for earlier, it was only a 22 minute journey I would stand if need be and she booked me on the next train leaving at 13.35 over 2 hours away. I also booked the train to Dali with her leaving the next day and as sleeper was 105 yuan and normal seats 64, I paid 41 yuan for the upgrade so that maybe I could sleep and not be so tired like I had been. I still had 2 hours and there was nowhere on the subway so I decided to just walk to a station 2.8km away, about 30 minutes walk. I headed out and looked back and the station really did look nice and big as well. The forecourt had some trees and things and then there was a road with no real buildings. It all looked a bit new so I headed down the road and finished off the citrus fruit and ate some nuts. I saw a z8 bus on the way a few times so I thought about taking that back but there wasn't much else apart from an entrance to the university which had security. At the station at the end it was also a construction area with nothing to do or see so I went and got the bus z8 back. It went for a little bit and then turned south which I hadn't expected so I got off. The bus probably did a circuit and came back but I didn't want to risk it and it was 12.15 so there was still time for me to walk back. There was also some shops and I bought a vegetarian sausage on a stick for 4 yuan which was ok although it had corn in. I walked along the road which was parallel to the one I'd been in earlier and there were more things to see including lots of food stalls later and I bought a tub of rice for 5 yuan and then I got a pot noodle for 4 yuan. I got back to the station but the entrance was for VIPs and then the next one was gated and then there was construction work which made we walk another couple of hundred metres. I went upstairs and through the security check and to a shop where they sold my pot noodle for 7 yuan. The first toilet had too many people in so I went to the second, filled up my pot noodle which had a decent amount of ingredients in sachets and then I sat down at the far end of the station near my platform which was busy. I started eating the pot noodle and got hiccups, I was rushing yet I had 30 minutes to the train and I shouldn't be worried about missing this one. When I finished however there was a massive queue which I joined and made it through and onto the train with less than 10 minutes to go. There was a magazine with pictures of Shangri-la including some freaky monkeys. I gad a seat but it wasn't for long and we arrived at 13.55 at Shilinxi. I got off and maps located me as being way out if town, great! No wonder people took the bus to Shilin. I went out front and got on bus 66 for 5 yuan which soon filled up and off we went hopefully in the right direction. The bus went the right way but stopped in the town bys station so I asked around showing them a picture of the stone forest and found the right bus to carry on. The bus stopped a few km south and there was a dirt track I'd read about on wikitravel which leads to the stone forest. The bus moved of and I got up and rung the bell and the bus stopped a bit down the road not at a stop and let me off. I went along the track and could see the stone forest which was cool. I crossed a stream and had to go through someones small farm but did my best to walk on the rocks and unused ground. Then I came to the rocks which I climbed up to keep going the right way. The stones were jagged and after a bit trees and things like brambles got in the way and with the stones and gaps between them made it quite dangerous. Anyone reading my blog by now probably knows I've done a few dangerous things and this was one of them. My foot slipped at one point but I just got brambles on the back of my leg and somewhere I managed to scratch my fingers as well. After a bit I looked for a safer way as progress was too slow and I made my way down and walked along the last but of the farm. Then I saw a broken branch and a path, people had been here before so I followed the path and it was much better. I climbed up for a few views a few times and kept going otherwise. I went past some people and a man with goats and then I found a hill where there was a proper stone path. I'd made it to the main park so I followed the path and there were quite a lot of people walking on it and it wasn't as much fun as some of the climbing had been there also wasn't as much to see. I had enjoyed the earlier part scrambling over rocks on a trampled path (not the crazy dangerous climbing bit) but I turned a corner and had a view of the proper Stone Forest which was breathtakingly spectacular. Now I knew why this place was so special. There was a signpost with choices and I went west as part of a ring walk back. The stones were all around and got quite high and I had to squeeze through sone tight gaps in places. The sun came out, and it was a good day in this big impressive place well worth seeing. There were Information boards about stone formations and the place on general and a sign told me I was near the exit so I wandered round to a gorge and came out at a tourist area where it looked like people had taken a bus or something. I did some more wandering to sword lake and such but got lost and found myself back at the same area I'd been to with no way through to the south that I could see. I went north instead to peak view point, a pavilion higher up with great views although it was late and the sun was low messing up some photos. I went down and the wrong way then back the right way and over a nice bridge over a lake. A notice board said I was in the minor stone forest area which had grass and less rocks. I thought of maybe coming back here again the next day and headed towards the exit still taking photos which I'd done a lot of. There were tour groups leaving and another bridge and lake before I got to the entrance around 6pm. The place was still open until 8pm and the price was 175 yuan. I went to the bus stand where golf buggys took people back but required a ticket. There were information boards which I read before walking on the road listening to music.
I went to rock hill a place bookmarked on the map, a small hill with stone formations on top, nice enough but nothing compared to the stone forest itself. I went down and to the bus station marked on the map past closed shops and it was a coach and buggy station for tourists but no bus to catch for me. I asked at an Information desk and the person there and a taxi man with a spoken translator app told me there were no more cars meaning buses). He wanted 30 yuan to take me to the bus station I said 20 yuan and when he refused I walked off. I was going to the main road to see if there was another place to catch buses but the taxi drove up and he took 20 yuan to drive me to the bus station near to where the lady at the information desk had told me. They didn't have change for 100 yuan so I didn't have a ticket and I was sitting and saw a bus no 5 come and go so I asked around and a guy tried to help but it seems that wasn't my bus. I bought some juice and biscuits from a shop and then fried potatoes from a stall and ate them while coaches arrived doing a route but they weren't the bus to Kunming. I was still hungry so got some tofu and finally the bus but I had to pay the girl in the ticket office and didn't get a ticket. There was space on the bus and it was ok, I listened to music and charged my phone and we arrived back around 9.30 at the west bus station. I wanted to get the metro but it seemed there was no line 3 even though thwe had it on metro maps so I got a bus which was the k9 the first to come. The bus turned a strange way to start but was ok and got me to the tube and back. I went through an open side door at the block and then got a bit lost looking for the building. I found it and rang the doorbell with no answer. What kind of hostel doesn't open at 10.30, this was not good so I rang the neighbours 301 and 303 and got let in. I went upstairs and it looked wrong so I went back down and jammed the door open and had a little look around before I realised it was the wrong place. I found the normal entrance to the block and then the right building and the hostel was still open. It was late so I didn't have much time and my clothes were still mostly wet. I did a bit before going to sleep.
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