8 September2024
Two of the key sights that first time visitors to Kunming should visit would be the Jiuxiang (九乡) Caves system and the Shilin (石林) stone forest.
Both are located about 90 km east of Kunming city and are about 30 km apart. This made it worthwhile to see both places on a daytrip out from the city.
Our plan for the day is to check out from our hotel in Kunming, see both attractions and then take the 6.30 PM bullet train to Dali (the next city in our itinerary). We need to be at train station approximately 1 hour before departure to collect our tickets, go through security and grab some dinner before boarding. To make the best use of our limited time in Kunming, we had booked a private tour with car and guide for the above.
Our guide and driver picked us promptly from our hotel in Kunming city center at 8 AM.
The weather in Kunming is actually quite cooling at 21 degree C. This is partly due to its elevation at 1,900 meters. However the sky was cloudy and rain was forecasted in the afternoon. Typhoon Yagi had hit Hainan and the Southern China area. Fortunately, Yunnan was only slightly affected but weather may be unpredictable.
Our guide recommended that it is better to see the caves first since the course through the caves is fixed and hence the timing needed to explore the caves is more deterministic. We can then vary the duration of our visit to the Stone Forest depending on time and energy available later. There is also a cable ride at Jiuxiang Cave that may not operate in adverse weather conditions.
Our 90 km drive to the Jiu Xiang Caves was supposed to be around 2 hours but we arrived after 1.5 hours since traffic was good. There was a slight intermittent drizzle during the journey but overall weather seems fine. There was nothing interesting to see along the way, so it was an opportunity for us to take a nap.
Jiuxiang (九乡) Caves
The Jiuxiang (九乡) Caves and Scenic Area boasts the largest and most wonderful area of caves in China. There are more than one hundred karst caves in Jiuxiang scenic area of which only 60 have been explored. We are only seeing a portion of it.
After paying for the entrance, we took a glass-walled sightseeing elevator 53 meters down to a deep gorge. Apparently the gorge was formed by an underground river but the top of the canyon collapsed long long ago, hence exposing the river and the gorge. The official name of this place is Green Shady Valley (Yìncuì Xiá 荫翠峡).
Green Shady Valley with its name in green Chinese characters carved on the stone wall.
If the water level is not so high, visitors could take a boat through the valley to appreciate the differently shaped limestone formations covered with lush plants on both sides of the river. The boat was not operating when we visited.
We went down some stairs, through a cave and found ourselves in a walkway carved from the wall of the deep narrow gorge. The gorge is called Terrifying Gorge (Jīnghún Xiá 惊魂峡), and it got its name in honor of those who tried to open this trail. When the steep gorge was first explored, the explorers could only come down the cliffs by tying ropes around their waists.
Entering the Terrifying Gorge (Jīnghún Xiá 惊魂峡).
Since we were early, we were able to experience the gorge and the first part of caves without other tourists around. 
A path that had been carved on one side of the gorge. Initial part felt like Swallow Grotto at Taroko Gorge in Taiwan.
It is truly spectacular. The trail is about 700 meters and at a depth of nearly 100 meters below ground level.
The river flows underground into the caves at this point.
The river flows through most of the caves, and several bridges have been built to access all the main caves.
We could achieve this here – One hand block the sky (一手遮天 ).
We entered the first cave called the Male Lion Hall (Xióngshī Tīng 雄狮厅). The Lion Hall is named after the stone that looks like a lion in the northern part of the cave.
Does the stone in the back looked like a sitting lion?
The cave seems to be formed by underground river long time ago. Our guide pointed out the water lines where water flowed through these caves eons ago.
The large hall is almost circular, with a diameter of about 200 meters and without any pillars!
The hall is composed of two huge rocks, one as the roof and the other on the ground. The Male Lion Hall is formed by the convergence of two underground rivers about 600 million years ago. The swilling water created a whirlpool that carved out the hall and small holes could be seen on the ceiling where air were squeezed. Musical performance are sometimes held here but I think the acoustics would be challenging.
Our guides told us there used to be two large fish tanks housing the rare Jiuxiang blind fish. These unique fish have adapted to life in the dark underground rivers of the caves, leading to the degeneration of their eyesight. The tanks were still there but there were no blind fishes inside.
The deeper parts of the cave are lit by coloured lights. Personally, I would prefer monochromatic lights since this is a natural wonder, not some amusement park.
Leaving the Male Lion Hall, we climbed a flight of stairs up to the Fairy Palace. We could see many stalactites, stalagmites, stone flowers, stone pillars, and stone beds. These are lit by multi-coloured lights which strangely adds to the beauty.
Walking up the stairs to the Fairy Palace.
Most tour groups would stop and look at the cave from the entrance and then continue on. There is actually an elevated walking path that goes round the Fairy Palace which is highly recommended.
Nice viewpoints from the elevated walking path round the Fairy Palace.
Some of the stalactites and stalagmites had joined to form stone columns.
Close-up look at some of the stalactites. This one looked like jelly fish or even lanterns.
Entrance and exit of the Fairy Palace as seen from the elevated walkway.
Leaving the Fairy Cave, we crossed a stone bridge into the another cave called the Lying Dragon Cave because a dragon-shaped underground river passes through it.
View of the sky through a “hole” in the caves.
DieHong Bridge just before the Lying Dragon Cave.
One key highlight in this cave is the twin waterfalls. Two waterfalls cascade down from the rock at a height of 30 metres and meet in a 10 metre deep pool.
There is also a rare and magnificent sight called the rim-stone dam in this cave. They resemble meticulously carved terraces, arranged in layers that vary in height and depth, creating a picturesque scene.
This rim-stone dam is named the Divine Field since it has an unearthly appearance.
As the water moves along the sloped cave walls and encounters obstacles, the dynamics of the water change, causing soluble substance in the water to react with carbon dioxide. This results in the accumulation of calcium carbonate near the obstacles, creating what is known as a rim-stone dam.
A rim-stone dam in the early stage of formation.
There are a couple of rim-stone dams in this cave. Our guide told us some of the rim-stone dams in the cave are man-made! What a shame!
The underground river soon came to a stop at a rather dark and still pool. Still water runs deep. Our guide told us the underground river drains out from a hole under that pool.
The endpoint of the underground river in the Lying Dragon Cave.
The Lying Dragon Cave opens up to a large cavern towards the end. We were told that an ethnic Yi tribe used to inhabit this part of the cave.
We took a short rest here before attempting a climb of 336 steps through the last cave. Sedan chair service are available (80 RMB per person) for those who do not or could not walk up the 300+ steps.
The last cave is known as the Bat Cave because there used to be thousands of bats residing in this cave. There are no more bats (sadly) living here now due to human traffic through these caves.
Without the bats, there is not much to see except some slanted stalactites. These were formed slanted due to the constant wind blowing through in the tunnel.
There is also an area called the “inverted stone forest” with many dangling stalactites.
Inverted stone forest in the Bat Cave.
The climb through the Bat Cave was a good warm-up for us. We would be doing a lot of climbing in the next few days at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Our last activity at Jiuxiang Caves was to take the sightseeing cable car back to the start of cave. There was a slight drizzle with little or no wind, so the cable car was in operation. The staff at the cable car station offered umbrellas but we chose to wear our hiking jackets.
The sightseeing cableway stretches across mountains and valleys and we could see a few caves that we had visited below.
Lunch at a Chinese Medicinal Restaurant in Yinghuayu
Before visiting the Naigu Stone Forest, our guide brought us to a nearby restaurant for lunch. The restaurant is located inside a place called the Yinghuayu and specialises in dishes made with Chinese medicinal herbs.
Menu posted on the wall with bowls of different medicinal herbs on display onthe shelves.
We ordered dishes that included chicken herbal soup, spicy sour kraut fish, spicy beef and a local vegetable.
Naigu Stone Forest
The Shilin Stone Forest is known for its remarkable karst formations with magnificent, strange, and unique natural scenery. It is certainly an attraction that we must not miss when visiting Kunming.
The area is very large and consists of multiple places where visitors can go such as the Greater and Lesser Stone Forests and Naigu Stone Forest. Our guide recommended that we go to the Naigu Stone Forest since it is less touristy and is often less crowded that the Greater and Lesser Stone Forests.
Entrance to the visitor center where we bought our tickets.
An information board above the ticketing booth actually showed the number of visitors in the park. We were the few (less than 100!) visitors to Naigu Stone Forest on this day.
Although the Naigu Stone forest is smaller than the more popular and touristy Shilin stone forest, it is still very large. Based on the brochure we picked up from the ticket office, there are a couple of sightseeing route. The long route would take about 3 hours and the short route would take about 2 hours.
The short route is focused on the area marked in green, brown and orange.
All routes would require a short walk on a pathway through an open area with fields of flowers (green area). In autumn (October/November), these fields would be full of blooming cosmos. Since we came in late summer, we saw mostly buds but the few early bloomers also made a pretty picture.
Walking on a path through an open area towards a forest of blackish stone in the distance. On our left is supposed to be a “sea of flowers” in autumn.
Only a few are in bloom since we visited in late summer.
Blackish stone forest in the background provides a good contrast to the colourful fields of pink grass and yellow flowers.
Although we missed seeing the sea of blooming cosmos, we were able to see fields of pink/purplish mosquito grass.
Pink grass called "mosquito grass" due to the size and shape of the grains on the flower stalks.
After crossing the vast fields of flowers, we entered a forested area. We could hear birds chirping away but could not spot any of them.
Caterpillar on the stem of a tree.
The Stone Forest area is home to Naxi people and Yi people. “Naigu” means “ancient and black” in local Yi ethnic tribe’s language and we could see why. The stone here is dark in colour and are mainly dolomite limestone that formed 270 millions years ago. The dark colour of the limestone in Naigu is due to the presence of calcium and magnesium in the limestone. The colour of the stones in Shilin Stone Forest is mostly calcium and hence lighter in colour.
It is interesting to learn how the stone forest were formed.
We finally get sight of the stone forest after a 20 minutes hike from the entrance.
Natural rock gate named the Goodwill Gate.
As we explored the area, we saw many rock formations with creative names and stories attached to them.
This group of stone display the scenario of a well known ancient Chinese love story - Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英臺), each with an attendant (smaller stone) behind.
Our guide led us to an observation deck located on the top of the stone ridge. Light rain started as we arrived at the observation deck.
Fortunately it was not too windy but there is a risk of lightning so we did not stay too long. We stayed long enough to snap some awesome photos of the views, despite the light rain.
View of the stone forest from the observation deck.
We could see the pathway that we took to get to this point.
We explored the rest of the of the stone forest in light rain.
This is supposed to be place to shoot photos of the reflective pond. No thanks to the rain for spoiling the shot.
In some areas, there are tunnels and tight spaces which made the umbrellas quite cumbersome.
Exploring the stone formations and tunnels in the park.
View of the observation deck on top of this black stone ridge from below.
Rock formation carved by water and wind erosion over the years. Can you see two boars fighting in the rock formation above?
Here it is. The Golden Pigs’ Fight is the name of this rock formation.
Overall, we spent about 2 hours in the park. Since we had a train to catch in the evening, I feel the timing was just about right so we had ample time to arrive at the Kunming train station at 5.30 PM.
Overall, our day in Kunming had been great fun, despite the rain. Our guide and driver certainly made a difference to allow us to enjoy both great attractions in a single day and yet made it back in time to catch the 6.30 PM bullet train to Dali.
