Kunming---Yunnan province

The capital city of Yunnan province, southwest of China ,Kunming rests at 6500 feet (2000m) above sea level. Its clement weather and floral wealth have earned it the nickname "city of Eternal Spring" .An ancent city that first came to prominence as part of the Nanzhao Kingdom.

Well this city was my second stop after i had stayed in Guilin for a few days . I took train from Guilin to Kunming which was not pleasent at all. i had to sit in the seat for almost 18 hours and it was impossible to fall aleep for me like that. And it was the end of September ,chinese national day was coming very soon made the traffic very crowded. Anyway if you had time like me you can try to take train ,its a different experience for me. The good thing is that i met a group of college students on the train. they can speak English relatively well , so it was not that boring then.

The hotel which I stayed in Kunming was not nice ,I can not remember the name of the hotel now but I remember it is a 4-stared hotel which is about 500 meters away from the rail way station. Anyhow I had to rest a long time after the tiring train trip . The second day i went to visit the international village and the chinese minority village as you can see the pictures below. both of them are nice and both of them are not far away from the city. The stone forest is quite famous in Yunnan province and many tourists go there which is about 100 Kms from Kunming city. I didnt go there because its just a single scenery spot and nothing around, kind of waste. So Kunming was just one of my transit stops. My major destination was Lijiang ancient city whick i loved very much and always want to go back to visit it again.

the international village

the minority village

Yunnan province is located along China's south-west frontier , offers an unmatched diversity of landscape, climate and people. and there are about 26 minorities living in this province which makes this province very attractive culturely and historically.

If i had another chance to visit Yunnan province , I think I would like to go to Xishuangbannan ,it is subtropical area ,in climate and culture it feels a part of southeat Asia. much of the area is primeval rainforest, the last left in the ocuntry.

Guilin---Guangxi province

I took a trip to China from Guilin to Yunnan province, Sichuan province and then Chongqing, shanghai, Hangzhou for a month September 2008. It was a wonderful trip and i have seen some fantistic seneries and historical places.

First of all I am going to share the first stop with my dear friends here in Guilin , the capital city of Guangxi province China .

I took plane form Gold Coast to KLL , stayed one night in KLL and then arrived in Guilin city next day. Flied with Airasia with a resonable price . The hotel which i stayed name is Education hotel ,it is quite nice and not expensive at all. I like to spned money on the trip instead of spending on accommondation. But there are thousands of hotels in China you can find in every city which are cheap and clean and everything equiped. breaksfast ,telephone, internet......The one I like most is the chain hotel---Homeinns .

Well cut the crap, after I checked in and had a quick shower ,I went out for a walk in the city to have a look around.

this is one of the streets i walked there ,quite clean

nice pagodas in the city

Guilin is renowned for its Karst peaks, most of them are under 650 feets (198m). Dotted throught the city ,they are particularly concentrated along the Li river to the south of the town. Guilin dates back to the Qin era , and by the 6th century AD, its hills were already inspiring poets.Under the Ming, it emerged as a provincial capital. a parks enclosing some fine peaks and limestone caves.

Guilin means "Osmanthus forest" , and has an avenue of these sweet-scented trees along the riveside Binjiang RD.

As you can see the pictures below, I took a river cruise next day from Guilin to Yangshuo which is a small highway town at the end of the Li river Cruise. Yangshuo is surrounded by some spectacular karst hills interspersed with green paddy fields.

As you can see there are many karst peaks along the river

and the river cruise is quite pleasent

the day after the river cruise I went to visit the zoo and limestone caves around the city which is quite nice too. Its cheap to take taxies in the city and most of the taxi drivers are travel guides too. They usually offer themselves to you as your travel guides and you can nigotiate the price with them.

About my trips

hello friends

I have just started this blog to show my trips around the world . i have been to some wonderful places which i want to share my experiences with all my dearest friends.

Meanwhile I paint too, I do oilpainitng and most of my paintings are related to my travels as you can see them on my other blog which is http://benjaminrowan2911.blogspot.com . dont forget visiting my blog and welcome to commmunicate with me .

all my love

Ben