A flight from Guilin has brought us to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, where our main purpose is to see its most-visited attraction, the Stone Forest. Like the karst peaks we have seen in the Guilin area, the Stone Forest is made of eroded limestone, but here the erosion has left dense clusters of vertical pillars, which resemble a forest of trees turned to limestone. The park enclosing the Stone Forest is about two square kilometers in size, and in some places it would be easy to get lost within the maze, except that helpful signs are placed along the paths to guide us.

There are many caves and arches in the Stone Forest.

Justin strikes a pose (right).

A woman of the Sami subgroup of the Yi tribe poses with Dr. Ray, attired as a woman of the same tribe (left).

Ping and Dr. Ray (right).

In the evening, before boarding our train to Dali, we shop at a tea store near our hotel. The shopkeeper brews several samples of tea for us to taste before we make our selections.

Bob K. checks out a berth in the "hard sleeper" car we are taking from Kunming to Dali. It doesn't seem much different than the "soft sleeper" car we had been on before.