During the recess week from week 9 and 10, a small group of us decided to go trip to Yunnan to escape the hot and humid weather of Hangzhou. We went to Kunming, Lijiang, and Xianggelila. However, I writing my experience in Kunming. This is the second part of two-part entries which provides a brief summary of the places in Kunming, the city in Yunnan, to showcase what Yunnan has to offer.
西山(Xishan)
On the third day of our trip, we took the Metro to 西山(Xishan), also known as western hills which is in Kunming City. Upon reaching Xishan station, we were greeted by locals who were pulling visitors to use their private hired ride up the hill. Even though we had not been to the top, the view overlooking the western part of Kunming was amazing. There were also a lot of shops which sold a wide variety of food.
Due to the long distance up the hill, we decided to purchase the entrance and bus ticket into the main park instead of hiking. And thank God that we did that as the walk up would be too long. At the bus drop off point, the area gave off the atmosphere of a temple. This was to be expected as Xishan has multiple temples built on top of it. We then took the ski lift close to the peak of the hill. Luckily, this ski lift was not as scary compared to Juixiang’s as it was closer to the ground.
We continued to venture to the highest point of the hill as we wanted to see the scenic overview of the Western side of Kunming. Although the hike up was exhausting, this was another view that was worth the suffering. At the top, we were welcomed a lot of rock which many people climb to get a better view of the landscape. This made us want to scale the rocks as well. Hence, we were able to have some impressive pictures.
Apart from climbing the rocky area, Xishan also has multiple temples overlooking the scenic side of the western Kunming. However, there was one area where we had to walk through a tunnel. In there, one of the local tourists was smoking in it, causing all of us to be suffocated by the smoke. I was really mad that the guy. In order not to cause any unnecessary conflict, we increase our pace to exit the tunnel as soon as possible.
The Sleeper Train
Next, we needed to board a sleeper train. However, due to spending too much time at Xishan, We had to rush back to our Airbnb to get our luggage. It was a real mad rush, moreover, it was raining which make it more of a challenge.
Also, we thought that the Metro was within the train station, but we were wrong. It was still about another 500meteres away. Even though we still have about 10 to 20mins, we still needed to check-in and security check which may take up to 30mins. Thus, we had to run for our life to catch the train. Thankfully, all of us managed to board the train with about 5mins to spare. I wish I would never need to rush for a ride ever again.
The sleeper train was not bad. Since we got a soft sleeper, there were four people to a room. However, there were kids next door, so it was quite noisy. But after washing up in the train and closing our door, the sound was not that destructive and I managed to get some sleep.
In all, the trip in Kunming had more hiking then expected. Making it seem like it was a mini-training for 黄山(Huangshan). But the weather in Kunming was great and it is a great place if you want to escape the heat. I personally go Kunming again, as I would like to see how does it look like during winter.
Special Thanks to those in the Photos
(Date of 3rd Day of Yunnan Trip DATE 2019 Week 9, 14th July 2019)
(Date of Whole Yunnan Trip DATE 2019 Week 9/10, 12th – 21st July 2019)
