A visit to Stone Forest is a must if you travel to Kun Ming, Yunnan. The Stone Forest is located in Lunan Yi Nationality Autonomous County, which is about 100 kilometers from Kunming and requires only a three-hour drive by bus. It covers an area of 400 square kilometers and includes both large and small stone forests, as well as many other scenic spots.

We were there early in the morning at 8:00am and the local guide is a girl from Yi minority race. The guide is required by China government to wear their colourful costumes. The sky was cloudy and the weather was cold and we enjoy walking for nearly 2 hours seeing many piece of magnificiant stone which was once part of the sea some 270 million years ago.

Geologists say the Stone Forest is a typical example of karsts topography. Approximately 270 million years ago – during the carboniferous period of the Paleozoic era – the region was a vast expanse of sea. Over time, the movements of the lithosphere gradually caused a retreat of the waters and the rise of the limestone landscape. Due to constant erosion by the elements, the area finally developed into the present-day Stone Forest.

An old local saying says that “If you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time.” Truly, the Stone Forest is one of the most important attractions of Yunnan

Visit to Kun Ming, Yunnan surely include a visit to the local tea house. Visited one of them and was greeted by a nice lady from Yi minority race who explained to us various tea produced in the area of Yunnan. We were also given the chance to taste all of them throughout a period of about 1 hour.

The highlight was of course on Puer Tea, a very popular products of Yunnan.

Pu-erh Special Tea, known as Pu-erh Tea by people outside China, has the features below:

Pu-erh tea is moderate in taste, not as strong as black tea. It can cut grease, help digestion, warm stomach, help produce saliva and slake thirst, dispel the effects of alcohol and refresh one’s mind. Pu-erh tea has functions of lowering the triglyceride, cholesterol, hyperuricemia in the body

Pu-erh tea is processed through special fermentation by using the semi-made green tea of Yunnan large leaf tea. It is black or brown in colour. The aged Pu-erh tea is mellow and gives a sweet taste in mouth after drinking. It is an ideal health drink for both young and old people.

Pu-erh tea can be kept for a very long time, the longer you keep it the better it tastes and the higher its quality becomes. But it can not be stored air-tight or put in the moisture or close to goods with peculiar smell. It will taste best if brewing with spring water and in a Zisha (purple clay) teapot.

Quoted from http://www.pu-erhtea.com/Pu-erhTea.htm

The processed Puer Tea are mostly compressed to various shape for storage. The longer it is been store for usage later, the better it is. We purchased a 15 years old Puer to try it out (as below).