The remaining four of us met up with Kim for breakfast and said our farewells and then we met our mini-bus to the Stone Forest at 9am. A two hour drive (120 kms) there and we had four hours to wander around and have some lunch. The whole park is beautifully set out and the rocks are truly magnificent, certainly worthwhile making the day trip out there. Typically there were lots of souvenir stalls etc but once you got into the park it was actually quite peaceful especially when all the Chinese tour groups went to have lunch. We ended up having lunch late just an hour or so before we were due to leave but it ended up being a good strategy. Also caught a cultural show as well.On our return, Mel and Angela went to a yoga place and Sue & I decided to walk to the theatre where the Yunnan show was on and then look for a place to eat. Right next door was an interesting building called the Stonehouse which was European in style and was the home of a famous Chinese general. It had a restaurant serving Chinese and Italian food. We opted for Chinese and whilst a little more expensive than some of our previous meals it was quite good.
The show was absolutely fantastic and melded traditional music and dance into a contemporary style. I thought the first scene was worth the price of admission alone (140 Y). It consisted of ensemble drumming and blew me away, using different drums from the different ethnic minority groups. Screens to the left and right of the stage explained what was being represented in both Chinese and English. Unusually for a Chinese show, there wasn't any DVD available because I would have bought one. Definitely one of the most spectacular shows I've seen.
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