Steve Perrin:
Our final day in Kunming is today. It is very sad to think
that we’ll be leaving the great friends, both old
and new that we’ve met. Luckily, we’ll be
seeing a few of them in July when they arrive in Southern
Vermont. On our last day here, we explored the incredible
Stone Forest which features tall karst rock formations
left when an ancient sea in this area receded. The paths
create a natural playground full of hidden grottos, caves
and scalable peaks.
After our time in the Stone Forest we returned to Kunming
and had a wonderful banquet hosted by the schools we’ve
visited. Later, we pack up and AACE 2006 moves to Xi’an.
Today’s reflections are by Gus, a student at the
Windham Regional Career Center and Twin Valley High School.
Gus:
At 6:45 this morning we woke up and got ready to go to
the Stone Forest. It was a pretty long ride, about one
and a half hours. When we started to get close we began
to see small rock formations (about 4-8 feet tall) sticking
out of the ground in the surrounding landscape. These
were formed by limestone eroding away and leaving the
stronger rock behind. I thought this would be typical
of what the stone forest was like. I was very mistaken.
When we got there what came into view was stone pillars
50-100 feet tall, with the taller ones sticking above
the rest.
It was very crowded inside so we split into three groups,
each with a chaperone. Mr. Perrin’s group went one
way and Mrs. Simpson’s group and Ms. Skawski’s
group went the other. We went through this maze of stone
on small carved staircases and walkways. It was incredible!
There were many small caves and paths you could take that
would bring you to an unexpected place. Paxton and I,
along with some of the other students, climbed on the
rocks to get around the groups of people. There were many
very interesting formations in rock that looked like animals
such as an elephant, or two birds feeding each other.
The highlight of my trip
to the Stone Forest was our climb to Lotus Peak. It is
one of the highest peaks and a difficult climb. It began
in a small cave that was off the main path. Paxton and
I went in to see if other people would be able to make
it through. We came to small, winding carved steps with
stone bridges going up the sides of the rocks. The steps
were very worn down and smooth from so many people climbing
to get a good view of the Stone Forest. In some places
there were handles carved into the rocks to make the climb
easier. A couple times the stairs were extremely small
and I had to be very careful. As we slowly went up we
called for the others to follow. When we got to the top
we where greeted by an amazing view. It was unlike anything
I’ve ever seen before. Because we were on top of
one of the largest rocks in the Stone Forest, we could
see people walking all over the place. We took a couple
of group pictures to document we were there, and then
we headed back to meet up with the rest of the group.
After our climb, we had
a delicious lunch that Dr. Wu ordered for us. It had a
lot of different things that we hadn’t tried yet
and it was excellent. We
went shopping after lunch and I bought a couple of things.
I love bargaining. It’s one of my favorite parts
of Chinese culture.
After lunch and shopping
we rested and prepared for the banquet with our teachers
and the Chinese teachers who are coming to the U.S. The
banquet was more formal than our other meals. All the
boys dressed up in suits and girls wore dresses. All the
food was delicious, I think that true Chinese food is
much better than American Chinese food. In particular,
there were sliced carrots with peppers that were great.
I’ve never seen anything like that in the U.S. After
the banquet we took pictures with the teachers and went
up to our rooms to write in our journals. When we were
finished we went out for ice cream and a walk in the city.
On the way up...
Matt's found his spot!
Resting near the summit.
Atop Lotus Peak
Need we say more? The heat gets to Mary and she lets
her inner cowboy out to play.
