City of Eternal Spring - Stone Forest

From the grounds of a Chinese restaurant where we had lunch
Stone Forest (Shilin), known since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) as the 'First Wonder of the World.' It covers an area of 400 square kilometers (96,000 acres) About 90km from the City. Its another Unesco's World Heritage site.

We arrived at the Stone Forest after lunch, the weather was perfect, its was quite cloudy with the sun taking a peek at us every now and then. We first rode (one third of its grounds) around the perimeter of the forest marveling at the beauty of it.

The area is inhabited by the Sani Ethnic Minority and many of them act as guides through the forest.

Apparently the entire area used to be under water (like in the ice age)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 .Stopping to marvel at nature's wonder.

You imagine it what to be when told what it is, but can you see it ? a lizard or a dolphin???

A baby elephant, can you spot it ?

The magnificent, strange and steep landscape creates countless labyrinthine

the path in between the stones..how narrow it can be

down we went... into such stone openings fit for a single person passage only

up we went................

to the top where you see the tip of the pagoda

view from the top at the pagoda...from here, its downhill to flat land. You can imagine how high we were by comparing the group of people at the far end.

Imagining ?? seahorse......can you ?No?

I did mentioned some preview of my stitching in my last post. I brought smallies only as I wasn't sure if I could find time stitching. I am glad I made quite a progress while I was there, I managed some 4 nights of stitching. Both are done now.

We shopped at the departmental store next to our hotel and got these shoes on our 2nd visit to the store on one evening.

Thank you for visiting and leaving me your comments in my last post.

Hoped you enjoyed another installment of my trip.