Has the entrance been moved out to near the town? This would help the restaurants run by people from the town and other parts of the local economy, not run by park management.

All the restaurants that lined the road leading to the entrance have now been demolished. Locals have lost their homes and businesses that once thrived on this street. Big business moving in and the working man/woman gets booted out.

I went to the Stone Forest way back in 2004 or so and although it was somewhat cool was overrated to me. Mostly the problem was that there were so many people everywhere with their damn cameras taking constant pictures of themselves everywhere. Made me think about what this place was like before the tourists discovered it.

I love to travel, but the tourism industry is something designed by scammers who are in the business of milking as much as they can. Mostly, tourists do not mind paying extra since they are on vacation and having a good time.

Now.....do they take the 175 for the attraction and then make you walk to another box office (and line) for the 25 RMB shuttle? That pisses me off and a lot of attractions do this. Plus those huge tickets that they give which are going to be tossed by the traveler and a waste of paper.

Another thing that annoys me are flights and ticket agents.

I ended my trip last year in Kunming and wanted to fly home to Hangzhou. I was staying in the Camilla Hotel on East Dongfeng Rd. and know that they have some travel agents there so I went and inquired about a ticket.

I ask her the price for one flight ticket back to Hangzhou and she rambles off the prices. The prices are different depending on when you go, the cheapest being the earliest flight, which left like at 6:30 AM, while the noon flight was about 300 RMB more. This sucked because I wanted to enjoy Kunming that evening (as in eat a good dinner bar hop and drink copious amounts of beer and shots). That wasn't the agent making the early morning flight the cheapest, it's the airlines. Still sucked though.

Then she pissed me off. She gave her spiel on the prices of the flight and then she said "But today, we are running a special on flights..." and then told me what the real prices were, as I was going to be happy that I could save money or whatever. I was indignant...

"Why did you tell me the flight was 1800 RMB when it really is 1550. Why couldn't you just say 1550 when I asked and not wasted my time?" I really hate that sh*t and there is no reason for it and walked off. What's the price? Simple, one word answer. The other agent I went to gave me the correct prices, including that the early, early morning flight was 300 RMB cheaper.

A hotel in Chengdu did that crap also. I think this place was called the Jiaotong (or Traffic) Hotel. Decent place except for the runaround at checkin.

Me: "How much is a room one night?"

Them: "The room is 250 but today we are having a special on the room for 210."

Me: So it's 210 (with me thinking, why in the bloody hell does the management make them say all that additional bullsh*t? The room is 210 a night. If it was 250, this is what they would charge!)

Returned back from the mountains a week later, and stayed in the same hotel (decent budget hotel actually otherwise), and asked the rate and got the same spiel.

Me: The room is 210, right?

Them: The room is 250, but today we are running a special for 210, so yes, it is 210, blah, blah, blah."

@senorboogiewoogie Ha.Ha. You're one angry dude! Ha..ha. But I understand your pain.

Angry sometimes at their silliness, but I really love China and Chinese people and Yunnan is the crown jewel of the country and you expats should be very happy to live there because Kunming is a nice city and Yunnan just.........kicks ass.

If it wasn't for my wife in Zhejiang, I would move to Yunnan. I hope to retire and die in Yunnan, basically for the scenery and the weather. The summer there rocks my ass.

Kunming is a good town though. I became a member here to get some information about SE Asia and get more local information.

I agree.