Comprised of 350 square kilometers of 270 million-year-old Karst topography roughly 120 kilometers east of Kunming, the Stone Forest is a seemingly endless collection of stone towers, spires and oddly shaped monoliths with occasional scenes reminiscent of Easter Island or Stonehenge.

Despite its local fame, the Stone Forest is just far enough away for many Kunming residents to put off going there forever. After years of procrastination, GoKunming finally visited the Stone Forest for the first time on a recent sunny day and found it to be full of surprises.

The next surprise was the large number of tourists in the park, especially foreign tourists – primarily Western and Korean. As longtime residents of Kunming, it was a reminder that just because we don't see throngs of international tourists passing through the city in our everyday lives doesn't mean it isn't happening every day.

The park is divided up into several main areas - Great Stone Forest, Lesser Stone Forest, Naigu Stone Forest and 'Eternal Mushroom' – but due to the sameness of the landscapes and confusing maps, it was hard to know where in the park we were.

Aside from the popular spots in the park full of tourists and park employees dressed in colorful Yi outfits, there are countless lesser-taken paths that offer nice views and are easy to find - just try to walk away from the sound of tourists and uphill whenever possible.

After all that walking in the sun, we were hungry for a snack and a cold beer, which we found just outside of Stone Forest's main entrance at the Shihu Restaurant (石湖风味园), which has an English-language menu, loads of local specialties, a good selection of vegetarian options and delightfully cold beers.

We ordered cold cucumber on a bed of mint with chili and vinegar and a plate of fried local goat cheese, aka rubing. The rubing was so good, we ordered another plate.

Getting there: Hiring a car and driver to Stone Forest and back to Kunming should cost approximately 400-450 yuan. It should take roughly 90 minutes one-way.

There are also several daily train services between Kunming and the town of Shilin ranging from nine to 19 yuan, with some trains as fast as 90 minutes and others as slow as three hours. For train ticket information, visit the Huaxia Train Ticket Office or call the China Rail Bureau's Kunshi Lu office at 5335764.

The area around Stone Forest has a hostel and several low-end hotels as well as restaurants specializing in local Yi dishes. There are also a handful of small supermarkets selling lufu (卤腐), a pleasantly pungent fermented tofu that might remind Western palates of blue cheese.

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