This trip was planned back in May 2025 after I came back from East Africa. I decided to go in this trio after 7 October which is when the Golden Week ends. Did some research in the months before the trip, booked hotels, searched train times and made bookings, drew out my itinerary, etc.
Thursday, 9 October 2025
I left home after Asar prayers and made my way to the airport. I had spent enough to secure a pass tothe Plaza Premier lounge. I reached KLIA T1 just before 19:00 and made my way to the Batik Air drop-off counter. I must’ve missed the announcement that the airline had implemented self bag drop-off. Well, even a novice like me could do it.
After performing prayers, I went to Plaza Premium lounge and a good thing too as there’s no prayer room in there. And my, it was full. Tables were not cleared fast enough. I managed to get a seat after pushing away used plates and glasses. I found the food to be bland and almost tasteless except for the vegetarian noodles.
I made my way to the gate 30 minutes before take-off and was surprised to find myself the last person to board. I had a window seat but it didn’t matter as you couldn’t see outside anyway! We took off at 22:10 and I managed to doze off.
Friday, 10 October 2025
Well, I woke up just shortly after I dozed off and stayed awake despite trying to get some sleep. We landed just after 02:00. We had to fill up landing forms before going through immigration. My bag didn’t take long to emerge.
After collecting my bag, I went up to departure level to find somewhere to rest. I finally found a baby care room and rested there.
I was woken up by the cleaning lady just after 04:00. I switched off the light when she left only for her to come back in and saying something loudly to me which I took to mean not to have the light off.
After performing ablutions and prayers and freshening up, I went down to take the subway to the East Coach Bus Station. The metro fare was 5 yuan and it took a while to reach the East Coach Bus Station. There, I bought ticket to Shilin for 08:00. I saw a white man but the rest were local.
We boarded the bus and left for Shilin. The journey took about 80 minutes. We got down and changed buses (we didn’t get new ticket for the second bus so I suppose the fare was already included in the ticket) to Stone Forest. The trip took about ten minutes. There, I had to pay ten yuan to store my bag. If you have WeChat, you could store your bag without charge at storage lockers near the ticket counter. I was not able to create WeChat account.
I was not feeling well and was feeling nauseous in the bus so I rested for a bit and took a gastritis pill before making my way to the entrance of Stone Forest. Here, we had to board a shuttle into the park. We got down and walked in and before long, I found myself among the local tour groups, walking among them k dodging in between, slipping in and out from one group to another.
At Lotus Pond, I made my way up the hill and pretty soon, the crowd disappeared. I spent some time exploring and even met the white man again - he’s a Brazilian with Israhelli citizenship too.
I left the park at 12:30 and made my way back to the local bus station to get my bag, I bought the 13:00 ticket back to Kunming. From East Coach Bus Station, I rode the metro to West Coach Bus Station but when I got there, I was told there was no evening bus for the following day. Instead, there were two morning buses. I left and made my way to North Coach Bus Station - I could feel this was already at the outskirts of the city - and was told there were no buses to Shangri-La either on Saturday or Sunday.
I decided to head for my hotel to rest and ponder my next steps so I rode the metro to Chuanxingulou Station. It took me a while to find the hotel. After checking in and performing prayers, I went out to nearby Lane to find dinner. I had beef lamian for dinner.
Saturday, 11 October 2025
This morning, I headed out to Yangtou Temple, an ancient temple built in the late 8th and early 9th century. Entrance was only six yuan. I spent forty minutes there before continuing on to Green Lake. I spent another forty minutes there before walking on to Yunnan Memorial and Old Street Kunming. I spent some time wandering around the Old Street area and even went to check out Nancheng Mosque.
I walked back to my hotel and rested before checking out at 16:00. After buying some mooncakes, I had early dinner at the Muslim restaurant just next door before making my way to Yunni’s All Girls Hostel near Kunming Railway Station. It took me a while to get to the hostel, the metro exit provided by Trip was incorrect and I had to take the underground walkway to cross the rail tracks with all the stairs going down and up. The hostel is in Building 1 and I had to persuade the super to open the door for me. The hostel was clean but untidy with toothpaste tubes at the bathroom sink, plastic bags and pails in the bathroom, untidy kitchen... anyway, I was there for only a few hours. I didn’t bring a towel and had to buy a disposable one for one yuan.
After prayers, I settled myself in.
To be continued
