Yunnan And Hunan 2025: Part I

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, 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 Kunming Liyue City Hotel. After checking in and performing prayers, I went out to nearby Doufuchang 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

Reconnect: Journey To The East Coast

I’d planned to visit Dabong and decided September 2025 would be a good time to do it before the monsoon season. Of course I had to get school hols out of the way first. I bumped into an old colleague at a wedding in early August and when I learnt she was based on KB, asked if she’d been to Dabong. She said no and wanted to join me. I told her I would come on 22 September and we agreed two nights in Dabong would be sufficient. Next I got in touch with a couple of lodgings in Dabong to sort out our accommodation.

I’d also asked another colleague who was sending her son for his diploma in end-September if I could get a ride back with her. Subsequently she informed she’d be leaving a day earlier so I browsed for flight tickets and as luck would have it, Firefly was having a promotion. As I was not going to get a ride after all, I decided to stay in the city instead of in Batu Buruk and paid for a bed for two nights.

The bus from TBS to Kuala Krai was so late (by 90 minutes!!!) that we eventually departed at 00:45 on 22 September instead of 23:15 on 21 September. We arrived at Gua Musang R&R at 04:30 and stopped for 30 minutes. I had initially considered taking the bus to Gua Musang and continuing on to Dabong by train but the R&R is outside town and I would have to find my way into town and the train station. Kuala Krai looked to be doable so I bought my ticket to Kuala Krai instead. After thirty minutes, we continued on.  I’d dozed off and woke up just before we entered Kuala Krai. I was the sole passenger to get off and I quickly made my way to the nearest mosque to perform morning prayers. I stayed at the mosque until 08:00 and a few of the female congregators came up to say hi to me. Very friendly folks! They all seemed surprised that I was travelling alone but I told them I was meeting a mate in Dabong.

I left the mosque and went to find breakfast. The theme over there and indeed in the East Coast is rice, rice and more rice even in the morning. Some people actually eat rice with dishes that early in the morning. I can manage nasi lemak and fried rice but that’s about it although I could make some exception when I’m travelling. I bought nasi lemak and had it at another restaurant where I ordered a hot drink. After breakfast, I walked on and when I came onto the Mini Zoo, decided to stop and have a look.

There were some works at the main entrance and I was told to walk up to the other entrance. After paying RM10 for the ticket, I walked up. There were quite a number of animals there and all looked healthy and thriving. I was the sole visitor there but then again, this was on a Monday morning right after school hols. I spent an enjoyable 70 minutes there before continuing on my way. I would highly recommend the mini zoo. I walked on to the train station, detouring briefly to Tangga Krai and a supermarket and pharmacy to buy some bread and mineral water. The train to Dabong was late by 23 minutes and I dozed off briefly during the journey. We had to pass through a few tunnels before reaching Dabong.

My colleague, N, was already waiting for me and we drove to Rose House where we would stay for two nights. After prayers, we drove to Lata Kertas 20 km away. Apart from three men who pulled up to take some photos before leaving, we were the only visitors there. We spent 20 minutes there before driving on to Gunung Stong viewpoint.

Dinner was had at the local market where an eatery was still operating. I must say it was a delicious and satisfying meal. Alhamdulillah. It rained shortly after we reached the guesthouse and it continued on until early evening.

On Tuesday, we went out to find breakfast. N had nasi kerabu and I decided to have the same. We returned to our room before leaving for the Cave Complex. A guide by the name of Midi came at 10:10 and brought us into the caves across from the car park. We started off with Gua Gelap so named because it was dark inside (aren’t most caves supposed to be dark though) where we had to first climb then squeeze ourselves between the narrow crevice before crawling through a small opening. This necessitated getting ourselves a bit wet and I do not like getting myself wet unnecessarily and so soon after starting our trek. But needs must so I pushed on. After some twenty minutes, we emerged from the cave and climbed up a hill and walk through a forest to reach the second cave, Gua Keris, so named because of a keris-like formation in it. Then it was on to the third cave, Gua Pagar, where there were a few intriguing formations in the cave which include the stalactites and stalagmites: sea fossils in the cave, seaweed fossil, a small crocodile-like formation, a being on a throne, gigantic shoes… we were waiting for the sunlight to penetrate through a hole in the cave ceiling which takes place between 11:00 to 11:15.

After that, we made our way out of the cave and down. This was when N’s right shoe sold decided to peel off. She soldiered on until we left the caves. After patching up her shoe and thanking Midi, we went to explore Gua Ikan. You don’t need a guide for this cave and it’s nowhere as dark as the other caves but there are bats in there.

We left and went to look for prawn noodles for lunch but alas, the two stalls selling prawn noodles were closed. So we drove back into town and had mee celik instead. Then we returned to our room to rest. Dinner was had at a restaurant very near to the guesthouse. We both had soup or bone broth as some may call it.

On Wednesday, we checked out at around 10:00 and drove towards Wakaf Bharu, stopping en route at Lata Renyuk. We had the place all to ourselves and what a lovely place it was too. All that nature had me feeling famished, so we drove to a nearby restaurant and had prawn noodles for lunch. While waiting, we shared some laksam. Honestly, no one would go hungry or starve in Malaysia as long as you can pay for your meal. After that early lunch, we drove on to Wakaf Bharu, reaching Halo Rooms Hotel just after 14:00. I checked in (there’s a RM50 deposit) and rested.

I’d managed to track down my good mate whom I’d lost contact since we finished our O-Levels equivalent and she agreed to meet. So I waited for her while reading my book (even finished it!). She messaged saying she was running late ans she had to attend a meeting on behalf of the headmaster. She finally arrived after Maghrib and we went out to find dinner and catch up. It was so great to finally meet her again after all this time. Alas, she couldn’t sleep over as her brother was coming to meet her and family so we had to say goodbye at 22:00.

On Thursday morning, I checked out at 07:05 and walked to the bus stop across from Wakaf Bharu school. I waited about ten minutes before the bus came (I was ready to leave if the bus didn’t turn up by 07:25). The fare was only RM1.30 and change was given. I asked the driver to drop me off after the bridge where I could then walk to the bus terminal. I had some forgettable fried rice for breakfast at the bus terminal food court.

The bus arrived at 08:20 and left at 08:33. I was quite impressed. We reached MBKT Bus Termjnal at 12:05 and I waited for my colleague to come. We then drove to a halal Vietnamese restaurant in Kampung Cina and I had dumpling soup for lunch. After lunch, she dropped me off at the hotel and I sat until it was 14:00 and time to check in. I went out for a walk to nearby Pasar Payang in the late afternoon (after getting some keropok lekor from a shop a few doors away from the hotel) and walked up to Pesisir Payang before turning back. Then I went to check Uptown Pulau Warisan and bought a small plastic container of forgettable coconut shake before returning to the hotel.

On Friday, I walked to find nasi dagang but the restaurant was closed so I turned back to the old Pasar Payang and had nasi air for breakfast. After checking that the water boats were not operating today, I then spent a few hours browsing in the new market and without planning to, bought two long maxi dresses. I returned to the hotel to perform prayers and rest before venturing out for dinner. The rain started then and before long turned torrential so I turned back to the nearest mamak and had a forgettable plate of fried kuay teow.

On Saturday, I went out to have breakfast at the old Pasar Payang and had nasi dagang with some keropok lekor this time. Then I went to the jetty and bought ticket for the water taxi. We left at 09:35. The ride lasted 45 minutes and honestly, I didn’t really find it exciting. So that was a waste of RM30. I walked back to the hotel and read my book.

I checked out at noon and had lunch at the halal Vietnamese restaurant. After lunch, I arranged for Grab to the airport. I had deaf lady driver for a change. We reached the airport at 13:30 and I went to perform prayers.  The 15:10 flight took off at 15:00 and we landed at 15:50. Just like the Firefly flight from Senai, we landed again on the tarmac so yeah that meant having to take a bus to the terminal. At least this time the door didn’t take that long to open. Again, we had to take the bus to the terminal. I managed to catch the 16:22 train.

So that was my week-long trip to the East Coast. I can now tick Dabong off my bucket list. And InsyaAllah, I’ll be back in either KB or KT again though maybe not so soon.