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Morning call came in at 7am. Took a quick shower and
off for breakfast. We had buffet.
The first place to visit that day was the Golden Temple. It is also known as Tongwa Temple, located
on top of Mingfeng (Singing Phoenix) Hill. This temple was built in 1671 and it is the largest bronze work of architecture
in China. Double-tiered, 25 feet wide, 21 feet high, ensconced on two platforms of marble, the Golden Temple has a dark patina
and looks its age. (Source:http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/yunnan/kunming/golden_temple.htm)
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| Entrance to the Golden Temple. |
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| Posing outside the temple. |
At 12 noon, we stopped at this fascinating "dwarfs"
restaurant for lunch, or rather… a food outlet for kids. Stub tables, short stools and pieces of grass were scattered
on the floor as carpet.
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| Lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Lee. |
Stomachs filled. We proceeded to Jiuxiang Cave, a major Kunming tourist spot, famous for its limestone caves. In fact, this wonderful area even has an underground
waterfall and a breathtaking gorge. "The Field of the Gods" is one of the cave's main attractions. Water flows down from a hole in the cave here and is
split into two at the spot where it falls.
We took an elevator down to river level. Here, we boarded
a boat trip in between the narrow gorge while looking left and right at the variegated formation of rocks. Beautiful. The
water had an eerie green glow though. Take away hustles and noises, take away bunches of tourists, and this would be the perfect
place to shoot anacondas series.
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| Walking in. |
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| Boat ride. |
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| Cave exit. |
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| Me and Jian. |
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Next, into the cave.
They didn’t want to climb. Mom, dad, Jian, aunts
and some uncles waited at the exit while I followed the rest to climb some 200 steps up the cave for a splendid view of stalactites
and stalagmites. The dimly lit grotto was the biggest display of fossil formations I have ever witnessed.
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| The place was colourfully lit. |
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| Another view of the cave. |
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| The setting is so Lara Croft. |
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Before dinner, we stopped by bao3 su4 lin2, a Chinese medicine branch. Here, they placed us in a room, treated us like
students. With 3 smooth speaking sales person disguised as saints-who-wana-share-good-things-with-you, they began promoting
a variety of products. One of the girls held onto a burning steel chain and got her palm burnt. Thereafter, applied this SUPER
cream to avoid blister and to reconstruct every diameter of her fried epidermis. Dad ended up buying one. It cost
about RMB400.
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