"Chinese New Year in Kunming" Kunming by akikonomu

Family decided to spend the lunar new year overseas this year (22 Jan to 25 Jan).

The fun part is that you get to play with crackers to herald in the new year. The downside - crowded tourist attractions and hardly any shopping at all since everyone goes home for the festive season.

Also expect sudden changes in temperature during winter and early spring. An unexpected drop in temperature during our stay there had us constantly scurrying for cover against strong winds, and warming our hands squatting over charcoal burners local style.

New Year celebrations

Kunming is also known as "spring city" for its cool, springlike weather all year round and very very blue skies. This also translates to blooms all year round and shopping for flowers is definitely an enjoyable activity.

Places we visited in the city boundaries included
Grand view mansion (Daguanlou) boosts excellent view of Dianchi (lake) and flower exhibits all year round.
Greenlake park (Cuihu) for the seagull migrations
West mountains (Xishan): a steep climb to the peak for an aerial view of the city

Karst caves at Jiuxiang

Short trips made out of the city to

Jiuxiang
This attraction boosts caves as a result of karst formations (apparently 600 million years old), magnificent waterfalls and yellow coloured ponds formed by mineral deposits, as well as a gorge.

However, note that the roads to the caves are really rough!! The roads are under repairs to ease the trip there for the tourist crowds.

Stone forest (Shilin)
Expect to see undulating "fields" of stones and rocks. A very interesting attraction considering that the stone formations were a result of sea erosion! The Earth's plate movements pushed these "field" of rocks above sea level, and later earthquakes contributed to the change in landscape.

Others

Our tour guide also pointed out various attractions that could be visited with more time permitted.

Similar to the "Stone Forest" is a "Sand Forest". Instead of stones, the formations are hardened pillars of sand.

Flower wholesale market. You can experience how flowers are sold wholesale and also pluck and eat strawberries if in season.

• Pros:Superb weather
• In a nutshell:Flowers everywhere