Jiuxiang Scenic Area, Yiliang, Kunming

Almost 100km from the Kunming Changshui International Airport, there is a Karst Cave which is known as Jiuxiang Scenic Area. There are few well-known movies has used this place for casting. One of the scene in Jackie Chan's movie, The Myth is here. Known as the "museum of karst caves", Jiuxiang boasts more than 100 karst caves and is the largest cave group system in China. The cave formations are very varied and the rivers, waterfalls, and natural rock bridges are very enchanting. Jiuxiang comprises five scenic areas, among which only Diehong Bridge is fully developed and now open to the public.

Take a bus in East Bus Passenger Station of Kunming to Shuanglu Hotel of Yiliang County after that transit by take another bus no.21 in the Yiliang Bus Passenger Station to Jiuxiang Scenic Area. Remember not to get off at Jiuxiang Town, where the bus stops on the way. The journey takes over one hour. After visiting Jiuxiang Scenic Area, you can go to the Stone Forest. Take Jiuxiang - Yiliang bus no.21 to get back to Yiliang Bus Passenger Station. Then, take a bus to the Stone Forest. The whole journey takes one hour and forty minutes.

The ticket price is CNY120/pax which includes boat ride, tour guide fee and chairlift. CNY90/pax if you do not want their chairlift. If you do not know what is the chairlift, do read on. You going to be surprised with what I am about to show you.

First you will take a lift down to Green Shady Valley, (Yìncuì Xiá 荫翠峡) stretches for about 1 kilometer, flanked with verdant trees. You can take a boat ride through the valley and hear the voices echoing off the cliffs. It has another name of 'Love Valley' because it was a place for young men and women to sing songs in order to find lovers. The whole journey takes about 15 minutes and honestly, it is pretty lame.

The guide fee you are paying is pretty useless for me. They will do the service for a maximum of 20 tourists so you will mixed with other group if you have number that is less than 20. So imagine if you only have 2 pax, they will just easily forgotten about you especially when you are indulging yourself in taking too much time in taking photos.

There were thousands of bats living in Bat Cave (Biānfú Dòng 蝙蝠洞), hence the name. It is impressive due to its stalactites. It looks like an upside-down stone forest. 

The cave has been beautified with colorful lights to enhance the stalactites and stalagmites. It does looks really beautiful but once you have been to the most of the cave in China, you know they do this lighting in almost all their touristy caves.

The first cave I have been in China is the Yellow Dragon Cave, Changsha. However, this cave is much smaller which only takes about 30 minutes to walk out of it.

The majestic part about this tour is not all about caves, you will go through caves,valley and gorges. It is not stuffy and hot, you can feel the breezing wind go through you.

Unlike Kunming Stone Forest, Shilin, there are no direction board like this to guide you where you should go next. However, do not trust their direction board too much especially this one. This is a good example of the English language failure in this country. Follow their Chinese direction if you can read, their English translation is unreliable. Actually, you should visit Fairy Palace first before you visit the Twin Waterfalls. If you have follow their English instruction, you will completely miss their Fairy Palace.

The Fairy Palace is actually another colorful cave just like the picture above which you might not see the differences through photos because the colors is about the same. 

A dragon-shaped underground river passes through the cave, so it is called Lying Dragon Cave (Wòlóng Dòng 卧龙洞). In the cave, two waterfalls cascade down from the rock at a length of 30 meters and meet in a deep pool at a depth of 10 meters. They look like two loyal lovers jumping from the cliff hand in hand to die for love, hence they were named the 'Female and Male Flying Waterfalls' (Cíxióng Fēi Pù 雌雄飞瀑).

The other highlights of the trip is the first picture that you see in this post. Male Lion Hall (Xióngshī Tīng 雄狮厅), an oval underground hall, got its name due to the lion-like stalactite at the entrance. It covers 15,000 square meters but hasn’t got any pillars in the hall. It is reputed as being the largest underground hall in the world. Another one is Terrifying Gorge (Jīnghún Xiá 惊魂峡) is believed to be the most magnificent underground canyon in China with a length of about 700 meters and a depth of nearly 100 meters. It got its name in honor of the pioneers who tried to open up this tourist pathway with extreme care so as not to fall into the abyss.

Remember I talk about the chairlift? This is the chairlift where it will take you back to the starting point. It can be very scary when the only safety measure is a steel bar prevent you from falling over and no seat belts. If you bring your kids or baby, please just hold them tight and forget about taking photos.

However, you cannot deny that this is the best way to take a photo of the scenery around you. There is nothing blocking you even the view below your feet. Apart of that, if you are not busy terrifying and worrying, you really can enjoy the scenery around you. It is truly breathtaking experience.

Overall, I have to say it is not really recommended to visit this place unless you have extra time for this place. It will only take half a day. You can combined two trips together which is Kunming Stone Forest, Shilin and this in one day. However, you need to take a taxi which cost about CNY100-200/trip. Not cheap but that's the fastest way available for you to complete two tourist spots in one day.

Ticket Price: CNY120 and kids below 1.3 meters are free.

Business Hours: 9.00am - 6.00pm (daily)

Recommended?: 2/5