Kunming in Yunnan Province has a completely different feeling from Yunnan. Instead of the chill smog of the Northern Cities. We arrived to a city with flowers, blue skies, pleasant streets to walk in, and even more surprisingly cars seem to obey mostly pedestrian lights so you can cross the road without being mowed down by cars turning left. Admittedly there are still scooters, bicycles and the odd bus to avoid but a really pleasant city. People walk slowly here, girls sit on scooters as if it was Italy. People chat in the squares - what a difference to the determined thrust of the Shanghai or Beijing crowds.

We headed into town from the airport by taxi without hassle and found the New Era Hotel, basically a Chinese business hotel right in the centre of town. The welcome was really friendly with an English speaking Sarah sorting everything possible.

The following day we took a car to the Stone Forest, a journey of about 60km. Our driver headed out through the flyovers, past the broken down trucks and dented cars on the flyovers to the expressway East. The motorway system in China is an amazing exercise in infrastructure. Perhaps not a surprise when you consider all the Central Committee are engineers. Still this massive country is criss crossed with motorways of a higher standard than you would find in the UK or the US. In most cases a private company leases them and charges tolls. However, the sight of people wearing Vietnamese style straw hats walking across the motorway with a broom and dustpan to clean the road still comes as a surprise. The odd bicyclist will cycle down the hard shoulder the wrong way and occasionally a horse and cart appear from the opposite direction. Huge trucks charge along the roads but curiously they are not covered as in the UK with a hard roof, but simply have loads tied with tarpaulin and rope.

The motorway cuts through river valleys which have been tamed by a series of dams. All the agriculture seems to be small scale horticulture. The plots are small and there is no sign of tractors. The small plots, invariably terraced and irrigated are ploughed either by water buffalo or small cultivators. A striking contrast to the cities where every shop is selling the latest phone or electronic device.

As we rise higher the scenery changes to limestone karst. At our destination even the roundabout circles limstone pillars. Whichever way you look you can see limestone pillars.

The stone forest is a national park and has been highly developed as a tourist destination. Young women in local costume are everywhere, encouraging you to buy a guide or take a tour. There is a perimeter road around which electric carts drive Chinese tour groups to the main beauty spots. These can be quite crowded. However, simply stepping off onto the numerous paths in the forest of limestone pillars brings solitude. Once we had stepped off the main track we only saw three or four people. The tourist route concentrates on specific named stones with a resemblance to living things or people. Some of the most spectacular scenery is to be found on the narrow maze of paths in the interior. Deep gorges and caves, high pillars, spectacular formations all can be enjoyed in peace and calm.

We returned via the small village to the north of the park. Small scale cultivation is cheek to jowl with the park, and villagers struggle to make a living, growing corn and vegetables using hand ploughs side by side with all the paraphernalia of modern tourism.

We returned to Kunming to continue our exploration of the town. Near to the university we found streets of small boutique shops selling trendy young people's clothes interspersed with numerous friendly cafes, and close by towards the lake more classy restaurants. Truly a pleasant city.

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