Jiuxiang Scenic Area in Kunming, also called the Museum of Karst Caves, is a cluster of hundreds of karst caves, forming the largest such complex in China. It is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Stone Forest. Jiuxiang Scenic Area and Stone Forest are both karst landscapes. There is a saying that “in Kunming, people can appreciate the stone forest above the ground and karst caves underground”.
Located in the Yi and Hui Autonomous Township of Yiliang, the Jiuxiang Scenic Area not only has beautiful landscapes but also displays the custom and culture of the Yi and Hui minorities. Here, you can appreciate lush forests, narrow canyons and underground caves. The Myth, a film starring Jackie Chan, took this special landscape as a backdrop. The main scenic spots of the Jiuxiang Scenic Area are Green Shady Valley, Grand Underground Valley, Grand Lion Hall, Twin Waterfalls, Fairy Fields and Bat Cave.
Map of Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Map of Jiuxiang Scenic Area
After going through the entrance of Jiuxiang Scenic Area, you take a sightseeing elevator with a fall of 53 meters (174 feet) down to Green Shady Valley. The valley is 1,000 meters (1,090 yards) long with the Maitian River flowing through. Green Shady Valley, also known as Lover Valley, used to be the place where boys and girls sang love songs to each other. Taking a boat through the narrow gorge, you can appreciate differently shaped limestone formations covered with lush plants on both sides of the river.
At the end of the boat trip, you can walk along the path through the Grand Underground Valley in Jiuxiang Scenic Area. The underground valley passes through steep cliffs which seem to have been sliced apart. Compared with Green Shady Valley, the river here flows faster because of the narrower width. You should watch your step!
Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Green Shady Valley
Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Grand Lion Hall
Passing through the Grand Underground Valley, brings you to Grand Lion Hall, an underground oval hall with a pitched vault. It is named after a group of stalagmites shaped like a lion near the south exit of the hall. The top of the broad hall is a huge rock seemingly without any support. A centrally located exhibition displays some special stones and ethnic handicrafts.
Close to Grand Lion Hall is Fairy Palace of Jiuxiang Scenic Area. Different-shaped stalactites and stalagmites, highlighted with colored lights, are bright and mysterious. On crossing Diehong Bridge, you enter Lying Dragon Cave. Two huge waterfalls, called Twin Waterfalls, with a drop of 30 meters (98 feet), pour over the cliffs in the cave into a 10-meter (32-foot) deep pool, making a deafening sound.
Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Twin Waterfalls
Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Fairy Field
Continuing on, you can see Fairy Field, off to one side of the path. Layers of stalagmites, highlighted with colored lights, look like terraced fields. There is a huge conical stalactite shaped like a grain of cereal, bathed in a gold-yellow light.
Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Jiuxiang Scenic AreaThen, you can go to Yi Minority Village where young people perform traditional minority dances for you.
The next spot to visit is Bat Cave, also known as Underground Downturned Stone Forest. It used to have many bats living there, but now there only remains a stone ‘forest’ hanging upside down from the top of the cave. The stone forest is characterized by its great and irregular inclination.
At the end of the path, there is a chairlift station. You can choose to take the chairlift for 10 minutes, walk for about 25 minutes, or ride a horse to get to the exit of the Jiuxiang Scenic Area.
Tips:
It is suggested you wear sports shoes for the paths in Jiuxiang Scenic Area are damp and slippery, and uneven.
How to Get to Jiuxiang Scenic Area
From Kunming to Yiliang
Take a middle bus in East Bus Passenger Station of Kunming to Shuanglu Hotel of Yiliang County.
From Yiliang to Jiuxiang Scenic Area
Take 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 and forty minutes
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