Interesting, yes.  Amazing, no.

With snow completely covering buildings, trees and the flat terrain, Heilongjiang, from an airplane window, looked like a snow globe that hadn’t been shaken up in a while.Contrastingly, my next destination Yunnan, which is in the southern part of China, looked like a giant broccoli farm, so lush and dense were the rolling hills.Bordering Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, Yunnan (South of the Clouds), is known for its great variety of people, terrain, flora and fauna.

The first city I visited in Yunnan was Kunming, where I discovered beautifully landscaped streets, tons of cafes and the most delicious food.My first stop was the Stone Forest, which I had imagined to be a Grand Canyon of limestone pillars where you could take the rock version of the Rorshach inkblot test.Rock formations here have names like Rhinoceros Looking at the Moon, Wife Waiting for her Husband, and Phoenix Combing its Wings.Though the individual rock formations were pretty fascinating, the park—with its manicured lawns and paved walkways—was not the geographical wonder I had in mind.  Maybe I've been spoiled with views of Bryce Canyon and Yosemite Valley.  Still, I had to try to take shots that made the park look like the best rock formation park in the world.

 

This natural wonder is cleverly entitled Elephant Standing on a Platform.

After reading an intriguing description in the Lonely Planet, my friend Allison and I decided to visit the Bamboo Temple, which features these realistic life-size clay figures of noblemen.The Lonely Planet reports that these figures’ expressions include an impressive range of human emotion: joy upon seeing an old friend, anticipation before clapping two symbols together in a musical performance, conviction while emphasizing a discussion point.

I had imagined the figures to be like the great terracotta soldiers of Xi’an taking part in day-to-day activities.After visiting this temple and seeing the rather commonplace figures, I marveled at the power of words to create interest in something I would have otherwise easily disregarded.

Eureka!  Despite our disappointment at not seeing the grandest sculptures of the 19th century, 
Allison and I--after having carefully inspected every expression of every figure--were inspired to capture some of our own emotions while in our self-named Garden of Contemplation.