Kunming

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From Yangshuo we headed back to Guilin for one night prior to our train ride to Kunming. It was to be a 22 hour overnight train. It was nothing. We brought snacks, some noodles and reading material. Along with a nice soft sleeper compartment (4 beds), we were set. We arrived early morning in Kunming and headed to our hostel. Although it was 6 am or 7 am, there was a very peaceful and clean vibe about this city.

First, it was clean on the streets and in the air, much unlike Guangzhou. Further, even as traffic was building up, it was still relatively quiet - all the scooters are battery powered so they don't make a sound. Like I mentioned in the previous entry, I was very surprised at the seeming consciousness of the Chinese (maybe, government?) regarding oil substitutes. Yes, I probably would have a hard time adjusting to the slower form of transportation but it does reduce dependence on oil, is cleaner and safer for the environment and it's quiet. It's not for distance because the battery life isn't that long but mostly for local usage. With that said, it's mainly for lazy people; maybe the equivalent is the out of shape Americans who ride in those motorized wheelchairs. Except that the Chinese are not fat. I'm getting off the subject...then there's your expected number of bicycle riders in this city. Maybe that's what we need - to get the McDonald's eating crowd on bicycles.

So back to Kunming - it is known as the Spring City; spring weather all year round. On Sunday it was easy to see why Spring City was a perfect marketing tool. Weather was perfect - which we needed after being in wet weather for at least two weeks. We spent the day strolling around the city. We walked through a pedestrian area in the middle of the city near a few malls then continued to the university area of the city with it's trendy clothing shops and cheap, trendy eateries (kind of like the Village at home). We also hit a small park near the university and enjoyed some dancing and music.

During the first part of the day, we were bombarded by young Chinese holding a sneaker (only one) - "Adeedas, Nikeh". I tried to correct some pronounciations - my contribution to Chinese culture. After refusing the first 10 salesmen, I cracked and followed one dude. And where did he lead me? To the mosque. I did think it was strange (and Jill did make a comment in the vicinity of "I'm not comfortable anymore"), but these Chinese guys were small and we were in mosque, what could happen? They take us to the office building which is not exactly the mosque but the other building in the complex, in other words, the mosque's office building. Up the elevator and down the hall where door after door, there are sneakers, shorts, t-shirts and other "name-brand" goods. You could have your Jordan's, TMacs, KGs for a fraction of the price. Unfortunately for me, their normal customers (small Chinese men and women) don't include six foot one, size 13 (or 46, locally) men. No luck.

Later on, we enjoyed some beer and sushi neer the university and found a DVD haven. We stocked up on about 15 movies. We didn't know at the time, but the approximate $1 per DVD is less than half the market price for DVDs in Bangkok. If you are ever in China, look no further for cheap prices.

Even though we only spent one night here, Kunming left a great impression on us. Especially for a city that we never heard of before this trip. It's clean, modern and progressive (alot of that probably has to do the college crowd) and would probably be a nice place to live. Jill declared Kunming her favorite Asian city (this includes Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, etc) which is definitely a bold statement. At the same time, there is not much to do in terms of "touristy" sight-seeing. One or two nights is sufficient.

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Photos

Local Mosque
...site of the pirated athletic goods

Old Fella
Playing an older instrument

Dancers in a Park
Quite a contrast to our dancers at Union Square Park in NYC.