Blogs from Kunming, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 31

A couple of days have now past since my last e-mail and this should hopefully be the beginning of a new era in my travel diary. I arrived in Kunming yesterday after a quick trip back to Guiling and then an hours flight to Kunming the capital of the Yunnan Province. This city is huge but does lack lots of tourist things to see and do. Can't complain to much as this internet access has cost 2 Yuan (14p) for an hour and has a waiter keep coming round to topping up my tea. Went to a local market and also visited the green park to relax in the sun. This afternoon was taken up by taking a trip out to the Bamboo temple. Tonight I am taking a night train to Dali can't wait. ... read more

Hi guys, Since my last entry I have a fair amount of information so here goes. On the 13th of June, Nima, one of the guys I was hanging about with at the "West Lake" hostel asked me if I wanted to go with him for a cruise down the Yangzi river, this was at 4:30pm. By 4:45 I was packed and ready to go (as long as I could get a train ticket that was). The guys who worked at the hostel were very upset as I was supposed to stay untill friday and Nima and myself were pretty popular there; no matter though as I took all of their email addresses and sent them some messages. We arrived at the train station at about 5:20 and I got a ticket no problem. When ... read more

Aamulla herättiin Yangshuossa ja käytiin vetämässä western breakfestit (pitää sitä välillä saada jotain tuttuakin). Edellisen päivän fillarointireissun märät vaatteet eivät olleet kuivaneet juuri ollenkaan, joten ne piti viskata vain muovipussiin ja antaa muhia siellä seuraavaan pyykkäyskertaan. Yangshuo oli meidän osalta nähty, joten matka jatkui kohti Yunnanin maakuntaa ja Dali-nimistä kaupunkia. Ensimmäinen välietappi oli about puolentoista tunnin bussimatka tuttuun Guiliniin. Siellä saatiin hommattua nukkumapaikat seuraavaan yöjunaan. Aikaa junan lähtöön oli kuitenkin muutama tunti, joten käytiin syömässä ja kulutettiin aikaa ravintolassa istuen. Kiinassa on kaksi vaihtoehtoa mitä tulee nukkumisluokkiin. Toinen on hard sleeper, jossa saa sängyn (ihan pehmustetun sellaisen) ja jakaa ovettoman huoneen viiden muun kaverin kanssa. Sänkyjä on kolme päällekkäin ja jokaisella on oma hin... read more

Day 70 We arrived into Kunming at around 6am and got a cab between us to the hostel Mama had recommended. Dumping our bags in the dorm but deciding against the kip we had planned so we didn't wake up others in the dorm, we sat in the courtyard with Anya and played some cards. A lazy morining of movies later we went out with Anya and Paul to visit the local park which we'd heard was quite lively on a Sunday afternoon. Green Lake Park was filled with local people, most of them dressed in their Sunday best. All around the park were groups of friends who it seems get together every week to play their traditional instruments, sing and dance together and the rest of the locals turned out to watch this spectacle. ... read more

May 25 - 26 The Chinese border was not at all what I thought it was going to be. Here I thought it would be super tight security with lots of questions and hassle but it wasn't all at. Us, the only foreigners got a separate line and hardly any questions. I just got asked if I was travelling with the other two or alone and that was pretty much it. Put my bags on the security x-ray thingy, didn't even walk through a metal detector and that was it. We walked out onto the streets of the Hekou and it was so quiet. No honking horns or people everywhere pushing or shoving. It was just quiet. We were the only whities around and we didn't get many stares unlike everywhere else I've been. First ... read more