Blogs from Kunming, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 32

Hi Le. Li Jing Le. Thanks for the drinks and the lunch and for introducing us to your friends. I've bought a camera now and you'll see the results when we get to Hong Kong. Hope you're well. Here's a few pictures that we took when we were in Kunming. Nathalie & Jason ... read more

First Impressions of China Arriving in China is like getting hit with a tonne of bricks, thousands upon thousands of cultural bricks which individually could be handled with ease, but in such numbers are just totally overwhelming. Even the smallest task, such as finding lunch, can become a headache here as English is virtually non-existant. Of course, the local people are friendly and willing to help you out, if only you could explain to them what it is that you are after. You end up making a hell of a lot of mistakes and eating a lot of rubbish food, but hey, this is what travelling is all about - learning to cope. Actually, I hope travelling is not about rubbish food, that would really cramp my style. After missing my first bus from Hekou to ... read more

Imagine my childish delight to find out our hostel (the Hump) in Kunming is on a road called Fuxing Cun. Brilliant! I must apologise for my rant against Pandas in the last blog, but seriously: no-one would care less about them if they wern't so damn cute. Anyway. Back to Kunming. We opted for the much more sensible plane ride (1hr) opposed to the train (22hr). Flight was ok and it was nice to land in warm weather. I can dispose of the jumper for the first time since Honkers and hopefully that will be last of that. Kunming is definitely the nicest city so far in China. It is much more green and has a much more mediterranean feel to it. Unfortunately we only have a couple of days to enjoy it. The only ... read more

The flight to Kunming was very much like the flight from Changsha to Shanghai -- painless. Once again, I was amazed by how quickly everyone boarded the plane. In Changsha, we managed to start the boarding process just fifteen minutes before the scheduled departure and we left on time. In Xi'An, we were done boarding (a packed 767, mind you) fifteen minutes before the scheduled departure. One other thing about Chinese flights, the captain never once came on the intercom. Our "purser" took care of all of the announcements -- in Chinese and English too, mind you. The other thing I love is leaving (or arriving) in a city of 5+ million people and not even waiting behind a single aircraft to take off. Will the wonders never cease?! I managed to catch a public bus ... read more

“Yes - here I am!” In the famous and always warm “spring-city” Kunming! Predominantly famous as drugs-import place, as it is located close to Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. And warm, because of its southern location. Well, what can I say, I just arrived on time after the first snow-storm for ages rushed over the city. What was left over, was cold & gray, not the best conditions for my regeneration of a winter-stay in Beijing! And: they don’t have any heating south of Yangtze River, which brought me to the fast decision: my stay here won’t take too much time. I first checked in into “Hump Youth Hostel”; although conditions were not as satisfying as in Chengdu, at least the prices were more than the double … well, at this point things just could turn better! ... read more