Kunming - Yunnan Province

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We had a very pleasant two hour plane trip from Guilin to Kunming. The airport in Kunming is in the centre of the city so after a short (and cheap) taxi ride we were dropped outside the hotel where we planned on staying for a few days. The hotel was recommended by every travel book printed so it was no real surprise to find that they were booked out! We should have reserved a room… However we were offered a very basic room in the old youth hostel section for 80 yuan a night and were able to upgrade into one of the rooms in the older section of the hotel the next morning. That room was great value as it was comfortable, if a little shabby, with an ensuite bathroom and satellite television for only 120 yuan. Both the hostel and the hotel room price included breakfast which rivaled the buffet breakfasts that many 5 star hotels offer - lots of western food as well as the usual Chinese noodles, vegetables and rice congee (slime!) that the locals enjoy.

Next day we explored the city area and checked out a few of the shops.Nearly every second shop was a tea shop. They sold dozens of different types of tea, a lot of which was sold in bricks and was very expensive, even by Australian standards. Yunnan Province is famous for it's tea and my favourite Twinings tea is actually Yunnan tea. Kunming was our favourite city as it seemed much less frenetic then other Chinese cities and it is also known as the flower city so the centre was full of flowers. Also the weather was much less humid then Yangshuo. We also booked our return air tickets to Wuhan from the large and efficient airline ticket office in the city though were not able to get any discounts. We were able to pay for them on our Aussie credit card though which was the first time that we had used it in China. It is very difficult to use western cards anywhere in China other then at major hotels or large shops in tourist areas. Around the corner from the hotel we found a great little cafe plus a bakery with really crunchy crust rolls so we still able to overdose on western food. The tables in the cafes were (as well as the tables in Yangshuo’s cafes) covered in blue and white tie dyed table cloths. This type of tie dying was a tradition of Yunnan Province and I planned on purchasing some before we went back to Guangshui. They were dyed in very intricate patterns and we were able to see it being done in Dali a week later.

Whilst in Kunming I needed to see yet another doctor about a rash I had developed. Luckily the hotel was close to the recommended hospital so I fronted up again to ‘The Foreigners and High Level Cadres’ out patients area. This time I didn’t even have to register or pay as I was taken straight into the doctor’s room where, with sign language, she gave me some cream to use. The other elderly men who were waiting (and also smoking heavily) in big leather armchairs arranged around the doctor’s desk for their turn to speak to her were highly entertained to see me. There is absolutely no privacy in Chinese hospitals!

One of the saddest sights we saw in Kunming were young well dressed girls begging. It took a while for me to understand why they were begging however. They spent hours kneeling on the footpath with their foreheads touching the ground and their hands pointing out from their heads. On the ground in front of them were signs (begging letters) and certificates covered in plastic. Then I realised that the entrance exam results for senior school had just been released and these certificates were the girls’ exam results. They had qualified to enter a senior school (school is not compulsory here after the age of 13 years) but their families had no funds available to allow them to go. Hence the begging… We saw no boys begging however as their families would somehow find money to send them to school. It was very sad. There was also another young girl, maybe fifteen years old who had a small baby with her, who spent all day and night begging on the footpath outside the hotel. They were both really dirty - she was very pretty but with the saddest eyes. The baby barely moved though occasionally we saw him sucking a bottle. She was in the same spot three weeks later when we returned to Kunming. We bought food for her every day.

One day we wandered around the Bird and Flower market that Kunming is famous for. It is mainly a tourist market today however and much smaller then it used to be. The market area is very close now to the modern business centre of Kunming and as gradually all the original old buildings are being torn down and replaced with concrete and glass fronted shops, the market is slowly losing its character. Jerry was thrilled to buy a few good quality bamboo flutes here though. The only flowers we saw at the market were baskets of orchids which have been stolen from the forests of Xishuangbanna, an area close to the border of Myanmar. There were hundreds of the bamboo water pipes for sale plus the special fine tobacco used in them which is called angel hair tobacco. We also spent an afternoon wandering around the local park, navigating our way across many small lakes within it. It wasn’t easy to find our way out! From there we went to university where we explored many interesting little shops and cafes. I was still looking for reading material and as Kunming university has many foreign students thought I would find a few book exchanges in the area. We did, but they were all in French or German.

There is not a lot more to say about Kunming - we appreciated the slower pace of the city but both of us don’t really enjoy Chinese cities. They are just too large and too hard to find your way around easily. The maps are always not to scale which makes it even more difficult. In Kunming we needed to visit our bank - on the map it looked very close - but it was a long walk before we found it. And we were lucky to find it in the end because it was totally covered in sacking as it was being renovated and had no signage out front. We did mention to our school when we returned that Kunming was the city in China we would be happiest to live in and they panicked immediately as they thought that we were going live there and not finish out our contract! Misunderstood communication - a daily occurrence.

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Photos

Bamboo water pipes from Yunnan Province.
These pipes have special tabacco which is used but we saw many men using them with cigarettes as well. They put the cigarettes into the little prongs on the side and then they puff them through the wide bamboo pipes which are filled with water. They are not made for pockets!

Delivering drinking water by bicycle.
These bottles are heavy - we use at least a couple every week and as they are delivered to our door 'WE' don't have to carry them up six flights of stairs.

A store promotion in Kunming.
These ladies, via a fashion parade, were advertising a new range of mobile phones. The balloons, blow up advertising and baskets of flowers are very common in shopping streets. Whenever a new shop opens the footpath is lined with baskets of flowers - making them forms a lage part of any Chinese florist's business.

Fresh sunflower seeds for eating.
The Chinese people love eating sunflower seeds - they crack them between their teeth - and the ground and floors are covered everywhere you go with the empty shells.

Linny in the shopping mall.
This gate is a modern 'statue' and is much more attractive then the usual art on display.

Comments

[YangDa]

Bamboo bird cage
Thanks....i like the bamboo bird cage...and how i cant bay this goods,comodity? ???