Kunming


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August 5th 2022
Published: August 18th 2022
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Arrival



Kunming was my first stop on a tour of Yunnan Province. I chose to go with a tour group to ensure that I was with foreigners and an English speaking tour guide. To be honest I was reluctant to book this trip. I am not sure why. I was also considering simply booking a flight to Sanya and having a beach holiday. I ended up in Yunnan and with hindsight it was a very good decision to avoid Sanya as an outbreak of Covid-19 began about the same time. Sanya ended up going into lockdown with media reporting 80,000 stranded tourists. There are still people struggling to leave Sanya as I write this 2 weeks later.

Internal flights are becoming more routine now. Covid Tests within 48 hours before flying. Setting up the Health Code App before leaving home. Health Code checks on arrival at the destination airport and a mandatory Covid Test. During the 8 day trip I think that there was only one or two days that I did not have a Covid Test. They are routine now, to the point that if traveling and you see a test station without a long queue you tend to get a test just in case.

The hotel I was to stay at was quite some distance from the airport, over 100 RMB taxi ride. That's a longish trip in China terms. However it was right in the heart of the central shopping district and adjacent to the "Old Town". The Old Street or Old Town is an area that has had urban renewal, the older architecture has been preserved and it is now an area of day time and night time entertainment, shopping, restaurants, street food and bars. Probably more also that I didn't discover. Basically the fun part of town.

After checking in I wandered the local streets, I discovered the Bird and Flower Market and enjoyed watching the world go by. It was a wet day and I spent some of the afternoon in the hotel avoiding the rain. I ventured out in the evening to find a craft beer bar called Humdinger. It proved to be about a 15 minute walk away, which I achieved without getting wet. I got soaked on may back to the hotel later.

Day 1 of the Tour



In the morning I explored the area around the hotel. I found a residential market area and purchased a variety of nibbles for breakfast. Walking around the market area I came to an open air butchery. The animal carcasses were hung up and slowly being dismembered as people bought the cuts that they wanted.

I continued to wander and explore the town through out the day. The weather was still wet but began to clear up in the afternoon. I passed a Covid-19 testing station and as I said before, had a test just in case.

While the official start of the tour was today, basically there was no guide, it was basically turning up under your own steam and checking into your hotel room. The actual tour started the following morning.

That evening I met the owners of a bar called Chaba. I had been given their contact through a home brewing group that I am a member of. The tour was interesting, the beers mainly too sweet for my liking, but their IPA hit the spot for me. I had a nice meal there and can recommend both food and drink for any Kunming visitors. I had the intention of visiting a couple of the bars that I had seen in the Old Town, but by the time I got back there I was tired and decided that bed was better.

Day 2 of the tour




I met my tour mates and tour guide, Ching, in the morning. The other members of the tour were a family of four, 2 boys, and as they were also Australian and had lived in Brisbane we had a fair bit in common. Our tour guide was a lovely lady, very knowledgeable of the area.

We headed off straight away to an area outside Kunming called the Naigu Stone Forest. We had a walk around the stones that form the forest. The land has been eroded by time, wind and water and has left tall upright pillars of rock that are twisted into numerous shapes. The day was cool and sunny and it made for a pleasant walk. A few spots of rain did not really affect us.

Afterwards it was back to Kunming where we were escorted around the Old Street area. As I had already explored on my own, I didn't really pay much attention to the guide. She was very informative however about the history. The guide bought us a range of snacks to sample and a fresh coconut juice for me. Overall a pleasant day.

Late in the afternoon we had a small drive around the city as we made our way to the train station. Here we were to board a high speed train (slow, it only did 199 km/h) and make our way to Dali.

(More pictures down below)


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