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Published: September 26th 2007
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Waiting for the next flight
Plane travel is not all that conducive to good sleep! Here's goes, my first entry in this travelblog site. I'm not sure what I need to do so this is likely to be quite an interesting session.
Well, Marg, Sue & I got here intact. The flights involved from Melb to here, Kunming, were long & tiring & broken by a 7hr wait at Bangkok Airport. We were poorly slept, as would be expected, and saw the opportunity for a relaxing shoulder massage at Bangkok to rub away the knots and kinks one picks up in the close confinement of economy flying. Boy, were we wrong. These petite ladies had the strongest fingers, and elbows, and weren't afraid to use them. I had opted for the 45min service and spent most that time in that place somewhere between pleasure and pain and in fear that I would not be able to stifle the yell that should accompany the next manipulation.
Flew from Bangkok to Kunming stopping briefly at Chang Mai. Finally arrived Kunming at 5ish. We had accom organised at the Camelia, a budget hotel, but Marg & Sue saw the need to upgrade to a better standard of room.
Kunming is not quite the culture shock we had imagined. It
Breakfast
Brekky included an interesting selection of cooked vegies! is an attractive city with wide tree-lined streets and very clean. The major hurdle, of course, is the language barrier. We have strolled around, got lost, got found again and very much enjoyed the experience. We found some great alley ways with very interesting shops and sights. It rained all yesterday but we still hoofed it around with Marg & Sue finding opportunities to shoe shop! There are very few historic sights to be found as much has been demolished & replaced. The very few older buildings don't rate a mention in our guide book or have very little profile here. One 'palace' we found - with the fancy curvy tile work, etc - houses antique vendors nowadays.
The food has been very interesting as we have often not been at all sure what we are really ordering. Some places, catering for westerners, have picture books of the meals you can buy. The tastes and textures are quite different from the, so-called, Chinese cuisine we experience at home. Our best meal was yesterday we we happened upon a dining place chockers with locals, not an English word written or spoken. Marg & Sue merely went to the area where all
Friendly local.
Sue had blokes hitting on her right, left & centre. the raw ingredients were displayed, pointed out a few items, and we feasted on a great selection of superbly prepared meats and vegetables.
Breakfast is included in our accommodation and offers quite a range of cooked vegetables, some fresh fruits, a porridge like cereal and some bread or pastry.
One of our main objectives, here in Kunming, was to set up other legs of our travel. Much of this could not be done from out of China as it involved the Tibet area and the acquisition of various permits as well as the necessity to be travelling as part of a tour group. We have had to shelve the plan to train from Xian to Lhasa, one of our bigger dreams, as it can't be done from here, at this time with the national holiday looming. But we have now set in place a flight from Xian to Lhasa, 4 days in Lhasa, and then an overland trip to Kathmandu via Everest base camp. This last leg will involve we three plus a car, a driver and a guide for the 4/5 days to cross the China-Nepal border.
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