Blogs from Kunming, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 8

The Kunming Xinghua International Resort is spread over a great many acres. At it’s centre is a man made lake, over which is built a meandering bridge for after-dinner strolls. At the centre of the lake is a beautiful gold trimmed pagoda. Around the perimeter of the lake are water lilies and smaller ponds of fish and turtles. The centre piece of the lake is a massive mirror imaged gilded dragon. This centre piece sets the stage for a very tranquil ambience. For those wanting to meditate or just have quiet conversation, the many trails which meander throughout the gardened grounds offer just that. At intervals along the path are both marble benches, which encourage quiet contemplation, and outdoor aerobic machines designed to test one’s physical endurance. We often cross paths with other students from other ... read more

I have a huge few days its hard to know where to begin; but hopfully I'll just write and I hope that it will make sense. My farewell weekend was rather sad but also happy at the same time. I went with the other awesome AuPairs to Window of the World- a theme park with minature verions of world scenes- including the Sydney opera house! HELL YES! it was awesome. I think I'll really miss those guys in Shenzhen, they're really good people and I'll miss their company. My family also took me out for dinner on the saturday night- which was sooo yummy! It was sad saying goodbye to them on Sunday though, the little girl kept saying all weekeend, "I'll miss you..." aw :'( It felt awfully lonely on the plane from Shenzhen to ... read more

We were excited about attending Dalian International Christian Fellowship (DICF) Sunday morning, but first since everyone was still waking up early we strolled through the park to check out the local people on an early morning. It is now a holiday season Labor Day so it is in 1st Monday of May so the tradition is to spend time with family and just go to the parks, take a walk, and fly a kite. The park was full of people. They had an elderly band playing with an opera singer. Men and women were praticing tai chi and stick fighting. couples were doing ball room style dancing in the square. Also people were just doing exercise routines. Most people were familys with the 40 and older crowd doing all of the workout activities. So first hand ... read more

Little did we realise, but there's all sorts of mad stuff going on elsewhere. Outside of our snow-encrusted little igloo of a town, there is a massive continent-sized country misleadingly labelled China, in which there is an abundance of variation. It is a world we had forgotton. A world within which exists a myriad fabled magical gems such as cocktails, pizza and the indescribable aniseedy joy of 'Fishermans friends'. A couple of weeks back, we blindly boarded a train heading from the town of Zhangye, (pronounced Jangye) around two hours from where we live in Minle, to Lanzhou, (Lanjou). 'Spring Festival' had just begun, thus we were expecting it to be a little busy and had only been able to buy 'standing tickets'. Cunningly, forseeing a busy carriage, we had purchased two tiny metal travel stools ... read more

I got off the train and bought an overnight sleeper bus ticket to Lijiang for 10 pm that same night. I debated whether or not to go to the Stone Forest (Shi Lin/石林) and I eventually concluded that I didn't have anything better to do at 6 am in an unfamiliar city. I took bus #60 to Kunming East Bus Station where I bought a ticket and caught a bus within an hour. There were only 5 people on the whole bus and it only took about an hour to get there. At the park I used my expired MIT ID to get a ticket at the student price. They said, "It's expired" and I just repeated, "I am a student and want to buy a student ticket" and they gave it to me. First I ... read more