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Published: January 22nd 2007
Hi again all...
So I got off the train in Kunming around 7am and went to the Camellia hotel and got a dorm bed for 30Y... But before I went to my bed I email a fellow blogger that I met in Chengdu that was sharing the same hostel with me to see If I left my glasses there at the hostel... But the computers weren't working so I called the hostel in Chengdu... The guy at the hostel went up to the room and after about 5mins came back to the phone and told me that they had my glasses and that they would bring them down to Kunming when they arrived the next day... Thank you very much Robbie and Vicky or their Blogger name Occasionally- Bob... What nice people that they are... I then went to my room and grabbed a shower.... Now I came to Kunming so that I could grab a Lao visa at the consulate.... And I knew that the consulate was at the Camellia Hotel also... So at 8:30 am I went down to the Consulate... Well there they have a list of prices for visa's... And for Canadians they wanted to charge
500Y or about $70us... WHAT!!!!!... When I was in Hanoi I went to the Lao Consulate and the price was $30us and because my passport was at the Chinese Embassy I couldn't get the visa in Hanoi... So I asked the guy if I could pick up a visa in Kunming at the same price and he said Yes... I also Know that at the Chinese/Lao border you can get one for $30us... So why is this place charging so much.... Must be pocketing the money... So go to the border and get the visa there instead of getting ripped off in Kunming... So after I decided to not get the visa in Kunming I went out to see the city.... Oh bye the way It was hot out here!!!! After freezing all over China, Kunming was a warm 16C...LOL... I love it... Now Kunming is a very nice place... Clean and modern.... It also seems laid back.... While I was looking around I found a eye glasses place and decided to check out how much a pair of glasses were.... I fouind a pair of frames that I liked and ask the lady how much for a full set
of glasses... She said 300Y or $40us... I said sold and decided that it was a good idea to have an extra pair.... In Canada the same pair would of cost me $200... Now the girl didn't speak alot of english and the Optometrist didn't speak any english so the eye exam was a bit screwed up... I just couldn't read the bottom lines... And it was hard to explain that it was a bit blurry.... We did this for about an hour and then I tried to explain that I would be back the next day to give them my old glasses so that they could copy the prescription... I paid for them and assured them that Iwould be back... Later that night I just hung out with the people of the hostel and went to bed around 11:30... About 12 mid-night a guy comes into the room and turns on all the lights so that he could unpack his pack.... Thanks for the respect buddy.... I told him "do you have to turn on all the lights" but the guy was in his own world... And I just left it alone... Then he moved to the top bunk
of my bed and was moving all around...LOL... This guy would be a pain in the ASS the whole time I was in Kunming....
The next morning A French guy named Roman and two Korean girls had breakfast in the restaurant of the Hotel... Now the hotel has a great breakfast buffet for 15Y... It also includes coffee and juice.. After breakfast Roman and I went to a place called the Hump... which is a Hostel around the center of town... We went there to meet up with my fellow bloggers that brought my glasses from Chengdu... This hostel was very nice with a outdoor patio that over looked a big square... Im sure that this is a better place to stay at.... Robbie and Vicky showed up and I got my glasses... I thanked them and made plans to meet up with them latter in the evening... Roman and I went to the eye glasses place and in an hour I was wearing a new pair of glasses.... And if I can say so I was looking mighty FINE...LOL... We then went to Green Lake Park which is a bunch of small lakes that have paddle boats and
alot of people enjoying their Saturday.... Kite flying and Music and Dancing... We then went to the Yuantong Temple... This is the largest temple in Kunming and is over 1000 years old... We later went back to our hostel to shower and Roman , three Koreans and I went to meet up with Robbie and Vicky at the Hump hostel for a night of Chatting and food out on the Patio... It was a very good night indeed.... While at the hump we met a Chinese girl named Susie and after we said good bye to Occasionally Bob she showed us around to afew places in Kunming... But the place that we ended up at was a video arcade.... We sat there playing video games for about an hour...And it was a lot of fun...
The next morning I had breakfast with the same people and after breakfast Roman, A guy from Sweden and I went to check out the Bird and Flower Market.... We then went to the bus depot so that I could get a ticket for the Sleeper Bus to Jinghong... Now at the Camellia Hotel they charge 198Y for the ticket and at the bus
depot they charge 155Y... Big difference... We then went to a park that I had saw the first day I was in Kunming where they were playing games and where I wanted to put out my chess board to meet the locals... Roman and I were playing and alot of people were watching us but no one want to play...LOL... This was the first time in China that I was able to go out and play some chess but I just couldn't find Chinese people to play with... I guess they might not know how to play.... But the were very curious and that counted for something... Later in the evening Roman, an American named Michael and I went to the Hump for some dinner and just chilled out... We then took Michael to the video Arcade and we were there for about an hour and then went back to the hostel...
The next morning we all had the same breakfast and then Checked out of our hostel, stored our bags and went to the bus depot so that Roman could buy a bus ticket to the same place that Michael was going... We then went and jumped into
a taxi and drove out to the Bamboo Temple... Now this was a nice ride because the temple was on top of a hill that over lookked Kunming...The cost of the taxi was 50Y but we had to find our own way back... It was Nice there and I would recommend it.. We found a mini van that would take us back to town for 40Y and she also stopped along the way so that we could take some Pic's... She dropped us off close to a restaurant that we wanted to enjoy called The Happy Fish... But when we got there the place was closed down... Thanks Lonely Planet.... So we went to a place called Brothers Jiang... We had abit of a problem ordering at the front and after we order we went to sit down at the table... Then some security guard comes up to us and starts YELLING at us... Now Michael is a teacher at a english university and understands a fair amount of Chinese but he couldn't understand why this guy was so pissed off... Finally I said that I had enough of this and to tell the guy to give us our money
back and that we would just fine another place to eat... We got our money and found a noodle house on the street and had a good meal without the Bullshit... Latter I kind of finish my Wuhan blog, sorry I couldn't upload more Pic's but the computers were so slow...We then headed to the bus Depot so that we could all catch our bus to where we all were going....Me Jinghong... At the bus depot the two korean girls that were at the same hostel showed up and were on the same bus as I was.... I said good buy to Romam and Michael and would like to meet them again sometime... And It was off to my first Sleeper Bus... Now a sleeper bus has Bunkbeds down each side and a row down the middle... Their also about 6 inches to short and about 6 inches to narrow for me...LOL... But I did manage to get some sleep .... After about 11 hours we arrived in Jinghong...
I like to thank you all for continuing reading my blog and I do apologize that the last blog had only a few Pic's but it is hard to upload some
times...
Michael
Ps... You can get you 30 day visa at the Lao border for $35us... And Im here now!LOL...
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Occasionally Bob
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