Day 1 in Kunming

Our home for this month. Very comfortable room with all the essentials including broadband connection.
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Day 1, 5th Nov 2007

Our Thai airways flight was pretty good.  No inflight entertainment, but the 1st leg to Bangkok we had a very nice seafood crepe breakfast.  After a short transit, we hopped onboard again and had an even more yummy lunch of Thai red curry prawn with rice.

Pasta & Gyros in Kunming!

Zier met us at the Kunming Airport, where we sailed through without any hassle.  Immigration guys were all smiles and nobody wanted to look into our bags.  The day was quite sunny, about 20 deg C.  The private minibus didn't take long to travel the 6km to the school, and then we were shown to a very comfortable room with 2 beds, table for 4, clean bathroom, TV, DVD player, microwave oven, bar fridge, hot & cold water dispenser, table fan, broadband connection, plenty of shelving/cupboard space & even clothing rack for drying laundry.  There are just under 20 students enrolled, and they are all staying in nearby rooms.

Beautiful floral displays can be seen all over the city. Even pedestrain bridges are lined with troughs of flowering plants like begonias.
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The school is located a short flight of stairs away.  There are several classrooms, a central area with mini library for sitting around in, a kitchenette, 2 computers for our use, and everyone had to put little brown shoe coverings over their shoes at the door - I guess to keep the highly polished wooden floor clean.

After a while we ventured downstairs to have a look around.  To the left is the Camellia Hotel/YHA Hostel and to the right is a large sports store, several eateries, a travel service, and a provision shop.  Round the corner are more eateries, and further down is a Secondary school with a small stationery shop, a little pao shop, and a shop selling grilled snacks.  Across the intersection and accessible by a large 5-way pedestrian bridge are the Sakura (Holiday Inn) Hotel and the Kunming Hotel on either side of the Dong Feng Dong Lu (Eastern East Wind Road).  Next to the Sakura Hotel is a clothing store and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I hadn't realised that Kunming is a bustling metropolis filled with tall modern buildings. The many international businesses here include Carrefour, Walmart, Parksons, Louis Vuitton, Giordano, Baleno, Watsons, MacDonald's, KFC etc.
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For our first dinner, we went to Mama Fu's (219 Baita Lu), recommended by some Americans staying at the Camellia.  We had Yang Chow Fried Rice, Penne Pasta, Chicken Gyros and Coke for 82Y, roughly S$17 (gave dessert a miss, though ice-cream, apple pie and even tiramisu are all available).  Okay, that's quite extravagant, and not exactly in line with the Chinese immersion I had planned for the kids.  Manana, oops make that mingtian, we'll try to live more like locals.