Kunming

To reach Kunming I spent nearly 25 hours in transit.

Woke up in Yangshuo at 5:30am. Hopped on a 6am bus to Guilin, where my train was to leave at 8:30. Was a bit worried when the bus spent the first 30 minutes driving around Yangshuo in circles trying to round up enough passengers to make the trip profitable. Arrived in Guilin on time, and then boarded the train where I would spend the next 22 hours.

After my previous glowing experience on the overnight train to Guilin, this one was a bit of a disappointment. In retrospect, this is more or less what I expected before I arrived in China. The train was older, dirtier, and lacked carpets, lights, and air conditioning. I don't mean to whine. It really wasn't so bad. It was pretty similar to the trains in India. I shared my compartment with an Israeli couple fresh out of their mandatory army service and an adorable little Chinese girl who treated the bunks like monkey bars and invaded all our space (which we didn’t mind because she was so cute and adorable).

The scenery was gorgeous. Green farmland, picturesque villages, fruit orchards, hills, woods, rivers, a man taking his ducks for a walk. We climbed quite a bit in elevation. As a result there were lots of tunnels. The construction of this railroad was no easy feat. To say that Chinese infrastructure is impressive is an understatement.

Some observations on the train:

Chinese bring thermoses with them full of tea leaves. Hot water is available on board the train so they can make tea, and instant noodles.

Some Chinese men like to walk around trains with their shirts off so their potbellies can breathe.

The trains, just like the buses, blast pop music through the on-board sound system. It's pretty funny. One minute it's cheesy Chinese love songs. Then Chinese punk rock. Then Chinese covers of songs from Les Miserables. There’s a really catchy song that I hear all over. In it, the popstar sings mostly in Chinese, but the chorus has one lyric in English: "You are my superstar"!

And every grade crossing is manned! Grade crossing are where surface roads cross the train tracks. In the United States, grade crossings are usually equipped with automatic gates with bells and flashing lights. But here, each grade crossing has a manually operated gate and a little gatehouse. It is someone's job to sit there all day watching for trains and open and close the gates by hand. Wow.

This was the first day on my trip without rain. As a result, I saw my first Chinese sunset aboard the train.

The trip grew weary when our electric fan broke down. I wanted to leave the window open for circulation, but there were so many tunnels and every time we went through a tunnel the train became a vortex of wind and everything blew all over the place and it was incredibly loud.

Finally we arrived in Kunming at a bright and early 6am.

I decided at this point that rather than spend a night in Kunming, I would book a ticket on an overnight train that night and spend the day (16 hours) exploring the city. I stored my bag and set out at 7am.

I loved Kunming. Because the city is a mile high the air is fresher, the humidity is lower, and the temperature is more comfortable. In fact, everything about Kunming was great! And I had my second day in a row of no rain! As I wandered through the city early on Saturday morning I was delighted to see all the activity on the streets. Kunming is full of gardens, public plazas, parks, and pedestrian streets. Everywhere people were practicing Tai Chi, exercising, walking their dogs, playing cards or chess, or dancing with swords.

Kunming's residents apparently love dogs. The dogs are all tiny little things. Maybe that's because most people live in small apartments. People dress their dogs up in doll clothes and pamper them just like Paris Hilton does.

Cuihu Park is the largest of the parks in the city center. Tree-lined paths and bridges weave around and across ponds and streams. The park functions as public space for singers, dancers, and musicians. All over the park are impromptu performances of Chinese classical music. One of the instruments commonly used is a woodwind instrument that looks a bit like a clarinet crossed with an opium pipe.

North of the park is the lovely Yunnan University campus. Lots of students were outdoors studying on picnic tables under trees. The neighborhood around the university is funky and eclectic, full of cheap eateries and music stores, just like an American college town.

I tried to find the Golden Temple. I followed Let's Go's directions, but never found it. I did however enjoy my walk several kilometers out into suburban Kunming. I saw a kitchenware store with a giant photo of the owner shaking hands with Bill Clinton. Walking out this long suburban street I really felt that I was "off the beaten path". In fact, go to the suburbs of most ANY tourist city, and you're effectively "off the beaten path”. It may not be picturesque or quaint, but it's real, and it's how most people in cities live. I enjoyed walking without any particular destination in mind. I went into a Mercedes dealership to see what the going rate was. 1,370,000 RMB. That's $171,000. Wow. Big mark-up.

Some store signs I observed: "Unsightly and Peculiar - A Clothing Store", "Abundant Big Stationary Thing Supermarket". Yup.

When I was tired of walking, I hopped on a bus, not knowing where it would take me. I was definitely beyond my map's margins, but once I located a familiar landmark—the river—I used my innate geographic senses to find my way back to the city center.

Back in the center I visited a 4 floor Wal-Mart. What an adventure. In some ways it looks very much like a Wal-Mart, abounding with cheap, mass-produced goods. But some things are different. The grocery department, for has vegetables and fruits not found in the United States, and a full staff of butchers.