Kunming

Kunming is a seriously nice place.

I've been trying to think all day of how to describe it, and haven't really come to any conclusions - so here goes.

It's a really modern city (and a total contrast to Yuanyang), but is seriously laid back. There's not that much to see in terms of tourist sites, but walking about is so much fun. There's incredible shopping - no matter if your a clothes fiend or a techno geek. And there are some incredible restaurants and bars.

It has nightlife in spades - but you need to be here on the weekend when it's really wild - which is a shame as I won't be here then :<(

If there is one complaint - and it's not really a complaint just a minor gripe - it's quite big and spread out, so to get places takes a lot of walking - although it's a great way to see the place.

It's home to just over a million people, so is the same size as Leeds, but doesn't feel so busy and claustrophobic, and is laid back like Christchurch in New Zealand. But it looks like a modern city - like a super cool version of Singapore.

They are redeveloping it and some of the buildings look like they are going to be incredible. If you like modern architecture then you'll enjoy a wander around.

It's even got a much nicer version of Central Park in New York, and a University that looks like it would be a cool place to study.

And did I mention it feels really safe. Oh, and people ride around on Electric Scooters or Bicycles so the air feels pretty clean. And did I mention that people are really friendly here. And did I say it's a seriously nice place?

Here's some pics:

Random street in Kunming:



This is one of the most important Zen Buddhist Temples in China - the Yuantong Temple. It was built over 1200 years ago, but was modernised in around 1320 AD. People come to make offerings including uber incense - imagine incense sticks that are almost two feet long and an inch thick! It's a really nice calm spot:



The water might look really nasty, but it's teeming with fish and turtles.

Intricate carving at the temple:



Green Lake Park - where the locals come to chill out, do Tai Chi, and have fun:



Kunming at night:



Fountain in Government Square:



The main square: at night it's packed with people hanging about:



On an amusing note, I decided to try one of the best restaurants in town (it cost about five quid so it was really up there :-). I order soup and some beans in a vegetable and chili sauce. So they bring the soup and in it's a huge dish and could have fed a family of four. Stuck in the bowl is a huge ladle, and I'm wondering if I'm supposed to eat the soup with this monster ladle.

So after some contemplation I decide I'm too hungry to care, and remember that at Wagamama you just use the spoon that's in the bowl. So I pick up the ladle and start drinking the soup, and realise that there's general amusement from the tables around.

Next I know a waitress appears with a spoon and I can tell she trying not to laugh.

It turns out they'd already given me a spoon but I'd assumed it was to get the beans into the eating bowl :-)

The next night I decided to put my vegetarian sensibilities behind me for a night and try the "Across the Bridge Noodles" which is the local speciality. It's named after a dish created by a local woman who used to take her husband food across one of the bridges to where he worked hence the name.

They bring you plates with different raw meat, veges, and noodles, and a big big bowl of chicken stock, into which you put the raw stuff, and the heat cooks it. So I go to the place in town and look at the menu (part of which is in English), and notice that you can have either "different cuts of pig", chicken, intestines, or a combination including all three.

Now I usually like to avoid intestines as much as I can, so manage to find someone who speaks English and order the "different cuts of pig". But - it turns out that she orders me the combination....

So it all comes and at this point I didn't know what to do, so the waiter shows me, and chucks everything into the bowl.

It was pretty good, but the chicken was the worst bit, along with a rather nasty looking bit of red pig meat, which had a really nasty meat taste. Rather surprisingly, the intestines tasted OK - so you never know.

I'm staying at a place called "The Hump" which is a great hostel. It's what the Americans called The Himalayas when they were flying stuff into China during the Second World War. It's got a great bar, and I got chatting to a guy from America whose retired out here. It was great to get some inside info on the place. It's where the local Kunmingers (man - that sounds wrong on all levels) come to hang out - so it's a pretty cool place.

It's back to hostels and dorm rooms now I'm in China (but it's only three quid a night :-) and there are three Chinese people in my dorm - a guy from Hong Kong, a girl from Hunnan province, and another Chinese guy. It was really fun having a three way conversation in English and Mandarin, making sure that everyone got what was going on. They gave me loads of great travel tips which are really appreciated.