(NOTE: I VISITED THIS PLACE AT THE END OF JANUARY, THE MURDERS AT THE TRAIN STATION I]HAPPENED ON MARCH 1ST. TO BE HONEST, I HAVE NEVER FELT SAFER TRAVELING THROUGH ANY PART OF CHINA SO IT IS REALLY HARD TO READ ABOUT THE GOINGS ON AT THE TRAIN STATION. LET E RE-ITERATE, I NEVER FELT UNSAFE TRAVELING THROUGH ANY PART OF YUNNAN)
I decided to try out 'couchsurfing' in China as I had not tried it here yet.I went to a New Years Eve (Western) party that was hosted by couchsurfers in Shanghai ay it during my trip!.
Anyway, I always like to stay at the local hostel for a night or two just to see if I can get used to the surroundings so I spent the first couple of days at the '
Cloudland International Youth Hostel'. They have a nice open space area where there is a pool table and ping pong area. The food there is cheap and ok (well,APART from the burger.It kind of looked like the remains of ash from a cigarette although it tasted OK (not like a cigerette [Don't ask!] ) ) While I was there I started chatting to a couple of people from the hostel and we came up with places to go. The people thtat I met were intrepid travelers. Sherif (from Egypt) and Patrick (Holland) invited me to go exploring the area for the day and after I found my bearings (i.e: walk in a random direction looking for anything to eat for 45 minutes) we were ready to head off th the green lake.
The lake itself was nice but it was full of what looked like seagulls to me. I had to be aware that at any time, a gull could land a 'white present' on my shoulder. Some sat that this is a sign of good luck. I think that's a load of sh1t!
Hanging out with Sherif and Patrick at the green lake
Hanging out (or being attacked, I am not sure) with a bunch of birds.They were looking very closely at my food...hmmmmmm
Nice view of the greenness (is that a word?) of the lakeskills
I was regaled of stories of how cool Dali was so chilled out and cool and how to perform various types of Yoga (I promise that I will try that at some stage in the future!) The lake was a lovely place to chill out and rest but the people dressed up in costumes looking for you to take a photo with you before annoying the hell out of you for money was a bit annoying. I remember this happening many years ago on the foot of the pyramids in Giza and the same thing happens here.People need to make a living though so this is as good a way to make a living as something else I guess!
There were many people outside the park drawing those animated pictures of you (if you want a drawing of yourself.) There were at least 5 artists drawing people and they were all very skillful!
We stopped at another place and there seemed to be people doing some sort of traditional dance. I needed to try and see if I could dance with the best of them!!
Joining in one of the dances at the park.I think they were surprised at my dancing 'skills'
I couldn't!
It was still fun to try it though.
I headed back to the hostel whereupon a guy gave me some good advice as regards playing the mouth organ...i.e: learn how to play it properly! To be honest, i was interesting listening to a guy talk about anything to me and then turn his head and talk about a completely different topic to someone else! His guitar and mouth organ skills were good although his clothing attire was a bit unique..
A genuine star but I think the hat could go (but he is not the one with the sun burn!!)
I had a quick t
I decided to pay a visit to my couchsurfing friend Rui...
Ruirui was very kind to me and brought me to a poetry recital in Kunming. I had never been to one of these events before and so I did not know what to expect...maybe a few stoners talking about 'things' and 'stuff' but that was all hearsay and conjecture!
The event itself took place in the basement of a bookstore (naturally) and it was attended by (maybe) 15 people. The barman for the evening doubled as the compere and he was an interesting sort. He was able to spout out poetry in both English and Chinese (of which I could not understand (I mean, I could not really understand the English poetry either!!! Poetry is not my strong point. I did try to grasop a few of the lines though as he was VERY dramatic!)) Ruirui is a bit of a poet so she did her thing on stage (to a good round of applause) but nothing prepared me for a Chinese guys take on rapping in English. To be honest, unless you are REALLY into rap, anyone trying to rap sounds terrible [a bit like the kid in school who tries to be cool and ends up looking like the biggest moron.] Rap is a tricky business!
At one point, some woman got up and had an idea where everybody would talk for a couple of minutes about themselves and what they wanted to be when they grew up (from their perspective of themselves when they were 7) Of course, I remember wanting to be a milkman when I was 7!!! I do not know why really, maybe the opportunity to talk to people while working! But it was an interesting few minutes listening to everyone. When the recital finished, we had a quick chat. I think I was the only one there who didn't have too much of a gra for poetry but that didn't matter too much as the rest of the people were a talkative bunch ...especially the girl who didn't actually know what was happening as she had just walked into the shop and saw that there was a crowd o she though she would stay!
Verdict: Poetry recitals are OK but the chat after it finishes is much better.
Verdict 2: Chinese beer is still too week.
Verdict 3: I need to be able to read a map or I will get lost very quickly here!
The next day, I decided to head off to the mountains with Sherif and Dien (one of the girls back in the hostel) We heard that there was a nationalities village somewhere in Kunming where you could find many tribes willing to dance and sing for you. This sounded like a cool place to visit so we were on our way ..once the breakfast was over of course!
Dancing performed at the minorities village
Dragon boats
One of the tribes had an interesting custom.Once a woman hit a certain age, the locals would draw a tattoo ....on her.......on her face! I had to get a picture of this as it looked so different to anything that I had seen before.
One day (when I am an old woman) I will get a tattoo on my face...
cool!
A few things were noticeable during the visit.
1. Chinese people really do not like the sun. Irish people love to get as much sun as possible (detroying skin in the process. This would never happen with Chinese people as they use unbrellas )
Dian and her friend. Chinese people do not 'do' sun burned.
2. There are tea houses EVERYWHERE!
Some tea (cha) please, my good man!
3. Outsized swings seemed to be popular. I was glad of this as I was able to get a go on the swings for the first time in a long time!
These swings are HUGE
4. Chinese parks are very decorational. Lots of bright colours!
These all light up when it gets dark. It feels like you are walking in a fairyland storybook.
More of the same
Leading up to something big!!! (although, maybe that is the exit)
5. There are many written languages here, not just Putung Hua..
Different writings
I think this is Tibetan
6. The Chinese people like to look after the trees. I guess they do not want them to get sun burn.
I have seen a black bag placed around many trees here. I had never seen that anywhere else but if it works , It should not be knocked...
No sun tan for this tree
This place is well worth a visit as you get to see many different types of peoples and they are all friendly. Of course, that was their job in this place . I said to myself that I would like to visit an actual place where people still live like this and I heard that there was a place down in the south of Yunnan called Xishuangbanna) where this still happened so I put that in my places to go ...Xishuangbanna is very close to the border with Thailand and so it is not too far from Chiang Mai (One of the best places to go if you have time to travel around Thailand)
Bulang people and I
Anyway, I digress....While we were ging through the nationalities village we noticed that there was a ziplining rope so we all decided to give it a go..
The ziplining is nice to try here as you can see the ground (or in this case , the water.)
Getting ready to swing across the river.(Do not let me down, rope!)
In this one, you are strapped in while sitting down so when you are swinging across to the other side (over some water) you kind of turn around and around and around!! It was good to try it again though!
I have to say that it is nice to visit this area as the weather is roasting hot all the time! In China people do NOT burn as they tend to stay completely out of the sun (Having non white skin looks ugly to a Chinese person) so they must have thought that it was a bit weird seeing pepole deliberately walking under the sun!!! I made sure to wear factor 50 suntan lotion though as my skin goes from brown to red at a moments notice!
That evening, we headed out on the town in Kunming.around the Kundu area. It lights up at night with people selling what looks like homemade chips/fries (with a spicy flavour!) on the street.
Chips
and spices======
Yummy!
The eclectic bars are nice if you are talking to people (people are friendly here so it's easy to chat away..) and the beer is cheap ...and you can drink outside the bar on the street with no hassle also so it is a nice place to chat away the warm evenings. The Mask bar and The Moondog bar are two nice places if you are ever here but be warned, the Moondog bar only has one toilet!!! although it does have a foosball table (an essential part of a pub!)
The next day, we decided to head off into the mountains around Kunming and see what we could find...Normally, I will go for random walks and this was no different so I found couple of temples also!
I was able to find the burial place of Nie Er (The guy who wrote the Chinese national anthem and died when he was 23.)
Tomb of Nie Er
A walk in the mountains was good for the lungs but also good for the photographs! There were many small artifacts dotted around the mountain here and the air is clear here.
I am here, I think
Getting a lift up the mountain.It's a LONG way down
View from the elevator
Nearly at the top
treeside view
Only a few more steps
I need some water, Sherif!
Note: Yin and Yan
These signs are seen everywhere
Laojun Temple
I was able to try the local delicacy (Mei Shiang)
Preparing the noodles
Choose your own extra's
Ready to eat (Notice the redness, That indicates spicyness, My body is still recovering from this bowl!)
After grabbing some food, we were went for a quick around the old part of Kunming and observed another temple. This is a very peaceful place so it was nice to walk around this part of the city.
pagoda number 3333
It was nice to walk around here but it was time to move on to the south of the country. I was really looking forward to going to Xishuangbanna as it was on the Chinese side of Chiang Mai and that was a great place to visit...Anyway, I had a LONG bus journey ahead of me...()
Here are a couple of pictures of me at the top of that mountain (pondering something!)
Where are my glasses?
feeling woozy
In outer space
