As you might have noticed I was traveling a bit these last couple of months, but mostly weekends or other short trips. So at Easter it was finally time for something bigger, another trip to China was coming up. After a month in China in 2015 and a trip last year to the Silk Road, it was now time to explore the Yunnan which is all the way to the South-West of China.
By the time I arrived in Kunming on Easter Sunday I had been up for more than 24 hours and was dead tired. Without a hitch I found the airport shuttle and then took a cab to the Upland Youth Hostel, just as it was described in the directions on the website. I was already a seasoned traveler when it came to China.
My room at the Upland hostel surprised me, the single room was spacious with a large bed, a tv and a really nice bathroom. Also the common room looked inviting and provided a VPN line to get into social media. I was really happy with my accommodation especially since it was right next to the Green Lake Park.
common room Upland hostel @Kunming
I had a nap for about two hours (couldn’t get up after just one) and then headed for the park which is a huge area close to downtown.
Green Lake Park @Kunming
how these fish survive in the lake is beyond me @Kunming
Even though the weather was overcast and threatening rain the park was full with people. Most astonishing were the different singers and dancing groups right next to each other. So that all kinds of music would blend into each other. It sounded more like a cacophony. But let’s be fair here, some individuals already sounded as if the were strangling a cat. I uploaded a couple of videos to my Youtube channel for you to get an impression, but my personal favorite is here.
dancing in Green Lake Park @Kunming
I was looking for a nice coffee-house to while away the rest of the afternoon due to more rain. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the French Café indicated on the map (which can also be because of my map reading skills). I ended in a soup bar, wanting to try the crossing the bridge noodles, a well-known dish of the Yunnan cuisine. I ended up ordering something totally different although with noodles. It was super spicy and instead of thin slices of pork I had a slab of beef in it. Even with my advanced chop stick skills I couldn’t tackle that.
I call myself a seasoned China traveler but I totally forgot how to eat soup. Just slurping the soup gave me with spills on my pants and shirt. The mouth has to stay right over the soup bowl. There is no bringing the food to the mouth here, just plain bad table manners are asked for. It was the perfect start to my vacation, that evening I already washed my only pants in the sink. From here on it could only get better. Yours, Pollybert
