We arrived in Kunming this morning after 10 hours on a sleeper bus from the Vietnam/China border. We didn't sleep very well, which doesn't make sense as we were lying down in a bed with duvets and pillows, and I am usually just sat upright on an overnight bus. It was like trying to sleep on a roller coaster again! There was a baby crying and the bus was freezing cold. We checked into the Camellia Hotel at 6.30am and went for a buffet breakfast. We tried to learn a little Chinese over breakfast as not many people speak English as we discovered on the bus last night. Also we have to get used to yet another currency! We were exhausted and once we were shown to our dorm we crashed out for a few hours. There doesn’t seem much to do here in Kunming so it is more of a stopover.
Cat and I walked around the city and was shocked at how quiet it is, and how little traffic there is compared to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh where it is just crazy! China so far has had a good impression on me. A little girl came up to me before and said ‘ hello, welcome to Kunming!’ A nice change from children demanding money!
I am now tasting my first Chinese beer – a Yanjing Lemon Beer – tastes like shandie. Sampling the beer comes third after learning how to say hello and thank you and adjusting to the currency. My favourite is still Beer Laos though.
There`s not many westerners walking around, but when we went exploring & stumbled across the university area we ran into quite a few.
When we left we hadfallen in love with Kunming - it has a very cosmopolitan feel and there are lots of foreign students learning mandarin, its definately a place I could stay.