We arrived in Kunming!

We stayed that night at the Kunming Camellia Youth Hostel. It was really nice and only 35 kuai a night. By the time we got there though we were only able to get about five hours of sleep because the next morning we had to be out of the hostel at 650am to make our next bus to Lijiang. The morning of October 2^nd we easily found the bus station and were early enough to get some street food for breakfast. When we boarded, a bit of confusion set in. The bus was rather small and had very hard plastic seats. This was the mode of transportation we were supposedly taking for the next ten hours. Thank you China – the girl sitting next to us spoke English and informed us that the bus we were on was actually the shuttle to the large station where we would be getting on a nicer bus. We had not actually bought tickets yet for the 10 hour trip so we asked if the station we were headed for was the place to do that. She looked a bit worried that we didn’t have tickets but said yes. Upon arrival she was so nice and led Jess and I to the ticket booth and translated back and forth between us and the ticket agent. It turned out that the bus we had wanted was sold out and the earliest we could get was the 7:30pm sleeper to Lijiang. We took the tickets because it was the only thing we could do and went back to our group to inform them that our plans needed to be modified quite a bit. The plan had been to hang out in Lijiang and stay at a hostel in old town that night but that was no longer happening. So instead we spent the day in Kunming. It actually turned out to be a very nice alteration in our trip. First we headed to Salvador’s, a western café that was highly recommended by one of our friends in the CTLC program. She was right. It was an amazing place with pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, bagels, hot chocolate, free refills on coffee, hummus, and so much more greatness. After being on a train for so long and not getting much sleep we all just chilled for a good while, drinking warm beverages and chatting. The most China part of the place was the bathroom. There was still a squatter but beyond that there were signs all over the bathroom saying you couldn’t poop in that bathroom. It was hilarious.

More refreshed and rested, the group started discussing what to do in Kunming for the day. Andrew had done some research on stuff in the area, and Jessica had a Lonely Planet that we flipped through. Finally, the owner of the place recommended that we go to Green Lake Park and head through it to this market that we wanted to see. The park was beautiful with willow trees surrounding the lake and cobble stoned paths leading you through. Some of the group decided to rent a paddle boat and went off on the water for an hour. Greg, Andrew and I walked around and explored more of the park. There was a large section of street vendors selling food and trinkets. The coolest was a candy maker. He took what seemed to be honey and made different picture designs creating a large thin hard honey lollipop.

We walked on through the bamboo forest and on to the Water Supply Museum! Very exciting. It was a cute little place that talked about how the people of Kunming got their first large water system (beyond back yard pumps) in 1918 after getting help from the Vietnamese. After the park we went to the “Bird and flower market”. We were looking for the actual famous market that was called the bird and flower market that is supposed to be huge and sell everything but birds or flowers. I think we were misdirected. We ended up at this tiny little fountain area where birds were actually being sold. There was a huge range of fowl. Some that were song birds, some pets, and definitely some that were going to be food pretty soon. There were also a lot of cages with cats and dogs for sale – as pets not food. It was actually a really sad place and I was disappointed that we hadn’t found the market we had been looking for. We quickly left and headed for lunch. Jess wanted to try a restaurant that had Yunnan noodles because they were supposed to be a lot different from the noodles we can find in Shenzhen. We found a place and got a table. Strangely we were put at one where a Chinese woman and her son were already eating. She was not happy. I don’t know if it was because we were Meigouren or if she just wanted the table to herself, but she eventually called a waiter over and got him to move her and her son to a different table. Despite that awkwardness, the food was a lot of fun. You ordered a bowl of broth and had a choice of different combinations of soup additions. They brought out about 10 plates stacked upon each other with all sorts of things from herbs and spices to flower petals to meat to an egg. After your broth arrived you dumped all the different plates in, waited for a minute, and then added your noodles. The meal was pretty good, the preparation made it even better.

After lunch we headed to a 1000 year old Buddhist temple that is still in use today. It was beautiful. There were at least ten different tall Buddhist statues that you could go around and pray to inside a range of rooms. At the entrance there was a prayer center to light candles.There was a lake surrounding the center building that housed two Buddha’s. Along that building there were turtles and frogs sunning themselves all along the edge of the water. Higher up in the temple there was a ceremony going on with people singing and praying. Since the temple was in use we tried to be very respectful of the area. It was possible to go into the different rooms with the statues but we decided that it was a private area and walked around the buildings instead. Outside of the temple a guy was selling sticks with Chinese writing on them. I wanted to help him out so decided to buy one. As I tried to take it he held it back and pointed at the temple. It turned out he was selling the sticks and if you bought one he went and put it in the temple and sent out a prayer for you. So I now have a stick in a 1000 year old temple that is connected to a prayer from a little old Chinese guy. We finished at the temple and were all feeling the long day that we had had. Deciding that a rest would be nice we headed back to the bus station, grabbed a few beers and waited for our next journey.

The sleeper bus, to most of the group, was one of the lowest points in our trip. Five of us were put up in this open sleeping area. The beds had to be at most five feet long and three of our guys are tall even by American standards. The other two of our group were in the beds below us. They had at least a little space between each other but they said the smell down in that section was nauseating. I was probably the only one who got a decent amount of sleep. I was able to curl up in a ball and just snooze out for an hour or so at a time. The three things that made the trip even worse: 1- Before the bus left Ben really had to go to the bathroom so he left the bus and went around back. He ended up accidentally stepping in a hole full of mud. He twisted his ankle and got mud everywhere. His feet, flip flops and part of his pants were covered. He ended up getting mud on a bunch of other people as well. He put the shoes in a bag and Jess tried to help him clean off his feet but the mud smelled a bit and it just added to the craziness of the bus. 2- Drinking beers before the trip was a BAD idea. We all had gone to the bathroom before we left but we all know that drinking beer usually leads to needing to go to the bathroom multiple times. Marie and I were both feeling uncomfortable with the idea that we had possibly two hours before we could pee again but luckily held it in. Another member of our group wasn’t so lucky and ended up having to pee in a bag because the driver wouldn’t pull over. 3- (probably one of the worst experiences of my life) so we arrived at the first bathroom and Marie and I were out the door because we really needed to go. It turned out that (thanks for nothing China) the bathroom had no stall doors. There was a trough on each side of the room, a short blurred wall between the troughs and then brick walls separating the trough into sections so you could have at least a little privacy. But the side that you entered was still wide open for anyone to walk past you and see you going. At this point we didn’t care, tried to get sections closer to the back and went to the bathroom. Well…when I had first gotten into my section I decided I would face the entrance so that I could at least be somewhat aware if someone passed by. I was just staring at the floor trying to be quick when I saw feet start to accumulate outside my section. I looked up and found three or four Chinese women staring down at me peeing saying “Meiguoren” to each other. WTF?!? China does not understand privacy!!! I yelled for Marie to come help me but she was in a stall herself so by the time she got over to shoo the women away I had quickly finished and through my pants back on and ran away from the situation. I was really embarrassed and mad at those women but also thought it was a hilarious thing to happen. Thankfully Marie and Jess completely understood that it was an upsetting situation.