Kunming

So arriving in China, it was around 7am. By the time I got through customs and got my luggage, it was closer to 8. A young Chinese girl was waiting for me with a sign. It turns out she was really 27. I pegged her for 21 at the very most. I found out later that she and the driver both thought I was going to be a man! They didn't check the flight times before they left, so they had been waiting some time for me. We agreed to meet at 2pm to go to the temples. That would give me time to nap, shower, and have lunch.

Apparently Kunming has about 6 million people. Immediately being in China I noticed differences from India. It seemed to be more organized and efficient in China. There were 5 people waiting on me when I checked into the hotel.

Kunming also seemed so brand new after being in Kolkata. But it probably is since they are constantly getting rid of the old buildings. My hotel was nice enough but there is no English spoken. After my nap, I went down to the restaurant to get a quick bite, and it was difficult just getting "cha" or tea and I wasn't even asking for a particular type. Since I had no idea what kind of food they serve, I looked up veggy fried rice in the guide book and pointed at the Chinese name. There would be no experimentation with the pronunciation for fried rice since I had such a hard time with the cha.

Vikki was there right at 2. Apparently the Bamboo Temple is on the west side of the city and the Golden Temple is on the east. The Bamboo Temple is Buddhist and the Golden Temple may be the most famous Taoist Temple in all China.

I really enjoyed the Buddhist Temple. Apparently a sculptor created 500 statues of people throughout his life. They are all depicted here in these temples. Most of them are ordinary people although there are a few emperors. Some are almost god-like as they have extra long arms and legs. This temple was so peaceful to walk around. It was almost empty. Vikki was telling me that all Buddhist Temples have similar designs with courtyards, bells, places to make offerings, and buddhas, etc. The grounds were very beautiful as well. Even though the temple is three hundred years old, they keep re-painting it and it looks relatively new. There was also a 1000 year old Chinese fir tree at the entrance.

We went to the Golden Temple next. This temple gets its name because the temple and famous bell are made of copper. There are also many sculptures made out of copper. You can see the places that people touch the sculptures as the patina has worn off and the copper sparkles. In addition, there are replicas of 4 other Golden Temples in other parts of China. These are made of copper too but smaller in size as compared to the original temples. We went to the bell tower. I wanted to pay the 2 yuans to strike the bell with a huge wooden hammer that resembled a fish. This temple was also peaceful and very spreadout. I think by visiting later in the day, it was also less crowded.

We drove back on some highways that were almost completely empty. Vikki explained that they were new roads. China is building new roads as fast as possible to relieve the congestion in the big cities. I also noticed on one highway, that all the trucks were in one lane waiting. As we continued, I thought it might be a weigh station that was severely backed up. But no that's not correct either. Trucks are only allowed on the highways in the city from 11pm to 7am during the week and they would be waiting here for 5-6 more hours. As we continued on the drive we saw a policeman had pulled over a truck driver that was on the highway during daytime hours.

Vikki is very nice. She has only been married a few months. Already her family is asking for grandchildren. The one child policy is changing here. If both you and your husband are only children, you can have a second child provided you wait three years after your first.

Vikki says she doesn't want to rush into having babies as her life will change. Here it is typical for the grandparents to watch the grandchildren until the child is three. Then the child goes to nursery school. She was appalled when I told her many families in the US send their children to daycare when the child is three months old because both parents work and they don't have any relatives that live nearby to care for the children.

Vikki is jealous that I grew up with two sisters. She said it was often lonely for her growing up as an only child and she always wanted a sibling.

We were heading back to the hotel. I told Vikki I wanted her to ask the hotel staff for me if they had wifi and if they have laundry services. Then I had her write two places I wanted to visit tomorrow in Chinese. I could hand the writing to a taxi driver and be sure they would know where to take me. I had a free day tomorrow and then we agreed to meet at 8:30 the following day.

So it turns out they don't have wifi in the hotel. No one can confirm or deny this because no one speaks English. I can't complain because I don't know any Chinese. I will have to increase my data plan from 100 mb to 200 on my phone. Ugh!

As we were driving around today, there were so many tea places. I wanted to start drinking the local puerh tea immediately. This was going to be more difficult than I had thought.

I found a retail tea shop in the hotel that you could buy tea. I just pointed to one cake and some how told her I wanted to try one cup. I have no idea how old it was, what the quality was like, which mountain it was from, etc. All I know is that it was a green cake. It was just nice to drink this tea. I paid her 60 yuan for my cup and was off. This was a small success.

Then I was trying to figure where I would go for dinner. I decided I needed a place that had an English menu for my first night. I showed the bellman the Chinese name in my guidebook 1910 La Gare Du Sud. He got a taxi for me and explained where I was going.

This looked like a nice place. They had seating inside and outside. It was in a nice section of town. I was seated and the English menu and some cha appeared. There were pictures of each dish and the English and Chinese names.

My first choice was not available--what a surprise! So I got a spicy chili pork dish with green onions and mushrooms.Then I got vegetables in an oyster sauce. It was broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, and green onions. Both dishes were really good. I had forgotten to order steamed rice, but quickly asked for that. The three different kinds of mushrooms in my dishes were really good. I was surprised I liked them. The waitress, kept filling up my teacup too. Ah, a very nice dinner.

I was planning to walk around in this area for a while, but just as I exited the restaurant, the power went out and the streets went dark. I walked up to a main intersection and hailed a cab. Having the hotel business card is key. I won't get in a taxi unless they shake their head that that know the place. I had finally gotten used to cars driving on the left side of the road in India, so now I didn't know which way to look when crossing the street.

When I got to the hotel, it was around 9pm. I wasn't on the current time zone yet. I almost felt like I might be getting a cold or a sore throat. I brewed up some Makaibari tea that Meera had given me. It was the first flush and I had three lovely cups while I caught up in my journal and watched Fashion TV. This was the only English speaking TV channel of about 20.

The following day, I was still tired from the red eye and time change. By the time I showered and got motivated for breakfast, it was after 9. There were so many tables at breakfast yet the place was deserted and the food picked over. The items I filled up on were the cookies, watermelon, and dimsum. I would have to arrive earlier tomorrow.

The first thing I did was drop off the laundry at the front desk. They recognized what I wanted and then motioned I should wait. The hotel staff made several phone calls while I waited about 10-15 minutes. Then in perfect English one woman said to me that we no longer have laundry service. Ok, whatever.....

So I brought my laundry back to my room and did some quick handwash. I got a taxi to the Green Lake Hotel. Virginia had recommended a tea shop nearby that had nice teaware.

This hotel was fabulous. It was by far the most grand hotel I had seen here and it looked brand new (like everything else in this town). I walked in and looked around. I will be using them for their concierge and restrooms for sure.

I found the tea shop from Virginia's very cryptic hand drawn map. What an excellent memory. They did have very nice things. I actually saw a tea tray that looked more like a picnic basket made from bamboo. It had a drain system below for the water you invariably spill making tea.

I didn't want to buy anything yet as it was the first shop I was in. There was a cool women's clothing store nearby. I walked in and the young girls were very helpful. I tried on some nice dresses. Again, too early to buy anything. I walked in a few other tea shops nearby and nothing was as interesting.

I headed back to walk around the lake. Vikki said a lot of people come to the lake and I might see local people singing and dancing. She was right and the park was very pretty. I did stop to see a group of people (men and women) dancing to music. I stuck around for three numbers. I was around there at lunchtime so maybe this is their de-stress activity?

I was starting to get hungry. There were a ton of shops and restaurants in this area. It is near the Yunnan University. I walked in more tea shops. There were some beautiful gaiwans, clay teapots, and of course so much puerh tea. I had no idea how you even would start to navigate in one of these stores without speaking Chinese.

I walked in a few restaurants. I was trying to get a pot of tea and maybe some lunch. I was having trouble. I walked in and out of about three places because we didn't understand each other. Then a miracle happened. A cafe that had outdoor seating and advertised tea, coffee, wine, and beer on their sign had a man sitting down outside with a pot of tea. That is exactly what I wanted and pointed to him. The waitress not only understood, but produced an English menu. There were three different priced puerhs to choose from and I could get a cup or pot. She double checked that I wanted a pot versus a cup and then I ordered noodles with chili sauce and green onions. I hung out for almost two hours drinking tea and eating. This was perfect. Ok, another success!!!!

The rest of the day would continue the same way. I walked into another few tea shops around the Green Lake area. One shop had the most beautiful porcelain gaiwans and tea cups. They were fine porcelain and all hand painted. I spent a lot of time looking around and a woman that spoke good English worked there. Everything was really expensive but beautiful. After 1/2 hour of looking around she invited me to sit down with another woman that was trying different puerhs. Typically how this works is that the other woman is trying the tea before she buys it. She tells the tea shopkeeper what she wants and then the tea is brewed in a ceremonial way. As I am just an interested observer, I get to try everything she tries too.

First the pot then the tea cups are washed in hot water. The tea is brewed and then the liquid from the first brew is washed over the tea cups and then thrown away. The second brew starts the tea tasting. We each get a small cup and the tea is brewed over and over from the same tea leaves. This woman tried a bao zhong that was cooked. It was very good. Then she tried another cooked tea the same age, but from another area. I didn't like that one very much. Then she tried a green puerh from bao zhong. I liked that a lot. It was 2010. As I hungout I asked several questions. Then the tea server realized I must know a little something about puerh and she was surprised. We struck a deal for the puerh cake and two handpainted tea cups. I had to be walked to a nearby bank because they don't accept US credit cards. But that was ok. Now I just have to be careful carrying this around.

I walked to the Green Lake Hotel and used their restroom and hung out while it was raining. Then I looked at the map and thought I could walk from here to the pedestrian shopping area. But what I really wanted to do was find an Internet Cafe. The concierge said there was a Starbucks nearby and gave me directions. For some reason, I walked for about 10 minutes and even found the place, but it looked like there had been a fire and was closed during reconstruction. That was ok. I actually was in a great location. It was the pedestrian walking area. There were tons of people walking around. Most of them were young. It felt like Times Square. There were so many shops and restaurants. I wasn't specifically hungry, but got a piece of bread. It had sweet cheese, pineapple, and ham on it. I just walked around. Then I randomly saw another Starbucks.

There are a lot of cars, scooters, and bikes on the roads here. There are taxis too but no where near the amount as in Kolkata. The scooter seems like the preferred method of getting around for the younger generation. However, Vikki told me 80% of the scooters are electric and they sneak up on you. You have to pay attention when you are walking.

I hung out at Starbucks basically for the free wifi and to upgrade my att service from 100 mb to 200. They were playing Santa Baby when I walked in and then continued with the Christmas carols for a while.

At first, the only thing I could do on the Internet was get email. There was a teenager next to me with his parents. I asked if he had full Internet service and he said yes. I wondered why I didn't? I eventually turned off my phone and turned it back on. And that helped. Although I couldn't access my blog except to read only. Very interesting.

So on Friday, I had to meet Vikki at 8:30. I got up early and had an early breakfast. Wow, what a difference it makes when you have breakfast at 7:30 versus 9:00. The place was packed. Almost every seat was filled with Chinese tourists. There was definitely more food out and an omelet and noodle station. One of the young waiters recognized me from yesterday and gave me oolong tea. He came by often to keep bringing me more hot water.

Today we would go to Lake Dian (Dian Chi) and Western Hills (Xi Shan) scenic area. Basically we would walk the road to the chairlift. Then we would walk around by the dragon gate. It was really misty today, so there weren't such great views down towards the lake but it made the forest and trees look like a fairy tale. There are Taoist temples here. There is one section called dragon gate grotto (tunnels, chambers, and steps) that was excavated from the mountain by hand in the late 18th century by monks. It took 70 years to complete. In this area you are supposed to touch the pearl at the top of the gate, and you will have good luck. There is another section where you are supposed to touch the buddha in three places and you will be rewarded with money. I'm still waiting for both the luck and money to arrive!

I thought we would be walking on paths through the park but instead it was on the road. On well, at least I was walking. On the way back we stopped at a Yunnan Cultural Center for puerh teas. This was a fancy place so I was ready for a tourist trap.

So the educational part was hoaky although they had a great map of the ancient tea horse road. Kunming was in the middle right. Xishuagnbanna is towards the bottom left. I was brought into a private room. They had the tea already set up. There was a cake of 2010 green puerh. A cake of 8 year old cooked and then a cake of cultivated 5 year cooked. I didn't realize tea made from tea trees versus cultivated bushes, have such big leaves. This was a nice comparison to see.

First they have you drink a health brew that is not made from tea and has no caffeine. Of course I wasn't interested in this.

They brewed the green cake first. Even though it was from the tea trees and not the cultivated bushes, it had no taste. I told the woman there was no flavor. Next was the cultivated cake of 5 years. It was ok but I wouldn't buy it. They brewed the 8 year cake from the tea trees. That was pretty nice. I told her I liked it. She brewed it medium and strong because she didn't know how I liked it. She said she liked the medium brew, but that usually the people from Guanzhou like the stronger brew. It was very nice both ways. I guess I must have been asking the right questions or just looked like I had money because then she brought out the 13 year old puerh cake for me to try. She brewed it and we drank it for a while. It was very nice. She was trying to convince me to buy all 8 cakes and get a 15% discount. Ha ha. I wasn't 100% sure she hadn't been telling me lies for the last hour. I finally said I would take one. She was ecstatic.

Before I left, my tea server gave me a full water bottle of tea to take with me. This was the nice puerh I just bought and it was still very tasty. She said you can usually go more than 15 steepings and that it is better tasting if you have a clay pot. She also threw in the puerh knife. I did learn some things. If the tea comes off the cake very easy, chances are it is from the tea tree. Also, residue in the cup will smell sweet and not moldy or smokey if it's good puerh. These are things I will have to pay attention to if I want to buy more.

Vikki picked me up. Then we sorted out tomorrow to meet at 1:30 for the Stone Forest and caves. Back at the hotel I had a tea buzz. I walked around the nearby streets looking for lunch. I finally found a place I liked that had a lot of people. I asked for the noodles, but they didn't have them. Again, there was a picture of them on the menu. Maybe they didn't have them for lunch?

So I pointed to the green onion pancakes and the steamed pot stickers. The onion pancakes came first and were very sweet. Then the pot stickers came. They had a barbecued flavor but were also good. I got an extra order of the green onion pancakes. My meal came to 18 yuan and I was trying to leave a tip of two yuan. They followed me out the restaurant trying to give me the change. Trying to tell them I didn't want it was difficult. The woman went running back to tell her coworkers she got a tip. I guess I shouldn't be tipping here. In India it was expected to leave something.

I walked to the end of the road and got to South Road. This little tidbit will help later when I want to go back to the pedestrian square. I will know the correct direction to go so I don't have to take a taxi.

Now I was stuffed. I was tired too. I took a nap. I guess I'm still on the wrong time zone or not getting enough good sleep. Or maybe we did a lot of walking this morning.

I wrestled myself up at around 5. Then I did some quick research on bars. I wanted to go back to the Yunnan University area at night and see what it was like. I didn't really want dinner since I had a late lunch, but just a beer.

So I walked out and it had just started to sprinkle. It was such a light rain. I walked towards the square I went to yesterday that was pedestrian only. On the way, I saw the East and West Pagodas in town. I kept walking and looking at the map occasionally. This area is really happening. I almost stayed right here. But I knew I would be the only westerner. I kept walking.

It seemed a little bit more residential. People were walking their dogs, kids were roller skating and skateboarding. I kept walking and was getting very close to the bar I wanted. I may have passed the street, but I showed a young Chinese couple the Chinese name in my guidebook. They pointed up ahead. It looked like they were walking that same way. I kept walking with them. Eventually we turned down a street. Then we crossed to the other side. There was a narrow street with tons of people walking. They took me to a place called Salvador's. This was a Tex-Mex restaurant in the guidebook. They had a small outdoor bar, but it was mostly a restauant. There were some westerners here and they said hello. I got a menu and started chatting with an older guy. I asked him if he knew the Half Way house. He said it was very close by. It was a nice place with good music and I would like it. He gave me directions. It sounds like I must have just walked by it. I tried again. I looked around where it was supposed to be and still nothing. So begrudgingly, I got out my iPhone and did a map. It had these plastic long blinds at the entrance, but then it looked normal inside. I walked upstairs and ordered a Tsing Tao. Two westerners started chatting with me immediately.

So it sounds like there were a group of 9 Marines hanging out here tonight. They were all going to graduate school at the National War College in DC. It was a 12 month program. Currently they were traveling in China. They had been to Beijing, Changsha, now Kunming. They were going to Hong Kong before going back to the states. They said the day following their special tour of the Forbidden City, major architectural treasures were stolen. The thieves had dug tunnels. Apparently there were hidden cameras and the Marines were never accused.

It sounded like they had a very rigorous schedule. They were in meetings with the Chinese Army since they arrived in Kunming and tomorrow would be their first sight seeing day at the Stone Forest and caves. Today's meeting had ended for them at about 2 or 3 and they had been at the Halfway House for awhile. They had a room upstairs and said they had counted and there were something like 90 empty beer bottles. I arrived at about 8 or 9 so some of them had a lot to drink.

It seemed like most of them had either moved on to whiskey or water now. I allowed the US government to buy my beer. It was nice to get something back.

Some more of the guys filtered downstairs. They were telling me about their graduate program. It sounded interesting in that they were taking classes with civilians (from the State Dept and other branches) and it added greater depth and perspective to the program. I usually stay as far away from anyone in the military as possible but even though they were "pretty happy" at this point they were very respectful. Most of them were around my age or a little younger. They were all interested in what I was doing and were a little suspicious of me. They couldn't understand how I could possibly be traveling all this time. I guess being US citizens and in the military since college, had never taken time off either. Most of them were married. One of them was telling me how hard it was for military families.

They asked me if I had heard about Osama bin Laden. I told them that I was in India at the time. On TV in India, they had been abbreviating updates to the story as OBL.

They told me that in the military they called him "UBL" because his name is pronounced "Oosama" bin Laden. Another thing I mentioned is that my blog was all of a sudden blocked once I got to China. I told them that I just had a small little blurb about the Dalai Lama and Tibet. I said I stated a fact that China invaded Tibet in the 1940's during WWII. They laughed and said "that would totally do it, duh." China doesn't think that was an invasion even to this day.

They told me they were staying at the Green Lake Hotel and there were cameras all around. They said that they were probably being watched constantly.

They were telling me some of the latest news stories. Apparently Jon Krakauer has called Greg Mortensen a fraud. I'll have to read about that story when I get back. Also, they said the latest gossip in the US was that Arnold and Maria are separating.

Some other topics that came up were "don't ask-don't tell". They said it's a non issue now. It's not even a blip on the radar. No one cares. In the military, they just want you to do your job whatever your sexuality is.

We also talked about the whole motor scooter issue and why isn't the US investing in these electric scooters. I told them my guide says about 80% are electric. I have only seen one gas powered scooter so far. We need to get on this in our country. It would be perfect for commuting in San Francisco.

Also, most of the guys had been in combat about 4 times. It was really interesting to actually meet military people and talk to them because I had pre-conceived notions of what they would be like. They were all from either West Point or Annapolis. They were all the same rank and were soon to get promoted.

So it sounded like they were going back to their hotel. They asked me if I wanted to join them. I said ok, as they were harmless. We all went to the lobby bar at their hotel. It seemed like the group had shrunk. But then two State Dept guys appeared.

They were all excited because they had gone to a restaurant on their own. They thought they pointed to a hot pot on some one else's table and were getting the same thing. But they think they really got a hot pot and of pig's intestines. The one guy was so funny. He said the waiter ran into the kitchen when they arrived. They got the only Chinese person in the whole place that spoke English. They said he only spoke about 7 words. Anyway, they said their dinner was really fun and they had gone for a few beers afterwards to wash it all down.

We all drank a pot of puerh tea. Hopefully this would help with the hangovers they would undoubtedly have tomorrow. One by one, they all disappeared. I finally gave one of the guys that was most suspicious of me the url to my blog. I took a taxi home.