So here I am taking stock of my things and food should I find that it's difficult to make my way to a store that's open during the holidays. I've noticed that the noodle shop I really liked my first night here has been closed since last night and I think some of the smaller shops are closing up as people leave for the holidays. Places like Wal-Mart and Carrefour have become difficult to navigate (at least compared to Zhuzhou) as people stock up decorations and gifts. I imagine bigger places like them will be open during the new year period.
So I never made it out to the bamboo temple (takes a bit of work changing buses and ultimately takes at least 40 minutes if not an whole hour to get out there). So no surfing arhats.But the city itself has been really pleasant and I'd be happy just staying and wandering here. I've come to know a few people who are living at the hostel too and they've been really nice. Traveled a lot too so we've talked about our different impressions of different countries.
Speaking of impressions, I can't help noticing how there are police everywhere and now there's a truck stationed nearby the market I've been walking through frequently. I asked some of the others who are staying here if there's always been a lot of police and they said that it's been that way since they got here. Little police pods watching traffic all the time throughout the city. But I know about some of the terrible events that took place last year and I'm leaving from the very train station where they took place. I also received an email saying to remain aware of my surroundings in case anything happens during the new year period so that may contribute somewhat to my sensitivity to all the police. But I've felt very safe here and see why so many think they'd like to come back and work here in Kunming. Just as in Cuernavaca, "City of Eternal Spring" and my first chance to go abroad in high school, the sun is out and the flowers are blooming in February. It's beautiful, the air is pretty clear, the sky is blue, the streets are pretty clean...every now and again you run into a kid peeing on the street but I don't feel like I've had to look behind myself for advancing motor scooters quite as often as I do in Zhuzhou. I walked out to find Tian Fu Famous Teas and went along Dongfeng and Nanping Jie and found it to be a very different world from the relatively quiet Zhuan Tang park. Zhuan Tang has people dancing, fishing, sitting on couches by the lake, cleaning ears, and getting a shave. Nanping Jie feels more like a busy modern city with tall buildings, international supermarkets and fast food chains, brand name stores, and kids in teeny paddle boats in shallow pools where they're parents can observe them while grabbing a snack. You can find people participating in all kinds of activities in Green Lake (Cui Hu) park as well but there's more touristy merchandise and candy. And people selling bread for the birds.
So I never made it out to the bamboo temple (takes a bit of work changing buses and ultimately takes at least 40 minutes if not an whole hour to get out there). So no surfing arhats.But the city itself has been really pleasant and I'd be happy just staying and wandering here. I've come to know a few people who are living at the hostel too and they've been really nice. Traveled a lot too so we've talked about our different impressions of different countries.
Speaking of impressions, I can't help noticing how there are police everywhere and now there's a truck stationed nearby the market I've been walking through frequently. I asked some of the others who are staying here if there's always been a lot of police and they said that it's been that way since they got here. Little police pods watching traffic all the time throughout the city. But I know about some of the terrible events that took place last year and I'm leaving from the very train station where they took place. I also received an email saying to remain aware of my surroundings in case anything happens during the new year period so that may contribute somewhat to my sensitivity to all the police. But I've felt very safe here and see why so many think they'd like to come back and work here in Kunming. Just as in Cuernavaca, "City of Eternal Spring" and my first chance to go abroad in high school, the sun is out and the flowers are blooming in February. It's beautiful, the air is pretty clear, the sky is blue, the streets are pretty clean...every now and again you run into a kid peeing on the street but I don't feel like I've had to look behind myself for advancing motor scooters quite as often as I do in Zhuzhou. I walked out to find Tian Fu Famous Teas and went along Dongfeng and Nanping Jie and found it to be a very different world from the relatively quiet Zhuan Tang park. Zhuan Tang has people dancing, fishing, sitting on couches by the lake, cleaning ears, and getting a shave. Nanping Jie feels more like a busy modern city with tall buildings, international supermarkets and fast food chains, brand name stores, and kids in teeny paddle boats in shallow pools where they're parents can observe them while grabbing a snack. You can find people participating in all kinds of activities in Green Lake (Cui Hu) park as well but there's more touristy merchandise and candy. And people selling bread for the birds.
Nanping Jie. A totally different world from Zhuan Tang Lu.
Anyway, what I did knock off my checklist was buying some pu'erh tea. There are some nice places to buy tea near where I'm staying but I heard Tian Fu had a lot of good things and I was a little intimidated by how upscale the place seemed to be. And I intimidated the saleswoman with my limited Chinese since she couldn't speak English. Everyone she asked for help said "Sorry, I can't" so it was the two of us with smartphones and my rudimentary knowledge of pu'erh tea. Although I should say, it was pretty clear to me that I wasn't going to be spending 5000 yuan on the first cake she showed me. I wasn't sure if I was going to get a sheng (green/raw) or a shou (ripe/mature) pu'erh and ultimately wound up walking away with a sheng. I think if I break a small piece off the edge I could drink it now, but the box says 二0一五 (2015) and the back says October 2014....so it's this year's production. Drinkable, but probably better saved and tested again a year from now. Though this is a new thing for me and I'm worried about ruining my tea while letting it mature by doing something stupid like leaving it in an environment that's too humid or leaving it next to something that smells really bad, I'm really excited have a cake of pu'erh from Yunnan. It's like a big experiment, and for every few years that I wait, I get a more mellow tasting tea that's been influenced by whatever environment I leave it in. I think they usually hit their peak after about 30 years. I was a litttle surprised when the saleswoman asked if I wanted a gift or something to drink, but I guess if vintage wine bottles can be a gift, then so can vintage pu'erh. I still might find myself a shou pu'erh when I get back to Zhuzhou so I can enjoy a darker tea sooner than 5 or 10 years from today.
Sorry it's a dark photo. Other this, a pair of earrings, and a postcard, I didn't really get any souvenirs so this is pretty special.
I know I say this a lot when I travel, but Kunming is definitely a place I'd come back to. Maybe I should broaden that and say Yunnan is a province I could come back to. I haven't seen the stone forest, the bamboo temple, Shangri-La, Dali, or Xishuangbana. Or even the place that pu'erh tea is named after. For now though, I think I'm getting a little worn out. The air in Zhuzhou isn't always so nice and it's much colder but it is my home in China. I know people there, I have some sense of the city and getting around, and when I come to my apartment at night I'm not worried about what it will cost me to sleep there per day. I've toyed with traveling to Fenghuang if it turns out I have even more time than I anticipated but I would say I'm ready to see some familiar faces like my students, the other teachers, the family that runs the stationary shop next to the school, the women who know me both as the foreign teacher and the girl who eats tea eggs every morning (and practice English with me), the guy at the coffee shop across the street who seems to think I'm really lonely or something because he's given me another 2 for 1 coupon so I can bring a friend, the woman at the phone shop trying to practice spoken English so she can go to San Francisco, and the woman who runs the noodle shop who always tests how much Chinese I know. Basically, the thing that makes travel exciting is also what's making me count the days until I'm back: being lost, starting from the beginning as you find where you are and how to get around, not knowing anyone and all the fun that comes from finding your way and meeting people. Having to go to the police station and register within 24 hours because I left the mainland isn't too thrilling but it's a pretty painless process. It's just having to go out there that's frustrating.
I'm getting up early tomorrow to catch a bus out to the Southern bus station. The ride to Yuanyang is about 7 hours from Kunming and I'll need to catch another local bus to get to Duo Yi Shu and find my way to the guesthouse. So I need to be sure I'm on a bus out of Kunming by noon if not earlier. I tried to work out how to do this as a day trip but when I realized the ride was 7 hours it just seemed best to spend a few days out there. It'll be a nice break from cities, though from what I understand there aren't really any restaurants. Thankfully, they have meals where I'm staying but I'm still bringing some fruits and things with me. I'll be sure to make the most of it, the train ride back to Zhuzhou is going to be 24 hours long so I can definitely just pass out on the train after locking up my stuff. I'll need to bring noodles...I still can't believe that a small bottle of water cost me 6 yuan when it would be 3 yuan for a large bottle anywhere else.
I know I'll be back in Kunming for one whole day after this excursion, but I think this is one place I'll think back on and remember fondly for being able to just enjoy myself, eat, and hang out with some very friendly people who live in a hostel. And the excellent bowls of mixian here. I think I've pretty much lived off noodles here since a local specialty is "guo qiao mixian" or "crossing the bridge noodles". It's a kind of individual hot pot. They put hot broth with a bit of oil on top into one boil and the other ingredients are on a separate dish so you can add them in really fast and cook everything. It's pretty clever.
I'm getting up early tomorrow to catch a bus out to the Southern bus station. The ride to Yuanyang is about 7 hours from Kunming and I'll need to catch another local bus to get to Duo Yi Shu and find my way to the guesthouse. So I need to be sure I'm on a bus out of Kunming by noon if not earlier. I tried to work out how to do this as a day trip but when I realized the ride was 7 hours it just seemed best to spend a few days out there. It'll be a nice break from cities, though from what I understand there aren't really any restaurants. Thankfully, they have meals where I'm staying but I'm still bringing some fruits and things with me. I'll be sure to make the most of it, the train ride back to Zhuzhou is going to be 24 hours long so I can definitely just pass out on the train after locking up my stuff. I'll need to bring noodles...I still can't believe that a small bottle of water cost me 6 yuan when it would be 3 yuan for a large bottle anywhere else.
I know I'll be back in Kunming for one whole day after this excursion, but I think this is one place I'll think back on and remember fondly for being able to just enjoy myself, eat, and hang out with some very friendly people who live in a hostel. And the excellent bowls of mixian here. I think I've pretty much lived off noodles here since a local specialty is "guo qiao mixian" or "crossing the bridge noodles". It's a kind of individual hot pot. They put hot broth with a bit of oil on top into one boil and the other ingredients are on a separate dish so you can add them in really fast and cook everything. It's pretty clever.
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