Spring Festival Break: Pt 2. Kunming

I arrived in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province at about 7am on the 6th after a particularly pleasant train ride on a hard sleeper and really made the most of the day, despite the weather. They call this city the 'spring city' due to it's year-round consistently spring-like climate. It lived up to its name while I was there, but was stuck on April showers the whole time.

Still, I went to see what I could see. First stop was the 'Golden Temple' (jindian), a temple made from 250 tons of solid bronze. Pretty impressive. It was a short bus ride away that helpfully had announcements in English at all the stops,
although how much tourists need to hear "We are now arriving at the pesticide factory. Pesticide factory is the next stop" is debatable.

It was set in a pretty park, and there weren't too many other people about, but I couldn't stay too long so it was back past the pesticide factory and into central Kunming for lunch and a quick look at Yuantong Temple, a large Buddhist temple that was really finely decorated. You're not allowed to take photos inside the main buildings, which was too bad as one hall was 2-3 storeys high and had giant carved dragons climbing around the supporting pillars. Wicked.

I walked through some side streets back to the main shopping area. At this point I had not been too impressed with the place. All my students had raved about it when I'd told them I was thinking of going there, but the city itself wasn't too interesting. That was until I stumbled upon the old market.

This really awakened the archaeologist in me. It seemed as though a tiny time capsule from Kunming's past had got trapped inside this market and been encased in newer additions and makeshift buildings where it was left to gently
decay and rot until someone took notice and did something about it.

It was clear that someone has taken notice as several portions looked as though they were being cleared. I hoped this was not the case because these buildings were really quite attractive and distinctive. Not enough of 'old' China survives in such cities these days, having been replaced by tower blocks and ugly white-tiled facades that stain within years from rusting air conditioning units bolted onto their outsides. I took some pictures for posterity, just in case, and it's clear from these just how precariously these buildings are holding on. Most have gaping holes in the roofs and have been shored up to prevent them from collapsing. It all looked pretty terminal. Still, I held out hope and once I got back I checked for info on the internet. It turns out that this fantastic little part of the city has a better future ahead of it. Most has been safeguarded and plans are in place with a
Swiss company to help restore what's left. There's an
interesting document with plans, photos and drawings you can see by clicking here. Worth a look. Better than what normally happens - total demolition and replacement with a mock disney version made out of concrete and filled with tacky tourist shops. So many places you see here claim to have been there for hundreds of years, but then in small print say something like 'built in 1978'. The brick tower in Nanning is one example, as is the big red Zhenhai tower in Guanzhou. I know China lost much of it's historical legacy courtesy of Mr Mao, but conservation is still not a high priority. Just don't even get me started on the state of archaeology...





























Anyway, I still had an hour or so left in my day after exploring the market so while still on a bit of a historical trip, I visited the Yunnan Provincial Museum. This was well worth the entrance fee (though I did bargain a discount cos it was an hour from closing) and had an amazing collection of 2500 year old finely cast bronze artifacts from a local kingdom. Right up my alley.

In the evening it was back to my hostel (the Camellia - nice place, crap beds) , some drinks with other travellers, the best sandwich I've ever had yet in China in Mama Fu's round the corner, and to bed.

The journey so far...
Days: 5 Distance: 1680km (give or take a traipse round some temples)

Spring Festival Break: Pt 1. Lanshan-Nanning

So, on Friday the 26th of January, we broke up for the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival holiday. That's 4 weeks for the kids (10 days if you happen to be an overworked Senior 3 student) but 5 weeks for us due to exams etc. Anthony was back off to the US for some home comforts, but I wanted to travel.

I planned a rough 7-10 day itinerary, which should bring me back to Lanshan in time for the New Year celebrations as I wanted to see how a small town celebrated this important event. In the end, it didn't quite work out that way...

First leg was Lanshan to Nanning, capital of Guangxi province. This involved a bus to Yongzhou, a few hours north, then a connecting train onwards. I was at the bus station on Friday the 2nd of Feb, trying to inquire about bus times for the next day when I met a guy who spoke good English (rare here). He was going the same way and offered to help me, if I wanted to catch the same bus as him...in one hour's time.

Well, you can't ignore these kind of lucky breaks so I hopped in a ma-ma-yo, raced home, threw some things in a bag and one hour later was sat on the bus and waving goodbye to Lanshan. It was a pretty scenic journey (they almost all are here) and 4 hours later, good as his word, this guy took me to the train station, helped me buy a ticket and wouldn't even let me pay the taxi fare. Top guy. As if that wasn't enough for one day, while I was quietly sat in the waiting room I heard someone call my name. I looked up and a group of students from the Lanshan Number 2 Middle School introduce themselves to me! I had a 4 hour wait so was pretty pleased to have someone else to chat to. We played card games together and they made sure I got on the train ok when it arrived. Nice kids.

The train journey itself was...ok. Now, Chinese New Year is not known as the best time to travel in China, because about a billion people in this country also happen to be doing the

same thing. I got on the train, but that was about as far as I got. I had no reserved seat and the aisles were all packed. It was all I could do to find a spot half leaning across a table where I didn't have to move too much each time anyone else wanted to walk past. We were packed in like animals. I stood like this for 4 hours until a seat finally came free and I nabbed it. It was not the most comfortable train ride I've ever had, and despite being overnight, I barely got a few hours sleep. As soon as we arrived in Nanning I went to the nearest hotel, got a room and crashed.

Nanning was quite a nice place. Fairly green,
fairly chilled and also fairly quiet. That surprised me. Not so many sights or tourists, but I spent a few days here, just relaxing. It's a big city that is growing enormously fast. From a tower on nearby Qingxiu mountain, which I went to with some friends I made, Greg and Wei, I could see miles of land that had been cleared for new construction. It was immense. Also on top of this hill were some of the best bouncy castles I have ever seen. Check out jaws!! Too bad we couldn't have a go...

In the evening we went to one of Nanning's night-time food streets. This one was situated in
the 'Canine Cuisine District' (狗肉区). No joke. That's it's name. They're big into dog here. You've seen those pictures on the internet of deep-fried dogs hung up on meat-hooks? Well, probably taken here in Nanning. They were
hung everywhere. I took no pictures, cos some things you just don't want to see too much of. I ordered some beef and vegetables, and just enjoyed the atmosphere. A lakeside walk afterwards showed yet again that most Chinese cities look better in the dark.

After a few days here though, it really was time to get on with my trip and on the 5th I caught a sleeper train to Kunming....

The journey so far...
Days: 4 Distance: 850km (give or take a few k's round the streets of Nanning on the back end of a bike)