Yunnan - Kunming

Ok, I am finally typing out my journal entries from Yunnan, now that I feel better. Here is the first of MANY.

YUNNAN TRIP
Day 1 (Saturday, February 2^nd, 2008): Kunming
Today we flew from Beijing to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. We flew via AirChina, and this domestic flight was WAY nicer than those in the US. There was constant drink service and breakfast… and the flight was only 3 hours. The only thing that was worse than US flights seems to be the take-off and landing portions of the flight because they ascent and descent are SO STEEP. You feel like you’re in an awful carnival ride. There was a lot of wild turbulence, too. When we arrived in Kunming, we were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful sunny warm weather. Lauren and I explored Kunming for the entire afternoon. Literally everybody stared at us… much moreso than any staring we encounter in Beijing. Kunming doesn’t seem very cosmopolitan, like Beijing, so I think they don’t see nearly as many Westerners there. Many people blatantly pointed, gestured, and whispered to their friends. There is huge park and lake in Kunming that we had fun getting lost in. There’s an ‘island’ part in the middle connected by walkways, and we went over there and observed various song and dance performances – many of the performers belonged to ethnic minority groups. Yunnan province is the home of over 26 ethnic minorities in China, which is why we traveled to Yunnan in the first place. There were tons of old men gathered around tables playing Chinese Checkers and Mah Jong – you see this a lot in Yunnan.
The sad part of our stroll through Kunming was all of the (presumably) homeless invalids and persons with physical deformities, and often times these people were missing arms or legs or suffered from other physically debilitating conditions. Many of these people were on little boards that had wheels on them, like a skateboard, and that was their source of mobility. It breaks my heart to see how these people are treated by society – discarded like trash, forced to survive on their own by begging or “performing” on the streets, like the man who could paint beautiful calligraphy with a paintbrush in his mouth – he had no arms. These people have become a spectacle and are pointed at, photographed, and ostracized. I know this may sound naïve and mean, but I’m glad I haven’t seen anybody in Beijing like that… it’s so heartbreaking and I always wonder about these people, like where they came from, who they are, how they came to be here, on the streets of Kunming. I doubt Beijing takes that much better care of its invalids, I just think they’re hidden more in Beijing because of the Olympics frenzy and China’s efforts to make sure that Beijing presents the best possible image of China because it’s in the world spotlight.
On with my thoughts, though. The hotel we stayed at was nice by anyone’s standards…it had twenty-some floors, which makes it the biggest hotel I’ve ever stayed at. There was a huge beauty salon and spa, two restaurants, a nightclub, and more, all within this hotel. In the rooms it was funny to see all of the amenities that are not complimentary, like special creams and ‘washes’ as well as you guessed It, Chinese condoms. Apparently there is a prostitution problem in China, and you can tell in Yunnan. There’s always expensive condoms in every room and all kinds of antiseptic ‘washes’ labeled “for women” and “for men” and if you read the back, it will tell you of the rather personal nature of these products… plus you get random phone calls in your room, and once you answer, the person hangs up. I’m told that these are prostitutes calling the rooms, and if a female voice answers, they hang up. You’ll notice that many of the hotels have “hourly” rates prominently listed in the hotel book… right near the notices that say no gambling or prostitution, among other illegal activities, in the rooms. The Chinese make me laugh sometimes with these kinds of funny contradictions; they don’t want you inviting prostitutes into their hotels, but they provide you with all kinds of amenities in the likely event that you do have a ‘guest.’
I think I’ve disturbed you enough with that information, let’s talk about Kunming. Kunming does have some Western conveniences, like Diet Coke (haha, that’s all that really matters to me…). Lauren and I ate at this lovely café with armchairs and couches as the seats around the tables. It was so comfortable and the food was cheap and Western and tasty. I got spaghetti and they provided me with my beloved Kraft Parmesan Cheese! I didn’t want to leave because this was the first time I had ever sat in a comfortable chair in all of China. Lauren and I shared a parfait that was good, but different, considering the presence of a crunchy layer of cereal. Apparently cereal is a big ice cream topping here in China, as it seems to inevitably appear in any ‘sundae.’ Later that night, TBC took us all to see “Dynamic Yunnan,” a theater performance featuring music, costumes, and dancing from some of Yunnan’s many ethnic minority cultures. I fell in love with Yunnan then and there… it’s enchanting and magical, kind of unreal and quaint, like something out of an old book. After the show we found a café and bar that was open late near our hotel and we had the BEST TACOS in all of China. Then it was back to the hotel to pack for our first village stay; this was a difficult task as I hardly knew how to properly prepare myself for a village stay, having never done one before. The beds in the hotel were rock-hard, as usual, and I found myself missing my “Beijing bed” because I bought mattress pads at Wu Mei, which softens it a bit. I got to take a REAL shower, not like the ones in my room at Beijing where I have to hold the showerhead and ‘hose’ myself off in sections (Rinse. Shampoo hair. Rinse. Condition hair and wash body. Rinse. It’s a task, for sure.). Breakfast at the hotel was not-so-good: it was an odd blend of bad Chinese food and even worse attempts at Western foods. Then it was onto the bus for a 5-hour bus-ride to the Yi Village…