Just got back from my trip to Kunming, visiting my old fellow AIESECer Sven who is studying Mandarin there. My flight out on Thursday was as early as 8 am, so I would have gotten up around 6 am. WOULD HAVE! But I stayed up all night to watch the Champions League final with the AIESEC interns Frank and Hilton. Hence, I was dead tired already when I got to Kunming :).
It was great to see Sven again after more than a year. Kunming is a pretty chilled out city, nothing compared to the hectic pace in Hong Kong. And they have a coffee culture, too! To get started, Sven took me to a laid back restaurant. Food was so cheap and sooooo good. In the late afternoon we hopped on a coach for a 4 hour ride to Dali where we were gonna spend the next two days. It's popular with foreign and Chinese tourist as it offers both recreational activities and historical sites. The town lies between the Er Lake and the Cang Shan mountain range whose highest summit reaches over 4000 m above sea level. The following day, after a good coffee in one of the many cafés, we headed up the slope aiming at the mountain guest house Higherland Inn from with the summit is only 5 hours away. Pretty nice place and very friendly hosts. If you ever get the chance to go to Dali, check it out. The hike took us about 2 hours through a thick pine forest, a paradise for squirrels (there were heaps).
We got up really early the next morning to see the sun rising from behind the opposite mountain range with the Er Lake in the foreground - just pretty (but the battery of my camera just died then, *anger*). After breakfast we went on a two hours' walk to a large waterfall which washed out seven pools called the Seven Dragon Pools. The water was freezing cold. But as tough as we were (!) we didn't shrug a shoulder and went for a dip *brrrr*.
The bus ride from Dali back to Kunming on Saturday night took 2.5 hours longer than scheduled (!). A story very worth telling. We had a mentally disturbed woman in our bus and after the pee break she just disappeared leaving all her belongings on the bus. After an hour of seemingly fruitless discussions (without really looking for her), the bus was cleared to continue the journey. After a couple of minutes later, the driver pulled over again because that woman was walking crazily along the highway, starting to run whenever the coach got closer to her. The bus then followed her at a walking pace for quite a while (we got nuts) because nobody wanted to run the risk of scarring her to the open highway and have her run over. Finally the police arrived and managed to stop her. She screamed like crazy (well, she was). Somehow they managed to make her shut up (?). After another hour of discussions, we finally went on. The police and one of the drivers were taking care of her. For the full, uncensored account, approach me anytime :). Though we got back to Kunming way later than planned, Sven took me to a bar where lots of foreigners hang out. Pretty weird crowd!
Before leaving Kunming today afternoon, I just had to have another coffee. Delicious (compared to the brown liquid they serve in HK)!
It was great to see Sven again after more than a year. Kunming is a pretty chilled out city, nothing compared to the hectic pace in Hong Kong. And they have a coffee culture, too! To get started, Sven took me to a laid back restaurant. Food was so cheap and sooooo good. In the late afternoon we hopped on a coach for a 4 hour ride to Dali where we were gonna spend the next two days. It's popular with foreign and Chinese tourist as it offers both recreational activities and historical sites. The town lies between the Er Lake and the Cang Shan mountain range whose highest summit reaches over 4000 m above sea level. The following day, after a good coffee in one of the many cafés, we headed up the slope aiming at the mountain guest house Higherland Inn from with the summit is only 5 hours away. Pretty nice place and very friendly hosts. If you ever get the chance to go to Dali, check it out. The hike took us about 2 hours through a thick pine forest, a paradise for squirrels (there were heaps).
We got up really early the next morning to see the sun rising from behind the opposite mountain range with the Er Lake in the foreground - just pretty (but the battery of my camera just died then, *anger*). After breakfast we went on a two hours' walk to a large waterfall which washed out seven pools called the Seven Dragon Pools. The water was freezing cold. But as tough as we were (!) we didn't shrug a shoulder and went for a dip *brrrr*.
The bus ride from Dali back to Kunming on Saturday night took 2.5 hours longer than scheduled (!). A story very worth telling. We had a mentally disturbed woman in our bus and after the pee break she just disappeared leaving all her belongings on the bus. After an hour of seemingly fruitless discussions (without really looking for her), the bus was cleared to continue the journey. After a couple of minutes later, the driver pulled over again because that woman was walking crazily along the highway, starting to run whenever the coach got closer to her. The bus then followed her at a walking pace for quite a while (we got nuts) because nobody wanted to run the risk of scarring her to the open highway and have her run over. Finally the police arrived and managed to stop her. She screamed like crazy (well, she was). Somehow they managed to make her shut up (?). After another hour of discussions, we finally went on. The police and one of the drivers were taking care of her. For the full, uncensored account, approach me anytime :). Though we got back to Kunming way later than planned, Sven took me to a bar where lots of foreigners hang out. Pretty weird crowd!
Before leaving Kunming today afternoon, I just had to have another coffee. Delicious (compared to the brown liquid they serve in HK)!
