Horizon Hotel Kunming

... stand outside immigration at 8.20am waiting for it to open. We went through, no problems, despite being a day over our visa - they didn't seem to care, but were more interested in looking at our passports (especially Tom's Latvian one!) We got back on the bus for the short trip to the Laos border and the difference was unbelievable. <br>From a posh, state of the art border check point in China, with masked military and modern computers... to an old concrete room ...

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... inspiration from the local ethnic lifestyle and have a better understanding of the Naxi culture, while local artists and children who are interested in arts can learn from them," he says. He refurbished the houses as artists' accommodation and studios. However, he had to abandon the project due to a lack of follow-up investment three months after its establishment. He sold it to local businessmen and now it is a teahouse. He looks to Xuan Ke, another Naxi ...

... it was impossible to try and visualize 'potential', we thought someone had just thrown a fit or maybe it was a crack den before! The estate agent didn't even try to explain what had happened in there and had this look of surprise when we said we didn't want it, he then told us that it has a parking space. Another apartment we saw took us up a mountain for ...

... is at its most inspiring in the morning. Apparently feeling thus inspired Christa and I reminisced about how as children, on the onset of family road trips, we would often get breakfast at McDonalds. Quickly concluding that four countries in four weeks is essentially the ultimate road trip, and really, who are we to break tradition; we set out to have an inaugural breakfast. The food was terrible, proving once again ...

... a tiny appartment in a high-rise on the edge of town. There are definitely a few very rich people in Kunming, judging by the cars they drive. It is not uncommon to see imported BMWs and Audis weaving their way amongst the mass of taxis and minivans that make up the bulk of the frenetic traffic here. The other day I saw a guy in a very new looking BMW Z4 nonchalently making his way through the traffic. Given the driving ...

... fantastic, but also eye-opening, as I have taught many things, but it is a challenge to actually think about the language I take for granted and have known since birth. It was also very insightful as the passages were meant to teach American English ("Dude", "Cool with that" and such colloquialisms were all over the page), but also were somewhat critical of some aspects of our culture (I didn't disagree at all). The passages would point out ideals about being a ...

... often ended up finding the correct page for various people and then humming the correct tune to them before they could begin - I'm not sure that many of them actually read the music at all, but just either recognised the tune, or made it up as they went along. The instruments were mostly the traditional Chinese variety, including one man who was playing something ressembling a xylophone. Initially every time a piece ended he would reach for his cigarette ...

... same station manager attempted to charge me 1/2 of my ticket value (55 yuan!) to put my pack in the luggage compartment which led to a 45 minute screaming match in the middle of a crowded bus station before I just charged onto the bus and told him only the police could remove me and that he should **** OFF!@#!@#. I ended up not paying anything for the bag after one other English-speaking passenger overheard and translated to the rest of the bus that the guy was trying ...