Kunming, June 18-20, 2008
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2008
1
4
18
Trip End
Ongoing
Kunming,
Yunnan,
China
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Kunming is a much smaller city than the others we'd visited--just over 1 million people live there. We found this enjoyable because, although it was an urban atmosphere, we were able to go by foot or inexpensive taxi ride ($1) quickly and easily to anywhere in the city. Cabs in Shanghai had been about 2-4 times more expensive, and had been necessary after the subway stopped running, so it was nice to be in a smaller and cheaper place. No Kunming Couchsurfers were able to host us, so we stayed at a lovely hostel called Cloudland. It was a U-shaped building opening up onto a leafy courtyard, with comfortable indoor and outdoor seating in practically every nook of the hostel. It was full of young people from all over the world, and it was easy to meet them in the huge common areas.
Kunming is remarkable for its high concentration of Muslim Chinese, so we immediately set off in search of Muslim food. We found a nice place, and ordered some delicious dishes. When the food was delivered, we quickly discovered the Yunnan province's insatiable appetite for spicy food! It seems like everything in Yunnan is flavored with spicy red peppers or powder. It's next to Sichuan province, which is known as the spiciest food in China, so I suppose it makes sense. On later occasions we tried kebabs and noodle soup, which were also much spicier than similar food in other parts of China. I don't ordinarily like spicy food, but the Yunnanese do it so well that it's really grown on me! Even after having been in the country for a few weeks, we're still rabid for Chinese food; in hostels, conversation among foreigners often turns to how delicious the food here is, everyone naming their favorite dishes. One of the things I'm saddest about in regards to leaving China is losing up the now ever-present opportunity to walk down the street and pick delicious treats out of a six-foot-tall stack of steamers.
For us, Kunming was mainly a staging area for further adventures. It's the most major airport to other sights we wanted to see in the Yunnan province, and it's also the location of consulates of all the other countries we wanted to visit after our 30-day Chinese visas ran out. Originally, we had intended to cross overland to Vietnam, but Zack, our host in Shanghai, suggested we go to Burma/Myanmar instead, because there would be fewer tourists. At first I was very skeptical--I assumed that travel to Myanmar was impossible due to the military junta and the recent cyclone. But I did a bit of research about travel in the country, and I found out some things that surprised me. Firstly, it's totally possible to travel around many of the main sights completely unrestricted. There are many incredible sights in Myanmar that we wouldn't be able to see anywhere else; a look at a few pictures sold us on the beauty of the country. And other travelers unequivocally said that the Burmese are among the nicest people in the world. Additionally, Myanmar is actually one of the safest countries in the world for travelers; theft from foreigners is almost completely unheard of. Their economy is so devastated right now that many Burmese both want and need tourists to come. We thought getting to see the country first-hand would be an amazing experience, so we decided to apply for visas and see what happened. Amazingly, a visit to the Myanmar consulate revealed that 28-day tourist visas were available in Kunming, and that they could be processed in three hours. We submitted our applications in the morning, and came to pick up our visas that afternoon. It couldn't have been easier; we were shocked but very excited! So, it seems that we'll be in Myanmar for a month beginning mid-July. Many stories to come!
