For the most part, we have enjoyed our fourth trip to this huge country.  During those trips, we have had the opportunity to visit many of the wonders of the world and have seen so many things that “two kids from Abilene, Texas” had no business ever seeing.  We both realize just how blessed we are!!!!

At this point there are no definite plans to return to China, but we have learned to “never say never”!!!

We found the Chinese people to be very friendly and interested in us two round-eyes.  We decided  that the Kunming area seems to be more parochial than the other populations that we visited, but that is probably because it is a rural city of merely 5 million people….just a small town by Chinese standards. 

This country has much potential, but we feel that the biggest problem is that the people are not taught how to think.  The school students  are taught by rote memorization and often seem to draw a blank when something is different than normal.  If they are ever given the go-ahead to think, it will certainly be a country to be dealt with!!!!

The other concern that I have for the future of China is the fact that, since they have a one-child policy, there are a whole generation of “Only-Children” who will soon be stepping into all of the leadership roles in businesses and government.  We found that many of the children seem to be fairly spoiled which makes sense since the parents are trying to protect their only offspring and I wonder how this will effect the outlook of the nation.  It will be interesting to watch as this phenomenon develops in the next 20 to 30 years!!!

Finally, thanks for traveling along with us and especially for your comments….it has been such fun to share our adventures.

On Wednesday morning we headed to the Kunming airport one last time, this time serenaded by the Cabbie’s personal music choice….apparently a Chinese musical of some sort.  Just listen…………

Tuesday in Kunming dawned extremely smoggy.  We are not sure why, but this is the most smog that we have seen here and it is not at all fun to be out in!!!

Michael had to make a final trip to KIZ  and I needed to purchase the all important suitcase so we headed out in opposite directions.  I walked back to Carrefour and into the business and tourist district of Kunming.  As it was fairly early, the streets were not very crowded and I was able to get some good, fast exercise.

I passed a crowd of people and realized that they were lined up waiting for the bank to open…..

I am sure that these officially dressed men would have been happy to give me a massage or further diagnose my ailments…..

I remembered this fountain from our first trip…..

….and I once again passed these benches that are built to be very far off of the ground.  Most Chinese people cannot sit on them with their feet on the ground!!!

Just outside the entrance to Carrefour, there is a vendor selling all sorts of dried fruits, nuts and other things that I was too scared to ask about…..

I returned to the hotel, finding that Michael had arrived about 20 minutes before me and we spent the afternoon working, reading and relaxing.

We had a dinner engagement with our friend Jai-lin and were to meet her at KIZ at 5:30.  We hopped into a tax at 5:00 and thought we would have plenty of time…..NOT.   The traffic was completely stopped and at 5:25 we had only driven a few blocks.   I called Jai-lin and we changed the plans so that the taxi would take us straight to the restaurant.  We handed the phone to the driver and, after a 5 minute conversation, he seemed to know where we were headed.

As we drove further out, the traffic became worse and worse.  This was the typical five o’clock congestion, but was exacerbated by the continuing road construction going on in the city.  Several times our driver stepped out of his vehicle and stare pointedly down the street apparently willing the traffic to start moving.  On one occasion, he saw an opening on a side street and we took a rollicking 30 second detour which allowed us to move 3 cars further along. 

He was definitely NOT stoic about the trip and made all sorts of grunts and comments as we would drive for a short distance and then grind to a quick stop.  At one point he even slammed the steering wheel with his fist…..I worried for his blood pressure!!!!

After about 90 minutes in the car, he indicated that we should call Jai-lin again for additional directions.  After speaking to her he turned into a large Apartment Complex area, stopped and asked two pedestrians for directions and soon found the restaurant.

Jai-lin arrived about 10 minutes later and we began one of our favorite Chinese rituals…..the eating of a hot pot!!!

Each table had an electric burner in the center and soon a pot of boiling broth was placed on the burner.

Next came a plate of fish, meat and vegetables containing everything from lettuce to mushrooms to lotus root…..

The waitress got the pot started by adding the skewered shrimp…..

….which quickly came out bright pink and perfectly cooked……

The only problem at this point was figuring out how to peel them without getting completely messy, but they were so good that we really didn’t mind messy fingers!!!

This scoop was filled with a substance that made fish balls and the waitress expertly rolled the balls out of the scoop and into the pot…..

We each added our favorites to the boiling broth and proceeded to dip out and eat whatever the scoop (or our chop sticks) came out with…..

It was a wonderful meal and we thoroughly enjoyed the food as well as catching up with Jai-lin.

As we were leaving the restaurant two fun things happened.   First of all, there was a young boy (maybe 6 or 7) who was completely engrossed in who we were.  At his Dad’s urging he finally came up and “talked” to us, with many smiles and bows.

Secondly, I spotted this contraption sitting in the corner.  Although this is not a good photo, I was interested to realize that it was a locking umbrella holder.  When you enter the restaurant you place your umbrella on the rack and lock it with the provided key.  After eating, you use the key to unlock your umbrella before you exit the restaurant…..a great idea!!!!

We then walked about 15 minutes to arrive at Jai-lin’s apartment.  Her Husband, Shu, was working out of State and couldn’t’ be there but we got to meet Jai-lin’s Mother-In-Law and, most importantly, her one year old son, Hen…….

Hen was a sweet, happy little boy who was a little worried about who these very strange looking and sounding people were!!!!  I think that he would have warmed to us if we had stayed a bit longer.

We spent about 30 minutes with Jai-lin and her lovely family and then headed back to the street to catch a taxi to the hotel.  The taxi stopped at the side of the road and cars impatiently honked as we said our good-byes and gave our last hugs!!!

On the way back we passed numerous work crews who were busy installing shrubs and trees along the newly renovated streets with many of them using a flashlight to see what they were doing.  We were shocked to see that most of these workers were women!!!   I wonder just how long they work into the night?

We did a bit more packing and then settled in for our final night in Kunming!!!

This morning we made our return flight to Kunming, but not without some nerve wracking moments…..

When we changed our flights, we were told that it would cost us 300Y and that this amount had to be paid two hours before the flight or they would cancel our tickets.  This meant that we had to pay by 5:30am.

With that in mind, we set the alarms for 4:00am, dressed quickly, packed and checked out of the hotel.  Then the problems began…..

As our taxi left the hotel we noticed something unusual…..he drove VERY slowly!!  Most drivers sent us swaying back and forth in the back seat as they careened from lane to lane, but this gentleman carefully and slowly drove down the street.  

The next problem arose when we arrived at the entrance ramp to the highway that goes to the airport and the entrance was blocked!!!   We proceeded slowly along the street, hitting every single stop light until we came to the next entrance….it was blocked also!!! 

While looking to see what speed he was traveling, I realized that the “Check Engine” light was on….not a good sign either.  As we traveled further, we noticed that there was an acrid smell in the taxi and that the motor was pulsing and not keeping a smooth tempo…..oh great!!!

We finally found an entrance to the elevated road and as the driver slowly ground thru the four gears, our collective stress levels grew as well!!!

We limped along with cars passing us right and left and with much relief saw a sign indicating that the airport was only 6 kms ahead…..maybe we could make it!!

We gratefully exited the taxi and entered into the airport, also known as the next circle of hell!!

There were no attendants at any gate and the only person that we could find to ask only pointed to one of the unopened desks and told us to wait.   We stood at the first of the line until  the gate attendants arrived at 5:35….ie, we had already passed the time to pay for our tickets.  

When Michael presented our passports to the attendant, she looked at them and said  “you changed your tickets…..why?”.  At this point, I thought that Michael was going to have an Aneurism.   Instead of saying “none of your business”, he muttered something about beating the Typhoon and she told us that we needed to go across to another area to pay for the ticket, and of course, there was another line.

I asked one of the men there when the counter opened and he said six!!!   Oh well, there was nothing more that we could do.  We stood in that line and finally a woman came over and opened one of the other windows.  We were told to move to that window and in the move, at least one person jumped to the front of the line.  An additional window was opened and yet more people ran to the front….the Chinese do NOT understand the meaning of forming an orderly line.

The end to our saga came with the the obtaining of boarding passes, purchasing of Starbucks coffee, tea and muffin and taking off (almost on time).  It was quite a morning!!!

The rest of the day was fortunately uneventful and we ended the day on a fun note with the spotting of a Beagle that looks just  like Jenny’s dog, Marley.  Just as Michael started to take the photo, a schoolboy came by to pet her, making for a perfect picture……

Notice that she is straining mightily on the leash to get to the all-important social interaction…..just like a little-girl Beagle.

To start with, let me say a bit more about the bathroom in this wonderful hotel. This control panel sits next to the toilet and controls how hot the toilet seat is, how warm the tile floor gets, and where exactly the Bidet cleans. I was too scared to see what the “oscillating” button stood for!!!!

This morning we had the taxi drop us off at the Bund District and we enjoyed a long walk along the Promenade. These were our views from across the Yangtze River…..

We enjoyed taking photos of each other……

….and two young men offered to take one of us together……

We were stopped by one family and the Father indicated that he would like to take a photo of us with his Daughter. We smiled happily as the little girl looked bewildered, wondering why she had to stand with these very strange people!!! As we walked away, we laughed and said that “we were a photo-op”!

At one end there was a huge statue of Mao Tse-Tung……

I loved this building, with it’s “flower petal” top…..

The view changed as we moved further down the walkway…..

This interesting building is the Oriental Pearl TV Communications Tower…..

After we had walked the entire shorefront and run out of “Bund”, we grabbed a taxi to the Jade Buddha Temple.

Once again the center was filled with smoke and incense burning worshippers. Most would bow three times in each direction of the courtyard.

These containers were used to burn out the incense once it had been used and the odor was amazing. We also saw a number of people placing pieces of paper and small boxes into the flames. We assumed that they were prayers that were being burned and sent up to their god.

As before, each of the smaller rooms contained one or more Buddha’s…..

….including some very angry looking gods…..

It makes me glad that my God is a God of Grace!!!!

To quote the sign, there was a “Reclining Buddha and Gift Shop”……

….and finally, after paying an additional 10Y each, the Jade Buddha. You were not allowed to take photos, so this one has been stolen from the internet….

We stood in this chamber for a long time and watched the worshippers as they came in. There were two attendants in front of the Buddha and they would sell bottles of a yellow fluid to the worshippers. The worshipper would hold this bottle in their hands and pray to the Buddha and then give the bottle back to the attendants. They would open the bottle and pour the contents into a bowl in front of the Buddha. As we looked, we could see a hose running from the back of the bowl so that the fluid could drain out.

We walked thru another store and visited the Happy Buddha. Supposedly, if you rub his tummy, you will have good luck……

As I was looking in one of the chambers, I finally looked up and saw the beautiful ceilings in the chamber…..

In other areas of the Temple, there were red flags hanging all around……

….including this one silencing the lion…..

There were several cool drums….I would have loved to hear this one…..

Our taxi back to the hotel had something that we haven’t seen before in China….a GPS. It allowed him to take some different, smaller roads and we enjoyed the trip knowing that he knew where he was going!!!

We returned to the hotel for a brief few minutes and then went out again to visit a Tea Market. We enjoyed doing a bit of shopping and, although we didn’t find any “tea stuff” to buy, we did find a beautiful vase that will make packing much more interesting!!!!

While we were waiting for the taxi, the concierge commented that there was a Typhoon that was supposed to make land on Monday so we decided to try to change our flights so that we would leave earlier. The concierge worked VERY hard and was able to make the change for us….it is good to have that off of our minds!!!

After a short rest in the hotel, we went out for our final meal in Shanghai. There is a building called “Three on the Bund” and it houses eleven very fancy and expensive restaurants. Michael did a little bit of research and found that we could go to “Mercato” and not spend our last penny, so he booked a reservation there. Mercato is run by Chef Jean-Georges who has been awarded THREE Michelin stars.

We had high expectations and were NOT disappointed.

The restaurant itself is rather rustic…..

….but the drinks are wonderful. Here is our first line-up, including the spiciest bread sticks that you have ever tasted!!!!

When we arrived at our table, we were served this lovely bread and thick Extra Virgin Olive Oil……

We ordered two appetizers. The first were these wonderful grilled Asparagus spears wrapped with cheese and bacon….

and the second was this MAGNIFICENT home-made Ricotta Cheese with a Strawberry purée…..

I really wanted to pick up this plate and lick it clean!!!!

The main course was a grilled chicken served over a bed of onions and potatoes….

The two sides were Broccolini……

….and fried Polenta cakes…..

My after dinner tea was served in this VERY heavy iron teapot….

After we had finished our wonderful meal, we took another stroll along the Bund Promenade. The buildings had all been transformed with lights and made for a gorgeous walk……

The view across the river had changed to this…..

….and brightly lighted cruise boats motored up and down the banks…..

As you can see from the photo, the crowds were even larger than they had been in the morning and everyone was taking copious photos. There were even lots of people with tripods set up.

With much sadness, we left our evening paradise and returned to our hotel for one last night in Shanghai