On Thursday morning, we started in the usual way, with our English/Chinese buffet breakfast.  I ordered an omelet this morning and was interested in the way that he cooked it.  We normally cook the egg first, add the vegies, fold over and cook some more.  Instead, the chef placed my selected vegies on the griddle and cooked them, and then poured the egg mixture over the vegies.  As it hardened, he carefully rolled it up into a “burrito” shape.  This really seems much easier than our method!!!

After working for about 3 hours, we decided to make a foray into the city again.  Michael had found an antique market that looked interesting but we couldn’t figure out where it was.  We took the information down to the Concierge and, although he wasn’t sure exactly where we wanted to go, were given directions that we could walk to in 10 minutes.  We found this funny as our local Chinese restaurant always tells us that our take-out will be ready in “10 minutes”, regardless of what we order!!!   Well, it took a bit longer than 10 minutes, but we enjoyed walking in the commerce district of town.  There are stores on each side of a mostly “pedestrian only” street. 

We laughed at this “bridal fair” that was going on in the middle of the square (note the McDonald’s sign just behind it)….

Another of these outdoor stalls was blasting “Josh Turner” country music….very out of character!!!

We have had a great time looking at the shoes that the women wear.  This look into a shoe store gives you an idea of what we are seeing….

This particular plaza has some wonderful brass sculptures and I kept trying to get a photo of them, but there were so many people taking photos that it was almost impossible…..

This statue was obviously not as photogenic……

I love this little girl, but especially her shadow……

We passed a fun area where very young children were enjoying a little “paddle boat” time in the park….

I also thought that it was funny to see this group of people sitting around an obviously dry fountain…….

We had to get into the picture-taking mode as well so here is a small husband and a very big gate……

We followed the concierge’s directions but finally gave up as we couldn’t find anything that looked like an Antique Market.

On the walk back, we passed this older woman who was sewing and selling these shoe parts.  I am not exactly sure what they are used for, but I may buy a set next time we pass…..

We also passed a street that sported old, old buildings….

This is unusual here because  most of these old buildings have been torn down and replaced with bright, shiny new buildings. 

We walked down this street, interested to see what type of shops were there but were surprised by what we found.  Each and every shop was in the business of sign making…..from big banners to small “hang around the neck” name tags.  Michael had read on a website that the Chinese believe that more customers are attracted to an area if every shop is selling exactly the same thing.  I guess that this experience plays out that theory.

This gentleman was hand crafting a large wooden sign……

As we walked back to the hotel we had these women in front of us…..

….making it difficult to pass or to see for that matter!!!

After we got back to the hotel, Michael contacted our friend Colin and asked if he could give us additional directions to the Antique market.  He quickly responded and it appeared that we had stopped about 200 feet short of our destination……we came THIIIIIISSS CLOSE!!!!

So, after a bit more working time, we set out again, this time in a taxi!!!  Sure enough we found the market without any trouble…..

….and spent the next 2 hours looking thru dozens of small shops. 

We had unfortunately arrived during their lunch hour so some of the shops were closed.  I loved this sign on one of the doors, although I have no idea what it says!!!!

Several of the shop keepers were obviously taking their siesta and barely opened their eyes as we entered and looked around.   We passed one tent type area on the top floor where a group were playing Mahjong.  I imagine that these were many of the keepers of the closed shops.

The market was based around a  beautiful open courtyard……

….and it was obviously a family affair as there were many children playing on computers in the shops or running in groups around the halls.

We did find one item that we may return and buy, but first we had to find out how to ship it.  So, we called Colin again and he assured us that he “had a guy” that would help us with it!!

We strolled back to the hotel but met a traffic jam just before arriving there.  The reason was because of the ongoing construction work.  Here you can see the workers replacing the tiles and Michael squeezing past the cars…..

It got even closer when he had to get past the bus….and this bus is moving….not stopped…..

For dinner we returned to the local restaurant  but arrived about 20 minutes before they opened.  All of the workers were in the back eating their dinner but one of the waitresses came out and told us that we were welcome to sit and wait if we wanted.  She also poured tea for us and brought out our Tsingtao beer.

She brought the menu for us to peruse and we were ready to order when the time came.  We thought that we were picking a different meat dish from last time but ended up with the same spicy pork.  But, we really didn’t mind as it was wonderful!!!  We also selected Broccoli and long beans……

….both were EXCELLENT!!!

We did have a bit of a chopstick duel for the last bits of  pork…….

By the way, we are getting pretty good with chopsticks!!!!

We began Wednesday morning with breakfast at the rooftop buffet.  They have a wonderful mixture of English and Chinese foods and we come away with quite an eclectic mixture.   We both normally get fried rice and I sometimes get a steamed vegetable or noodle dish.  There is also a chef who will prepare omelets or fried eggs to order.  OR, you can go truly local and ask for a bowl of noodle soup and you add vegies and spices to suit your palate.  

We enjoy trying different things and this morning I found a dish called “Char Kway Teow”.  It was a noodle dish, with bits of an unknown meat and was delicious…..found out later that it was Pork. 

These are their “raisins”…..

….actually Dried Apricots.

The most interesting dish of the day was “Fried Pumpkin Bread” and how could I not try it when it looked like this…..

It was fairly bland with not much flavor but they get full marks for presentation!!!

My final thought as I was eating was….”is it a sacrilege to use bacon to push Fried Rice onto a fork??????”

We spent all of the morning up in the “Crystal Club” room.  We paid extra to be on the “club” level and it provides use of the lounge room which gives us a great place to work at our computer.  Michael got a lot of writing done on his paper and I spent most of the time thinking about and planning the house move.  It has been really nice to have this relaxed time as it has given me time to research various things that we will need to purchase. I think that I have found some good ideas and prices on everything!!!

In the afternoon, Michael needed to visit the Kunming Institute of Zoology  so we decided to enjoy the 1.5 mile walk. Unfortunately, we had only gone about 3 blocks when there was a huge crack of thunder, followed by sprinkles of rain.  We did a quick change of plans and hailed a taxi.  This was a fortunate choice as it was pouring when we finally arrived at KIZ.

While in KIZ, we had to look across the compound to see our sixth floor apartment from last year.  We gleefully rejoiced that we were staying in a nice hotel this year!!!

Our attempt to catch a taxi for the trip back was unsuccessful, and it wasn’t raining much, so we decided to go ahead and walk.  Walking was tricky because the sidewalk was very slippery so we had to walk carefully and slowly.  Each sidewalk has a special row of textured tiles that are for blind people to be able to “feel” their way along the street.  Amazingly these tiles were the most slippery!!!

We arrived at one of the corners where we needed to make a right hand turn, but found that the entire sidewalk was torn up and that we were blocked from going that way.  We skirted the rubble piles and continued down the street, constantly checking our map to see where we could turn next.  We finally made it to the edge of the lake and were able to see our hotel on the other side so we knew that we had made it!!!

Much of this walk was done in the middle of the street as the sidewalks were either blocked off by blue walls or were filled with rubble.  It certainly made for an interesting walk and just a little bit of swearing!!!!

Speaking of swearing, Michael has a love/hate with this particular machine….

On most days, he can walk up, put a cup under the spigot, push the button and out will flow a double Espresso.  However, one morning it would not work and the young attendant had no idea how to fix it.  She just started pushing buttons and muttering under her breath.  At one point she pushed the “steam” button and then couldn’t figure out how to get it to turn off again.  Finally, Michael reached around her and pushed the button a second time to stop the steam.   I pointed out that it said “drawer full” and motioned that she needed to empty the drip tray.  Once she did that it worked fine.  Also, the attendants don’t understand about the “espresso” button and keep trying to reach over and push the “coffee” button. 

To end our day, we walked to Salvador’s for dinner and returned to the hotel to find this out front…..

The bride and groom were handing out candies.…although the groom looks more like he is texting!!!

From this post title, you might imagine that we got lost, but this actually refers to breakfast here in the hotel!!!  The main restaurant is being re-done so they have moved everything up to the 21st floor where there is a “restaurant in the round”.  Although it is not moving now, this floor normally revolves.

So, Michael and I had selected our food at the buffet line and then Michael said something about going to get Espresso and he headed off one direction.  After I finished loading my plate, I started walking around the restaurant to find where he had sat down.  What I didn’t know is that he had put his plate down at a table and then walked down to another floor to get his espresso. So, with loaded plate, I walked around and around and around…..trying to find him.  I figured that he was doing the same thing so finally I stopped and waited for him to catch up…..he didn’t.   So I started walking again.  Finally, one of the young waitresses walked up behind me and pointed out where he had placed his plate.  I thankfully sat down and started to enjoy my breakfast. 

This trip will be quite different for Michael as he doesn’t have many contacts at the Institute right now so he is planning to spend most of his time writing on a long review article.    My plan for the time is to get organized for the move and to catch up on some computer and accounting work that I need to do.

Now, you may be saying, but you are in another country…..why are you sitting in the hotel.  There is a very good reason……

This is our fourth trip to Kunming and we have pretty much seen and done everything that there is to see and do!!  The city is not particularly pretty but I always felt that the nicest part was around Green Lake and I was looking forward to spending time strolling thru the area and watching the locals as they exercise, play music and generally enjoy themselves.

Unfortunately, the city of Kunming has decided that it wants to win a “most beautiful city” competition in October and is doing major decorative overhauls to over 50 streets and sidewalks and  to the entire Green Lake area.  So instead of viewing the beautiful lake, this is what you see…..

 

As a matter of fact, much of the city looks like this right now!!!!

So, we are using this time as a hotel retreat with short forays into the city when we have a reason to go out.

Having said all of that, we did make a couple of trips outside on Tuesday.  The first was for me to find a store….either a Walmart or Carrefour.  Since the Walmart was closer,  I headed that way. 

At first glance, the store looked tiny, but once inside I found that it just kept turning corners and actually extended for a long distance.  It also has three floors…..the first is fresh goods, the second is packaged goods and household items and the third is clothing. 

I was there to buy a few things for our room, but enjoyed walking around and watching the shoppers.  I loved this couple selecting their fresh chicken feet from a huge pile…..

There were also huge trays of sausages that smelled wonderful…

…a bakery that carried beautiful looking pastries, although, in our experience, these look better than they taste…..

I even found a case containing fried chicken and french fries….

Many of the items had English subtitles and it was fun to see the “Great Value” brand and packaging.

The book-selling area had benches and many people were sitting and reading books just as we would do at Barnes & Noble.

I laughed as I saw this sight……a Walmart associates meeting…..in Chinese…..

As I was approaching the check-out, I remembered that you were supposed to bring your own bag to carry-out your purchases so I started looking for a place where I could buy a bag.  After much looking, I started back into the bowels of the store to find one, but passed the Produce aisle and grabbed one of their plastic bags instead, knowing that I could put much of the stuff into my purse and just put the delicate, crushable items in the plastic bags.   I needn’t have worried, because the check-out girl’s first question was whether I needed to buy a bag!!!

At this point I wasn’t feeling really well….fairly heavy chested and tired, so I decided to head back to the hotel for a rest.  Later in the afternoon, Michael and I both went out walking and he commented that he felt the same way.  All of a sudden it dawned on me that we were at an altitude of 5,000 feet and this was probably the cause of our tiredness.  Sure enough, we felt fine the next day.

We walked to visit our friend, A-Ling, and to see the new work in her studio.  She does magnificent paintings using slivers of fabric that are attached to canvas using a glue made from rice flour.  We purchased one of her pieces last year….you can see it HERE.

As we walked, we passed an older man sitting on the sidewalk with his dog, and playing a musical instrument.  We recognized him as the same one that we had videoed on our last trip.  You can see him HERE.     He had the same serene smile as before and gratefully thanked us when we put money into his case.

For dinner, we decided to venture out on our own to a local restaurant.  Fortunately, we had a waitress who spoke a bit of English and she helped us to select our dishes for the evening.   It is a bit disconcerting because they bring a HUGE menu  (20+ pages) and then stand there while you look thru it.  We make our selections based on the photos of the dishes, not really knowing what they are.  Our first was a dish that she said was pork but she was worried because it was spicy.  We assured her that we LOVED spicy, so she smiled and wrote it down on the ticket.   We also selected julienne potatoes and the final dish was steamed Bok Choy.

…..note….all of those red things in the right dish are hot peppers!!!!

 

The food was wonderful and we enjoyed our usual Tsingtao beer….

Just down the street from our restaurant there was an outdoor music class going on and were serenaded by the squeaks from numerous flutes.

The students sat along the sidewalk and practiced while the teacher moved from person to person.

And finally, here we are toasting that we are back in Kunming again…….

On Monday morning, we headed to the airport to catch our flight from Beijing to Seattle.  While we waited at the gate, we got to wondering about our seats for the Seattle to Atlanta flight, so Michael fired up his computer to have a look.

We were surprised when we got onto our itinerary because it showed us sitting in seats 4E & 4F on the overseas flight, but we were holding boarding passes for 20A and 20B!!!   The  mystery was solved when we checked in and started to board the plane.  A woman came running after us and told us that we were being given a complimentary upgrade to Business Elite…..if we wanted it!!!!   And, boy did we want it…..

When we were first flying, I looked out the window and couldn’t figure out what this was and finally decided that the small patches were small villages.  They were so evenly spaced….

The flight was wonderful and we greatly enjoyed…

….real Diet Coke served in a glass……

  ….complimentary wine…..

….dishes of honeyed nuts….

Appetizers of grilled shrimp served with mustard sauce and couscous……

…..loved these cute salt and pepper shakers…..
For dinner, I chose steak with oven fries and asparagus…. 

while Michael had chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and spinach…..

but when the dessert cart arrived, we knew that we were onto a good thing….

We did find a few things that we might want to complain about….

First of all, the seat in front was SO far away that it was hard to reach your complimentary water bottles or your food and drink menu!!!!

Secondly, there were just TOO many buttons to control the seat positions…..it was confusing!!!!!   The ice cream was so hard in the chocolate sundae that we had to wait for a full 10 minutes before we could eat it!!!!  

There was almost too much of the deliciously sweet port wine.  Don’t they know that it is better to leave the table a little bit hungry!!!!The complimentary shoes were too soft….And finally, there was no silver teapot for my cuppa….the attendant actually did apologize for this!!!!

Even with all of the “problems” the flight was memorable…..

  ….at least for Michael….I remember very little!!!!

It was fun to see Mount Rainier in the distance as we landed…….

It was also fun to see Michael spend a few special moments with his I-Phone that had been out of service for the past 5 weeks!!!!

The good things continued when we arrived in Seattle and found out that we could hang out in the “Sky Club” which served complimentary drinks and food and had internet access!!!!

The final flight was comfortable and fast.  We traveled thru some amazing thunderstorms and the cloud formations were beautiful….

   

We landed in Atlanta and were met by Brian and Amber.  The drive home was uneventful and we were soon happily ensconced on our comfortable couch and recliner!!!

The best part of the day was waking up that night and wondering where I was and then the bliss of realizing that I am at home in my OWN bed!!!!

On Sunday, our final day in China, we set out early to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

There were reminders everywhere that this was a special weekend for China…. 

Our first stop was Tiananmen Square and it was that…..a big open area with TONS of people…..  There was a huge video screen that was showing Nationalistic images…..  Our first stop was to get a bottle of water and were thrilled when it was almost frozen solid…..

The only area of the square that was not crowded was this monument, but unfortunately I never found out what it was a monument to…… The color red is very important to the Chinese people, as evidenced by this photo….red flags AND red hats…..

It was even crowded to get OUT of the square…..We crossed the street and, accompanied by many other people, and watched by all of the video cameras on the light poles, we walked to the Forbidden City.

The entrance to the city is dwarfed by the huge photo of Mao Zedong, one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party. 

Now, let me stop here and say that were not that impressed with the Forbidden City, but that may be partly because it was so crowded…. and partly because of what it stands for.

The city was made up of several gates and halls……

Each area had a special name, including……

– Gate of Supreme Harmony

– Hall of Preserved Harmony

– Gate of Heavenly Purity

– Hall of Union and Peace

– Hill of Accumulated Elegance

There were a few photo opportunities that we liked…..

   There were lots of school groups visiting and one young boy (maybe 10 years old) said hello to me and told me “Welcome to Chinese”!!   It was my favorite part of the day!!!

I laughed at this police officer stationed under the umbrella.  He had LOTS of company as everybody tried to find a bit of shade….

Speaking of shade, the weather was gorgeous and the smog miraculously disappeared for the day!!

We continued to walk thru the gates and past the halls and found our favorite part of the city….the garden at the back…..

As we exited the city, there were a huge number of vendors selling slices of melon (similar to a cantaloupe) on a stick.  They looked really good…..

We hailed a taxi and headed for the Lama Temple (Yonghegong) which is the largest temple in Beijing.

I laughed as we stood in line to get our tickets.  The ticket window next to us was closed and the sign indicated that they were at “Rest”…..

As we walked in the gate, this huge bell was just to our right.  People were paying to be able to go into the enclosure and ring the bell…..

There were also many prayer wheels around the compound and most were being spun by the passersby.The complex is about 1/2 kilometer in length and is made up of 5 main halls that are separated by courtyards.

Each courtyard has pits for burning incense and areas for prayer.  People would first use a small pit to light the incense.…. 

They then  waited patiently in line to step up and present their incense and prayers.    Most people used three sticks of incense at each of the altars……The incense pieces were then put into the big pit to burn out…..

These scenes were repeated in front of each of the halls.

I loved the sign that reminded you that you couldn’t take photos inside the halls….

…although you could take photos from the door…..

Each hall contained one or more Buddha statues.  The most interesting one was housed in the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses and was 26 meters (about 80 feet) tall.  The coolest thing about this Buddha is that it was carved from a SINGLE piece of White Sandalwood.  It has actually been included in the Guinness Book of Records!!!!

This hall was filled with benches for the monks to sit and pray and chant….

 

I always like the colors that are seen in these temples…..

 

And it is good to know that monks are living in the modern world too…..          

We left the temple and took another taxi back to the hotel.  After cooling off and relaxing for a bit we asked the concierge to help us get to a music instrument shop.   When the taxi driver stopped, he pointed vaguely in one directly and we started walking that way.

Our first stop was into a fun music store and we ended up buying Brian a Ruan (Chinese guitar) which we then had to carry around for the rest of our shopping trip. 

After we left the instrument shop, we walked down a street that was nothing but art shops and calligraphy shops and book shops!!!  We spent about two hours exploring the artistic side of China!!!

 

For dinner, we had made reservations at the hotel restaurant and had reserved a Peking Duck (well, actually 1/2 of a Peking Duck).   Because it takes about 45 minutes to prepare a duck, you have to order them in advance!!!

This time we were seated by  the dessert and chocolate station!!!   This woman was making the banana dessert that I had enjoyed on Friday…..

 

The duck was brought to our table by an  “aproned” and  “hatted” chef and he began to cut the wonderful, crunchy  skin off of the duck and bring it to our table.  The second and third platters contained more of the duck meat as well, but the skin was the best…. 

It was served with small tortilla-like round on which you would put some duck, a couple of onion and/or cucumber slices, some garlic, sugar and/or chili sauce.  Then, roll it up and pop it into your mouth….

We added a vegetable…..slivered potatoes, chilis and onions!!!!

At the very end of our dinner, we were served this duck soup.  The soup was fine, but I  really liked the wooden container that it was served in….

The evening ended with dessert and wine up on the 17th floor and then to our room for our last night in China!!!!