In all of our years of travel we have had very few disasters….well I guess that we were on a boat that sunk in the Florida Keys….but other than that most of our travel has been fun and successful.   Today (Tuesday) was NOT one of those days!!!

But let me start at the beginning….a very good place to start.

A few weeks before our trip, I was searching for things to do in Kunming and came across an article about the Bullet Train and that it had just opened a route between Kunming and Dali.  Now we had visited Dali briefly on our first trip to China so I thought that it might be fun to take the train and spend the night.

Our first thought was how would we get tickets….  well, one of Michael’s colleagues told us that her husband worked for the Train service so we mentioned it to her and she said that she could get our tickets……okay, first problem solved.

Now we needed a hotel in Dali, preferably by the Ancient City.  We got onto hotels.com and found a lovely small hotel that looked perfect and we booked it.  Hotels.com took our money and confirmed our booking and then sent several emails reminding us that our trip was upcoming.  So, we were good to go with the hotel!!

As we hopefully lit out on our journey, we started checking off the steps that we needed to take…..

Step 1  –  get a taxi to the Train Station…..our hotel helped with that and we were on our way.

Step 2  –  figure out how to check in and get to the train platform…..that all went very well.

Step 3  –  enjoy the 2 hour journey to Dali as our train reached 200 kilometers per hour (about 120 mph)…..

The views from the windows were wonderful, passing small towns and huge agricultural areas…..

Step 4  –  this is where the wheels fell off!!   Chinese taxi drivers are notorious for not wanting to use the meter and instead set a price and then increase it when they get to the destination.  I had asked God to give us a fair taxi driver who would work by the meter…..and He did just that.

But, after about 40 minutes of driving, we were completely certain that he was going in the wrong direction and when he started to get onto a Toll Road, we motioned for him to pull over.   He finally called a friend who spoke English and this friend helped us to understand that our booking was actually in the Shanxi Ancient town which was about 2 hours away.  Mind you, the information on Hotels.com said Dali !!  But, he assured us that the drive would be enjoyable, the hotel would be nice and since we didn’t have to be back to the train station until 6:00 the next day, we would have all morning to enjoy the area.  So, we motioned for the driver to keep going.

After about an hour we were able to get passed our frustrations and start looking at the scenery and enjoying the rural nature of the area. 

More problems arose when we got into the Ancient Shaxi area as the driver didn’t know EXACTLY where the hotel was.   We were using Google Maps and were pretty sure that we knew, but the streets were pedestrian only and we would have to walk.   One of us had the thought of “what if the taxi driver leaves and we don’t really have  a hotel” so we decided to wait to pay him until we found out for sure. 

An interesting interlude happened at this point.   Our driver (I named him Fred) and Michael had both stepped out of the car and as I was starting to join them, the car started rolling forward….down the slight slope!!  I pulled my leg back into the car and the driver jumped into the front seat and slammed on the brakes and just before his tire when into a ditch that would have had him stuck in the mountains with us….

Fred got back on the phone and called his friend again.  The friend (lets call him George) said that he had called the hotel and that they did not have any American’s staying there that night.  Michael gave him the reservation number and George said that he would call us back but we never heard from him.  Our gut feeling is that he simply decided that the whole affair was too hard.

So here we stood, us, Fred and a small group of onlookers. Finally Fred called someone that he knew and the cavalry arrived on a three wheeled cart.   As they drove up one of the men stepped off and said Hello to us…..we both thought “Hurray….he speaks English” and he did speak SOME English but not much.  He sweetly told us that we should have reserved a room…..WE DID RESERVE A ROOM!!!!!

Also, he kept telling us that Fred wanted to be paid for the trip.   We knew that and had full intention of paying him… but not yet.     Finally, we decided to return to the train station and see if we could get another train back to Kunming.   We accomplished this by using Google Translate and putting in Dali Railroad Station.    When Fred heard that we wanted to go back to Dali he nodded his head and made a downward winding motion with his hands indicating that he knew that we wanted to go BACK down the mountain switchbacks!!

So, down we started.   Michael again used Google Translate to tell Fred that we needed a bathroom and he soon stopped for us.   

We were off again but Fred pulled into a small restaurant and indicated that we should stop and eat.   We all trouped in and he ordered 5 delicious dishes….a Spicy Beef with Peppers, Sautéed Greens, a delicious Hash Brown pancake and two things that we are not sure about.   The first were these worm looking things although we are pretty sure that they were a root of some sort and not an animal.  They were served with sautéed walnuts, cashews and peanuts….

The second was this dish that we presume was cartilage from some animal.   It was slightly chewy but  was fried well and had a magnificently hot pepper to dip it in…..

The women who were cooking were super sweet and let me stand and take photos of them working.

It was an interesting meal with no one being able to communicate but Fred was a great host and insisted that we try each dish before he would eat any of it.

The bottom line was that, after eating, we started to feel better and again started to enjoy the journey a bit more, and even enjoying some of the scenery that was flying past us…..

Although, in truth, this was my view for most of the day…..

While traveling we had the idea that we might be able to find a big hotel (Hyatt, etc) in Dali and could get a room there.   Michael contacted the one that we found, but they were full for the night.   We could have kept trying but the problem now was that BOTH of our phone batteries were dangerously low and we were afraid that we would HAVE to have them before the night was over.

As we neared the city, we noticed that Fred went a different direction off of the expressway and we could see by the signs that he was heading to Ancient Town, Dali…..you know, the place that we thought we were going in the first place!!!   Also, he kept pulling over to the side of the road and making phone calls.   He was also concerned because his phone was apparently about to die as well.   He finally pulled out a portable charger but the connection wasn’t great and he kept having to reach over and hold it in place while he was driving.  This did NOT improve his driving skills!!

Finally he stopped for one more call and handed the phone to Michael.  This time it was “Mrs. George”….or someone else who spoke English.  She said that Fred wanted to know exactly where we wanted to go!!  We then realized that he was thinking that we were going to another hotel in town and was being kind to us again.   And here we were getting frustrated!!

Now that he knew exactly where we were headed, he made the most of the time by driving faster than he previously had.  The only problem was that he hit a speed bump really hard and we heard the unmistakable Flub-Flub-Flub-Flub  of a flat tire!!!   By this time, Michael and I had the crazed look of “The Joker” on our faces but Michael hopped out and helped him to change it…..

In about 20 minutes we were off again and fortunately there were no more issues before we reached the station.   We felt sure that Fred called his wife and said “You wont believe what happened to me today”!!!!   We felt a bit the same way!!

Now we move to the next part of this saga….getting a new ticket to Kunming.  We asked two different people where we bought tickets (at least I THNK that is what the Google Translation said) and one finally pointed down as if we had to go downstairs.   We started downstairs but had no idea where the ticket office was.   At this point, one of our “angels” showed up and tapped Michael on the shoulder and pointed for us to follow him.   He walked thru a gate at the side of the stairs and showed us the booths.  At least he showed us the LINE for the booths!! 

We went up to one of the short lines with hope in our hearts, but that was dashed when the girl (in excdlent English) told us that we had to go to one of the other booths…..sigh.

We joined the queue and stood patiently (sort of)  in line while watching person after person cut to the front.   The pattern was always the same….they would run up to the second or third person in line and excitedly exclaim that they were late and HAD to be allowed to cut in, and amazingly it often worked.   We saw one man try 5 or 6 times, but his persistence was rewarded as some soft hearted fool let him in ahead of us.  Then, when we were next in line, a young man came running up to me but we were NOT in the mood and both looked at him and said a stern “NO”!!!!!  He tried to push in but Michael gently pushed him back out of line.   Now the funniest part of this interlude was that the little man behind us had been grumbling (in Chinese, but grumbling sounds the same wherever you are) when someone would cut in.  He even had words with one of the men when he was leaving the line.  After we had turned the young man away, the older guy tapped Michael on the shoulder, smiled and pumped his fist in the air a couple of times.   I think that Michael now has a fan in Dali!!

Okay, we were at the first of the line….  Our teller did not speak any English but he worked hard to understand us.  Unfortunately there were NO more seats on a train to Kunming until 8pm the next day and we already had tickets for the 7pm train.  Okay, so we are going to spend 22 hours in the Dali train station.

We headed thru the ticket gate but were turned away because our ticket was for Wednesday!!  As we walked back outside, we were seriously concerned about exactly where we were going to wait overnight until we could enter the station.  And, of course, it started raining just as we walked out!!!

We decided to cross the big street in front of the train station and see if we could find someplace (ANYPLACE) to at least sit and regroup!!  We found one large building and saw the promising word “Hotel” on it, but were told that they didn’t have any rooms.  We weren’t sure exactly what she was saying but a young man, we assume to be a hotel porter, used GT and confirmed the worst.  We asked if there were other hotels nearby and this new angel walked us out of the 5-star hotel and two doors down to a small 5 floor walkup hotel.  He stayed with us until we were checked in and heading to the room.  The cost of the room was $25 and, of course, we were on the 5th floor!!

We didn’t have high hopes for this room but we found it to be clean and comfortable, although the “shower/sink/squatty potty” bathroom was interesting to use!!

Since this post is already too long, I will stop here and finish the saga of the “Vacation from hell” tomorrow.   And, in case you are worried, we are now safely back in Kunming!!!

Michael got onto the shuttle at 9:30 and I started walking.  Today was all about photography….using the camera, the telephoto lens and my phone in every way that I could.

As I started out there was a slight sprinkle of rain, just enough to make me take my glasses off but not enough to ruin the morning.  It actually felt pretty nice and helped take a bit of the heat away.

I started walking down a quiet street….one that the tourists weren’t interested in and I immediately started taking photos.   BTW…..if you aren’t interested in flowers and bugs, you should skip this post entirely!!

My first stop was to this flower, complete with a feeding moth…..

There are no bugs in this photo but definite evidence that they have been here…..

It has been really fun to use the telephoto lens as a “macro” lens and to be able to get  “up close and personal” with bees and ants without have to get TOO close.  Again, I am disappointed that I haven’t used it before now.

I was enthralled by the water dancing off of these yellow flowers………..

I entered one very sweet  area that had several fun vignettes….

I spent about 10 minutes literally chasing this butterfly around a plant in order to get a good photo.    I honestly felt like he was mocking me, but the end, I won out!!!…..

As I have been working thru the photography course, it has made me learn more about our camera and one of the first things that I learned was that I could click one switch and change it from “Auto-focus” to Manual-focus and I have found this to be so helpful.    As an example, this water plant puts out a very fine flower on a long stalk at the top of the flower.   You can see them a bit on the left, top side of the photo….

When I tried to take a photo of the flower by itself, the auto-focus couldn’t find it and kept focusing on the shrubs behind the flower.   But with one click of a button, I could use manual focus and easily photograph exactly what I wanted…..

I have noticed that most of the flowers here are either red or yellow and I realized that I was highly attracted to the red ones….probably the same way that the insects are!!…..

I have long been enamored with this type of flower….

….and even more so when you get up close and personal…..

You can even see the halo from the tiny hairs that encircle the bottom blooms!

By the way, all of this photography takes time.   When I looked at the time this morning, I had already been out for an hour but had only walked 1/2 kilometer!!!  This may take a while!!

I finally reached the pedestrian bridge over the Mekong River (it is called something else in China) that leads into the town of Menglun.  The river is extremely swollen at the moment because of the overabundance of rain..…

I was really looking forward to this sight because I had remembrances of walking thru the town and especially of a “Spicy Rice” restaurant that was about 5 doors after you crossed the bridge.

It was a sad sight that greeted me when I arrived at the other side…..

….and found that the road was completely torn up.   Many of the shops were still there but there were no tables out so I am thinking that they are closed at the moment.  I also walked a bit into town but many of the roads are under construction and picking my way thru rocks, mud and debris was no fun at all.    I was disappointed as I quickly made my way back into the garden.

When I first saw this woman coming toward me on the bridge, I thought that she was pulling a grocery cart but when she passed, I could see that it was a different type of stroller……

By now it was 11:00 and tourists were out in force, so I decided to concentrate on walking back to the hotel.  But, just when I thought that I was going to quit taking photos I saw a beautiful tree with pink and yellow flowers….and what’s a girl to do……

Then there were Waterlilies…..

…and more mocking butterflies….

….and water reflection scenes…..

….and more flowers with bugs….

….and then the “oh crap” moment when I realized that “You are here” was NOWHERE near where I wanted to be…..

On a whim I decided to do a quick tour thru the ever-popular Distinctive Plant Garden and found this sweet boy “singing” at the top of his lungs to try to make the plant dance…..

There were “Gangsta” posers galore…..

And just when I was ready to finally head for the hotel, the heavens opened and the rain came down!!!!  I took shelter, along with a BUNCH more tourists waiting for the rains to subside. 

Many people used this opportunity to purchase snacks at one of the vendors located around the entrance and the cutest thing was one man who bought a coconut for his family…..one coconut and SIX straws!!!

I eventually made it back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon going thru two more lessons of my photography course and running outside (between showers) to test out what I was learning.  The first lesson was about shutter speed and the idea of slowing the speed down to let in more of the ambient light.  I spent some time taking photos of one of the waterfalls, starting off with a fast shutter speed so that you can almost see the individual drops of water…..

…and ending with a slow shutter speed where the water appears more as a sheet….

These would be better if I had the camera on a tripod  but I was happy with what was accomplished with holding the camera.

The evening ended with a banquet…..

….consisting of many wonderful foods.   One of the most interesting were these cucumber slices that were served with sugar…..

I am not a huge cucumber fan but these were delicious!!

A quick tram ride back to the hotel and the day was over!!!

As we were heading out to breakfast this morning, Michael opened the door onto our balcony and a small Gecko hurried into the room.  Michael chased him but he ran under the dresser before we could catch him.   I told Michael that I did NOT want to wake up in the middle of the night with him plastered to my face with the suckers on his feet!!! 

For this our first day at XTBG, Gang (pronounced Goung) wanted to give us a tour of the garden, especially to give me an idea of where I might be walking in the next few days.  We walked quickly past many things that I will go back and photograph when I have time.  Most Chinese people stroll when they walk and their path is erratic.  Michael likened it to a dance with no predictable steps.   But Gang was different…..he walked in a straight line and FAST…..even I, with my long legs, had trouble keeping up with him.

We also had to be careful when walking because many of the stone paths had a slimy layer of mold on them and you wouldn’t know it until your feet started slipping.  I had numerous “near misses” during the walk and will have to remember to be careful tomorrow!!!

One of the first places that we stopped was the “dancing plant”, also known as a “Telegraph Plant.  This plant has small leaves on a hinge and they will move in response to certain stimuli….like singing!!!   The tour director would sing and all of the tourists would crowd around to get a photo of the moving plant….

 

While I was photographing this event, Michael was approached by two gentlemen who were English teachers in Nanjing.  He enjoyed meeting them and I think that they enjoyed practicing their English…..

This photo looks like a normal flower…..

….but on closer inspection, we found a moth feeding on one of the flowers…..

….and ants on another area of the stem…..

The ants are considered to be nectar robbers…..let this non-scientist explain…..   The nectar on a flower is located down inside the flower and the pollen is on a stem (anther) above the nectar.   Normal nectar feeders, like bees and butterflies push past the anther to get to the nectar, thus taking the pollen away to fertilize another flower.  The ants don’t push thru the pollen so they  “steal the reward” but don’t help the plant.  They do help the plant in another way….they protect it by attacking other birds or herbivores that might eat the plant before it can be pollinated.  Okay…science lesson is over!!

Taking photos is sometimes a trial as many people will crowd around you to take the same photo.   In this case, I stood my ground and got a nice photo of this interesting plant…..

By the way, I love the chandelier in the hotel lobby……

It reminds me of some of the flowers that I am seeing in the garden.

In the afternoon, we were picked up by two of the  XTBG researchers with the plan for them to take us (and another visitor named Doyle)  to “Green Stone Forest”, a rock formation just a few miles from the garden.  The only problem was that, just as we hopped onto the open bus to make the trip, it started POURING rain…..this is the tropics you know!!    It was fun to be riding in an open car with thunder booming around us, even though we had to use our umbrellas in the cart to keep semi-dry.

We arrived at the visitor center next to the forest and sheltered there until the rain had mostly stopped.   It was hard to tell if it had really stopped since there were so many tall trees that water was dripping off of.  But on we went.

The road that we walked on was extremely slick, especially along the edges and one of the women was VERY concerned that we were going to fall down.   As we would drift toward the side, she would come beside us and shoo us back to the middle….kind of like a Mother Hen!!

We reached the first set of stairs leading into the forest and UP we went….Michael’s comment was “Just what we want to do is go higher during a Thunderstorm!!”

As we walked, we saw typical rainforest flora and I was greatly reminded of our walk on Barro-Colorado island in Panama.  There were HUGE Buttress Trees…..

…..tangles of vines….

…..and interesting, if not slimy, Crustaceans….

There were many stops to discuss science….

And more steps going ever up….

We were one of the few parties of  people in this area and Michael asked why.  The answer was that  Chinese people don’t want to exert themselves on the steps and the tour guides don’t either.    But, they missed out on the best parts.    We kept seeing this sign but were not sure of what they were trying to say…..

….maybe it was supposed to be “No Running”.   Since we were both huffing and puffing our way up the stairs, there was no worry of  this happening!!!

We came to the area called “Couple Peaks” (Instead of Twin Peaks). and enjoyed a magnificent view of the rainforest….

So now it was DOWN the very steep stairs…..

….and back up again to the second peak….

This one was even more interesting as the floor was made of GLASS panels….a little freaky!!

The view was gorgeous……….and I had to get one “Art” shot including a pink hat…..

After another round of picture taking before the clouds settled in…..

…..and we headed back down again, stopping often to take photos of interesting things along the way…..

The student who was with us wore a Mosquito coil clipped onto her bag.   Since there are some cases of Malaria and Denghy Fever in the area, the researchers and grounds people often wear these to keep the pests away…..

I just made it a point to stay close to her!!

There were signs of scientific research going on in the forest as well.   Here they are re-introducing some endangered Orchid species…..

This is an area where a Bamboo plant had died.  Apparently this is a species that grows very big, flowers and then dies…..

As we walked I marveled at the way they took care of the forest so that the “people” impact was low…..

….and to their credit, there was VERY little trash or signs that people were around!!

As we were leaving the park, there were huge groups of tourists coming in so I think that we timed it JUST right, even if it was during a storm!!

Michael and I had dinner at the hotel that evening and I braved drinking a Sprite that had been poured over ice.  We normally avoid ice because you never know what kind of water they used to make it but I had seen them pour the drink into the urn and I immediately siphoned off my glass so I am telling myself that there wasn’t time for any of the ice to melt….  only time will tell!!!!

Oh, by the way……… the title of this post “28 Flights” refers to flights of steps.   My phone counts steps, miles and flights of stairs and it told me that I had climbed 28 of them before the day was over…..

  It is certainly a good thing that I have my new knee!!

On Saturday Michael wanted nothing more than to have a long walk, something that he had not been able to do all week long while he had been teaching.  So we set out to try to find the Antique market that I had searched for on Friday.  We both had in our minds that it……

1.   was on the right side of the street as we were heading away from the hotel,

2.   was close to the river

3.   was on a very large street

4.   was in a old, wooden red building.

So, off we went, walking down Renmin Road.  After about 2 miles, we decided that we were obviously not on the correct street!!  Since the major streets run in concentric circles around the city area, I suggested that we take a perpendicular road to the next ring out and walk back home that way.  It ended up being a good choice!!  About 1/2 mile onto the new street and we both (at the same time) pointed across the street and said “THERE IT IS!!!!”.

We excitedly crossed the street, entered the maze of shops and then stopped short because almost all of them were closed!!  We are not sure if they open later on Saturday, or maybe not at all on Saturday, but we marked the position in our minds and have vowed to go back on a normal week day!!

AND, to add insult to injury, the building was about 200 yards from the CarreFour that I had visited earlier in the week!!!!!

As we walked, we came across an area of the town that is being refurbished but is trying to keep the old character of the area……

I loved these doors……

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and letting Michael enjoy some down time.  In the evening he had a fun interaction with a family that was in the hotel for a 100 day party for a little baby…..

 

Michael was sitting out on the balcony next to the dining area and this party was going on inside.  One of the guests came outside and introduced himself to Michael and told him that the 100 day party was a really big deal.  He also brought out a partial bottle of wine to allow Michael (and myself later in the evening) to join into the celebration.    There were many people there and we figure that this one night would have cost thousands of dollars…..and for a baby who didn’t know anything about it.

The decorations were all blow up animals and balloons and this one little girl came out with her Unicorn and paraded in front of our table…….

Michael asked her “what do you call that animal?” and she gave him an incredulous look and said (in perfect English), “It’s a Unicorn”!!   We are pretty sure that, in her mind, she added “Dumb A—“  to that statement.   Later in the evening we talked to both she and her Mom and were amazed to find out that she was only 4 years old.   We predict that she will go far!!

On Sunday afternoon, we flew to the city of Jinghong and were picked up by Gang, the researcher who is organizing the next week of our trip.   He walked us to the car and we proceeded to drive an hour to the town of MengLun and the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Garden. 

Now you know me and peacocks…..  I took SO many photos trying to get a picture of these fun city decorations…..

The “tropical” part of the area showed itself as we drove with ominous clouds swirling around us…..

Gang knew that we loved spicy food and he was determined to give us a good first meal!!  The driver of the car suggested a restaurant, so we picked up another researcher from XTBG and headed to the restaurant.     Most restaurants in China have individual rooms where groups will sit around a big round table and enjoy their meal in privacy.  Unfortunately there was only one individual room left and it literally was a “Hole in the Wall”……..

….not just this “open to the world window”, but also several large holes in the bottom of the wall!! 

As usual in a place like this, the food was magnificent, starting with tiny deep fried fish and were spicy, crunchy and wonderful……

I know that they look weird but they were so good and probably my favorite for the evening……

As Americans, we don’t tend to eat this delicacy, but we have now enjoyed them in Italy, Portugal and China.

Other meal highlights included  a tasty Bok Choy and another green veggie with tomatoes…..

We also had a fish soup that had a whole fish in it…..

and lots of Sichuan pepper corns.   These little fire balls not only have a pepper flavor but also a bitterness that adds to the heat.   I tend to avoid them while Michael picks them out so that he can have more!!!

The most interesting dish was a vegetable that was a mix between a green bean and an okra pod.   It didn’t have a lot of flavor by itself, but when you dipped it into the salsa, it made all of the difference in the world…..

I think that the Salsa would have been good with a bag of Tostitos.

I enjoyed watching our driver eat the spicy foods.   Apparently he enjoyed eating them but his body couldn’t tolerate the heat.  There were times that his entire head was sweating and he was constantly mopping it with a napkin. 

We finished the trip onto the Botanic Garden property and checked into our room at the Royal Waterlily Hotel…… tomorrow starts a new week in a new place!!!!

Since it wasn’t raining today, I decided that I wanted to take a long walk and I didn’t really care where.   I got onto Google Maps on my computer and, while exploring the area, found two art galleries listed.  I thought that those sounded fun so I set my course for the first one.

As I started out, it sent me down a new street.  My initial thought was that it was fun to see something different,  although, different  here is still much the same!!

It was a great walk and I arrived in the area in about 15 minutes, but there was no noticeable Art Museum, only a lot of construction!  So let’s head for gallery number 2…..

The area that I now walked thru was not as glitzy  and passed lots of little shops, each selling only one type of good.   One shop only sold combs and brushes. 

I was extremely happy to see this sign……

…..thinking that I had indeed found the desired gallery.  But disappointment ensued as I climbed flight after flight of stairs and only found offices and bathrooms…..no art in sight!!!

Okay, let’s head for the next destination….. When we were here in 2012, we had found a fun “antique” market and I thought that I had found it on the map so decided to find it.  After another 20 minutes of walking I found only a cavernous, empty building. 

Strike 3 and I was heading home!!!

But all was not lost for the day.    As I walked, I passed a small park that had numerous military monuments.  Several were very interesting…..

I loved this design and can see using it on a quilt someday…..

Speaking of quilting patterns, I really like this iron pattern around one of the tree beds…..

I enjoyed watching this man walking down the street with his wagon of vegetables trailing behind him…..

These two scooters were fun to watch….  Apparently the front one was not working and the rider was “walking” it down the street.  The back driver would slowly catch up with the first one and give him a gentle push.  They were actually moving fairly well!!

While on this walk, I did remember that the easiest way to cross busy streets is to stand next to a local and, when they start, you stay right beside them.  We used this same technique in Rome by finding an old Italian Grandmother because no one wants to run over her!!!

As I neared the hotel, I passed a small opening to a park area and could see lots of people sitting around inside.  I decided to check it out and found table after table of people (mostly men) playing traditional games….

I walked thru the group and on toward what I thought was the end of the park.  Instead I reached a bridge that led to a large complex of buildings that looked very much like a Buddhist temple.  The only difference from the ones that I had seen was that there wasn’t a huge crowd of people milling around.   So, I decided that it was no longer in use as a place of worship.  But, it was still a great place to take photos…..

….especially of the gorgeous and colorful designs that adorned the walls and ceilings….

I spent a long time inside the building taking photos and enjoyed the peacefulness of the place. 

Although there were no Buddha’s present, it was obvious that offerings were still being made there…..

The guard inside the building  patiently watched me take copious photos and as I was leaving he gave me a smile and a thumbs up.   I returned the same!!

As I walked back into the hotel, I was disappointed that my original plans had not materialized but, as usual, Kunming had not failed to provide an interesting experience!!