Mapping it!!

The morning started off rainy again but by 1:00 I was ready to “get out of Dodge”!! I headed for the lake and decided to walk around the outside of the lake, stopping to take lots and lots of pictures……

I could hear various people singing from the island in the center of the lake, including one VERY screechy woman and one gentleman with a magnificent operatic voice!! As I walked further, I could hear a single wooden flute playing Frere Jacques……so much diversity!!

One thing that has changed in the last 8 years since we have been coming to Kunming is the proliferation of Starbucks. They seem to be everywhere now. I remember that we walked all over this area trying to find a place with good coffee and now the hotel has it’s own Espresso machine!!

As I walked thru the lake area, I had a magnificent time playing with the telephoto lens at the gorgeous Lotus pool…..

The surface of much of the Lotus pool is covered with a water plant called Duckweed……

At one point, I simply sat down on a bench and enjoyed the beauty around me. In the photography course that I am listening to, he says that “sometimes you have to pet the whale”…..meaning that sometimes you have to put the camera away and simply enjoy the moment!!

This gentleman was running a game…..

…that used a pyramid of cans and a ball…..

I wanted to head to an area around the lake that I had enjoyed in previous years but unfortunately that area was closed for some major construction. If it is like the rest of Kunming, they have torn down the old buildings to put up fancy new ones that will, unfortunately, deteriorate rapidly.

So I had reached the other side of the lake and wasn’t ready to head home yet so decided to just start walking down the bordering street. I realized again how freeing it is to go out with Google Maps on my side. I don’t have to concentrate as much on where I am going and can just enjoy the views.

I came to a park entrance with a long set of stairs leading up to a large house and decided to see what it was. Besides, climbing steps aren’t a problem…..I’ve got a brand new knee to do it with!!!

The funniest thing about this entrance was watching a man photograph his wife (I presume) as she stood in front of the entrance. He kept shooing other people away so that they were not in his frame and kept stepping further and further back and into traffic. I was amazed that he didn’t get run over by one of the motorbikes.

This gentleman was sweeping all of the leaves and petals that had fallen onto the sidewalk. I laughed as he took his broom and beat the underside of the flowering shrub to knock off even more of the flowers!!

I had two cute “hello, how are you” interactions. The first were two girls, maybe 13 years old, who were walking toward me and I could tell by their body language that they were debating whether or not to talk to me. So, I decided to put them out of their misery and initiate the conversation myself. When I said “Hello” there were instant smiles, and a big “Hello” back. I extend the conversation by asking “How are you?” and they responded with the classic “Fine, thank you”. So, the pleasantries had been observed and it was okay to move on!!

Then, about 5 minutes later, I saw three older women walking toward me and one turned to the other and I heard her say a tentative “Hello”, as if asking her friend if that was right. Once again, I jumped in first and said hello to them. More big smiles and enthusiastic “Hello’s” were returned.

I had a glimpse of something white among the greenery and then I saw this gorgeous Spider Lily……

It was up fairly high and I was again thankful for the telephoto lens!!!

The Chinese people love to take photos of themselves and honestly look quizzically at me when I am only taking scenery photos. I saw three fun examples in just a few minutes. The first one looked a bit dangerous as this young woman tries to recreate the classic Titanic pose without having Jack to hold onto her…..

…..or maybe she is a Gargoyle in training!!

This young woman meticulously set her camera so that she could sit on the steps and take photos of herself…..

But my favorite for the day were these two young women posing in front of of a traffic mirror. They were making faces, laughing and having a wonderful time. And, if they look closely at their photo, they will see an American’s feet in there as well……

I walked a bit further and heard noises that sounded like a Taekwondo class so I eagerly looked for the sounds source. Instead of a class, I found a group of teens who were apparently practicing for a play or some performance…..

As I continued walking, I kept wondering exactly what this place was since there were lots of large building and beautiful green areas. It was then that I had a thought that it might be the old Yunnan University campus. We had been told that the campus had moved about 40 kilometers away, meaning that the old campus would be vacant. About 30 seconds after I had this epiphany, I saw this sign that confirmed my thoughts…..

Most of the buildings were deserted although there were still a few signs of life…..

I do wonder exactly what will become of the campus, although right now it seems to be a fun family hangout!!!

By this stage, I really didn’t know exactly where I was although I had a basic idea of which way I needed to go. I fired up my map and did a quick check to see if I was right and then just kept on walking. I reached a street that had office supplies, copier services and other business supplies. I entered one of the craft stores and ended up buying some fabric paints. It will be interesting to give them a try when I get home!!

About this time, gigantic drops of rain started splatting down on the sidewalk so I quickened my step to get back faster. Fortunately, about the time that I got my camera put up and my umbrella out, the rain stopped and I stayed dry after all.

I passed on interesting screen in front of a doorway…..

And, before I knew it, I was back a Salvadores and knew exactly how to reach my hotel oasis!!

One other thing that we have noticed on this trip is that there are kids, especially toddlers, EVERYWHERE!! In 2010, we commented that we didn’t see many children but it is obvious that the government’s relaxing of the “one-child” policy is working the way they planned. Now, there will be a new generation of young people to move into the work force as the older generation retires. By the way, China has a mandatory retirement age of 60 for men and 55 for women!!

And, I leave you with this liability insurance nightmare from one of the sidewalks by the hotel…..

THIS. CAN. NOT. BE. SAFE!!!!

Rainy Day Market

On Wednesday it managed to rain for the entire day so we mostly holed up in the hotel and worked in the club room. Michael left at 1:00 to teach his class and I stayed at my table. By 4:00, I was going crazy so decided to grab my umbrella and go out for a bit.

When we had walked to dinner on the first night, Wen had pointed to a building and said that there was a Silk Clothing exhibition there. I thought that sounded interesting, but was also disappointed because there used to be a fun market in that building. I entered the “Silk Clothing Exhibition” to find that it was actually the market so I was happy to be there!!

It is an interesting market as it is a rabbit warren with stalls every where and with people selling all sorts of wares. It was fun to watch the women trying on all the dresses and jackets and shirts and each ooing and ahing over how they looked. Several of the stalls had a heavy curtain that the workers would hold up so that the person could put on the clothing in privacy. Most of the clothing stalls had steamers in the back where they would take the items out of the cellophane packages that they were wrapped in, steam the wrinkles out and then hang them on the wall for display.

The big seller for the day appeared to be some tight scarves that would go around your neck. The booth was packed!!!

There were stall after stall of herbs and spices, flowers and seasonings for tea, and soy bean products galore. These were my favorites to explore……

Several had peanut grinders and you could dip out your own peanut butter. I watched as one woman used a toothpick to dip out a taste…..

I’m not sure what the orange hairy thing is…….

The smells were amazing, a wonderful cacophony of herbs and spices.

I have seen this several times and am not sure exactly what it is……

It looks a feels like wood chips but I am betting that it is some type of mushroom.

This basket was also interesting, and again, I have NO idea what it is…..

This young boy laughed at me taking photos of the stalls so I turned the camera on him. He smiled but then ran away and the stall-keeper had a good laugh…..

And, one last thing that I have no idea about, but it sure is colorful…..

Many of the stalls looked so much alike that it was hard to tell where I had been and I circled back MANY times.

When I first entered, I noticed a jacket that I really liked and the woman stall-keeper encouraged me to try it on. I liked it but wanted to see everything first so I didn’t buy it then. At the end, when I finally found the stall again, she immediately picked up the jacket and encouraged me to put it on again. Two women watched as I did this and proceed to excitedly tell me that I looked wonderful….at least I HOPE that is what they were saying!!!

About 4:55, one person put a cover over the shop entrance and all of the others quickly followed suit……

The message was clear….we are finished here. It is time to go home…..and so it was!!!

KM Day 2

On this second day in Kunming, we started out with breakfast, this time being intrigued by this very interesting green cake…..

Taking the taste test simply proved that it was a light and fluffy Angel Food cake. Now, why it was green…..who knows!!!

We spent most of the morning working at “the club” and when Michael left for his class, I headed out to find a CarreFour store. CarreFour is basically a French Walmart and there were still a few items that we were looking for so I was determined to find them.

I started using google maps but then decided that I knew the way better than it did and pretty much made the trip just using my nose. The store is located in a pedestrian only area that is usually crammed with relaxing Chinese. Today however, a Thunderstorm was rolling in and the square was pretty empty.

I did get a few photos of two of statues that I had seen and loved in previous trips…..

The bells on a small building in the center of the square were ringing ominously as the storm approached and when the rain started, everyone made a beeline for one of the stores. I joined in and ran into the CarreFour…..at least I thought it was the CarreFour. If worse comes to worse, there was a McDonald’s so all would not have been lost.

I walked around thru a mall like area and finally saw the escalator up to the store. Just like the Walmart, the store is an absolute maze. It’s on two levels, and sometimes it just seems to go on and on forever. After I was finished shopping, the trick was to find my way out now. My first thought was to follow the signs pointing to the Exit and Cashier, but when I passed the same set of shelves twice, I knew that I had made a complete round and was back where I started. Obviously I missed something!!!

Meanwhile I did see a few interesting items in the store. The first were these plates that each had 1/2 of a fish…..

Then there were these Pringle cans that were so distended that the plastic caps would no longer fit…..

And, finally, there were these “oh – so – yummy” Beef Flavored Sunflower Seeds and Crab Flavored Peas…..

In most stores, the yogurt area is crammed with people and filled with store employees hawking the various types of yogurt. This store came up with a “better” plan and instead had bullhorns stationed throughout the area, each playing a recording of what was for sale on the shelf below it…..

It was then that I realize that the cashier was on the third floor.

The din was amazing!!!

OK…now back to my trying to get out of the store….. After making a couple of laps of the 1st floor, I remembered that I had seen the checkouts on the SECOND floor!! So, I climbed the stairs and made my way to the check out area. It is counterintuitive to me that the checkout isn’t at the bottom of the store!!!

At this point I was through shopping and hoped that it had stopped raining. Fortunately the storm had passed, but there was still a fairly steady rain coming down. I waited for a few minutes and then grabbed my umbrella and off I went. The biggest problem was that the streets are very slick, and I had to walk slowly and carefully to keep from falling down.

When I reached the main street that takes me back to the hotel, I decided to go ahead and cross this huge street where there was a light and walk on the other side of the street this time, just to see new things and also thinking that it might be more sheltered from the rain.

There was a long stretch where there was construction and the sidewalk was closed off, which meant that I had to walk in the motorbike line. It was a bit harrowing as the motorbikes sped around the walkers, but most would give a friendly beep to let you know that they were coming

They were also doing construction along the sidewalk, digging big holes so that they could get to the pipes and wiring underneath. There were large bags of dirt next to each hole and I originally thought that they were building flowerbeds and would use the bagged dirt to fill the holes. Then, I finally realized that the bags were full of the dirt that had been dug up when the hole was made. At home, we would just have a pile of dirt on the sidewalk!!

After a few minutes the rain stopped, the sun came out, and life was good again.

I walked past a church that I had visited on our previous trip, and saw two white robbed men taking pictures out front. I looked into the church and could see a large number of white robed people milling around. So, being a good “sticky beak” (Australian term for nosy person), I slipped into the back row and just watched for a while.

I spoke to the church organist and found out that this was a 100+ person choir from another city and that they were were performing in the church in the evening. He also told me that this church was one of the “Government approved” protestant churches and that the service was a mix between Presbyterian and Anglican.

I watched for quite a while as the director SLOWLY got all of the members on the stage and into their respective places. I was appalled that the back row were standing on small stepstools. I cant imagine how uncomfortable it would be to have to stand there all thru a concert. I was also glad to know that there wouldn’t be any swaying and clapping as that could have been deadly!!

After about 30 minutes of watching them set up, they finally started singing. They did a short warm-up and two songs and then they were thru!! They did sound magnificent and there is something about hearing “Amazing Grace” being sung in a different language….

CHINESE CHOIR

As soon as they finished two young girls came running down the aisle to me and breathlessly said “can I take a picture with you?” When I said yes, she called to her Mom and many photos ensued. After the pictures they told me that the praise concert was at 7:30 tonight and that I was welcome to come. Too bad that we already have plans!!

Our plans for the evening were to walk down the street to one of our favorite restaurants in Kunming. It is called “Salvadors” and is run by a group of “non-Chinese” immigrants and visitors. They have an eclectic selection of food and Michael enjoyed a wonderful BLT with fries and I had a spicy Chicken Quesadilla.

As we were leaving we met up with Colin who is one of the owners that we met 5 China trips ago. He told us that they have opened another “loft” venue just down the street and that there was an Art Silent Auction going on. He knew that we enjoy art and he said the magic word to send us tripping up the street.

We arrived to find a group of enthusiast who were either there for the art or for the happy hour prices….I couldn’t be sure!! The artist is a young woman named Charlotte Massey (www.charredlatte.com). She is from Washington state and she been an exchange student in China for the past 6 weeks. Her focus on this trip was to make art that was “Painted with Place”….to use the natural materials that were around her to make the paints, giving each painting a feeling of place.

The auction was for 9 of her postcard size paintings, with the proceeds going to a local charity that helped the people of Kunming….

This link (http://www.charredlatte.com/#/painted-with-place-1/) will take you to a few of the paintings that were for sale.

As you can tell from the group photo, we were once again the “Grandpa and Grandma” of the gathering!!

We talked at length to Charlotte and then started looking at her art. Before I knew it, Michael had placed a bid on a painting of a bird….a Hoopoe to be exact. The initial bids were placed in a civil manner, but as the cut-off time grew near, things started to get a bit crazy. As one patron put it….”This is the loudest “Silent Auction” that I have ever heard”!! We continued to bid on the Hoopoe but there was one other woman who was matching us raise for raise.

In the last 30 seconds, she and I stood on opposite sides of the paper with our shoulders touching and pens poised ready to outbid the other. And………I choked at the last minute and she won!!! Oh well, it was still a whole lot of fun and a great experience to end off a wonderful day…..and we ALMOST had a Hoopoe to show for it!!

First walk….

We woke up for our first day in Kunming and started with a filling breakfast consisting of half Western food and half Chinese food…a yummy start to the day.

Being the good Rednecks that we are, the first order of business was a walk to Walmart to pick up a few supplies. The store is only about 1/4 of a mile away from the hotel and we found it without the use of any maps or aids.

After we had purchased our few needs, we started the fun task of exploring some of the departments. Our favorite find of the day were cans of alcoholic drinks…..

And yes, the flavors are “Grape and Vodka”, Peach & Brandy”, and “Yoghurt & Vodka”!! The mind boggles.

Michael found this “Great Value” brand beer that promises “Creamy heads of foam with a sense of fullness”…..

We returned to the hotel and spent some time in the “Crystal Club” at the hotel. It is an area that we always ask for because it provides tables, snacks and drinks for us to enjoy.

Michael headed out at 1:00 to meet with his first class for the week and I headed out for my favorite Kunming place…..Green Lake Park!!

One of the things that Michael gave me for my birthday was a National Geographic course on photography and my plan has been to watch the classes in the morning and then go out and practice in the afternoons. Today I only watched the first lesson which talked mostly about staging photos for the most impact…..keeping the subject of the photo prominent and letting the backgrounds be just that…..in the background!!

So with these thoughts in mind, I headed for the lake. When we bought our camera, it came with a small telephoto lens (55-250) and, I am ashamed to say, we had never used it. For the most part I enjoyed having this new lens on the camera. It does make it harder to get pictures when you cant back up more to get away from your subject, but it’s so much easier to photograph people without getting right in their face.

Green Lake is a man made lake in the middle of the city and it has islands and walkways running all across it. It seems to be the centerpiece of Kunming tourism and it is always filled with people.

The first thing that caught my eye was an old man sitting by the edge of the lake painting with a young girl….and, as always, with a crowd hovering tightly around. …

I joined in with the crowd and happily started snapping shots. Sometimes the teacher would do the painting with the young student holding onto the end of the brush…..

…but most of the time he would draw pencil lines of what he wanted her to paint and then let her do the work herself….

Her concentration was apparent as she worked……

He patiently pointed to the areas that he wanted her to fill in next…..

The little girl on the left was completely engrossed in what was being done and was, in fact, the next one to paint!!

The teacher added a few small finishing touches….

After the picture was finished, he careful he rolled it up, wrapped it in newspaper, and handed it to the young girl….

As soon as she was gone another one sat down ready to learn to paint….

I loved the look on all of the kids faces as they watched….

The old man stayed bent over his work, seldom looking up at the crowd gathered around him which made it hard to get a picture of his face. But his passion for his work was evident in the gentleness with which he helped each young person.

I moved further along the walk and came across my first batch of exercise classes. Each class has 2 or 3 leaders who proudly stand at the front of the class, next to the amplifier used to project the music to the participants.

One older gentleman was dancing off to the side by himself, and he kept looking my way, obviously wanting me to take his photo. When I pointed the camera at him, he let it all hang out, giving the dance everything he had….

When I finished photographing I gave him a thumbs up and he return the gesture with a big smile included.

I came to a group of musicians who were just getting ready to play. Each one of them had their own amplifier for their instrument, whether it was a saxophone, a traditional Chinese Erhu, or even a set of bongos. It is a very inclusive group as I watched another musician walk past, and immediately be asked if wanted to join them. They grabbed another chair and added him to the group.

While I was listening to this group, I noticed a young girl sitting on the steps and posing for a picture…..

The fun thing about China is that everybody has cameras and they LOVE having their picture taken, so I don’t feel completely out of place. Although the color of my skin and the roundness of my eyes does set me apart a bit…. that and my shoes!! They dont wear many sandals and the eyes always go to my feet!!!

Off to one side there sat an older man playing his Erhu, with his own private mini amplifier by his side. I stood and watched him for about five minutes, enjoying as he made the strings of the instrument dance.

I was interested in the bow. It’s made up of lots of little hair-like strands and is not taut like a violin bow. And, It actually goes between the two strings of instrument and it looks as if he pushes it forward to play one string and back to play the other one.

Now came my favorite interaction for the day…..

The next ”act” that I came upon was a group of 30 or so men and women, all singing together. There was one woman who was truly a ham… when she saw me taking photos, she grabbed the woman next to her and gave me a typical Chinese photo op….

I watched and listened for about 10 minutes and as I started to walk off she caught my eye and gave me a wave “goodbye”.

There was another singing group crowded in a pavilion just around the corner. I wanted to get to the other side of the pavilion and there was a walkway through the group. The sound in the middle of the choir was amazing as you could hear all the different voices mingling together. As usual, one lady looked up from her music and gave me a big smile. As the song ended, there was much laughter and talking and I wondered how the director ever regained control.

One of my China pastimes is reading Tee-shirts that are written in “English”. My favorite for the day was “Raise boys and girls the sane way”. I’m not sure if this is opposed to raising them in the “insane” way, or if it was a typo and you’re supposed to raise them the same way.

By this time the wind had really picked up and I was afraid that it was about to rain so I headed back to the hotel. On the way I took this photo of bicycles galore…..

That evening we had dinner with Doug Yu, one of Michael’s colleagues here in Kunming. He took us to an interesting Vegetarian restaurant called “The Green Garden”. The food was amazing as the chef was able to pull together various vegetables, mushrooms and tofu to have the same look and texture as meat and fish. No….theses are not chicken fingers, but patties made from mushrooms…..

They were just one of the treats for the evening!!

Okay….day one in Kunming is now in the books (and in the blog)…… more to come.

Back in the car again.

Do you remember the scene from “Jurassic Park”?……the one where Dr. Grant and the two kids are climbing down the tree while the car that has been stuck in the top of the tree quickly makes its way down to crush them. Then after they have made it safely to the ground, the car tips on top of them but they fit thru the opening in the top. Tim says “well, we are back in the car again”!!!

That is the way that we feel about China. Almost every time we have visited we have left thinking that it would be our last trip there. And then, two or three years later, another invitation pops up and off we go. So, today we are “back in the car again”!!

Our trip started in the usual way on Thursday with our sweet Daughter-In-Law driving us to the hotel near the airport. We have stayed in this hotel before so I wont show another photo of the hall carpet, but the bathroom did have an interesting geometric wallpaper…..

….and I feel sure that whoever chose the accent color was going for “painter tape” blue……

While we were sitting in the Atlanta airport the next morning, a couple sat down across from us and, low and behold, she was using an International Quilt Festival tote bag!! Needless to say, the next 30 minutes were filled with the sharing of stories and photos of our creations.

We were flying thru Seattle and my remembrance of our last time there included a magnificent hamburger and fries, so I was super happy to find the sign for

And, this photo says it all….

The flight to Beijing was long (11.5 hours) but it seemed to go by fairly quickly. Michael worked on some stories that he is writing and I did a bit of accounting work, a bit of embroidery work (on a project that I haven’t shown yet) and watched three movies…..”The Greatest Showman”, “Hidden Figures”, and the ever indomitable Sandy B. in “Miss Congeniality”!!

We had an overnight in Beijing at a nice hotel with a very comfortable bed, great shower, fun hall carpet…..

and a marvelous breakfast…..

We caught an early shuttle bus to the airport and finally got checked into our flight and thru security. Michael had issues with one of his liquid medicines that they would not allow in carry-on baggage so he spent about an hour getting it packaged and checked. It was good that we were so early.

As he normally does, Michael stood up about 30 minutes prior to the plane boarding and I moved into his seat, leaving two empty seats that were filled by two young women. After about 10 minutes, they both stood up and one of them said to Michael (in halting English) that she was sure that his backpack was so heavy that he should be sitting. I have translated that into…..”Wow, you are so old!! We are afraid that you are going to keel over, so please sit”.

We continued to talk to the two of them and then two others joined us. The four ladies were “Middle School” (equivalent of our High School) students who had been studying in Beijing for the past week. They and their teacher started asking many questions and Michael stepped into “teacher” mode and did a magnificent job of finding out more about them and what their hopes and dreams were……

They had been in Beijing participating in a Chinese cultural program and they showed a video of one of them dancing and then photos of one playing a flute. When we asked what the flute sounded like, she happily pulled it out and gave us an impromptu concert…….

Airport Flute concert

The third girl was a singer and, at the encouraging of her friends, she shyly sang a few bars of “My Heart Will Go On”, The fourth one was a debater but we didn’t see an example of her skills. Having said that, she was very interested in world politics and asked probing questions.

They each apologized for their English skills but we assured them that they were doing a great job. I did notice that the longer they talked, the better they got.

I was fun to see how eager they were to talk to us and I laughed as they moved closer and closer in to where Michael was standing. They were super excited when he gave each of them his business card. We hope that they will email him one day!!

Our flight had been delayed for an hour so there was plenty of time to talk and when we got ready to leave there were photos galore…..

When I joined into the photo group, the young woman on the right looked at me and said “you are so tall”! She was only a few inches shorter than myself and we had a laugh that she wasn’t all that short herself!!

It was one of those fun interactions that makes traveling worth all of the hassles!!

We arrived in Kunming without incident and were met at the airport by Michael’s host, Wen and by Ruoping (our “fixer”). They drove us to “our” hotel….the one that we have stayed at for the last 4 trips, and after we had checked in, they took us to our restaurant for the evening, “Classic 1909”.

The restaurant is new but the building is hundreds of years old. It was the quarters of one of the Chinese War Lords who tried to take over the Empire but was eventually defeated. It serves a “new” style of food and is extremely popular. One young woman (Xiaoyu) had arrived there 2-1/2 hours early to ensure that we had a table!!

The meal started out with appetizer plates…..

….that included candied walnuts, sautéed mushrooms, fried pork fat, spicy lotus root, onions, fried butter (no this is not a typo), pickled cucumber and a few others that I never new what they were. The bottom left is “Pickled Pine Tree Leaves” which were actually pretty good.

Then the waiter brought a HUGE bowl of hot, steaming soup and sat it in front of Michael. She then proceeded to put a variety of meats and vegies into the soup, with quite a flourish…..

Soup Galore

The final ingredient is not in this video….a LARGE mass of homemade rice noodles.

We both thought that this soup would be split between the five of us but we were VERY WRONG. They proceeded to bring FOUR more bowls and we all went fishing. It was super tasty and fun to eat. I had some trouble with the chopsticks and the noodles but soon learned to lean way over the bowl and grab the noodles as soon as I lifted them up. If you waited too long, those slippery devils would slide right off and disappear back into the depths of the bowl!!

I leave you with this remarkable garnish…..

Now for a good night’s sleep and the start to a new week in Kunming!!!