My month-long intensive Chinese class is over and I’m back from Kunming. I had an amazing time, without a doubt my best holiday yet (and I have had some awesome holidays). In fact, this is the first time where I wasn’t relieved to come back home. Usually, after a month or so of traveling I’m exhausted and happy to get back. This time I was extremely exhausted, but not at all happy to be back.
So what was so fun? Well, what wasn’t?! I learned a shit ton of chinese (yes, that is an official measurement), I did different (and fun) things everyday, made friends with a bunch of local people (my phone has 10 new numbers and about 17 new weixin contacts) and spent time with some of the coolest people I’ve met in a long time (my classmates.)
Kunming is also an amazing city. It is called “The Spring City,” due to year-long spring like temperatures, the sky was blue, the air was crisp and the city had some great neighborhoods to explore.
I’ll be writing a few entries on specific things about my time in Kunming, but I thought as a preview I’d just share some random pictures. Thanks to my new iphone (and me always having a camera on hand) I ended up taking about 1,300 pictures in 4 weeks. Don’t worry, you don’t have to look at them all…
After class my friends and I would explore the city, checking out all the nooks and crannies.
Yunnan Province has the highest amount of ethnic minorities in China which meant you would see people all over in interesting clothes, and faces looked very different from where I live.
KTV (Karaoke) was sung. Not just once, but twice. (In one month. My record!)
One day we found ourselves at a Japanese Animation Festival. Actually, it was my first Anime festival and it was very, very strange. But I liked it.
You can judge how good a city is by its street food, and Kunming had a ton and it was amazing. Potatoes were a popular snack (but unfortunately served spicy most of the time.)
Right out of the city there are some great day trips, like the West Mountains, in case city life gets to overwhelming and you need some ancient temples to relax in.
Dancing on the streets with a group of old men. Awesome.
So that is just a small sample of the thousand plus pictures I took. In the next few days I’ll be writing about more specific places and things that I did/saw. So, y’all come back now ya hear?
