Greetings from The Seagull Hotel in Kunming, Yunnan Province
We checked into The Seagull Hotel four days ago and find it more relaxing to know we will not be travelling (other than short sight-seeing jaunts) until we leave for our trip home.
I promised in my last blog entry to tell you about our brushes with Chinese police. Actually, it's not as bad as it sounds. On the way to Leaping Tiger Gorge (north of Lijiang) our driver was stopped. Apparently he had not purchased the appropriate piece of paper to give him permission to drive on that particular road. We felt badly for him (and for us) as he made several stops on the way home to try to pay his fine. He had no luck but, we do believe he was told by some police officers that he could mail the fee to the appropriate department.
Our driver picked a restaurant on the way back for our lunch. It was the most delicious lunch up until that time. (Photo 1 shows our servers starting their lunch after having served our table).
Our friend Carrie told us that at one time only hikers could get in to view the Gorge. Not true now. The site has been designed for tourists. The days of finding untouched beauty in China seem to be over. The tourist has been considered at many, many sites. (Photo 2 - the Gorge)
When we returned to our hotel that evening it was crawling with police. They set up discussions at a table in the courtyard below our room. This is where losing one's hearing pays off. Michael said they spoke with the owners of the hotel well into the night. When I go to bed I sleep on my better ear and cannot hear much at all. Bliss, in this particular case. Not so good however, if someone is shouting FIRE! Which, by the way, they have not done ... Thank God!
Michael and I transferred to another hotel the next night abandoning Carrie to the hotel with the questionable reputation ... not to mention the filth and the noise of the children in the school - again coming from the courtyard. We were happy to pay extra Yuan knowing everything was much cleaner and our room was larger. In the 'police' hotel-from-hell, Michael had to sleep with a suitcase on his bed we were so cramped. Another of my afflictions paid off, Restless Leg Syndrome. I cannot sleep with anything so big and heavy on the bed, I would stub my toes when my legs start flinging about. As you can tell, I'm a delight to travel with because of my multitude of idiosyncrasies.
Lijiang could pretty much be re-named Pashminaland. (Photo 3) Again, one must barter for a fair price. I'm going to like the world much more when fixed pricing is established. Bartering is really an unfriendly experience. It immediately feels like one is trying to cheat the other. Not a good way to establish a trusting relationship. We were at lunch yesterday (Friday 16th) with an 80-year-old man (Photo 4 - with Kamran, the host of our luncheon) who hates the dishonesty of bartering so much he will only shop at Wal-mart. Yes, there is a Wal-mart in Kunming AND, according to our lunch companion, the prices are honest and fixed. We're considering an outing to Wal-mart. Go figure!
Tonight (Saturday, 17th) after dinner we went for a walk and happened upon a church with the doors opened. We went in and had a wonderfully uplifting twenty minutes or so. There was a wonderful choir singing rousing Chinese hymns. The members of the choir were in their twenties. I can tell you they had the Spirit, with a capital 'S'. There was one song we could sing along to because of one word Hallelujah! It reminded me of Baptist churches in the south. Everyone was standing, clapping, swaying to the music and singing. The only difference was these were Chinese people. It was very moving and fun! There was a cross at the front of the church and a picture of Christ so, it was Christian.
A word about the Seagull Hotel. It got its name because of the seagulls that winter-over on Green Lake which is across the road. They return by the hundreds ... no, thousands ... and will be here until the spring when they once again head north. The parks around Green Lake are filled with tourists and locals. Kunming is a tourist city but, I can count on one hand the number of Westerners we have seen. It is the Chinese tourists who visit here.
The AMAX department store is nearby. We walked through today and were stunned by the prices. Not a bargain to be found. A man's plaid shirt - $170 Cdn. Lady's fairly plain shoes - $300+ Cdn. When I was in China twenty years ago my friend, Tieshan, always said, "China is a developing country". My observation would be that China has developed. Michael agrees and we both say it won't be very long until China surpasses North America. Hang onto your hats kids, the world is in for quite a ride.
Love to all,
Marlene
P.S. Michael just remarked about trying to find something in English on TV ... "You'd think they would be interested in learning English so they'd put in subtitles". He watched a wonderful subtitled movie last night. My response was, "Michael, maybe the rest of us will have to learn Chinese". Something to think about.
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