Part of the whole experience of living in China for me has been to explore China so this was a great opportunity for me to go to a part of China I didn’t know much about. It turns out that Kunming is one of the southern-most provinces that borders Vietnam. The weather can be tropical and it is also not far from Tibet so culture is quite different from Shanghai which is in the eastern part of China. After landing I was greeted by Yali, my short-term Mandarin teacher and her old friend who is a business man in Kunming. Because it was late and I hadn’t eaten dinner, we went to a local restaurant and watched the rest of one of the world cup matches that was on TV. People here are really into the world cup and the matches can be watched at restaurants, bars or on TV at local mini marts. Many of the cab drivers also listen to the matches at full blast while they take you from here to there.
So after some local food and a bit of conversation, I checked in at the Golden Dragon hotel and some much needed sleep. I slept very heavily and woke up to meet my teacher and her friend for breakfast. I ate some noodles and rice and had some coffee and we were off to see a bit of the city.
It proved to be an interesting day – the village was wonderful and I spent my time shopping from small shops, trying various foods, and looking at the beautiful sights and finished off the experience with a brief but wonderful ride on an elephant’s nose. I have always had a great respect for these great animals and I am always in awe of them in their presence. I will never forget the first time I got close to an elephant as a child when a circus came to town. Being in the presence of these animals is nothing like seeing them in photos or on TV. There is something about elephants which produces in me a feeling of tenderness and I know that I am in the presence of something great, and I don’t mean greatness in terms of size. So when I saw that there was an elephant at this park, I immediately had the desire to get close to it. I had ridden on an elephants back before but never had I been so close to an elephants face and trunk. It was amazing, in a moment, I was on the ground and in the next, I was lifted several feet in the air with the elephant’s trunk gently wrapped around me. I felt very safe and also felt that I could get used to being close to an elephant very easily. After a few moments, I was set down and I thanked the elephant for the experience and departed the village.
The next stop in Kunming was the local golf course so that Ken could pick up his clubs. Incidentally, Ken is very interested in golf; it is one of his passions. Then we stopped at his home and I got a quick tour. Here they call houses villas and he had a very nice villa decorated with beautiful photos that he has taken on Western Hills. In the front room of his house he also had a very large Buddha and several Tibetan bibles which I found quite intriguing.
The last stop of the day was for a family dinner in honor of Dragon Boat festival which was that day. The Dragon Boat festival is an annual holiday in honor of the ancient poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was a great poet who lived during the time when China was being fought over by warring states. It was a time of corruption and strife and rather than serve a master he did not agree with, in 278 Qu Yuan committed suicide by jumping into a river. Because he was so beloved, the people threw rice e and food into the river so that his body would not be eaten. Somehow this translated into boats being decorated like dragons and raced – it is still a little unclear to me how this evolved. Today people still have dragon boat races and still throw food river into the river. It is amazing what one person can inspire!
The family I had dinner with was very gracious and no one seemed to mind that there was an unexpected American who didn’t speak their language and their traditional dinner. Indeed they were all quite impressed that I could eat with chopsticks – thanks Grandma and Grandpa for teaching me when I was little! It was a lovely dinner and my favorite dish was cooked goat cheese – yummy! At the end of the dinner we sang happy birthday for Ken’s lunar birthday (his solar calendar birthday had already been celebrated : ). I was pleased to be able to sing along in Chinese as it is the only song I know.
After leaving the family dinner we went for a foot massage – something I have loved to indulge in since I moved to China. We booked an hour and a half for each of us in a shared room. The environment for massages is quite different in China – there are some western style spas but most massage places offer shared rooms with lounger-like chairs that recline and a flat screen tv. People will regularly talk on their mobile phones or to each other. In china, quiet is not necessarily required for relaxation. So we watched one of the soccer matches as we all got our rubdowns. I think I have already mentioned that in China a foot massage is pretty much a regular massage but with all clothes on and pants rolled up to the knees . At my “foot massage” my back, neck, shoulders, legs, arms, head and of course feet were massaged. We got so wrapped up into watching the match that our one and a half hour massage turned into a two and a half massage. I could get used to that and boy did I need a massage!
Thoroughly relaxed after a busy and fascinating day, I went back to the hotel for a short sleep before catching my plane in the morning. It was a whirlwind as I was on a plane by 8 am the next day, landed by 11 am and at work by 1 pm for a busy workweek. This is how my life has been ever since I have been in China. A wild mix of intense work, play and relaxation with unexpected adventures and experience and I don’t think I’d have it any other way!
The next stop in Kunming was the local golf course so that Ken could pick up his clubs. Incidentally, Ken is very interested in golf; it is one of his passions. Then we stopped at his home and I got a quick tour. Here they call houses villas and he had a very nice villa decorated with beautiful photos that he has taken on Western Hills. In the front room of his house he also had a very large Buddha and several Tibetan bibles which I found quite intriguing.
The last stop of the day was for a family dinner in honor of Dragon Boat festival which was that day. The Dragon Boat festival is an annual holiday in honor of the ancient poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was a great poet who lived during the time when China was being fought over by warring states. It was a time of corruption and strife and rather than serve a master he did not agree with, in 278 Qu Yuan committed suicide by jumping into a river. Because he was so beloved, the people threw rice e and food into the river so that his body would not be eaten. Somehow this translated into boats being decorated like dragons and raced – it is still a little unclear to me how this evolved. Today people still have dragon boat races and still throw food river into the river. It is amazing what one person can inspire!
The family I had dinner with was very gracious and no one seemed to mind that there was an unexpected American who didn’t speak their language and their traditional dinner. Indeed they were all quite impressed that I could eat with chopsticks – thanks Grandma and Grandpa for teaching me when I was little! It was a lovely dinner and my favorite dish was cooked goat cheese – yummy! At the end of the dinner we sang happy birthday for Ken’s lunar birthday (his solar calendar birthday had already been celebrated : ). I was pleased to be able to sing along in Chinese as it is the only song I know.
After leaving the family dinner we went for a foot massage – something I have loved to indulge in since I moved to China. We booked an hour and a half for each of us in a shared room. The environment for massages is quite different in China – there are some western style spas but most massage places offer shared rooms with lounger-like chairs that recline and a flat screen tv. People will regularly talk on their mobile phones or to each other. In china, quiet is not necessarily required for relaxation. So we watched one of the soccer matches as we all got our rubdowns. I think I have already mentioned that in China a foot massage is pretty much a regular massage but with all clothes on and pants rolled up to the knees . At my “foot massage” my back, neck, shoulders, legs, arms, head and of course feet were massaged. We got so wrapped up into watching the match that our one and a half hour massage turned into a two and a half massage. I could get used to that and boy did I need a massage!
Thoroughly relaxed after a busy and fascinating day, I went back to the hotel for a short sleep before catching my plane in the morning. It was a whirlwind as I was on a plane by 8 am the next day, landed by 11 am and at work by 1 pm for a busy workweek. This is how my life has been ever since I have been in China. A wild mix of intense work, play and relaxation with unexpected adventures and experience and I don’t think I’d have it any other way!