Up, up and away

I headed to Kunming for the night before heading to Jinghong to meet Wade. Being that I was travelling from another country (Hong Kong) to China, I had to go through customs. The agent asked many questions- much like New Zealand. The difference is how nice the customs agent was. She actually apologized before asking them. She was really calm in asking me the questions and didn't make me feel nervous or like I was doing something wrong.

I exited the airport and there were a whole slew of people trying to get you to use their services. I needed to get a flight ticket for the next day and needed to convert some cash. A woman with an 'official' tourist badge offered to help. After speaking with her she explained that she worked for the government and was there to help. I decided to take her up on the offer, no one else spoke English- but I was sure she was going to rip me off. She definitely made some dough off of me... but it was a really smooth transition into a country where I don't speak the language.. it was well worth the $50 US she probably made off of me.

I walked about town a bit. I was not staying in the major part of the city, not the downtown area. I stayed in a hostel that was attached to a nice hotel. The hostel room was one of the nicest I have seen. It was spotless with wooden bunkbeds- you could actually sit up in them! Each one had a lamp and a little shelf. I was startled however when I saw the mattress... though I was warned about mattresses in China. It was about 3 inches thick and very stiff. I will say this though, to my surprise it was quite comfortable!

Kunming is extremely safe, but barely anyone speaks English- at least in the area that I was in. There were a lot of sporting good stores where I was, which is what I needed- I had to pick up some hiking boots and shorts for the hike Wade and I planned on doing. It was the strangest experience. It looked like I entered a store- but within the store were different areas that looked like it's own store. Nike, Adidas, Puma, Columbia and others all had their own sections- but you pay at a main counter and you pay before you get the goods. It was very difficult shopping and trying to communicate with the sales help. I had to play charades and it is then that I realized Chinese people really don't have much common sense. I know this is a gross generalization- but its true. When I tried a pair of shoes on that were too small I pointed to the shoe and did a no gesture with my hands and then placed a hand on each end of the shoe and extended my hand at the top, to show I needed it bigger. She didn't get it. It took about 5 minutes for her to finally understand. There are other examples of their inability to think quickly - but I think my point is made.

I decided to get a massage. Are you tired of reading about them? Well.. I am not tired of getting them! My accommodations had a 'spa' (please read that loosely this is dirty China we are talking about) that advertised foot massages. A man brought me to a room and spoke maybe 2 words of English. We soaked my feet and then he convinced me, in Chinese and one word of English, to get a pedicure as well. Actually he called it a manicure... but given the circumstances I understood what he meant- see? Common sense!

Anyhow, the manicure for my feet consisted of him trimming my nails with a long metal tool. It looked like something a dentist would use. He scrubbed my feet and that is about all the pedicure was... what a waste of 20 yuan (3 dollars- roughly). From there he then convinced me to get a full body massage and from that it turned into an oil massage. This was my first male masseuse outside of the states- it really didn't change anything. I have to say sometimes the haggling and forceful sales pitches are too annoying to deal with, as in this case... Massages are supposed to be stress releasing... so I just went with it.

It was the most spastic massage I have ever received. He actually jumped up on the table I was laying on and squatted. From there is hands moved about 100 miles an hour. He huffed and puffed though and seemed to complain... ummm... it was his idea I get the full body! It was a great massage though- very entertaining; he burped really loudly in the middle of it. At the end he also turned into a tip grubber. All in all my 35 yuan foot massage turned into an entertaining experience totaling 120 yuan... which is about 13.35 USD... well worth it. I love how cheap China is. My hostel room was 30 yuan... less than 4 USD!

I grabbed dinner that night at a local noodle joint... they were too oily though. My totally dinner: a huge bowl of noodles and a pot of tea cost less that 1 USD... wow.