Kunming

Wade and I flew to Kunming in hopes of some bigger city fun. He has a friend living there with other expat friends. We met up with them for drinks. It was crazy though, his friend Chris was on a date... two of her relatives came along as did we. Apparently this is how Chinese girls date.

We were sitting outside of a western cafe with some beers when this guy parks his bike right near us. Wow... hot- smokin' hot! He was wearing some pinkish lensed sunglasses- kind of cheesy but fit his face perfectly. His shirt was a collared button down- white with some non girly small flower print- that hugged his body. His shorts were unlike anything I have seen- terry cloth and loose fitting. He clearly thought a lot of himself and was a pretty silly character but who cares... he rocked the look, which by the way was a striking resemblance to Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Sorry... went on a little tangent there... It turned out he was a friend of Chris'; he was a welcome addition, lets just put it that way.

It was a fun night, but not along one. We didn't stay out too late. A worthy mention is how the girls were eating piled of sunflower seeds. Seeing the empty shells on the table was kind of gross... but I am so curious to this common trend of sunflower eating in China at social events.

We were in the University section of Kunming which is very different than the area I had stayed in the previous week. It was much more westernised than anyplace I had seen in China yet. After our time in remote villages, it was a welcomed change!

The next day I had gone on a little solo adventure. I was in an area I was not familiar with and when it was time to go back to my hotel I tried to flag down a cab. I got one and handed him the only business card to the hotel that I had. He took it, looked at it, looked at me and waved his hand. As I was about to get in, he drove off with the card still in his hand! I was stranded in God knows where China!!!! Petrified I got another taxi and gave the name of the hotel just to have him look at me blankly and drive off. I had no idea what to do. I finally got a cab to stop and he still had no idea where I wanted to go... but I wouldn't let him drive off. I screamed loud enough for an entire block to hear me, asking if anyone spoke English. No one answered.

I finally, cab door still in hand, saw someone that looked European of some sort. I called him over and he explained to the cab driver where I needed to go. The cab driver was new and didn't know my hotel. I thought I was once again going to be out of luck... but I remembered the previous nights location and had the guy ask if he knew where that was. I was pretty sure I could get from the bar to the hotel. The taxi took me there after many thank yous and sighs of relief to the guy that helped me!

The taxi dropped me off a few blocks from the bar and I somehow made my way back. Thankfully the previous night, Wade had walked me from the hotel to the bar and pointed out different things on the way.... as I tried to find my way back all of those pieced together the pathway to home. I was relieved when I made it back. It was crystal clear though... no more solo adventures in China. I thought I was going to be lost forever!!! As I reached the lobby I grabbed a stack of the business cards, I would never be found with just one again!

We stayed in Kunming a few days- but we packed a smaller bag, left our bulk there and set off to Dali.

A relaxing bike ride... or not

Despite my sprained ankle I was determined to utilize my time to the fullest in China. Wade and I rented bikes and set off to another minority village a few k's away. It was a very hot day with the sun shining and steaming our shoulders- mainly Wade's already burnt shoulders!

After getting minorly lost for a bit, with absolutely no help from the Chinese that we asked for directions... we finally made it to the right area. The town was on dirt roads and was surrounded by hills with jungle like plantation on it. Side note- the Yunnan province is Malaria-ville. I took my chances... I hadn't taken my Malaria pills since Brazil... the dreams were just to crazy along with all of the other annoying side effects.

The people in the village were beautiful- as the Bulong did, the looked more Thai to my eye than Chinese. They were all really nice and were very curious about us. The ride was a little intense for me and Wade seemed to want to speed ahead and continue up a mountain. I couldn't figure out why I was having such an exhaustive time in comparison to him (granted he is in better shape than I, but I do enjoy bike riding and have never really had problems before)... about half way through our day I realized I mixed up the gears and had been doing them in reverse the entire time- oops! No wonder going up hill was the most painful experience. Even after I figured this out... I just couldn't get the gears straight and I completely exhausted myself.

We stopped to get some water and made friends with some of the locals. One of them gave us some plums that were delicious! They were really sweet and wouldn't take our money. I tried to give some to the little girl that was with them and her mom made her give it back to me. She gave it right back and all I could think of is the little brats in the US that would whine to their parents about keeping it and how hesitant they would be about giving it back (or maybe I am thinking about myself as a kid!). the village was quite obviously poor, but their generosity was refreshing and amazed me.

We rode through some rice fields, on narrow dirt paths and some heavier grassy felds- which was a big mistake. I have to say though, sorry Wade, it was all worth it for the spectacular views we got. The rice fields were such a pretty bright green and made me feel like I was in a totally different world. As we decided to ride back to Jinghong, Wade's bike decided it had enough. The grass had gotten stuck in Wade's back wheel and caused many problems. We stopped, as it also began to rain, underneath a little gazebo type structure where some local teenage boys were relaxing. Wade had to literally disassemble the back wheel and parts, just to put it all back together in hopes of fixing it. Wade was quite frustrated especially by the fact that these boys were just watching him and quite obviously talking about us in a not so nice way... even though i couldn't understand them, there was not doubt they were making fun of us! Annoyed with their lack of help, rude behaviour and the bike not coming together, Wade grew increasingly upset- quite funny, I totally understood why they were making fun of us!

Wade finally fixed it- the rain stopped and we rode off. We made it a few hundred meters and stopped after parts flew off Wade's bike! It was a mess! We tried to find a ride back to jinghong, only to encounter the most non helpful locals! Hey, it was there siesta so why should they help even though they had a pick up truck?! They pointed us in a very vague direction to what should bring us to a garage where they could drive us back. We never found it and the direction turned out to take us much further and added a lot of riding to our trip back home.

Wade had to ride a broken bike back to Jinghong in very hot and humid weather... but we finally made it back! The bike man tried to tell Wade that it was his fault and that maybe he "didn't use the gears correctly" (hmmm, that would be me) and wanted to charge him for the bike. I have never seen Wade more stern before as he said "I know how to ride a bike, give me my deposit back." The guy actually did not argue, rate for Chinese when money is concerned!

This adventure confirmed the fact that we were done with Jinghong and it was time to move on...