This morning, I had to wake up early to catch a plane to Kunming (昆明), the capital of Yunnan province (雲南). I took a bus near Changgang metro station (昌岗) at 6:30AM to Baiyun Airport. Once I arrived at Kunming Airport, I had to wait for someone, sent by the travel tour, to pick me up and drop me at the hotel. On my way to the hotel, I noticed people cleaning up the edges of the highway with a broom. This is so dangerous! They are not scared. Drivers are driving at a high speed.
Local People
While chatting with the driver, I learned about the lifestyle
of the ordinary people. One quote I remember he said: 不怕穷，只怕病 (Not afraid of poverty, but only of sickness).
Although living in poverty, you can still work hard for living. However, living with a sickness, people cannot afford to heal with such expensive medication.
Shengshi Qianhe Hotel (昆明晟世仟和酒店)
Located about 30 minutes from downtown, Shengshi Qianhe
Hotel looks modern. Once I entered in it, a statue of Mao was greeting the guests. I
checked in. After dropping the luggage in the room, I had lunch in the hotel.
The food was delicious. There are some spicy dishes.
In late afternoon, I took a walk in the neighborhood. There is an university campus behind the hotel.China contains 56 ethnic minority groups. 26 of them are located in the province of Yunnan, southwest of China. I belong to the Han, the largest group.
Also known as the "City of Eternal Spring (春城)", Kunming has a mild climate. The rainy season starting in June and ending in October. The revenue is mainly generated by tourism and tobacco. The red earth is propitious to cultivate herbal medicine (藥材), peanuts, mushrooms and potatoes. The outcome of the rice has a poor quality. The rice is as hard as a stone in Kunming, as a bullet in Lijiang and as an atomic bomb in Dali.
DAY 08 - September 16, 2013 - Stone Forest
Stone Forest (石林)
Located an hour from Kunming, there is a region of karst formation: Stone Forest. Following a vertical erosion by rain water for a long period, the pinnacle karst is produced. Then, the rock pillars were transformed into rock peaks with pointed tops and sharp edges.
Hospital
One of the tourists got injured. We went to the hospital in downtown. I was observing the hospital system. Inside the building, there are many trash baskets in which people spit in them. However, people do not have the concept of lining up and wait. For example, patients were waiting for their X-rays report. When the reports arrived at the desk, they all ran to it instead of lining up. Then, the security guy passed by without saying a word.
Built in the Ming Dynasty, the Golden Horse and Jade Rooster arches are 12 meters high and 18 meters wide. According to the legend, a golden horse was hidden in the forests in the east of Kunming and a phoenix singing songs lived in the west hills. When the horse appeared, it gave luster the the forests. When the phoenix unfolded its wings, the colourful feathers were dazzling. The local people did not know it was a phoenix so they called it Jade Rooster. Later on, they named the mountains in the east and west Jinma Mountain (Golden Horse Mountain) and Biji Mountain (Jade Rooster Mountain), respectively. These two divine creatures are regarded as protectors to the Kunmingese.
Later, the Loyalty Archway was constructed north of these two arches, in honor of Sayyid All Omer Shams al-Din, the provincial governor nominated by Kublai Khan in the Yuan Dynasty.
The archways depict the symbol of Kunming.
Crazy Taxi
We were 5 in downtown. We wanted to take a taxi to return to the hotel. Taxi drivers do respect the limit of clients per car. Therefore, we had to split. Taxi drivers drive crazily fast.
DAY 09 - September 17, 2013 - Dinosaurs
Lufeng Dinosaurs Valley (世界恐龙谷)
The archaeological site is located in the Lufeng County of Yunnan Province.
Source: chinakunming.travel
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