Green Lake Park, Kunming, 13 April 09
This morning, we had nothing booked, as we wanted a free day in the middle of our week to try and recover from the jet-lag. We slept till 9.00am, grabbed a quick breakfast, packed, checked out and grabbed a cab for the Green Lake Park, about 10 mins away from our hotel - the very nice U-choice, by the river. The cab ride was only Y8 (i.e. 80p !!!) and saved us quite a bit of time.
We really enjoyed our time there, we found it quite relaxing. They call it the 'Central Park of Kunming'. - Lots of temples, ponds with gold fish, stalls selling all sorts of things, people playing cards together, or musical instruments in a corner (some quite beautifully, some not so gifted, but it all added something special to the atmosphere to hear this Chinese music in the air)... and lots of alleyways with willows on each side... a few ducks here and there... All in all: a very different world from the bustling main streets.
We found a little cafe with a roof terrace and got a couple of milk-shakes (with real fruits) and just watched the world go by for a few minutes. Perfect setting. We could have stayed there a lot longer but next on our list was Yuangton temple, only 5 mins walk away from the Green Lake Park, but as we came out of the park a different way, we got totally lost. We did have the name Yuangton written on a piece of paper, and tried to ask for directions, and people would nod and point and I'd say 'szhe szhe' (thank you) but we still got lost.
This is my big chance to say that though many people assume that English is spoken the world over, believe you me, this is definitely not the case here. Even though we approached young people, we usually got a blank look if we just said 'English?'. Even in restaurants, it was very difficult to get a menu in English (hence McDonald being so convenient as they are prepared for foreigners and have everything in photos and we just point !!). Thankfully my travel agency had done some forward planning and given me a list of menu items that *we* could ask for. But if we pointed to an item on the menu, people would usually shake their head as if to say 'no, we don't serve this dish'... but we couldn't then say 'ok, maybe instead of crispy duck, can we just have another type of duck?'... you soon got stuck. Hence our guides being an invaluable service here. Money well spent !! It's a great time saver. And Murphy was so nice, very friendly, caring, polite, saying it was 'an honour to be our guide' and looking really sincere. We really took to her.
We're currently at the airport, waiting for our flight to Guilin. Tomorrow morning should be the highlight of the trip (the Li River Cruise) IF we have good weather. If we don't, I think I will cry... I've wanted to come back for sooo long (6 years) that I just cannot conceive it going all horribly wrong. I'd feel extra gutted for Nathalie as at least I've seen it once in full glory, with bright sunshine.
On this note, I'll love you & leave you. Our internal flight is just an hour 10 minutes so I hope we can enjoy beautiful views from the air (should be quite lush) and can do some bamboo rafting when we get to Guilin tonight as we should have time to enjoy the sunset :)
This morning, we had nothing booked, as we wanted a free day in the middle of our week to try and recover from the jet-lag. We slept till 9.00am, grabbed a quick breakfast, packed, checked out and grabbed a cab for the Green Lake Park, about 10 mins away from our hotel - the very nice U-choice, by the river. The cab ride was only Y8 (i.e. 80p !!!) and saved us quite a bit of time.
We really enjoyed our time there, we found it quite relaxing. They call it the 'Central Park of Kunming'. - Lots of temples, ponds with gold fish, stalls selling all sorts of things, people playing cards together, or musical instruments in a corner (some quite beautifully, some not so gifted, but it all added something special to the atmosphere to hear this Chinese music in the air)... and lots of alleyways with willows on each side... a few ducks here and there... All in all: a very different world from the bustling main streets.
We found a little cafe with a roof terrace and got a couple of milk-shakes (with real fruits) and just watched the world go by for a few minutes. Perfect setting. We could have stayed there a lot longer but next on our list was Yuangton temple, only 5 mins walk away from the Green Lake Park, but as we came out of the park a different way, we got totally lost. We did have the name Yuangton written on a piece of paper, and tried to ask for directions, and people would nod and point and I'd say 'szhe szhe' (thank you) but we still got lost.
This is my big chance to say that though many people assume that English is spoken the world over, believe you me, this is definitely not the case here. Even though we approached young people, we usually got a blank look if we just said 'English?'. Even in restaurants, it was very difficult to get a menu in English (hence McDonald being so convenient as they are prepared for foreigners and have everything in photos and we just point !!). Thankfully my travel agency had done some forward planning and given me a list of menu items that *we* could ask for. But if we pointed to an item on the menu, people would usually shake their head as if to say 'no, we don't serve this dish'... but we couldn't then say 'ok, maybe instead of crispy duck, can we just have another type of duck?'... you soon got stuck. Hence our guides being an invaluable service here. Money well spent !! It's a great time saver. And Murphy was so nice, very friendly, caring, polite, saying it was 'an honour to be our guide' and looking really sincere. We really took to her.
We're currently at the airport, waiting for our flight to Guilin. Tomorrow morning should be the highlight of the trip (the Li River Cruise) IF we have good weather. If we don't, I think I will cry... I've wanted to come back for sooo long (6 years) that I just cannot conceive it going all horribly wrong. I'd feel extra gutted for Nathalie as at least I've seen it once in full glory, with bright sunshine.
On this note, I'll love you & leave you. Our internal flight is just an hour 10 minutes so I hope we can enjoy beautiful views from the air (should be quite lush) and can do some bamboo rafting when we get to Guilin tonight as we should have time to enjoy the sunset :)
posted by Sylvie at 7:36 AM
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