Kunming

I took the bus to kunming. A cute little girl tried to speak english with me. Her mother told me she was very excited to see a westerner. She said, "Hello", and "What colour do you like?". Sitting the other side of me was a friendly twenty something woman who lent me a nepalese music CD to listen to on the bus. In Kunming she allowed me to share her taxi and directed the driver to my chosen hostel, called The Hump. What a wonderful girl. She got nothing from her helping me. It was a genuine warmth. Perhaps she got inner well-being and good karma. I hope so.
In The Hump it was very lively. Some reggae music was pumping. It was a change from my weed smoking chilled out week in Dali and I couldn't adjust quickly. I met a korean guy who was friendly but everytime I met him and asked him how he was he would say, "Bad". He called himself a christian but practiced the life of a womanizing clubber. He was upbeat and friendly but I wasn't interested when he tried to evangelize me. I spent my one full day in this city walking around its colouful and clean centre, modern in almost every way.

There was a fashion show in the street, with a crowd gathered around the temporary tent. When the sun was getting low I ambled to Green Lake Park and saw a couple of musicians practising in the open on their violins, not as buskers but presumably because the venue had a nice ambience and feng shui.


I saw lots of that open sharing of music in China. Carried on to some back streets full of eating venues and looked for a night club I'd read about called Speak Easy. The students I asked didn't seem to know it.