Kunming

I think I last posted on our first day in Chengdu (I can't check, by the way; the site is blocked in China so I can only post). We arrived in Kunming yesterday afternoon and loved it right away. It's the first warmth and sunshine we've had! There are a lot of backpacker's hotels and restaurants here, so we've been able to enjoy some non-Chinese food. I had an Italian feast for lunch yesterday, while dad had a salad and a hamburger. Today we had burritos!

We've enjoyed lots of good food on this trip. In Chengdu we had Ma Po Dofu a couple times and tried the hot pot (at a restaurant where no one spoke any english, which was quite an adventure). The Sichuanese love very hot and spicy food, so the hot pot comes full of red peppers, cloves of garlic, chunks of ginger, and multitudes of various stuff you can only wonder about -- all in a big pot of red oil. The servers put it onto a burner which is built into the table and set it to boil. Then you pour your meats and vegetables into the broth and let them cook. You fish the goodies out with a ladle, dip them into a mixture of sesame oil, onions, and cilantro, then eat. Yum. I loved it. Dad found it too greasy; this might have just been the idea of all the grease rather than actually disliking the taste, I don't know. I found it very satisfying, and figure a load of grease every decade or two won't matter much.

Here in Kunming we've mostly just walked around and have taken it easy. There are some nice parks here and the Yunnan University area is very charming. It's been good to just relax. The next week will be much more difficult.

We meet up with the tour this evening, then get on a bus to Lijang early tomorrow morning.