Content with the tickets in my hand, I danced back to our hotel. This the pedestrian road from Kunming Railway Station to our hotel, Kingworld International Hotel.I love the streets here. So clean, spacious, neat, comfortable... What a complete contradictory to their rest rooms.
It was pass eight already when I and Dina arrived back at our hotel. But, our friends weren't ready yet. See, if I had stuck on my original itinerary, we certainly would not make it for the 7:52 AM train to Shilin.
My friends gathered in the hotel lobby an hour above the decided time. First: breakfast. We walked up to the crossroad, turned right, walk straight... still not yet settled. "Not noodle again, please," said someone.
We crossed the street. There was a seemingly nice restaurant for there were many guests inside. However, obviously it's a noodle thing restaurant. One of us went inside and talked to the waiter. The rest of us waited outside. It seemed like quite a while for me until this friend came out and said that we won't eat there. "Why?" I asked.
"They serve nothing but noodle," said my friend.
So we continued our walk until at last someone mentioned a small restaurant which we had already passed by quite a while ago. We crossed the street again, backward on the same path. I used to do this when I want to purchase something. In order to get the best price, I used to visit every shop in the vicinity. But, I never do this, and I hate to do it, when it comes to food. What a waste of time.
A cup of hot green tea would be nice with this spicy Chinese food, I thought. "Do you have green tea?" I asked to a lady who served us. She giggled and pulled her friend from inside the kitchen. Her friend looked at me. "Do you have green tea?" I repeated.
"No," she answered.
"You don't serve green tea?"
"No."
"Okay, just any tea."
"No."
I didn't hundred percent trust her. I took out my note book and wrote the kanji character of tea. Stupid, I forgot how to write "green". So I pointed to the kanji character of "tea" and then to my shirt that was green.
"No," I heard again.
I pointed to the kanji character of "tea" again. "No?" I tried to make sure.
"No."
I observed the other guests. One guest bought a tin of Coke which were displayed on the rack. But the rest of them got any tea or such. So apparently this restaurant serves no tea regardless of the color. I was rather surprised. I thought the Chinese could not be apart from tea.
After breakfast, my friends wanted to return to the hotel to use the bathroom. After passing a couple of minutes, we started to search for a taxi to go to Cuihu or "Green Lake". This time it was Mel who did the dealings. I just had the lady at the hotel front desk write the kanji characters for Cuihu for me on a piece of paper and showed that paper to the taxi driver.
The first taxi driver we met looked kind but didn't want to take us. Dina said, or she assumed, that, we should take a taxi from cross the street if we want to go to Cuihu.
Across the street there were several taxis in line. I showed one of them my piece of paper. Mel talked to him. But the drivers here looked fierce. We escaped.
At last we managed to call 2 passing by taxis. The first sight of the interior startled me. There were metal bars like this between the passenger's seat and the driver's seat. In spite of the broad and clean streets of Kunming, this part gave a feeling of insecurity in me.
What's wrong? Why? What has happened? The metal bars standing in front of my eyes were as if standing witnesses of a tragedy. Something like telling me: "Everything looks alright now. But you still need to be careful, because once upon a time... "
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| That's "Cuihu" |
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| The map of Cuihu |
Under that monument of 2 birds it's written:
"In Commemoration of the Establishment of Sister Cities Relationship Between Kunming, China and Wagga, Wagga, Australia."I just imagine that my friend, Wiwik Kho, have here picture taken here between "W" and "K".
Maybe because it's during fall that the lotus were barely blooming. Now I picture in my mind how it would look like if the pink and white lotus were blooming everywhere. What a foreground it would become!
Searching, and searching, for some left blooming lotus.
... and another one!
Now you can see that the lake is literally green. However, I think, starting from Hanoi upwards to North, the water tends to be greenish. Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi is green. The sea water at Cat Ba Island's harbor was greenish, too. And well, the sea at Cat Ba Island is actually South China Sea water. Kunming is also on the South part of China. So, no wonder everything is green.
I wish I can visit Cuihu again during winter when there are lots of sea gulls stopping by here during their migration from Siberia.
I love to see this couple. Both had professional cameras in their hands. This is something good in life: Being together till old age and enjoying the same thing together. How cool.
What do you think these women are talking about? Gossip? They look serious.
They weren't posing for me. I stole a shot.
Mom said that the elderly woman on the right looks pretty. I said that she looks like grandma (mom's mom). "Sure, grandma is pretty, you know," mom replied proudly.
"And so are you," I said to mom.
She blushed... but did not say 'and so are you' to me... :(
It looks like that this boy didn't want go home yet, so he just squatted on the bridge. I guessed so, because he and his mother were on the direction to the gate. He didn't cry or whine. He just refused to stand up as if saying to his mother, "I know, you won't go without me anyway, would you?" And then he said to himself, "Hmmm, see, she can't leave me."
I love this sight. It's telling me a story of accomplishment. As if everything that has to be done is done already. Now is the time to just enjoy. Hmmm, no more thinking of getting up early and rushing to the office... :P
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