The Road Goes Ever On and On

Day 20: Kunming

The sleeper bus was interesting. I think I prefer sleeper trains to sleeper buses, but it was an experience. Trains just stay on the tracks. Buses follow the roads. And sometimes roads are windy, bumpy, scary. We had seatbelts. On our beds. It was lots of fun, though and I did sleep. The thing was, as soon as I fell asleep the first time I woke up because the bus stopped and the driver turned on the light. Some people were arguing. It turns out that this guy was demanding to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to Kunming (keep in mind it's a 12 hour bus ride) because he thought the driver sucked. The driver explained to the guy that he couldn't let him off because it was against company policy. Eventually the guy went back to sleep, but it was pretty heated. So the next time I fell asleep I was again awakened by the bus stopping, the lights coming on, and some guy yelling. This time we were apparently at a checkpoint and everyone had to show their ID and get their luggage out. You just can't win around this place! So after we finally got back on the road (after 45 min.) I was able to sleep soundly until we arrived safely in Kunming. I know I was sleeping, because I know I was having dreams. I didn't feel very rested though....(I think I was dreaming about moving in a vehicle along a bumpy, windy road....)

In Kunming Connie checked into a hotel room -- much nicer, with it's own shower!!! Her plane leaves on the 17th, while Mei's and mine leaves today. Anyway, Mei and I took advantage of the shower before we all walked around town for a while. We went to a park for a while -- GREEN LAKE park, I'd like to add. (Just when you think you've gotten far enough away from home....) ;) It was a nice park, but it wasn't as clean as some of the others we've seen. The water left something to be desired. There were lots of seagulls. Go figure. After the park we were walking back to the hotel when we discovered the "old town" in Kunming. I didn't even know this place had an old town. We walked down just a few streets (it was really small) and decided to eat there. I wasn't all that hungry, but I helped the girls eat some of their food. ;) And my most recent food adventure: apparently "pig's blood" is a common thing to eat here. It's like these blocks of congealed pig's blood or something...??? Connie & Mei have had it several times. I vowed I would never touch the stuff, but I finally gave in and took a bite. It was....different. It didn't taste like you would think blood would taste like. I can't really describe it though. Probably won't try that again. We walked down the main drag of town, too, where everyone like to hang out and go shopping. Apparently it's a big thing in China to have these "walking streets" -- basically it just means a large pedestrian area with a lot of stores. It's okay I guess. Apparently Tai'an is even getting one put in. By the time we got back to the hotel we had to high tail it to catch the bus to the airport. I love flying!!! :) Hee hee. This plane ride was interesting, because we had a layover in Changsha (Hunan province). We had to get off the plane even though we were flying on, and then we all had to get back on into our own seats for the rest of the flight to Tianjin. The name of the airline we were flying with??? OK Airways. Not kidding. It was...okay! I really liked the flight attendants' outfits, though....(I'm such a girl!)

When we got to Tianjin, Mei's friend was waiting for us. She let us stay the night at her place and she had purchased the train tickets back to Jinan for us. It was really nice to meet her, and she had done the same trip we did so we got to talk about the fun things we saw and stuff.