Tag culture

Kunming peds


KUNMING PEDS

For those who do not believe me……. here it is! Trees in full bloom all over the city. Notice, if you will, all flowers and NO leaves. How DO they do it? Just another bit of magic here in China. Also please mark your calendars. It is Feburary! I have been seeing these trees for about 3 weeks now. I went to this park nearby and shot the pics (see Blooms). Check out the Chinese squirrel. That ones for you Doug.
Now about my writing……… OK my spelling is horrible. My proofreading is even worse. But in my defense, I got to point a finger at this Yahoo blog site. There is a delay when I am typing and sometimes letters get dropped out. SO it is not ALL me. But this leads me to thinking about moving my blog. I’ll keep you all posted.
I have just been informed that my household goods have arrived in China and is clearing customs (or not) as I speak. Then it will go by truck from Tianjan to Kunming. That will take several days. I am looking forward to getting my bicycle. I can’t wait to join in on the bicycle crush going on here daily. I’m going to be the only lauwai on a bicycle. That should greatly add to the chaos in the the bike lanes around here!
I am totally over the uneasy feeling one gets being “center stage” every where you go. It is still an oddity for a westerner to be here, and the Chinese can’t take their eyes off of you as you walk around. At first it is a little creepy, especially if you have to pick your nose or something. But now I don’t pay attention to it. I realize this is part of the Chinese nature and now I have learned to enjoy it. Example….. you all know how traffic slows down because of the idiot lookie lews needing to check out the accident? Well, in China, people stop their cars on the freeway, get out of their cars and actually stand around in a big crowd. Right on the freeway! Traffic is a complete standstill. Me?………I amuse myself by laying on the horn and plowing right through the crowds. Remember, here in China, the car is king. Once you are on foot, you have lost all rights. So people scramble in all directions. This is especially fun if the accident happens to be on an overpass. They really have limited space to run! Hey, what can I say…..payback is a bitch!


New Year’s aftermath


NEW YEAR’S AFTERMATH

It continues to be sunshine and warm here. In the last few days I took a few day trips to some places around Yunnan. I’ve been laying low since the New Year Holioday began. The Chinese are enjoying one of the few “official” holidays they are allowed, and so everybody goes someplace else. When you take 1.5 billion people and cram them onto planes, buses, trains and highways, it is best to stay in the city. And besides, now Kunming is empty, relatively speaking. But the fireworks continue. Everyday and night there are wave after wave of explosions. This is the last day of New Year, tomorrow (Sunday) everybody goes back to work. I will say that each night it seems like less fireworks since New Years eve, but it lasts until 1 or 2 am, then starts up again about 7am. I am becoming shell shocked from all the noise.
70% of the busineses have been closed for a week now. Restaurants and food stores are open. Also the big shopping centers are open. But most people are gone visiting family and filling up every hotel and attraction there is. I noticed that prices for everthing is up, 100% in most cases. Now is not the time to play tourist! I will wait until next week before I travel again.
I did discover a new trick for parking in the city. I learned this one by mistake. It costs 5 Yuan (8 to the dollar) to park for 1 hour anyplace you go. At first it looks like parking is free since there are no parking meters anywhere. But every street has it’s human parking meter. Some guy in street clothes that walks up to you when you are getting in the car to leave. I don’t care where you park. If you stop your car, even off the street, someone is there to take your money. This can really add up in a day. So what I do is drive to a hotel’s lot. They are watchig there as well, but since I am not Chinese, they assume I am a hotel guest and never come over to me to pay. Man, I’m sooo bad! But hey, I’m retired and I got to watch the expenses!
My friends told me that for 120 yuan, I can buy a yearly pass for all the parks in Kunming. Right now I pay 20-60 yuan each time I go, plus parking. So next week I will go start the paperwork process and get my pass. You have to be a resident of Kunming to qualify.
Speaking of parks, it is getting warmer each week now. I notice many trees now have buds, so things are starting to bloom around here. There are trees here that do not have a single leaf, yet already have hundreds of flowers that look like roses. Very unusual to see. I’ll have to post some “nature” stuff here later. Kunming is famous for all the plants and flowers here.