Tag Kunming

Swimming with the Fishes

SWIMMING WITH THE FISHES

Last Tuesday night the rains rolled in on Kunming. It was dumping rain with no let up for several hours. The water was so heavy that the noise kept me awake all night. By the next day, Kunming was completely flooded. Major streets were under a foot of water, and much of the area was 3 feet deep. The ap photo is a good shot of downtown. I found this China news release….

“Downtown areas in the southwestern city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, were almost all flooded with up to a meter of water in places after a six-hour rainstorm over Tuesday night.

The city’s traffic was seriously disrupted and many people complained they were late for work as the major avenues were all under water.

More seriously, some junior high students were late for the annual entrance examination to senior high school, which began on Wednesday, but local education authorities allowed latecomers to be given extra time.

The city’s international airport was also closed on Tuesday morning as the runways were waist-deep in water. As of 7 p.m., more than 150 flights were delayed and more than 3,500 passengers were stranded.

More than 20 flights to Kunming had to land in the neighboring municipality of Chongqing instead.

The airport reopened at 5 p.m. and flights to Beijing and Shanghai took off. However, at 8 p.m., more than 1,000 passengers waiting still stranded.

More rain was forecast in the next two days and the China Meteorological Administration asked local governments to prepare.

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-04 08:06
Since Monday, heavy rains in Yunnan province have killed five people and affected more than 60,000 others, local authorities said Thursday.

The provincial civil affairs department said that as of 4 pm yesterday, more than 2,100 houses had collapsed, 14,200 others had been damaged, and about 2,500 people had been evacuated.

Kunming, the provincial capital, on Tuesday recorded its third-highest rainfall since records began in 1951. Up to a meter of water fell in the city center during a six-hour storm that inundated major roads and buildings, the department said.”

I had to drive across town at 1am that night. It was raining so hard I could barely see to drive. I haven’t seen this much rain since coming here 3 years ago! But all’s well on the home front. I managed to keep my powder dry….

Stone Forest

STONE FOREST

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Driving 85 km from Kunming, we reached the town of Shilin. (Shilin means ‘stone forest’) This is home to the Sani ethnic minority people. Here, the Stone Forest sits on 350 sq. km area. The GPS location 24 49′ 27.95″ N 103 19’24.41 E will put you at the entrance.

My friend Rose was my guide through this amazing place. It took us about 4 hours to explore about half of this Unesco World Heritage site. It is also considered the first natural wonder of the world, being formed over 270 million years ago.

Walking through these giant stone karsks is a sensation for both your eyes and ears. The rock itself is an extremely hard stone. It feels like steel. Some of the stones make a musical sound when struck, while others make no sound at all. With our trusty map in hand, we worked our way through to the various points of interest along the way. The typical Yunnan weather of clear blue skies and sunshine only added to the unique lighting environment inside the stone forest.

I would consider this a must see stop during your tour of China. The park area has it’s touristy feel to it, but not to the extreme. It is easy to find yourself along exploring this unique forest of stone. After leaving the park and returning to Kunming, we stopped in Yi Yang and ate the best Peking Duck ever. I always stop in there when I am going in this direction from Kunming.

Puerh

PUERH TEA AT FU JIAO COLLEGE

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I met with my friends Chen Tien and Yin Lang to go to a Buddhist monk school in Anning this morning. They were having a special celebration there that would involve monks from Tibet, Thailand, China, and Myanmar. On the way we stopped to pick up Mr. & Mrs. Ai, who are quite famous in Yunnan for their puerh tea. Mr Ai sells his puer tea here in Kunming where he has a very nice tea house. He is famous for his growing and packaging of puerh tea. You can see his company’s tea in the photo here. Mr Ai helped in establishing the Fu Jiao College.

Upon our arrival at the monk’s college, we joined in the celebrations for the Temple. With Mr Ai leading the way, we went to a private tea house there and relaxed inside while Mr. Ai served his famous puerh tea. High in the mountains, this retreat was a most enjoyable environment to savor the tea and just enjoy life. The temple and school are built on the hillside of the mountain. Walking trails lead you around this wooded enclave to the small houses where the monks live and study. I was the only Lauwai there, and I met with several of the monks from China and Tibet. We drank tea and I learned about some of the differences between the Thai, Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist practices. This was a perfect outing from the city and the weather couldn’t have been nicer.

Wait a week…… it will all change

WAIT A WEEK…IT WILL ALL CHANGE

Kunming, like all over China is changing faster than anyplace I have ever seen. In some of my past posts I referred to this as well. Much of this desire by the government to renew China is quickly wiping out it’s own cultural history. Hutongs in Beijing are almost extinct now. Historic villages and cities are torn down and rebuilt with modern condos.

Here in Kunming alone, thousands of condos have been torn down in just the last year. The old city center with buildings several hundred years old, is all gone save for about a 2 block strip. I think it is also earmarked for destruction. I was just through there and noticed the brick walls going up down the street. Soon after that they usually begin knocking down the buildings behind the walls.

These pictures show the destruction of two condo buildings downtown. 1 week later this park appears. Kunming seems to be replacing most of the old condo spaces with large parks, which really is a great improvement. All the people displaced by removing the condos, are given brand new condos that are being built SW of the city center. I must say that the new ones are quite impressive and a big step up for the people getting them. When a condo is ready for these people, they hold a lottery where they draw a number to see what condo you get. Seems like a fair enough system to me.

Still it is sad to see many historic buildings taken away to make room for high rise glass office buildings. Preservation of these buildings take a back seat to progress in China. I hope this attitude will change before China evolves into a place showcased by modern steel and glass cities. Time will tell.

stinkin horse!

I DON’T NEED NO STINKIN HORSE!

My car insurance agent just told me a story about one of his clients. I had taken my car to him for my free engine cleaning, a benefit this company provides to their customers. He says how nice it is to have me as a customer because we are good to take care of our car. Still, his job is hard because of so much trouble many customers make for him.

Then he told me of one customer that is a farmer who just came into some $$$ because they found iron ore on his property near Kunming. So this guy goes out and buys a new “E’ class Mercedes. It cost him over 1 million RMB.

I’m sure you all have seen pictures of the horse driven stone grinders used to make corn flour. This farmer dude decided to retire his horse, and rig up his new Benz for the task. He enjoys driving it in circles, day after day making his corn meal! I hope to go get some pics of this later.

Another farmer, who also bought a Benz, uses his on the farm as well. He’s a pig farmer! He actually crams pigs in his car to take them to the market. Now he doesn’t need a special license to bring animals into the city. This guys a thinker! No kidding, this stuff happens here.