Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
On 30 September  we had a very busy day!  About 9:30 a bus to the Yunnan
Provincial Museum,  which has a good display of Yunnan provincial arts and
crafts.  Then we walked looking for the flower & pet market supposedly
nearby; found many market streets with stands selling clothing and other
non-food items, but no flowers or pets.  We surprisingly came across (and
visited) a recently built mosque occupying the lower two floors of a high-rise
building.   Lunch at a KFC.  
Kunming -  28 Sept to 3 Oct:   Our noon flight (lunch aboard the plane) from
Beijing arrived at Kunming at about 3:00pm.  Then a taxi (20 yuan) to the
Camellia Hotel, on one of Kunming’s main avenues; for 200  yuan (US$25) per
night we got a fairly good room with bath and breakfast..  The Camellia Hotel is
very popular with foreign travelers, has a convenient location,  and offers many
travel services.  On a neighborhood orientation walk we  got a very favorable
impression of Kunming, with its clean wide avenues, modern buildings, parks,
good buses,  etc.    During our dinner at the hotel’s dining room (37 yuan, less
than US$5) we were joined by a very pleasant New Zealand couple in Kunming
for a couple of days between two “Intrepid Tours” with which they said they
were pleased
Kunming intersection, bicycles on the left, cars on the right.  Waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
To the right,  Atrium
dining room of the
Camellia Hotel, Kunming.
On the morning of our first full day in Kunming we took a public bus to the
beautiful Yuantong Si Buddhist Temple.  There we had the good luck to watch an
impressive procession and ceremony by hundreds of worshipers and priests.  At
the end of the ceremony the worshipers had lunch at the Temple and invited us
to join them, which we did.  What a surprising and marvelous event!   The large
Yuantong Si Temple is nicely decorated and is surrounded by a beautiful garden
with two large ponds and several minor shrines.
Start of Priest's Procession,
Yuangtong Si Temple, Kunming,
Women's Procession, Yuangtong
Si Temple, Kunming.
From the Temple we walked to Cuihu Gong Yuan (Green Lake Park), then took a
bus back to the Camellia Hotel.   A the Hotel’s travel agency we bought tickets
(207 yuan total) for a bus to Dali on 3 October.  Took a late afternoon taxi to the
Guangdong Development Bank to get money from their ATM,  but it was out of
order.

From the Yunnan Nationalities Museum we walked to the nearby crowded
Yunnan Nationalities Village, a kind of Disneyland exhibiting the various Yunnan
cultures with shows, traditional buildings, temples, souvenir shops, etc.   With
the help of a young American who was living in Kunming and his Chinese
girlfriend/student/teacher/guide we got in free because of our age, thus
avoiding the 70 yuan per person admission fee. After an hour or two at the
Yunnan Nationalities Village we took a bus to downtown Kunming and then
transferred to a local bus to our hotel.

The first of October is National Day, the anniversary of Mao’s declaration of
the People’s Republic of China in 1949.  Consequently museums and most
businesses were closed for the holiday and we did little but get on the
Internet, visit a supermarket, and relax.

The following day we took a local bus to the Yunnan Hotel for an excursion to
QiongZhu Si (Bamboo Temple).  The featured attraction is a collection of abut
500 life-sized life-like clay statues representing revered Buddhists.  After
returning to Kunming we enjoyed a great lunch on a fascinating traditional
narrow street parallel to DongFeng Lu, near the Yunnan Provincial Museum.

The next morning we left for Dali.
To the left, a set of
multiple gongs at the
Yunnan Provincial Museum.
A dance performance at the Yunnan Nationalities, Kunming.