World China Yunnan Kunming

Eastern Experience

We hate scooters - Day 19 Oct 6, 2009

We decided it would be fun to experience a minority village. We decided to buy bus tickets to Yuanyang (getting quite close to the Laos/Vietnam border). Here we could witness the sunset illuminating the paddy fields (rice terraces) down the mountains. We spent the day planning our trip, and posting items home. We are still trying to get used to this pedestrian/motor system. There are mopeds/scooters/bikes by the million and they have their own lanes on the roads. However, they still insist on using the pavements, so pedestrians are expected to jump out the way. No one else seems to mind though, there doesn't seem to be any road rage = I guess it’s normal to them. We should take a leaf out of their ‘chilled out attitude to life’ book. Grand Theft Auto (game) springs to mind! They seem to not mind the young children going to the toilet anywhere in public. All the toddlers and babies have babygrows/trousers that have a tear down the seem of the bum. So when they waddle around their bums are on show and when they need to go the parents just lift their legs – and Hey Presto!

We saw a load of people crowding round a box on the pavement (about a meter squared box with windows). When we got closer we saw 4 young babies inside and people putting money in through the gaps. There was a man feeding them a bottle and what looked like a women interviewing him. We thought that these might have been quadruplets and that the father had resorted to charity in order to support and provide for these little ones (we remembered the one child only law and wondered how this affected them).

The area where the hostel is situated is called The Hump. By day the market stalls flood the alleyways, they look oriental and cute. Here you can buy nic nacs (not the crisps) and the whole area looks like unorganised shambles. At night the stalls close and the alleys appear to be boarded up. The place becomes a maze of neon lights. We were very disorientated as the shops you used to navigate yourself around with were no longer there. The sound of electro, disco and bass from all the clubs, which had magically appeared add to your feeling of being lost. Loads more military came out of the woodwork and this area was just bombarded by Chinese tourists and the streets had an extra coating of vomit.

We decided to end our evening with a quiet beer up on the roof terraces and attempted to play cards. The only problem was that neither of us could remember how to play any card games so gave up and went to bed. If any one has any spare time we would appreciate an email with some simple instructions for some simple card games (we only seem to remember half the rules).