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Hello from the City of Eternal Spring!
The weather so far has certainly backed up the name. Kunming is the first city I've been to in China that has had beautiful weather for more than one day at a time. It's a shame that I'm only here to arrange transport and to change the dates of my visa for Vietnam. Yes, I've decided to rearrange my South-East Asia trip. Now instead of flying from Hong Kong to Singapore and working my way up I've decided to scrap Hong Kong and go overland into Vietnam from China. But that means that I need to change the dates of my visa.
I arrived here on Sunday morning after 19 hours and 30 minutes on the train from Chengdu. Unfortunately, the task that was most urgent - the visa - couldn't be taken care of until the consulate opened the next day, so Sunday was a very lazy day as I couldn't even arrange my onward transportation without knowing how long it would take to change the visa.
On Monday my main task was to find the consulate and get to it shortly after it opened. This proved to be a bit more difficult than anticipated. Although I had the address of the consulate and I knew to take the No. 3 bus to the train station then walk along Beijing Road, the difficulty lay in figuring out where along Beijing Road I was. One of the things I've noticed in China is the lack of street numbers. So I was on the right road, but I had no idea of how far I had to go or even whether I had passed the building. Eventually I caved and asked the doorman at a hotel, who pointed me... back into the hotel. Okay. Turns out I had passed by the proper entrance and ended up going in through the hotel entrance on the opposite side of the building. Well, I had found the consulate in any case, and they told me it would only take two days to make the changes. Good. I had expected to have to pay extra to expedite the process, but no need.
The rest of my time in Kunming was spent wandering around looking for temples and teahouses and markets until Wednesday afternoon when I could pick up my visa. I did pop into a McDonald's while I was here to compare the prices. A Big Mac is about $2.50 in China. So it's a little cheaper than at home, but not by too much. However, it is a relatively expensive meal in China. To go out for a meal to a McDonald's or a Pizza Hut is an Event because the prices are much higher than at local restaurants. I also took a look at the differences on the menu - instead of an apple pie one can have a pineapple and taro pie. Hmm.
I picked up my visa yesterday afternoon and booked a ticket to Dali for this morning. It's only 4-5 hours by bus from Kunming, so it's a nice change from the long train journeys I've had so far. Sorry for the rather boring update - Kunming isn't a place I came to for sightseeing, just for travel necessities.
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