We arrived in Kunming after a 20 some hour train ride from Guilin. It was a train ride I'd rather forget (no heat, and packed.) Anyhow we decided to stay a couple of days here before venturing to other destinations in the Yunnan province. It was a worthwile stop, even though other travelers told us to skip this spot. It was the first time we had been in a big Chinese city, and so we got to see a completely different side of China (compared to the countryside that we had been travelling in up to this point.) The thing that we noticed in retrospect was that Kunming had very little traffic for its size (approx. 4 mil.,) and even less smog (surprise, surprise!) This, plus the near perfect weather, made for a nice two day stay in Kunming. It was interesting to see the way more affluent Chinese people live. For example: a shopping mall with a display for a condo development for sale that would rival any North American development. The city showed a very interesting dichotomy of the few who had, and the many who didn't. Compared, however, to the countryside, where only a few government officials even had cars, there was a significantly larger middle class population here. There are also nice hiking trails just south of the city that we explored for a day, which in the nice weather was quite a treat. The bull in the picture is a statue outside their train station (apparently Kunming means Bull in Chinese.) If you notice all the people sitting around the statue, they are waiting for train tickets to see their family for the Chinese New Year.
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