Kunming

I've been in Kunming now for about a week and a half and have enjoyed myself thoroughly! The apartment I'm living in is, and probably will be, the nicest place I will pay rent for myself over the next five years. I share this spacious three bedroom apartment (4 if you include our office) with my roommates Ben and Chiara who are awesome; they've helped me tremendously in settling in and also in learning Mandarin. We live on the sixth floor of a complex that is close to Green Lake Park, a beautiful place where the local community gathers to enjoy. Ben and Chiara are looking for jobs like myself (namely tutoring) so we've had a lot of free time to spend leisurely in the park. The weather has been consistently 75 degrees yet it is starting to turn a little cooler. The park is a nice place to jog and a fun place to kick back and enjoy a beer, or two :)

Kunming is a sister city of Denver so I feel at home despite living in the city. It sits at about 6,000 ft. elevation and is home to 5.7 million people, 3 million in the urban areas. The people are friendly and seem to enjoy themselves here. Everywhere you'll see people playing instruments, playing with their children, and flying kites. The park hosts several kite flyers who let out literally 1000+ feet of line which is crazy! Their reel looks like something off of a deep sea fishing vessel. There's even a basketball court in the park which is nothing special but fun to mess around at. It's even more fun watching the Chinese play each other, all of whom suck, but have the biggest smiles on their faces. I guess you could say that life in general is good here :)

Every meal we've eaten out has been at a new restaurant, all of which have blown my taste buds away. The other night we had hot-pot which is a simple pot, split into two sections (or as many as you'd like), each containing a different level of spice to its broth. You then order different plates of meat and veggies to cook in the boiling sauce... and the result is simply mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Even though it does a number on the old estomigo, I'll definitely be eating there again. My favorite dish though is the tower of heaven (as I call it). It puts regular french fries to shame. They string out potatoes and fry them in a way that is just delicious, killing any McDonald's french fry challenge. The food is cheap as well which is nice, and when we cook, it's like eating for free. I'm happy to be learning new recipes and to be trying these new foods for most of them are extremely healthy containing lots of veggies. Let's just say that Panda Express looks like tofu next to some of the meals I've had.

Now of course there are the local x-pat restaurants and hang outs where one can order a good 'ol burger and fries but I'm enjoying the Chinese cuisine. The x-pat crew here is fairly large, all of whom were out in their best costumes on Halloween. We made a fun pub crawl through the town enjoying ourselves thoroughly as every Chinese person just stared and laughed at us. What can you say, can't deny tradition. It's fun meeting people from all over who have traveled all over. It truly is a small world, and making friends with people from all over only makes it smaller. Although some dislike seeing the foreign faces (non-Chinese) invading the city, I enjoy meeting new people regardless of where they're from.

I was hoping to have had a job by now but things don't always go as we plan or hope, as I'm no stranger to. None the less, I think I'll find something soon. If nothing else, I'm protecting my savings by living here so cheaply. Kunming is a neat place and a central hub to many exotic destinations. I'm hoping to get out and explore all that Yunnan province has to offer, as well as the neighboring countries (Laos, Vietnam, Burma, India, Nepal, Indo). I pray I get a job soon so that I can afford to make it to these places... but in the mean time, the search continues!

And I apologize for not having pictures up yet... Still working on that one but will post a link as soon as I figure it out... Caio!