Kunming

Christmas day I boarded a train to the first destination on my two month vacation: Kunming. The train took 33 hours to reach Kunming. I don't want to talk about it. Kunming is the capital and largest city in Yunnan province. Yunnan is in south central China bordering Tibet, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. It is China's most ethnically diverse province with over a dozen non-Han Chinese peoples. Yunnan is an important agricultural region that produces the bulk of China's tropical fruits, coffee, and some of the best rice. Kunming is known as the Eternal Spring because its perpetually temperate climate. Xi'an was below freezing when I left, and Kunming was above 60 when I arrived. The city is small by Chinese standards: between 3-4 million people. However the city will have the fourth largest airport in China by the end of the year, as the central government plans for Kunming's population to top 20 million. Because it is still small and relatively poor (aka unindustrialized) the air was noticeably cleaner than Xi'an's. Here are a few photos of the city:

Kunming/Yunnan government complex

The West Pagoda which faces the identical East Pagoda

A park of painted trees. This is a common phenomenon in China.

A corner building near Kunming's flower market

Puppies for sale. 180 RMB.

Another corner building.

The rooftop terrace of our hostel.

Kunming Skyline looking west.

Sunset looking east towards the central Kunming mosque.