Memories of Kunming

I had a workshop in Kunming last year in August, 2016. So while it was the first time I had ever set foot in China, I did not get much chance exploring around as I have to attend the workshop everyday from 9am to 5pm. We had the weekend free so that was the only time when we are able to wander around the city, visiting all the attraction places.

From Kunming airport, my friend and I took a taxi to our hotel and the first thing I noticed is that they drive on the left side of the road, the opposite of the driving in Malaysia. And all the taxi drivers have some sort of enclosure around their seat, some from plastic, and some even have metal grills that separate them from the passengers. It was interesting seeing this kind of security measure of some sort. 

The most common taxi found in Kunming.

The 'enclosure' surrounding the taxi driver 

 We arrived in the hotel and checked in, and the first thing to do is looking for something to eat. It was a bit challenging in this city as not many people speaks English, including the front desk receptionists. Luckily, my friend speaks fluent Mandarin and even though the accent are different, we managed to get by and found a decent place to eat. It serves halal food as well, so that's another plus point for me. We both had beef noodles, and even though the portion was huge, we both finished since we were both starving.

Scrumptious bowl of beef noodles.

We bought some drinks from the local grocery store, and it was fun experimenting with different kinds of flavours. Something like Apple-flavoured Milk and Peach-flavoured Milk, we never had any of those in Malaysia, right?

Once feeling full, it was time to explore the city. There are buses around, but we decided to just try walking around a little bit and see how it goes. From our hotel (He Ting Hotel), we walked a little bit and found ourselves in the back entrance of Kunming Zoo. Not too bad, and the fees were not that expensive either (around 10 yuan per person), so we explored the zoo a little bit.