Friday, June 20, 2008
Last Day in Kunming
Well, you will quickly recognize this entry as filler. We decided that today would be a “do nothing day” because it is our last day in Kunming (remember Kwun-Ming and not Coon-Ming) before flying to Guangzhou on Saturday. As a result, we have not a lot to share and so we will just do our best. We all slept in today because we stayed up a little later than usual the night before. We had not intended to stay up but ended up doing so because I had a long nap and was feeling better. So, we introduced Luke to late night parties, and although we could not order a pizza, I can say that he does like popcorn. He will fit right in. So, we did our usual breakfast downstairs. I am pretty much eating two breakfast meals each morning. One, a very traditional Western deal—toast, cereal, bacon and the other more Chinese—fried rice, steamed vegetables, noodles. So, I am gaining weight and not losing weight in China. After breakfast, we all went our separate ways. Cole and I went with Michael, our agency rep, to a local bookstore to get some maps of the area, books about Yunnan, and copies of local music. I just wanted some basic information about the area to share with Luke down-the-road. We know where he was born, although we cannot find it laid out well on a map. For those who are familiar, you can go to Google Earth and “fly to” Kuangyuan, Kunming and you can see the town. We know the village is Duanjia in the town of Kuangyuan, but cannot find (yet) a map that shows the village. Anyway, that is the guy-stuff for the day.
Since we just relaxed today, I will tell you about the place we have been staying in this week. I have not referenced it in great detail but we are staying at the Park Hotel—formerly the Grand Harbour. It is a very nice hotel. We were able to “upgrade” from very nice rooms to very wonderful rooms. Melissa and I and the kids are basically in a three room suite—one room for Cole, Shelby, and Piper that adjoins a sitting area that adjoins a room for Melissa, Luke and me. Bill and Linda are then down-the-hall in another nice room. We are sitting on the 17th floor of the hotel and have basically had our run of the executive lounge. They serve breakfast there, as well as afternoon snacks. We have all enjoyed the very nice staff which has gravitated towards us because of our circumstances and our willingness to humorously abuse the local Chinese dialect. So, if you ever felt sorry for us because we were traveling in a foreign land, then trust me when I say you should not. Between the hotel staff, and Michael, this has been a very relaxing trip. Hopefully the pictures posted do the accommodations justice. The afternoon tradition has become a rousing game of “Hearts”. Pretty much everyone rotates through at one point or another, although Shelby prefers to read and watch Luke. Cole was the big winner today—pulling off something we called “the run” because he took the queen of spades and all the hearts, which set everyone else back in an unrecoverable way. All-in-all, Piper is probably the “player” because she has the mind to “count cards”.
I think I mentioned that we were going to have dinner sometime on the 21st floor of our hotel—which is a 360 degree revolving floor. Shelby and Piper graciously volunteered to watch Luke for the evening while the rest of us went upstairs for “set meals”. We had six meals to choose from, 2 Western, 2 Chinese, 2 Japanese. Cole and I chose Japanese, Linda and Melissa chose Western, and Bill and Michael chose Chinese. It was a great meal made even more unique by seeing a slowly changing skyline view and the fading of sunset to darkness. Hopefully, the pictures help share the vision.
We hope you are all well. Thanks for keeping up with us and thanks for the comments. I would respond to them each but I am starting to worry about what I am posting on the net. If I ever run for office, this site would pretty much be my undoing.
Dave
Since we just relaxed today, I will tell you about the place we have been staying in this week. I have not referenced it in great detail but we are staying at the Park Hotel—formerly the Grand Harbour. It is a very nice hotel. We were able to “upgrade” from very nice rooms to very wonderful rooms. Melissa and I and the kids are basically in a three room suite—one room for Cole, Shelby, and Piper that adjoins a sitting area that adjoins a room for Melissa, Luke and me. Bill and Linda are then down-the-hall in another nice room. We are sitting on the 17th floor of the hotel and have basically had our run of the executive lounge. They serve breakfast there, as well as afternoon snacks. We have all enjoyed the very nice staff which has gravitated towards us because of our circumstances and our willingness to humorously abuse the local Chinese dialect. So, if you ever felt sorry for us because we were traveling in a foreign land, then trust me when I say you should not. Between the hotel staff, and Michael, this has been a very relaxing trip. Hopefully the pictures posted do the accommodations justice. The afternoon tradition has become a rousing game of “Hearts”. Pretty much everyone rotates through at one point or another, although Shelby prefers to read and watch Luke. Cole was the big winner today—pulling off something we called “the run” because he took the queen of spades and all the hearts, which set everyone else back in an unrecoverable way. All-in-all, Piper is probably the “player” because she has the mind to “count cards”.
I think I mentioned that we were going to have dinner sometime on the 21st floor of our hotel—which is a 360 degree revolving floor. Shelby and Piper graciously volunteered to watch Luke for the evening while the rest of us went upstairs for “set meals”. We had six meals to choose from, 2 Western, 2 Chinese, 2 Japanese. Cole and I chose Japanese, Linda and Melissa chose Western, and Bill and Michael chose Chinese. It was a great meal made even more unique by seeing a slowly changing skyline view and the fading of sunset to darkness. Hopefully, the pictures help share the vision.
We hope you are all well. Thanks for keeping up with us and thanks for the comments. I would respond to them each but I am starting to worry about what I am posting on the net. If I ever run for office, this site would pretty much be my undoing.
Dave
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