Kunming

I left the sleep village and chilled out Yangshuo. Even the 'crazy' traffic wasn't that crazy once you took a closer look. You have all manner of transport - big, small, human or petroleum powered in the same space. But no aggression. Beeps were to say "I'm here". A dance of give and take, push and yield based on mutual awareness rather then self absorbed " I've got right of way and I'm going somewhere important". I felt safer cycling amongst this, then going down Collins Street on the way to work in the mornings.

Kunming is an up and coming Chinese city with lots of high end branded clothing stores and malls. Traffic is much more orderly, with designated bike/moto lanes. Many chinese seem to be opting for electric scooters, gliding soundlessly through the streets - kind of back to the future style - but not quite at the hover board stage.
I headed up a mountain for the day. Shopping malls hold cursory interest. At the top of the mountain "amazing views of Kunming" (Rough Guide, 2006) can be found.
It seemed to be the place to escape on the weekend, particularly a garden which held a much coveted area of lawn. Grass glorious grass! As with much of China, Kunming has many construction zones, things are being pulled down with view to putting something else up. As a result, lots of rubble is left about and the air has high levels of dust particles. I empathised with the need to escaped.

Dotted about the mountain route were temples from don't-ask-me-which dynasty. I came across a sequence of engraved wooden panels within one of them.

On closer inspection, I found these familiar faces.



















Monkey! Pigsy!



Knackered, I opted for the shuttle back to town.