Tibet & Nepal 2004: Dry at last in Kunming, China

Originally emailed Sat, 17 Apr 2004 00:05:45

I’m in China. Whoa.

Everything went smoothly getting here. No worries on flights; I slept like a log on the red-eye from San Francisco to Taipei. The only snag I hit was in Bangkok – and that wasn’t so much a snag, as a soaking.

See, when you make your travel plans it helps to figure out if there are any holidays going on. I forgot this, and took the airport shuttle into downtown Bangkok right in the middle of New Year, or Songkran, for Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and I think Cambodia and Vietnam too. Songkran also corresponds with the hottest days of the year. Asians being industrious, they’ve worked this into their celebrations by soaking the hell out of each other, all the time.

I’ve never feared for my life in Bangkok… until April 15. Even then I didn’t fear for my life – I just feared I’d never be dry again. I went for a walk in the afternoon, and came back drenched. Children with super-soakers, women with bowls and 2-liter bottles full of water, men on the corner with buckets – you name it. I swam a gauntlet and returned to my hotel looking like a drowned rat.

It was great fun though.

Now I’m in Kunming, having arrived Thursday evening. I’ve been roaming around, eating lots of noodles, and sitting in parks. The parks are one of the best parts of Kunming. You can watch couples ballroom dance to the Macarena, birdies fly about as people play badminton, old ladies practice tai chi sword forms, and little kids do back flips and swing kung fu machetes.

Claudia arrives tonight, and we’ve got a few days to kill before the tour starts. Speaking of noodles though, it’s time for lunch; maybe I’ll take a bowl to the park. Things are good; I’m alive, well, and loving being in China. Mainly, I’m dry. Take care.