Kunming

All because of the struggle to free Tibet our plans to catch the train from Beijing to Lhasa were not possible. We flew to Kunming instead and spent 2 days in 1 of China's smaller cities - not. This gave us the chance to work on getting from A-B and also absorbing a bit of Chinese culture.

In the morning, every open space fills with people exercising, in the form of Tai Chi, waltzing and the latest trend of disco dancing. We found Green Park on our first evening and sat down on a bench near the water. Small informal gatherings were performing their preferred choice of music from the traditional and slightly painful Chinese opera to the upbeat sounds of a big brass band.

We decided to spend our second day away from the concrete and travelled to the Western Hills or Xi Shan. Our idea of getting away from the crowds was ruined by a procession of Chinese tour buses that beat us to it. It seems that Xi Shan is a very famous and sacred mountain but we still managed to find a quiet path under the chair lift to the Dragon's Gate and the zigzagging tunnels of the cliff face.

While walking along the main shopping street we came across something that made us stop in our tracks. Outside of most of the clothing stores was a line of shop attendants clapping loudly in a cheap but bizarre form of marketing.