Dial 8888 for a bumbershoot

"Dear guest: In the leaflet, you will kiredod, the chief dquioment department receiver center in kunming. Natuarlly, we remain at your service day and night to provide any other information. Dial 8888 for a bumbershoot"

We are in Kunming. What a journey!! Vikram and I headed off before dawn down the alleys of Lijiang (pulling our bags and carrying my poster tube). We found a taxi and headed off to the train station. We arrived rather too early and therefore split up to find some breakfast. I was in charge of drinks and found a suitable coconut/banana coffee. Vikram was in charge of the food and obtained some ridiculously spicy "edible mushrooms" and a biscuit.

Finally we got into the massive scrum to be the first onto the train. The train was a double decker and had rows of beds. Sitting for 8 hours on a bed is uncomfortable, but we were were entertained by our companions. We travelled with three young girls (ages 11, 9 and 7) and their parents (all squashed onto two small beds). They were from Sichuan. We played cards with the girls, they taught us Chinese, sang us a welcome song and looked at all the photos on my laptop. They liked the koalas. I proudly read them a story in Chinese and they found my name extremely funny.

The scenery was also impressive. The train went through a million tunnels as it went through the mountains of Yunnan. We have no idea where we went, but think that we may have passed Dali.

We then arrived in Kunming to find that nobody speaks English here. We didn't have a hotel room, but ambled up to the first hotel (without knowing how to ask for a room), but discovered that no room was available. We then tried the next one and a friendly chap from Hong Kong helped us get a room!

It's hot! We've just been walking around (stopping for some beers and an icecream) and then ended up with a meal suitable for about 10 people!

Off to Beijing tomorrow!