Friday, 23rd December 2005

After a happy day with my Grade 3's I caught a road side bus to Baise to meet the girls. We then caught the 9:30 over night train to Kunming

Saturday, 24th December 2005 - Xmas Eve

The train arrived as usual, right in 7:30am. We checked into the hotel Kylies Lawyer friend had booked for us. We met Gary the Chinese English teacher from England whom used to teach in Baise. We headed out and gorged ourselves on Mc Muffins. Oh yeah, it had been too long. Gary and I headed off on a city walk and left the girls to amuse themselves. We went from DVD shop to DVD shop. What an amazing selection. China has nearly every single movie you can think of all for a buck a piece! Unbelievable but true. The full Bond collection cost me under twenty Aussies dollars. We walked around the uni area an area I've never really been to in Kunming. I was surprised, it felt like walking around Melbourne city there were that many western faces and shops. We spent a few hours sitting in the French Café talking, drinking beer and checking emails.

The evening's dinner had been taken care of. Kylies 'friend' Andy whom is very well known lawyer in Kunming as an English speaking off-sider. His name is Cal. He took us all out for dinner and it was a fantastic time had by all. We laughed and filled our stomaches on beautiful Chinese food. After dinner we headed out into the streets. I was totally amazing at how crazy the city was going. There were latterly thousands of people all acting like sixteen year olds. Every one had a bottle of beer in one hand and a spray can in other. They were mobbing each other as they walk past. Everyone was covered in foam. Glow sticks were also attached to every available limb.

We headed towards 'The Hump' area. The Hump is the latest offering in Hostel type Accommodation and Bars that is popular with us Westerners. We entered a bar and that's where we stayed for the rest of the evening. No one wanted to head out. Even going to the toilet just out the door and around the corner was an adventure worth writing about in itself. Being a westerner you would end up covered by foam and surrounded by a million teenagers like people. So we sat, some danced and we had ourselves a pretty entertaining evening. I don't think we would have stayed there if we had a choice Or if we hadn't paid such a huge amount of money for a booth, but hey, it was Christmas Time and we were targets in the outdoor world. Sometime during the early hours we ended up at a BBQ Street eating BBQ and drinking more beer.

Sunday, 25th December 2005 - Christmas Day

We all woke early and headed to Kylie and Judy's room. Here we had already put up a Christmas Tree and put the presents underneath. Yes, we all bought presents for each other and carted them all the way to Kunming especially for Christmas morning. It was supposed to be a small thing 'as we all knew we did have a house in China and would have to pack it one day along with getting it back to our towns from Kunming'. HHHMMMmmm, I think Gary and I were the only ones whom listened to the girl's advice! They themselves went crazy on the presents. I ended up with a huge basket ball right complete with back. Well, not huge but much too big for a backpacks journey home. For the next hour or more we amused ourselves and each other whilst unwrapping our goodies.

The afternoon was spent walking around the city and the central lake area. Christmas Dinner was organised by Andy the lawyer. He took us out for a special hotpot and through Gary he gave us the entire history of the hotpot. The food was fantastic and we all had a great time. Andy then took us to a new KTV Bar for KTV. Everyone sang up a storm and even I took to the mic a few times. It was a great way to spend our first Christmas in China. Well, it was to be my first and the girls one and only.

Monday, 26th December 2005 - Boxing Day

Leeanne and I caught the 9:30am train home. Kylie and Judy had the next week or so off and headed up to Dali. The trip home was relaxing and I slept and read, slept and read and slept and read whilst reading Lord of the Flies. I had not read it since early High School and once I began I couldn't put it down. We arrived in Baise around 10:00pm; I said seeya to Leeanne whom was continuing on to Pingguo.

From Baise it took me two hours to get home to Tianyang. First of all the Tuk Tuk driver said 10 Yuan to the little bus station from the train station. She then stopped at the end of the train station road and demanded 10. I laughed and took the keys out of the ignition and made her pay 7 to have them back. It was all a bit of fun and we were both laughing. She tried her best.

Then the taxi driver continually pushed the dash board sign down that made the meter work. I'd push back up and he'd push it back down and cross his fingers and say 10 over and over again. I'd had enough by now and held the sign up and put my hand on the hand brake. In the end I threw the 5 Yuan at him that was displayed on the meter. Once in Tianyang I had dinner at the market place and headed home to bed.