China: getting to Shanghai

We took an early morning flight from Laos to Kunming, China. It was a short flight, as Laos borders China on its northern edge. Kunming is capital of Yunnan province in the southern China. The flight, on Laos Airlines, was better then we expected!



After a thorough visa check, we cabbed into central Kunming, to find the train station and book a ticket to Shanghai. The first thing that struck us was the crazy driving!



We walked around Kunming and saw lots of interesting things. This guy was obviously homeless, but had an entourage of puppies to keep him warm. We were trying to find an iCafe, but they are hard to find. China is cracking down on internet and gaming in China, and the iCafes are taking a lot of this pressure.



We found the train station. This bull stands proud out the front, and there is a huge square for waiting in. We went in and attempted to read the departures board. Matching symbols from the lonely planet while it keeps changing is not easy. So we tried to find someone who spoke any English.. again not easy. After a few embarrassing questions without responses and 15 minutes of holding up a sign with "do you speak English?" on it we managed to find the foreigner window, who spoke enough English to sell us a sleeper ticket.

With our second class ticket in pocket, we went and stocked up on nibbles and drinks for this forty hour train ride.



Thankfully it was a sleeper; we got on friday evening and arrive Sunday morning. This meant lots of rest/book/ipod time.



We shared a 4 berth room with a pair of elderly Chinese grandparents who spoke no English. We promised her granddaughter, who came on to see her off and spoke a little English, that we would be kind and gentle with them.



They were sweet and friendly, and hand gestures got us through it no problems.



The landscape in the south was quite extreme, similar to parts of northern Thailand. Quite beautiful.



You can see the shape of the land with the carved contour lines of the terraced rice paddies. We passed a lot of fields.



There were little seats outside the cabin that we could sit on and watch the land go by. Lots to see; small shanty towns all the way to industrial, concrete cities.



There was food offered at most train stops, and up and down the hall from time to time. we mostly just had our nibbles, as we still didn't know common food names.



After two sleeps and an entire day of sitting on a train, we arrived in Shanghai. Toolmans pal was waiting at the station for us ...