Tea Heaven

As we walked over the bridge, China looked like a wilted Vietnamese plant finally getting water. Tall glass, shining steel and strobing asian neon loom over the border. On entry, our bags got scanned with color coded 3D X-ray gear. The cities were clean and investment firms held up by giant stone columns took up entire city blocks. Instantly everyone was bigger, taller and healthier. Most of the vehicles on the broad streets were cars. Cops in white gloves directed traffic that obeyed set rules. Bike lanes, pubic recycling, public toilets, and clean working public transit stopped striking me as European or Asian. Its just anywhere in the world with money that’s not the United States.

There were people with lots of leisure time in urban China. Women seemed assertive. Men were seen playing with their children. Fashion was back. Billboards with half naked westerners selling expensive clothing filled the sky. Everyone had a mobile phone. We saw a girl with pink hair and rainbow colored clothing. Everyone was very friendly, if a little unused to seeing westerners. Being among economic equals again was a pleasant change but there was almost no English, very little Pinyin, and there are so many Chinese characters.

In Kunming we lived and mostly ate in the muslim quarter where there was lots of yummy street food. After being in Indochina our sketchy food detectors were set on high, but everywhere sanitation standards were beyond worry. We sat down at one restaurant and tried to interpret the menu with the help of the cooks and waiters. We had successfully translated several dishes when we realized we had ordered all of them. We ran back to the kitchen, set things straight and had a very tasty meal. The next time we played roulette with a menu we got a bowl of warm water with organs floating in it. We opted for food we could point to after that. The Chinese eat some wonderful things, but they eat everything else as well.

China has clean, white, modern, herbal pharmacies dispensing traditional Chinese medicine. Their windows showcase giant twisty roots, strange powders and big shark fins. Professional looking massage, acupuncture and reflexology clinics are common as well. There are a couple of tea shops on every block with tiny teapots, big coin shaped bricks of leaf and huge glass jars of loose tea for sale. A nod was all it took to get us sat down for a tasting. Several tastings. Mmmmm tea. We didn’t sleep much after these sessions.

We heard the communists instituted an anti-spitting campaign that was wildly successful. I can’t even imagine what it was like before. The Chinese are constantly coughing with their mouth open and spit like its their job. The whole place is a rhinovirus swap meet. This might have been only a curiosity, except that Mandy came down with a very debilitating cold. Its making exploring Japan a little difficult.

We didn’t get to spend much time in China and we were sorry to give it such short shrift. We were supposed to stay long enough to meet George and her friend Alanna skipping over from Hong Kong and Pippin and Caitlyn traveling over land from Nepal via Tibet. But we had reached the end of our money, so we had to bail. The remainder of our travels have been subsidized by some generous contributors.

Photos of Yunnan.

We had an unexpected layover in Bangkok (Damn, but the Thais can cook!) and eventually we flew into Japan…