The wake-up

Since we prioritized wine drinking and a vicious game of Settlers of Catan (with Jarter and Helena) over sleep, our alarm went off earlier on Sunday morning than we would've liked. However, without Henry, Addi and Truman to occupy us, Jess and I managed to pack and check out in record.

We had an uneventful taxi ride (unlike the previous day) to the airport. We flew out of Terminal 2 which is a more low-key domestic only terminal. It's also a whole lot more unorganized than Terminal 3, which is the international terminal in Beijing that most people are familiar with. Our luggage was overweight, so before the check-in counter worker would release our tickets, we had to take a handwritten note over to the "overweight luggage" counter and pay a fine. Once that was dealt with, I deftly cut the line, flashed my receipt, and liberated our tickets.

We then proceeded to go through security, which is the most rigorous security of anyplace I've ever traveled through. In a way, it's kind of comforting to know that everyone gets so heavily checked. Plus, my personal pat down and wanding took more than 2 full minutes. He had his hands in my pockets and in my boots, and ... all over the place. All for no extra charge. :)

After we found our gate, I bought two of the grossest Costa coffees I've ever had. That is where I discovered I had some bad 100 RMB bill. Yay.

The flight

We flew China Southern airlines, which is a fine local carrier. We had to laugh because we had a little trouble finding our seats. We were in sitting in row 32, which so so happens to be the fourth row on the airplane. I couldn't figure out the row numbering scheme so I stopped trying.

It was fascinating to watch the pollution change out the airplane window as we ascended to cruising altitude.

The pickup

On Saturday, Jess sent a few messages to our guide in Kunming, David. They were not received apparently because we never heard from him. We weren't exactly sure what to expect when we landed in Kunming. Worst case, we'd arrange for transportation to the hotel if David was a no-show. The fun thing about Kunming is it's not nearly as international as Beijing, so all he had to do was look for the only white people coming out of baggage claim.

Like magic, David materialized out of the crowd and took us to the car. I'll be honest, he's not very personable but we'll have more time to hang out with him this week so perhaps it'll improve. The extent of the advice he gave us cam on the ride to the hotel: No cold water. Chinese people are susceptible to cold. It is obvious (to at least Jess and me) that David has no children. :)

The hotel

The material we received in advance really talked up our hotel in Kunming. It's not living up to expectations. I'll leave it at that.

The internet

I cannot believe how much I forgot about the internet connectivity issues. I remember the internet was a pain in the rear, but I forgot just how terrible, slow and frustrating it is. I am struggling to do any work, and I have lost contact with my gmail for over 60 hours.

China actually has great internet service. But if you want to do anything 'externally' it's terrible. And all my stuff is external. Plus the wifi in the hotel doesn't work so that's like icing on the crap cake.

The Walmart

By far, the adventuresome highlight of the day was our trip to Walmart. David more or less abandoned us at the hotel, so we went walking in search of the local Walmart to purchase the remaining things we needed for Priscilla.

David had given us vague directions before he left so we figured with our basic Chinese knowledge we could find it. And find it we did!

I've been to Walmart in China once before, and it was as great as I remember it. They have a ton of stuff, but they have a lot more 'standard Walmart stuff' that I remembered. The one here in Kunming is three stories high. We bought diapers and the some other basic baby necessities. It's not easy since we have basically no idea what she will eat or wear, but I think we've covered most of the basics.

The city

Kunming is pretty clean and much calmer than Beijing. Plus the air pollution is under 100. Plus it's nearly 70 degrees here. The two cities are amazingly different. Jess and I went for a walk last night after dinner and we saw locals out jogging. Lots of them. I also saw a man cleaning up his dog's poop off the sidewalk. I've never ever seen that before in China. The traffic is also relatively calm, with few car horns and other assorted Beijing craziness. It's almost refreshing really.

Mañana mas y mejor

Mañana mas y mejor was the first expression I learned at work while living in Madrid. It basically means tomorrow will be "more and better". You say it after a particularly challenging day.

Both Jess and I were exhausted during dinner and, after struggling with the non-functioning internet and semi-broken thermostat in our hotel room for nearly an hour, I decided I would just go to sleep.

Tomorrow would be better and I would improve my attitude.

Priscilla comes tomorrow. :)