This trip marks the successful completion of the 1 year internship in Shanghai as part of the NUS Overseas Colleges Program. I travelled with very cool buddies, namely Huijing and Min Chuan. For the entire trip, minimal planning was involved. This was also the first time that all of us had went on a backpacking trip. Abeit filled with excitement and anxiety, we set off for our journey 2 days after our internship officially ended. The trip took us to 3 different provinces and various cities. Throughout the journey, we had all sorts of experiences and it had been most memorable and enriching.

Off to Kunming 昆明

Our plane departed from Shanghai at 0745 hours. There were 5 of us, including Lee Tong and Chin Keong who were also headed to Yunnan, but did not have plans to accompany us on our entire travel across the provinces. Flying by China-SSS which was a budget airline in China (tickets were cheap at RMB 750+40+20 for tax and oil charges), we landed in Kunming at 1145 hours.

Upon arrival, we headed immediately to the train station 昆明火车站 via public transport (Bus route 4 at a cost of RMB 1) to purchase train tickets to Dali 大理 for that evening. Upon arrival at the train station, there was a flux of travel agents that kept approaching us with their ‘attractive’ packages and prices for tickets, etc. The tickets for that evening were sold out and our next course of action was none other than approach one of those travel agents. Happened to get one from Yunnan Jianhua Travel Service Co., Ltd 云南建华旅行社有限公司 (邵根营经理: 0871-3524387) who offered us a price of RMB 60 for an overnight sleeper bus to Dali. Without any other choices, we took the offer.

Roaming Kunming 昆明

We had a half a day to spend in Kunming before we headed to Dali. Carrying our huge bags, we made our way round the city – by walking, because I had a false impression from the map that the city was not too large. In fact, after walking about 40 mins, we reached like the city centre. However, due to the fact that everyone was carrying huge backpacks (except for MC who had a hand carry bag which he eventually lugged around as though it was a sack of stones) they were all tired. We settled for lunch at a local eatery which seemed hugely popular – Brother Jiang. Lunch was Cross the Bridge Rice Noodles 过桥米线 which was a local speciality. A bowl of soup was boiled to a very high temperature and served. You were also given many plates of fish, pork, chicken, vegetables, mushrooms, and rice noodles, etc. Once served, you would stir in the ingredients one by one and since the soup temperature was really high, the food would be cooked and you have your meal of delicious rice noodles!

With nothing much left to do in Kunming City itself (attractions which we weren’t attracted by were on the outskirts of the city.), we ended up in a coffee house which served the worst coffee, tea or drink and had the worst service, attitude and ambiance. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the shop, but there is a Brother Jiang near by, so be warned of coffee houses near a Brother Jiang next time.

Rushing to Dali 大理

The sleeper bus left Kunming at 1930 hours. It stunk really bad! Perhaps, it was due to the smelly boots that the passenger behind us had. Huijing and Lee Tong each had a bed at the front of the bus, which I presume had fresher air. CK, MC and I were ‘banished’ to smelly land!