Our guide showed us all around Kunming and pointed out several "good" places to eat. Most restaurants and stores have open fronts...so that was interesting! At one point on our walk, she said "That...no good. Very dirty. Don't eat there." I had to chuckle at her bluntness. But we do appreciate her honesty as sickness is something we want to avoid! Keep in mind...the water in China is not safe to drink. We're even brushing our teeth with bottled water! Our guide is full of energy and thanked us for coming and adopting these babies. We are the ones that feel honored!
We toured Green Lake Park in the rain. It was a slight sprinkle the entire time, but nothing that put a damper on our experience of the beautiful scenery. It rains frequently here during July but it is very intermittent. The temperature is about 60° which is very ironic because it was 92° in Beijing when we landed...and Kunming is further south. Kunming has a wonderful year-round climate though. It's basically Spring all year! Here are some pictures from Green Lake.
Then, we continued walking around to visit some other historical places and restaurants. This particular restaurant is about 300 years old and was/is (our guide speaks English but it is still difficult to understand her at times...and she speaks VERY fast so I'm trying my best to remember the info she shared) often visited by important people in China.
The entrance of the restaurant... which again, is largely outside.
There were several courtyards that connected this particular restaurant.
The vegetation here is beautiful!
Our guide also took us to the market which was so fun...and interesting! The fruit and vegetables were so bright and colorful. The fruit was deemed OK to eat, but we were told to steer clear of things like lettuce, etc.
Then there were things that were simply just #china.
I'm not even sure what was in these bins...but they were interesting. Maybe some vegetables?
I wish this picture came with a scratch and sniff! Oh my word. It definitely wasn't hard to keep on walking past this stand.
We ended at a restaurant called Salvidore's where we muddled our way through ordering. Our waitress took our orders right on her phone. It was nice to be in a group setting for this dining experience! Eric and I both had wraps that were definitely edible. I only ate about half though because there is definitely a different taste here in country. It was good, but we are learning that we're used to a lot of sugar in the U.S. Hopefully, I don't experience any sugar detox symptoms while we're here, yikes!
We headed back to the hotel and did our first money exchange at the front desk. That was extremely helpful and easy! The current exchange rate is 6.8. For example, our entire group's lunch was 320 Yuan. That equates to about 47 USD. For 6 people, that was very reasonable!
We're meeting with the other two couples tonight to go to dinner at an outside restaurant. We visited it on our walk around Kunming but I forgot to take any pictures. Our guide kept referring to this restaurant as "very romantic" though so we figured we might as well all squeeze some romance in tonight while we're kidless!
Knock on wood, but so far we're feeling great in regards to jet lag. Eric is a little more tired than I am. But that's typical for us. Ha! I know on the way back, it will be much worse for both of us...as that is what we've been told. BUT! For now, prayers are being answered and we feel well. Praying our health continues as we begin loving on our Josiah tomorrow and will need to feel up for anything he wants or needs! Thanks for praying alongside us, friends!
What an adventure! Love reading these updates!!!
ReplyDelete