Screw subways & buses. We caught 2 cabs out to Beijing Airport & it was well worth 100 yuan per cab: about a 45 minute ride, and we were carried door-to-door. Unfortunately, I lost my best Swiss army knife when I foolishly left it in my carry-on. Oh well.
The flight to Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, was uneventful – about 3 hours in the air, getting us there around 4:00PM. Dan called our first choice for lodging – the Camelia Hotel – and they had rooms. The double that Judy and I stayed in actually had two rooms, a sitting room and a separate bedroom (http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172069166/a=102868539_102868539/t_=102868539). We got the double and a triple for 370 yuan – roughly $45-50 – with complimentary breakfast. And they took MasterCard! Dinner was similarly inexpensive, and Dan & Adam picked up a 600ml beer for 3 yuan (40 cents). Life is good.
That night, we just stayed up and talked. Dan tried to each us some Mandarin basics (counting, etc.). Judy tried to use the travel service to find a room in Dali, our next destination. No luck.
We’ll worry about that in the morning.
Judy did get an hour-long pedicure for 35 yuan (about $4.25). Try that back home!
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Olver family on the Great Wall
Who are we?
I'm Jim Olver, from Williamsburg, Virginia. My wife Judy, sons Adam & Chris, and I travelled to China to visit our third son, Dan, who is teaching English in Hunan Province for WorldTeach. This is the story of our trip.
What's "Laowai?"
Laowai literally translates as “old foreigner,” and can be somewhat pejorative. Another term for foreigners is waiguoren, which literally means “outside country person" and I guess is more neutral.