Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, was the next stop on our south China spring 2026 tour. A city of 8.5 million people, it is also known as the “City of Eternal Spring” as the weather is usually spring-like, and we can confirm, though we visited in Spring, so that may be a self-fulling prophecy. In any case, Jessica and I arrived in early afternoon at the main city train station from Nanning, and it was busy. We managed to navigate our bags to a proper corner through many fellow visitors and taxis to finding our Didi (rideshare, like Uber/Lyft).
Shortly we arrived at our hotel, the Green Lake View Hotel, not to be confused with the nearby, and much fancier, Green Lake Hotel. We were in a busy area of the city, and nearby was Green Lake (Cuihu) Park, and we figured, as there are restaurants everywhere, that walking toward the park would yield us one, and we were right.
We were invited into a restaurant and served spicy chicken and potatoes, sliced pork and spinach, and mint mixed greens (very unique and tasty) while the group of men behind us smoked one cigarette after another, like in a race of some sort. Ordering is often an adventure, which usually involves pointing, translating, and usually getting what we think we ordered, but sometimes not. This meal worked out, and after we walked the paths in the large park as the sun set on the day.
Green Lake Park is mostly water, and has many flowers as well as vendors selling various trinkets and also renting ethnic costumes for tourists to wear and take pictures.
It was a chill place to enjoy that we visited multiple times during our stay in Kunming. More to come from Kunming!
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