Photos of Xian and Kunming, China - 9/22 and 23

As promised, here are some photos of our last day in Xian and our all too short visit to Kunming.

Atop Xian's City Walls: Xian is one of the few cities in China where the old city walls are still standing; built in 1370 during the Ming Dynasty, the 12m high walls are surrounded by a dry moat and form a rectangle with a perimeter of 14 kms.  Most sections have been rebuilt and you can walk around all the walls.

View of the city below from atop the walls.

Some people choose to rent a bike instead of walking; we walked!  A lot of people rode tandem bikes atop the walls though.

Not sure if these are wedding photos or a fashion shoot. 

I loved seeing the red Chinese lanterns - these were close to the South Gate, i.e the main entrance, so were lovely and new and not discolored by the "sun" as others were.

There had been a huge festival and this dragon was being dismantled when we were there.

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Steven  with his last few pretzels he'd bought in Russia- they were getting a little stale by this point! and he was glad to see the end of them

I was also glad to see the end of my trustworthy 66 bag I'd used for our food and dragged all the way from Iceland; I'd bought a knockoff red Puma athletic bag in the Muslim Quarter market as a replacement and am thrilled with my new one. 

In Kunming's Green Lake Park on a 10 hour layover from Xian to Chiang Mai

Feeding the insatiable koi fish with the last of the cracker crumbs.

They're obviously getting fed a lot judging by their size.

All the park benches were child size and had adorable and different characters on each one.

Don't know what these are but look neat!

I'd read online that we needed to get to the park early to be able to watch the impromptu exercisers, dancers, musicians, etc.  I was worried we'd missed all that b/c we didn't get there til about 11 after the snafus at the airport finding left luggage, etc.  All was not lost though as the whole time we were there, I especially saw lots. Youu can see why when you see Steven taking a well deserved rest below!

Lotus flower.

This artist had a throng of people watching him as he worked, myself included.  He asked me to stay so I could be included in his painting.  It was an incredible honor but we said no as we had more areas of the park to explore.

Cute sculptures amid the lotus flower pads, no?

Janina and Pat - thought of you both as there were so many plants to put into the garden.

This bird sculpture was in "commemoration of the establishment of the relationship with Kunming's sister city of Wagga Wagga, Australia.  Ever heard of the place, Lina?

Bamboo trees in case you've not seen them before.

I wished I had had my knitting needles too, Karen and Suellen, so I could join them.  Not enough room for them, patterns and yarn when there are souvenirs to be bought though - a matter of priorities!

Steven was SO tired after getting up at 4 to get to the airport so he decided to nap on the marble bench;  I decided to go off and explore more on my own.

I spent a good 30 minutes watching these men, and later a woman singer, play.

This man could play AND smoke at the same time; I kept watching his cigarette ash getting longer and longer!

I was mesmerized watching these dancers and the ones below all doing the same moves in time to the recorded music.

This man was the group's leader/instructor.

I'd been gone for a good hour at least and still found my love sleeping on the park bench!

He must have been exhausted to sleep through the amplified music just inches from his head!

We took a taxi ride from the park, after waiting no more than 1 minute for one, to the Rooster and Golden Horse Gate part of town above.

Can't escape Minnie and whomever wherever you are!

In Kunming, as in other Asian countries, there are motorcycles everywhere.

Just beautiful flower garlands.

Sitting on the airport shuttle bus ready to go back to the airport wearing my $2 bucket hat I'd bought from a street vendor - not EXACTLY  a fashion statement but I like it.  We had been dropped off by a taxi driver near the West Inn Hotel but not close enough that we could find it.  I asked a young woman in an outdoor food court to help us praying that b/c of her age, there'd be a greater likelihood of her speaking English.  She and her friends all looked at our instructions written in Chinese with the English translation also written down, and all googled the location. The one lady came to our rescue even though, while she and her friends were trying to figure things out, their food had been served.  She, without a moment's hesitation, left her friends and her food and took us on a 10-15 minute walk to the hotel where the shuttle bus was waiting.  It was actually very close as the crow flies but one of those places you couldn't get to very easily from where we had been dropped off.  She will forever hold a special place in our hearts for her kindness to us.

• Don't think I mentioned before that there is only ONE time zone in all of China - your piece of trivia for the day!
• Had a nice experience with the agent at the airport: he kept looking at my passport photo, then at me, back at the photo again and again as I've lost so much weight since the picture was taken. 
• Part of the spiel the flight attendant gave on board the plane for Chiang Mai included the following safety warning:  "Take off all sharp objects including watches, glasses, etc before using the emergency chutes in case of a problem."  That was a new one for us!  Luckily no problems on our flight so we kept our watches and glasses on throughout the flight.