The bus arrived in Kunming early, but we sat in the bus for a long time – I guess allowing us to sleep a little longer. No complaints from me. At 6am, they roused us, and we grabbed our bags. Thankfully we were right by the train station, so Natalia and I booked our train ticket to Guilin (or Natalia booked it, as she can manage a few words in Chinese). We had said goodbye to the others, but as it turned out, we had a day to kill before our train, so we met with them at the Hump guesthouse.
Had a shower at the guesthouse, on the sly, then met up with a guy named Glen who had just arrived from America. He joined us for breakfast. At one point he asked if we wanted a beer, and we reminded him it was not quite 8am in the morning. He was still on U.S time, so it seemed perfectly normal to him, but he opted for a coke instead.
After breakfast, Glen, myself, and Natalia headed to the lake in Kunming, to relax and to check out the bird and flower market en route. Did some reading in the park, then headed to the University area, to meet up with Craig, Jonas, and Kathy at Salvador’s Cafe for lunch.
Shopped around the University area for a bit, after that. Some arty shops and the like, that were fun to check out. After shopping we figured we better get our bags, and head to the train. At the Hump, we ran into a friend of Natalia’s – Peter from Denmark, who was also going to Guilin, so we shared a cab to the train station.
Checked in at the train station, and then boarded the train. We find out it’s a 16 hour journey, not the 10 we were expecting, so we settle down for the long haul.