carpe annum

Nothing can quite prepare you for a forty hour journey on the top bunk of a Chinese train.  At first its interesting to see the size of the train which literally must be nearly a mile long, and that more than half of the train is fitted with ‘hard sleepers’ which are sets of bunks three high and about twenty or twenty-five per train car.  The bunks are not enclosed in any way which was fine as people seemed to behave more civilly than on the street.  In the area at the end of each car is a hot water dispenser which people can use to make tea and add to their cup noodles.  Not knowing quite what to expect, I stocked up on chips, bananas, chestnuts, packaged meat, bread, cheese and water to sustain myself for the trip.  Of course just laying in a bed for hours on end doesn’t burn many calories and not surprisingly I finished less than half of my goodies..but oh well. 

My destination is Kunming, the capital of this Southwestern province bordering Burma, Loas and Vietnam.  The city was the destination of WWII Allied pilots keeping the supply lines from India into China open after Japan gained control of Burma.  The pilots had to fly heavy transport planes over the Himalayas–certainly not the easiest mission given the horrible weather conditions in the thin air above the Himalayas.  I consider my train journey equally magnificent as flying the hump…naysayers be gone!

Anyways, these days, Kunming is another rapidly developing regional hub as is evidenced by the massive highways, rail lines and skyscrapers being built ad nauseum.The greatest thing however definately has to be the re-emergence of the sun and sky, complete with clouds.  The air is fresh and backdropped by lush green mountains.  However, Kunming is merely a transit point for me as I search for some of the last green frontier left in China…onwards to DALI! 

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