We got our things packed up and ready to check out of the hotel. Onto the next part of our trip: China! We met Ernest and rode the MTR to Lo Wu. We had to get off and walk across the China border at Shenzhen, through immigration and customs. Andy's passport wouldn't scan so the guards made him wait in a little room (and stay seated) until they got his passport information into their computer. Ernest and I were wondering what was going on, but then everything was fine.
Here are few pictures we took right after we crossed the border...
Doesn't the mask just ruin the outfit?!
We took a high speed train to Guangzhou. We wandered around some back streets that Ernest was familiar with and really got to see the real China. It was quite the experience! I don't think I could put it into words, even if I tried. We decided to get dinner and this was the menu of the restaurant. We didn't even take pictures of all the snake dishes on the other pages. We thought we ordered a beef dish, but we still aren't sure what it was.... we never got sick though!
We rode the train back to Shenzhen where we stayed that night.
Day 8 ~ Thursday
We had a 7:30 am flight from Shenzhen to Kunming, where we were staying for a few days. We had to catch the airport shuttle at 6:00 so I was VERY happy to see a Starbucks at the airport!!
China airlines are different than ones in the U.S. First of all there is less room between rows on the plane. Hard to believe, I know. But they give you lots of food, even on a 2 hour flight. After arriving in Kunming, we grabbed a taxi to our hotel. Our luggage wouldn't fit in the trunk so the cab driver just left the trunk open! I kept looking back expecting our bags to be all over the street. We made it though.
Here is a view looking out of our hotel window, from the 18th story.
We walked around and it was great people watching. It is mass chaos in the streets with buses, cars, mopeds, bicycles, and pedestrians. It's crazy!
Ernest got a recommendation from the hotel front desk staff for a restaurant and the province's signature dish, guò qiáo mĭxiàn, "Crossing the Bridge" noodles. It was one of the most interesting eating experiences of my life. They brought a bowl of cold rice noodles, a large bowl of very hot broth, and countless plates of all kinds of stuff, from thinly sliced meats, a raw egg, flower petals, and who knows what else. They mix it all together for you right at the table. It was very good, but I have to admit that I did pick out some of the pieces of meat that looked weird.
Day 9 ~ Friday
We had breakfast at the hotel, which was a very interesting buffet. We got a good laugh out of some of the food translations on the little signs (like mayonnaise was labeled as sandwich jam). We had a private taxi drive us to the Stone Forest in Shilin. Andy saw this cattle truck along the way and had to take a picture.
We spent a couple hours looking around the Stone Forest. It was very pretty. There were some caves with stairs that you could wander through also.
We asked Ernest to take a picture of the two of us (yes I really was there!), and while he was taking it, some random guy started taking our picture too. We are pretty sure it was only because we are Americans.
We asked the taxi driver to take us somewhere to grab lunch so we went to this road-side place that was actually very good.
After lunch, we asked the driver to show us the country and farmlands. There were some great picture taking opportunities.
That night we decided we needed an American dinner so we found a Papa John's Pizza. That could've been the best pizza I've ever tasted! And then Dairy Queen Blizzard for dessert!
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