3/19 – Today we ventured out to find some sights that looked to be within walking distance from our hotel.  Remember when we used to walk everywhere?  Since we’ve been in China we’ve been forced to take taxis due to the hugeness of the cities, our inability to read the street signs, and the lack of Google Maps on my phone.  It’s a beautiful spring day – remember, Kunming is the city where it’s always spring- and it was nice to walk for a change.

The arches are now surrounded by upscale stores and souvenir shops.   This shop sells compressed wheels of tea. Yes, that is a mountain of tea in the foreground.

Lots of pretty flowers.

In the afternoon, we set out to find Green Lake Park, a huge park right in the center of the city.  We found a neighborhood park, with men playing checkers and women practicing their line dancing.

Now that the weather is warm, we see many women here shading themselves with parasols, or shielding their faces and necks from the sun with face mask contraptions.  Fairness of complexion is highly prized here, and the makeup commercials tout making one’s skin lighter.

After asking a few more times, we found Green Lake Park. It was, indeed, huge, and had at least ten groups practicing their line or circle dancing, cranking up their boom boxes to outshout one another. See the New York Times article on the Chinese government’s plans to regulate the Dancing Grannies here. http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/china-seeks-to-impose-its-own-routine-on-public-dancing/?emc=edit_ee_20150325&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=68623949&_r=1.Packed with people and snack stalls, we strolled around, admiring the egrets and the black swans on the lakes. A lovely afternoon.