Kunming

With the plane, we continued south to Kunming. Contrary to our expectations, the city (by Chinese standards) is incredibly beautiful, green, and tidy. The houses look relatively clean and modern, there are many trees, and even flower beds along the streets. Here, there is not the same hustle and bustle as in other cities, and the traffic is relatively calm and slow. Even our hostel is the best we have stayed at in China so far.

We strolled through the city and the shops and went to the huge bus station, where we wanted to book our long-distance bus to Laos. All of this went smoothly, and we booked a ride for €50 per person for the next day. It may sound like a lot, but we will be traveling around 900km. However, the city doesn't offer many sights, so we took a tour of the zoo for only €2. One could also call it an "extended park," as we only saw around 10 different species of animals! What made it even more interesting was that there were many small houses where countless Chinese people gathered, made music, and sang Chinese songs together. I found it fascinating, but Jonas found it rather boring. :)

Overall, we are both doing well, even though it can be a bit exhausting to travel from A to B so quickly and process all the impressions. China was definitely worth the trip, and I'm glad that Jonas persuaded me to visit this destination. The only thing we will probably never get used to are the Chinese behaviors (burping, spitting, loudly inhaling and spitting out phlegm, slurping noodles through the mouth, etc.). We may miss the delicious food and the funny people a bit, and we are already looking forward to our next destination: Laos!