Days 18, 19: Kunming

more of a transit city for us than a destination, we head towards Kunming, a metropolis within the Yunnan Province.  before getting there, we must pass through a train hub called Guangzhou, 2-hours of a train ride from Hong Kong.

Guangzhou station must've been the most chaotic and confusing station that i've ever been to...
first of all, we pass through immigration upon getting off, and dad gets caught at the health quarantine.  i wait for 15 minutes on the other side of the immigrations counter, worried that we're not going to make it through.
but they just asks questions about his cough/fever and all is good, he comes out with a smile.

we get to the main departing station, and for the next hour and a half or so, my mind is filled with chaos, questions, and confusion...most of which i still don't understand.

the station building is a huge, mean looking block of windows, steel, cement.  but there's thousands of people outside just sitting, sleeping, playing card games, eating, and hanging out.  surely they can all fit inside the building, so what's the wait?  we have our tickets, so i make a decision that we are allowed inside...and finally find a crowd of people, sorta forming a line.  not knowing what the line is for, dad and i line up.  takes forever since so many people just keep cutting in front of us, but we make it through, they check our tickets and get inside.  i was right.
inside, everything is written in Chinese.  although we can both read some Chinese characters, it takes us 10 minutes to figure out which direction we should be headed towards.  we make a guess and walk through big rooms, courtyards, dark alleys, stairs, (why?) and get to a waiting area that holds about 700 people.  the numbers on the signs match the numbers on our ticket, so we decide to wait there standing (all seats were taken).  i make a trip to the bathroom, and experience some interesting things.

• "No Smoking" signs are everywhere but everyone is smoking in and around the bathrooms.
• Cup-O-Noodles is the choice of food during travel for everyone here.  the food stands sell many variations of them, and in every corner, there's a hot water dispenser.  every way you look, someone is hurriedly eating out of paper bowls, and the trash bins are filled with colorful ramen labels.

 trash from cup-o-noodles must be a huge problem, i've seen it sold in huge quantities in Korea too.  but imagining how it has impacted the lives of many people and what they eat when there are no kitchens and restaurant facilities, being able to eat a savory, hot cup-of-noodles must be a life saver for many people here.  might possibly be the biggest invention coming out of Japan.
more confusion occurs at the Guangzhou station, but i think you get the point.  we do get to our train just fine, and arrive in Kunming 25 hours later.

not much time left at this cafe to write about Kunming, so here are some pics :)

people dancing on a street corner.

don't know exactly what it says, but a girl studying in late on the streets, asking for support.

people carry so much luggage on board.  i'm assuming it's for business.