CHANGSHAREN in Kunming

Craig has taken off on a trip with two friends during Spring Festival. He promised to start his blog again. Here is his first entry:

After a terribly bumpy flight we arrived in Kunming in the early afternoon. Paranoid that we would be mistaken as Laowai or tourists we blew past all the people offering us rides to the city center. We also accidentally blew past the bus station we were supposed to use. After walking for about twenty minutes we reached the next stop on the line and hopped on bus 67.

The congestion of human traffic on this line is mind blowing. At each stop no more than 5 disembarked while no less than 20 got on the bus. A gentleman was trying to help us find the stop we wanted but after he told us that he was actually from Beijing I had an ominous feeling. His advice wasn't completely accurate and we needed to walk another 20 minutes before we found our dormitory.

THE HUMP is one of those Lonely Planet endorsed megahostels where the number of foreigners is just creepy for someone who left Changsha just once in the last 4 months. Everyone from professor types, with grey hair and pipes to smoke, to hippies on the run, with wild shocks of hair and scummy clothes, share a gigantic common room. After eating BBQ at a place with meal worms, pig feet, and whole intestinal tracts on display we started interspersing shots of tequila and mixed tonic drinks with over-competitive games of ping pong.

At the hostel a group of Chinese drivers were playing pool and after buying them a shot of tequila GANGZI (a person) bought us two bottles of watered down gin. While we drank we met a foreigner who lived in Kunming and told us horror stories of Laowai beatings occurring within Kunming's KUNDU bar district. With these thoughts in mind we set off to find said district and offer the Chinese a different point of view on the foreign devils.

Everyone we talked to howled with laughter when we told them we were CHANGSHAREN (people who lived in Changsha [this terminology is reserved for those who are native to a given region]) We finished the night with more BBQ and philosophical conversations. All in all it was a great night.

C. Johnson