A Land of Contrasts

After spending 2 months, the longest consecutive amount of time outside of China in three years, in English-speaking countries, we were eager to come back to China. But, we were a little worried that we had gone soft. Had all those meat pies and western exposure spoiled us? Would we be able to stand up to the bustling crowds of millions we were sure to encounter? Would our stomachs still willingly accept the masses of MSG that would surely re-enter our diet? Aside from a bit of stomach protests, it's as if we never left.

Our first stop was Kunming, home to a paltry 5 million. We were greeted with many sites that made us feel right at home, such as....

Massive construction sites!
Dried meat hanging in the streets!

And other familiar scenes, like husbands lovingly cutting their wives' toenails in the town square, small children pointing at Tiffany screaming 'laowai' (foreigner), and locals befuddled that Zach doesn't speak Chinese fluently. It kind of feels like we never left!

After 2 days in comfortable, modern Kunming, we headed to a part of China we've rarely seen, the rural part of China.

Our first stop was the old town of Lijiang. The town was filled with old Naxi architecture and the streets were mazes of small cobblestone streets and quant streams and bridges. Here's Zach relaxing in our zen hotel courtyard.

After wandering through the quaint maze of streets in old town, we hopped on bikes and cruised around the surrounding farmlands.

We didn't get far before getting caught in some rush hour traffic...

It was amazing to bike by farmers working the land as their ancestors have for probably hundreds of years. It's about as far away from modern China as you can imagine.

The farms were so beautiful and surrounded by mountains. And the people we ran into were so friendly and nice, and they were quick to wave and smile at two random foreigners biking around their farms.It was such a peaceful and reassuring re-entry into China, and also fun to see such different sides of the country.