Life Is an Adventure

I found a Chinese restaurant (imagine that) near my hotel last night. The waitress led me around the premises and I ordered by pointing at what I wanted. There must have been a mistake because Mr. Montezuma visited my in the night. Once again I discovered true loneliness...being alone and sick in a foreign land. After about five hours I decide I was going to live and have been fine today.
Arranged with my taxi people, husband and wife, for a tour of the city center. Not much of old Kunming left. It is all skyscrapers now. Because it is Sunday the people were out to enjoy themselves. They are friendly but I've only seen two Caucasians since I left the airport. I catch people looking at me but when I look at them they quickly glance away. Walking by a wedding party outside a restaurant I gave a congratulatory signal and one of groomsmen rushed over and gave me gift cigarette. Many of the people have a Nepalese/Tibetan/Mongol look and many are quite tall by Asian standards.
There is a large central park with a lake that reminds me of the one in Hanoi where McCain crashed. People were feeding the gulls, doing Tia Chi, playing badminton and generally enjoying the day.
No CNN available here but CCTV (Communist China TV) broadcasts in English. It appears to be somewhat more objective than Fox but not nearly so slick. It is always a good thing when propaganda isn't slick.
The police/party presence is not much in view. Much less than when I was in Viet Nam though that's been several years. There are a few beggars but commerce is rampant. I went to a three story supermarket to buy some groceries for my room. If you couldn't buy it there you don't need it. Interesting that the check out is on 2nd floor; the escalators handle carts. My two modest bags of groceries cost $8. Labor is cheap so every aisle has a least one attendant standing by. While I type this an attendant comes by and refills my tea cup.
It is cold with daytime temps in the 40s and nights colder...altitude is about 6000ft...but flowers are in bloom. Nothing is heated, including hotels, so after shivering long enough, I bought a heavy winter coat for $16. Communism is good! :)
I'm not hopeful about getting my pics uploaded until I return to Bkk. My Chinese is not improving very quickly and smiling, nodding and pointing doesn't work on the computer.