Kunming, China

 On our first day in Kunming, we were having dinner alone, so we had to have our first attempt at ordering food.  In fact the place that had been recommended to us, close to the hotel, seemed relatively simple as you were taken to the kitchen and had to point at what you wanted.  Of course it's never quite that easy, because when I pointed to a nice straightforward looking combination of meat and vegetables, I was told I couldn't have that. After much pointing at our cribsheet of food types, gesticulations and shakings of the head, we finally seemed to have agreed on an order.  We waited with some trepidation to see what would arrive, but in fact it turned out to be quite nice. A minor success.

For our free day in Kunming, we decided to eschew the museum's and temple, and instead talk a walk into the city and check out a few of the other sights. We only set off late in the morning, so decided to stop for lunch quite early on. We picked somewhere with a cheat's English translation of the menu and pictures of the food - not something we usually do, but when you are as difficult with food as I am, and you can't even hazard a guess at what the characters mean we feel more relaxed about it. So we happily chose a couple of dishes, only to be met with a torrent of Chinese that we had no hope of understanding.  I think the lady was concerned that we were ordering one small dish and one larger dish, but she let us get on with it and we were quite happy.

We were less content with our attempt to order a couple of beers; the woman serving us understood my request for two beers (er pijiu) OK, but then she brought over a menu from which I assumed I was supposed to choose from the five beers listed in Chinese characters. I randomly picked a couple, and she then let loose with a further torrent of Chinese, which I assume was an explanation of what those two beers were.  None the wiser, and by now needing a beer more than ever, I confirmed the selection.  We ended up with a German wheat beer, which was fine but not what we were aiming for, and a Heineken, which was something of a disappointment!

Suitably refreshed, we continued to Government Square, only to find it boarded up for building works.  Then we stopped in at the tea place that we had seen recommended.  This was where we made our first of what will probably be many faux pas. We thought we could buy a cup of tea here.  So we went in and indicated as best we could that this was what we wanted.  We were ushered to a table and asked to choose a tea, so we figured we were doing OK.

The process was, as expected, long and involved.  She opened a sachet of furled tea leaves and poured the contents into a bowl which was then given to us to inspect.  In the meantime, she warmed up a handleless glass cup that had saucer and a lid. Then some of these tiny little balls of rolled up tea leaves were placed into that cup and hot water poured onto them. After a few moments, she used the lid to strain the contents into a sieve on top of a small jug.  Then the tea was poured into the tiny drinking cups.  But that presumably just to warm everything up, as it was all discarded. A second brew and pouring was done, and then finally we got our Oolong tea.  It was nice enough.


We had a few cups and then indicated we were done and went to pay. It was now that we discovered our mistake. This wasn't actually a place where you were supposed to drink tea, just to try before you buy.  We didn't want to buy, especially as we simply can't carry extra stuff around with us. We did still try to pay for our drink but were not allowed to. Oops.  They were incredibly polite to us, but I suspect they muttered something about stupid foreigners under their breath after we left.

The rest of our sightseeing was much simpler.  A wander through the shopping area - no sign of communism here - and around the flower market was interesting. And surprisingly we were not once called upon to buy something.  It seems that western tourists are relatively few here, whereas there are plenty of the newly wealthy Chinese middle class visiting, and they are much easier pickings for making a sale.

We also took a look one of the two 9th century pagodas. Pagodas were apparently built to ward off dragons and the destructive storms that they would send to the city, so the 13 storey tower has roosters, the enemy of the dragon, on top of all four corners. Today the pagodas are in a poor state of repair, but they still look impressive, and this one is a meeting place for locals who come to play mahjong or cards, or in one case, simply to sew a pair of slippers.

Tonight was a group meal, so we had the benefit of our Chinese guide to help us order.  Much simpler.

It's so nice to have.....

However much you enjoy travelling, there are always likely to be some things that you miss while you are away.  For us, things being different is all part of the experience; after all, travelling is not just about seeing the sights, it is also about being part of a new culture.
The fact that there are things that you can't get is far outweighed by the new things that you find to try - even if some of them aren't that great.  Even with my awkwardness about food and the difficulty I sometimes have with finding food that I can actually eat, I would hate to just have to eat exactly what I would in the UK; it wouldn't feel like we were away.  We have made it a rule that unless we get completely desperate, we won't eat in MacDonalds or Burger King, despite them being everywhere.  Except when we go to the States - then it will be a necessary part of the trip because it is where it comes from!

But even though we know all of that, it doesn't mean that you don't miss things anyway, and when you come home it is nice to have those things again.

For one thing, it is nice to be sure of decent and clean bed to sleep in and to know that you can have a hot shower;  most of the time our beds were clean, if not always comfortable, but the showers could be unpredictable and it is always reassuring to know that at least you wont get electrocuted in it here.  And while we're in the bathroom - and those of you who travel yourselves will appreciate this - it is nice to be able to flush the toilet paper!

It is also good to be able to speak the language.  While we got by with our basic Spanish, we always knew that there were huge parts of a conversation that we would struggle with and it makes it much harder to relax when you are talking to people or if there is a problem that has to be dealt with.  This was even more noticeable when we got to Brazil where our only Portuguese came from a phrase book or google translate!  A different language is part of the fun, but it gets wearing, and it is lovely to be back in an English speaking country where we don't have to think too hard about what we wanted to say.  A least for a while.

Then there are the little things.  As classic Brits, we did miss being able to definitely get a decent cup of tea.  Sometimes we could get 'proper' tea bags and make our own, but often the tea wouldn't be right, or the only milk available was longlife, so it just wasn't good enough.

And you can't get cheddar cheese abroad.  In much of South America the cheese is mainly a white salty variety that personally I don't like at all.  They do have some goudas and a few hard cheeses like parmesan and something called Sardo, which are OK, but they are not cheddar.  And when they do have one thing that they call cheddar, it turns out to be those orangy coloured plastic slices that they put into cheeseburgers.  So good cheddar cheese was one of the first things we treated ourselves to when we got back.

Then there is the strange phenomonen of the things that you miss even though back in the UK you rarely had them.  For Nic in particular this was the ability to get proper Fish & Chips or KFC.

And then if course there is the chocolate.  Don't get me wrong, they have chocolate in South America, and some of it is very good.  Let's face it, some of the best dark chocolate comes from places like Ecuador and Venezuala.  But we missed Cadburys Dairy Milk.  You can buy it there, but it just isn't the same.  The UK is, I think, the only country that likes its Dairy Milk as sweet and creamy as we have it,  everywhere else it is made slightly differently, more bitter and with a slightly grainy texture.  So we had some of that when we got back too!

I did miss Marmite too, but I bought a big jar on the Falklands and took it with me, so that lasted me until we came back.  There are other things of course, but even with our stint in the Falklands where we could get a quick fix of tea, cheese and chocolate, these were the ones we most noticed.

Would missing these things stop us travelling? Absolutely not; as I said, it is all part of the experience and like seeing friends and family, it gives you something to look forward to when you're back.  And, an odd jar of marmite aside, I could also never be one of those people that carries a huge supply of tea bags and other stuff with them when they go away.  Not only would it be just too much effort to carry and in some cases to get across borders, it just wouldn't feel right.  Far too Karl Pilkington!