It's hard to arrive in China without expectations. So much is made of the political situation, commercial growth, environmental crimes, human rights record and the average per capita GDP, that I'm sure most people arrive with an fairly base expectation of how the people live, similar to how we view the South East Asian countries.
I was this way.
Surprising then that I found Kunming in the southern province of Yunnan to be very impressive. As far as a city is concerned, it presents very well. Clean streets, excellent bus network, beautiful gardens, electric scooters everywhere are just some of the highlights. (Yes 'electric scooters'! So quiet. Every city should have these!!!)
Main train station
A not to uncommon sight: well dressed women with umbrellas as parasols
After 3 days in the city, I've left with the impression that many residents enjoy a quality of living similar to smaller Australian cities with the major exception of housing. Yes, housing is very important, but my comment on this is that there were apartments everywhere (it doesn't look like even the rich have free-standing houses), and you had to get quite a bit out of town to get to fairly decrepit looking estates. There were cars everywhere (including Lexus, Audi, VW etc), great clothing (in moderation), and fantastic food. The big difference was the relative pricing e.g. bus ticket 10c, basic lunch 40c, hostel bed $6.
Great parks to. This one even had a jumping castle (although there were kids on it, so I didn't get my chance. Bloody kids)
Just because it's a modern city, doesn't mean there wasn't any references to the past.
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