day 8?

Do Over:

We slept until we woke without any assistance. We knew our flight was at 7:55pm and we weren't going to put anything in our way to keep us from flying home today. We packed everything for the last time, storing at the front desk of the hotel this time. We headed out to have some lunch since it was already 11:30 by the time we made it down stairs and out of the building. We went to the Golden Gates street, which we were told had a long string of restaurants. We stopped at the first one we saw. Fan went in and ordered pork on the bones and some soup for both of us. The soup arrived in stages. First was the bowl of noodles and a spoon, then was the platter of things to add to the soup. This platter consisted of a large plate with beef, fungus, and some greens such as mint and spinach. There were 3 smaller platters stacked on top of the large dish. One containing onions, another containing pepper and sliced chili peppers, and the final with some more veggies. The final part of the soup arrived, the chicken broth. It was boiling hot and in a bowl ridiculously large. Fan had asked one of the older women at the table next to us how to put the meal together. She said that in Beijing it is always already in the bowl when it arrives, and you never have to put it together yourself. First goes the meat, fungus, and greens on the lower plates... then the veggies and onion platters. You dump the noodles on top of all this, then pepper it to your tastes. I refused to put the meat in mine, uncertain if the broth was hot enough to cook it. Fan dished the extra meat into her bowl.

The meal was delicious and quite filling. I had become better with the chopstick on this little adventure, but still managed to splash some boiling hot broth into my eye while eating. Fan explained the history behind the way the dish is delivered. There was an old politician (I may be recalling this incorrectly. I can't remember what the old man's status was. Maybe he was just a scholar or philosopher.) who desired to live his days apart from his wife, studying all day. Their separate houses were connected by a bridge, and the husband would read books all day long on his side of the bridge. The wife would cook for him, but every meal she cooked would be cold by the time she made it to him with the food. She decided that if she brought the separate pieces of the meal to him, then the bowl of boiling broth, he could finally have a hot meal. I was told it was called a Cross Bridge dish.

After our hot meal, we headed to the Golden Gate just around the corner. The gate was beautiful and Fan explained that if they were great politicians, the people they governed would erect a Gate in their honor so you would be remembered.

We wandered around a little in this area, finding that the wares sold here were the same wares sold in Li Jiang. Fan managed to find a map vendor and on the map, she discovered we were very close to the zoo and a Buddhist temple. We walked the few blocks to the temple and Fan decided, despite he lack of religion, to make an offering to the Buddhist god. She offered incense sticks for money and good luck. She desired mostly the good luck.

The temple was beautiful and the waters were filled with turtles and coy. The peace and quiet of the temple was a very welcome and needed change from the busy city. We spent quite a little bit of time in the temple. Fan made her prayers and I just sat quietly thinking.

When we left the temple, we headed to the hotel to pick up our bags then go to the largest flower market in Kunming. This, I speculate, must be the largest flower market in China, as Kunming is the "Flower Capital" of China. It was large indeed. We had to make our way through a maze of Coffee and Coffee products to finally reach the flowers, but the flowers were an even larger maze of green, red, purple, blue, yellow and pink. It was beautiful. Almost every booth that sold flowers also sold bouquets of dried flowers. There were flowers that were said to bloom if you sprayed them with water for a few days, and flowers that were examples of these bouquets already bloomed. The odor and appearance of so many flowers in one space was intoxicating. The fragrances weren't overpowering, just light and fragrant enough to entice buyers.

We took turns monitoring the luggage, since there was nowhere to store it in the flower market. Fan returned with several new purchases. I only bought one bouquet of roses for Cullen's and my Anniversary to add to the lilies he bought. We made it out of the maze unscathed and had a quick soup at a restaurant outside of the flower market. Once done eating, though it was only 5pm and we were moments away from the airport, we headed out to get a taxi to the airport. The taxi, despite the traffic, dropped us off well before 5:30pm and we didn't dilly dally. We went straight to check in and head to the terminal. The security check was rather speedy and we made it out without any issues. We sat from 5:55pm to 7:35pm waiting. Fan taught me a bit of useful Chinese, and we were both glad to be waiting at the terminal and not the least bit unhappy about the long wait.

When we boarded the flight, we were much more relaxed, and the 3 hours went by very quickly. Landing at 11pm and retrieving our luggage was hassle free. We hopped in a taxi and headed first to her home, then me alone for the rest of the ride back to Cullen. It was so good to be home. Beautiful day, that.