My 21 days Overland Border Crossing Train Rides from Malaysia > Thailand > Laos > China (Feb 10 > March 2 2025) - Kunming, China March 1 2025 (Day 20)

Dianchi Lake, Kunming, Yunnan, China

Guandu, Kunming, Yunnan, China

 

Saturday March 1 2025 (Day 20) - a cool & sunny day in Kunming nicknamed the "Spring City" so it was very pleasant for our group to pay a visit to 2 major touristy places ie Dianchi lake (an interesting sight of seeing flying seagulls interacting with people for food, certainly not chasing for cigars !) & Guandu Ancient Town in Kunming city area using e-hailing Didi car & public buses ! 

Ground Transport & Food:

1. DiDi Cab: CNY20 + CNY22 = CNY42 (cost sharing of 4) @CNY10.50
2. Bus: CNY4 per pax
3. Food: CNY14 per pax

1) Hotel buffer breakfast (Day 2) - woke up early (07.00) & enjoy my buffet breakfast in the hotel prior to meet up with my group members. 

2) Dianchi Lake, Kunming, Yunnan, China - a shallow fresh water lake, 40m long running from north to south, nicknamed the "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland", this Kunming Lake modelled the lake in Beijing's Summer Palace; as it was a Saturday weekend, this touristy place was filled with locals & tourists, at this time of the year (late winter) countless seagulls (migrated from Siberia, Russia) to Kunming for wintering, locals took the opportunity to buy from nearby stalls & offering bird feed to flying seagulls around the lake & interacting with people - what a spectacular sight in Dianchi Lake at this time of the year ! Also took a short walk to Yong Chang Wetland Nature Park located next to the Dianchi Lake; for this lake visit, we took a Didi car ride (CNY20) from our hotel, my last visit (together with my wife) to Dianchi  was in Feb 2019 ! 

3) Bus rides (transit via K15, CNY2 x 2) from a bus station in front of Dianchi lake > Guandu Ancient Town, Kunming, Yunnan (7 - 8 km), my 1st visit to Guandu Ancient Town ! 

4) Guandu Ancient Town, Kunming, Yunnan, China - this ancient town has a history of 1,000 years old, used to be a fishing village during the Tang dynasty, the Shaolin Temple (known as Miaozhan Temple in the old days) was built in 1327, a quaint village with centuries old Buddhist temples, stupas & pagodas, souvenir shops & tradition Yunnan restaurants & eatery stalls, a great place for locals & tourists to spend their time with their family during the weekends. 

5) Ancient Temples, Pagodas, Steles, Gungdu Ancient Town, Yunnan, China - the twin towers of Mianzhan Towers were built in 1327, the Miaozhan Temple & the Civilization Pavilion Architecture Complex were also built during that period. 

6) A glimpse of downtown Kunming as viewed from a Didi car ride 

7) After the visits of Dianchi Lake & Guandu Ancient Town visits, our group took a Didi ride back to our hotel for a short rest & met again at 18.30 in the hotel lobby to try to affirm our China Eastern flight departing tomorrow at 12.55 to Kuala Lumpur. This matter was done after seeking assistance from the hotel reception. Also our members visited a local pharmacy to buy some Chinese medicine home. As for me, I bought a pack of Chinese cough medicine (CNY35) to help relieved my coughing & sore throat. Another member bought a pack of Chinese medicine for curing indigestion & diarrhoea etc. 

8) Our group Dinner in a food stall nearby our hotel - my buddy & myself savoured a plate of deep fried pig intestine noodle soup (CNY14) + rice with stir fried eggs & tomatoes (CNY14) + a wan tan soup (CNY13, a treat from KF Wong); took a group picture with the owners of this food stall (our favourite) as their style of cooking was quite similar to that of my home country, Malaysia.