The Best Coffee in Asia

Kunming has been called the Seattle of China, and while this is mostly attributed to its laid-back atmosphere despite being a city of about four million people, it also has to do with the fact that the Yunnanese coffee here is really darn good and there are a ton of coffee and tea houses in which to enjoy it. We arrived in Kunming late on Monday night and even though we had booked a hotel last minute, we had no idea how difficult it would be to find. By some miracle, and a team of helpful passers-by, we managed to find the place which was located on the 19th floor of a high-rise building overlooking the city. Pretty sweet. We decided we would spend a day hanging out in the city and figuring out our onward travel whilst sipping some of that aforementioned delicious brew.

View from our room of the Kunming skyline

Sampling the local delights: Yunnan Coffee and Over-the-Bridge Noodles

We walked around the main shopping district and the bird and flower market, and then wandered up north towards the Yunnan University campus and strolled through the Green Lake and surrounding park.

Practicing their croquet game in the park

Once we were ready to head back into town so we could purchase bus tickets for the next day, we had a little adventure trying to get a taxi to take us there. We’re still not sure what their objection was, but it did sound as though all three taxis we flagged down had the same excuse for why they couldn't take us to the bus station. That left us with a nice long walk and a short jog from our hotel down to the station instead. Oh well, I suppose we can use the exercise after all the sumptuous meals we’ve been eating! At the bus station, I used one of the two Chinese travel phrases I practiced to get us some bus tickets to Lijiang the next morning. Score!