Kunming, China

Time flies. If you want to do anything, go anywhere, start now. If you don't start you wouldn't arrive. It was a little over a year ago that I was in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in Southern China. Alas, I haven't found time to return to see more of China. China is a country of huge contrast, we read of Chinese spies, stealing military and business secrets and then we see regular Chinese living a parallel life, oblivious to what their government is doing. We see shining new high rises and tucked in some corner, the old China, hanging on, precariously, like a loose tooth. I was amazed at the progress of Kunming but this was not the China I came to see. I wanted to see the old world China. It can still be found in a lot of areas of China, where progress hasn't reached them and hopefully wouldn't, or at least, not for a long time. I was happy to have seen some old China. Tucked in a very small area behind the new tall buildings, there was this little space where old China thrives, still, for how long, your guess is as good as mine. There were regular folks here, children playing, people watching TV, drying fish outside, washing their hair in wash basins, handing out fliers, old woman using a cell phone....... life goes on, even as modern China hums outside.