From 07/22/2025 to 07/23/2025, while in the taxi, I desperately searched for something to do in Kunming that I hadn't found in my initial research. The only thing I could discover was the Jinma-Biji Archway, an old-fashioned gate located a bit south of our new hotel. This arch is a historic structure that was sadly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and later reconstructed after the country regained its senses. The archway has two parts – Jinma, or Golden Horse, on the east side, and Biji, or Golden Rooster, on the west side, named after nearby hills. The originals were erected in the early fifteenth century during the Ming Dynasty and symbolized the city's threshold. According to legend, every sixty years on a fall evening, the shadow of the Biji Archway from the setting sun perfectly overlaps with the shadow of the Jinma Archway from the rising moon. Between the two archways, a street performance was occurring, and the assembled crowd was laughing joyfully, although I could only grasp a rough idea of what was happening through Mei Ling's sporadic translations.
Near the gate, I found an outdoor shopping mall designed with traditional Chinese aesthetics featuring ornate paifang gates and barrel tile roofs. Inside were various stalls and shops selling a variety of items such as porcelain, tea, and dried mushrooms. A central atrium was lushly filled with trees, creating an urban forest-like atmosphere. Upon exiting the mall, we arrived at the entrance to a night market. I was unsure if this was a different market from the one near our apartment or if it was all part of an extensive market covering most of the urban area. It was a Tuesday evening, so I presumed this was the usual nighttime activity in the neighborhood. Kunming was our third major city in Yunnan, and it seemed typical for city centers in this province to have people out late, dining, shopping, and socializing. This vibrant lifestyle appears to have largely faded in Beijing, apart from select food streets. Fortunately, we could still experience it here and in cities like Chongqing, though I wondered if it would remain like this in twenty years or if the entire country would awkwardly modernize and homogenize.
No matter how many night markets we visit in China, there are always new and surprising sights to behold. One plaza was beautifully lit with a combination of bulb canopies and fields of fiberoptic lights resembling stalks of wheat. We also encountered one of the most extensive displays of deep-fried aquatic insects we had ever seen, despite having seen quite a few. We continued to browse for about an hour, but it had been a tiring day with our visit to Xishan and the long hike down. The next day, we had to wake up very early for our rescheduled flight to Hanoi. We made our way back to our hotel room through the pedestrianized area, brightly lit by shop windows and the vibrant designs on surrounding high-rises.
The following morning, we quickly gathered our things and jumped into the taxi that Mei Ling had pre-ordered. Our flight to Hanoi was set for nine in the morning. Everything was proceeding smoothly until check-in when the agent called for a supervisor to review Mei Ling's passport. There was an issue because her maiden name appeared as her middle name on her passport, yet it wasn't listed on her Vietnam visa. Interestingly, I had noticed this minor discrepancy after filling out the application, but when we received the visa from Vietnam, I thought it was no longer a concern. Mei Ling soon began an animated discussion with the supervisor, and I was confident she could resolve the situation. After all, she had previously managed to get us on a flight to Mexico when Cleo's passport was expiring on our departure day. I began to think of her as a Jedi.
However, this time, she was unable to work her usual magic. She returned to us and informed me that we would not be allowed on the flight to Hanoi under any circumstances. I still believe Mei Ling could have navigated through immigration in Vietnam, but the airline was unwilling to risk having to fly us back to China. I was taken aback by this turn of events but was also relieved that I had opted against booking a bespoke tour of Vietnam, which I had seriously considered, as that would have been difficult to cancel on short notice. In fact, I had only committed to our hotel in Hanoi, and we would just lose one night's cost by canceling. This left me with some positives, and I had also been apprehensive about the weather in Vietnam. I decided to completely set aside the frustrating visa mistake and concentrate on the new challenge before us: figuring out where to fly instead. Unlike an American or European airline that might have told us to sort things out for ourselves, this Chinese airline was willing to help us change our flights to any other city of our choice.
July 22, 2025 - July 23, 2025 View Asia 2025 on zzlangerhans's travel map.
