Our last stop on the Mainland was Kunming, the “City of
Eternal Spring” and capital of the Yunnan Province.
By 8:30 a.m. we left to tour the temple complex adorning the
Western Hill. Visitors climb steep hand-hewn stone steps to view and pray at
eleven temples carved by monks in the Taoist and Buddist traditions. The view
over the 24 mile long, freshwater Lake Dianchi was breathtaking.
Our lunch was served in a rare setting of a restaurant serving
dishes based on Chinese herbal medicine. Meet up again with Bullis alum Jia Jia Ruan, her father and mother. Jia Jia is now taking her
master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Mr. Ruan toasted all the
Bullis teachers with deep gratitude for having taken such good care of Jia Jia at
Bullis.
The afternoon (and next morning) brought free time to mingle
with the locals in a town that seemed to have very few tourists or foreigners.
At the center of this “small” city of
6.5 million people is a beautiful lake ringed by weeping willows,
flowering trees, and strolling families. From early in the mornings to late in
the evenings, people were practicing tai chi, jogging, line dancing and getting
chair massages in the mild spring weather. One section of the park hosted a
dating wall –apparently the local custom is for grandparents to post and peruse
personal adds for their grandchildren here.
The people enjoying the central park were extremely colorful and diverse
representing more than two dozen ethnic minorities which call Kunming home.
Across the street, several of us browsed the flair of the Spring Clothing
festival.
In the evening, we hosted the third and final Open House,
which was well-attended by a range of families. Since Kunming is the childhood
home of our own Director of International Family Services Xiumin Overall, she
interpreted in the local dialect rather than Mandarin. We interviewed a number
of prospective students for lower, middle and upper school, had the pleasure of
meeting former Bullis student Emily Zheng and the mother of another Bullis alum, Dixi Wu. Afterwards, we walked to a cozy local restaurant for “cross the bridge”
noodles, which is a large bowl of broth with noodles, shaved meats and
vegetables, a pigeon egg, and a choice of hot sauces for the adventurous.
No comments:
Post a Comment