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Showing posts from July, 2025

Day 3. July 5. Saturday. River and Mountain

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Breakfast This hotel also included breakfast buffet. The restaurant had a great view of a lake. River I went to the park 甸溪河湿地公园. The park was built along a river, with paved trails on both sides. I walked from the south end entrance all the way to the north end entrance, 8km (5 miles). There were many trees along the paths, providing shades. The park was free and there were many locals here, mostly seniors exercising. There had been record rain fall the past month, so the water level was very high in the river and the water was muddy. People told me that the water was normally clear and much prettier in other times. Mountain At the end of the river park, it was the entrance to a mountain park called 锦屏山公园. There was a giant buddha statue on top of the mountain. One could climb up the stairs with 1999 steps, or take the shuttle. The entrance fee was 50 RMB, shuttle was 15 one-way, 20 round-trip.  I purchased the roundtrip shuttle, but in hindsight, only one-way was needed, bec...

Day 2. July 4. Friday. Lakes

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Lakes Our hotel 湖泉酒店 was located inside a park named 湖泉生态园, which I decided to explore more today. I checked out after the breakfast, had my luggage stored for free at the hotel, and walked around the park. There were lots of lakes, lots of trees. It was really pleasant to walk in the tree shades, watch water fowls, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Hotel I then took Didi to my second hotel 荟语酒店. This one was cheaper than the first one (400 vs 600). This hotel was nice, but I struggled with their WiFi. Their public WiFi required Chinese cell phone numbers for text verification; their room-based WiFi reset everyday. The front desk people used their phone to help connect my cell phone to the public WiFi and one employee went to my room to set up my room WiFi using some hotspot system from the smart-TV. The room WiFi worked for one day, the next day it reset and nothing worked. Since it was the weekend, I did not need to work, so I just decided to not connect my computers to WiFi...

Day 1. July 3. Thursday. Lakes and Hot springs

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Breakfast The hotel 湖泉酒店 was a big resort. We stayed at building E, which was close to the hot springs. The breakfast was in another building 400 meters away. The hotel provided constant shuttles, so we took the shuttle to the breakfast building. The buffet was huge, like a full dinner buffet in the US. The restaurant was beautiful too, they even had an indoor koi pond. SIM card After breakfast, I called the local 中国电信 store asking them about purchasing a SIM card with a US passport. They first said that they required a working permit. After I insisted that this was not the case and that they should check the policy, they said that they would call me back. Not giving up, I took Didi to get to the store and pleaded with the store clerk in person. She said that they had not done it before. She called some people and I waited over one hour before she finally got it approved. The card cost 100 RMB, less than half of what I paid at the airport. The person was very nice, she said that ev...

Day 0. Fly to China

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Flight 1 We left SFO at midnight 12:35am July 1 and arrived Wuhan 14 hours later at 6:00 am July 2 local time. The flighht was smooth. We flew China Southern Airline this time and a nice surprise is that they offered a little gift bag with toiletries.  Wuhan Airport In Wuhan airport, the borader entry was quick and there was no lines.   It was 6am, most shops were closed. We walked around and found a noodle place. The food was good.  I tried to buy a SIM card, but it turned out that there is no SIM card vendor in this aiport. One had to take Didi to some shop 20 minutes outside of the airport. I decided not to do that.  The good part is that the WiFi in the airport can be accessed by providing a scan of passport, so we were able to play with our phones while waiting 6 hours for our next flight.  Flight 2 We left Wuhan at 11:40am and arrived Kunming at 2pm. For such a short flight, they provided lunch, so it was nice.   Kunming Airport We got our c...