|
|
|
| It was a chilly
January day when I finally arrived in Kunming. I was very tired from the flight
from Amsterdam, but was very excited to have arrived.
During the drive from the airport to our apartment
complex, I remember that Kunming didn't look anything
like I had imagined—there were many tall buildings
which made it seem quite large. However, the area where
the majority of the city's 3.5 million inhabitants live
is small in comparison to cities of equal population in
the States. I have been told that the city is roughly
three miles from north to south, and a little over seven
miles from east to west. The city is a mixture of old and new. There are many tall modern buildings, but there are also very quaint old neighborhoods with traditional Chinese houses and lovely courtyards. Some of these older neighborhoods are still accessible in the backstreets, but are quickly disappearing as Kunming has entered the race for modernization. Many of these beautiful old neighborhoods are being torn down and replaced by new buildings or new roads. Just about every mode of
transportation imaginable occupies the crowded streets of
Kunming. Alongside the Jeep Cherokees and Mercedes you
will find motorcycles, bicycles, buses, bicycle carts,
tractors, and horse drawn carts. It would be hard to
imagine all these types of vehicles cohabiting amicably
on any American street. Because of the diversity of
vehicles, a different set of traffic rules seem to have
developed in China. The rules of the road here are not
always apparent to the foreigner, but I think I have
discovered two of the most important ones: Needless to say, these rules do not always work as planned. They call Kunming the city of eternal spring, so I was not prepared for the cold which greeted me upon my arrival. Although much warmer than the weather that I had just left in Colorado or Indiana, it was still far from my idea of "spring." Even though the temperature rarely drops below freezing, central heating is not allowed in the southern half of China. Without central heating, the concrete apartment building, where we live and work, is generally colder inside than outside.
I think that for my first month in China, I rarely had fewer than five layers of clothes on, unless I was snuggled in my sleeping bag. It seemed that I was constantly cold most of the day, even though sometimes the temperature during the day was in the 40's or 50's. All this wouldn't have been so bad, except the solar panels, which are used to heat the water, had broken the day before I arrived. We ended up without hot water for showers for over a month. I began to realize how much I take heating for granted. For the people of Kunming, central heating has never been a reality, so they seem quite at home with the cold. When I went to the department store to buy a portable heater, I sensed that something was different about the store. I finally figured out what was wrong. Due to the lack of heating in the store, everyone, even the store employees, have to wear their coats inside the store. It looks so strange to see people behind counters wearing coats. People seem to be oblivious to the cold which I feel is such a nuisance. They go about their everyday business just the same as in the summer. They just put on more clothes to do it. Now, it was time to start to work on the Doctors Without Borders project. |
|||
|
Jan.
15 Oct. 24 Sept. 24 Sept. 2 |
|||
| Illustrations
by Malcolm Garris/Corel |
|||
| Write to Peggy | |||
