Kunming City (Part Two)
Kunming city is a mixture of some very old buildings and also very new and modern ones. I see quite abit of development in the city area, mainly new office towers or apartments mixed with some retail. What impresses me is the level of site-safety that they enforce on their constructions sites in the city. Unfortunately construction sites in Kuching don’t employ much safety at all. Kuching construction sites are death-traps compared to the ones in Kunming city. But the ones in the country-side are far worst of course. The construction-workers in the Yunnan countryside are like daredevils!
They’ve got a wide motorcycle & bicycle lane. But it doesn’t stop them from using the sidewalk too!
An example of a older shopping mall
There are plenty of places to shop at in the City Centre. All the way up from major departmental stores and big brands, down to the cheap ‘Made-in-China’ clothes that you find in The Warehouse or K-mart and pay a fortune for there, but actually only costs peanuts!
An example of a modern town square
I didn’t really find much to buy to be honest. But than again I wasn’t really looking for anything in particular. The city centre mainly sells clothes and other fashion items. I found the branded stuff to be more expensive than Malaysia! I later found out its because of some tax thingy that the Government imposes on international branded goods (even though its made in China itself!). I also found the made-in-china clothes to be of low quality, out of date, and just not something I would wear - unless I wanted to look like Elton John. There were some pretty decent items like suits and other business attire, but I just didn’t feel a need for them (I’m a guy, I only shop when I need something!).
There are many sports brands in Kunming, like Converse, Reebok, Adidas, etc. There are even a few department stores that specialise in sports brands alone! So I must figure that’s the sort of attire that the locals there prefer to wear. Pity that its so expensive.
Old Shop-houses turned into shopping districts.
Most ridiculous marketing ever…
Here’s something that drives me mad. Rubbish attempts at trying to attract customers to your store. The picture above shows a young man standing on a stool and clapping his hands to techno music. There isn’t even any rhythm! And he looks so bored and dead. That’s not the only store that uses this, alot of them do!
Talk about a waste of man-power and money! What on Earth made the store owners believe that having a bored teenager stand outside their store clapping will attract customers? Did Saatchi & Saatchi come up with this? You can’t make me believe that this tactic is gonna make people go, “Oh my God! Check that guy out! He’s clapping his hands to techno music! That’s unbelievably cool! We just have to go in there and buy something!”
Gimme a break. When I was in Bangkok, they did similar things, except some try to be more original. One store had a singer singing pop tunes. And another had a guy wearing a dress and dancing to techno music! At least its more original!
Antique-trading in a old Chinese Courtyard
Near my hotel, there was this really cool-looking Chinese building. You know, the really old ones, like in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I decided to check it out and found this! Its quite interesting really. All kinds of junk and antique can be found here. Predominantly old ceramic china, coins, stamps, and other stuff. Its filled with local old men! I’m just sad that like alot of old buildings and sites in Kunming, its been turned into something commercial. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I would have prefered it if they were to turn it into a musuem or something. The building itself was beautiful and intricately designed!
Little beggar-girl….
Like most cities in the world, no matter how much the modern buildings and clean sidewalks try to hide it, poverty is never far behind. Walk behind the new office tower or hotel and you will find ‘Old Kunming’, with the run-down and dilapidated buildings and its hardcore-poor residents. Its the most ‘Ghetto’ places I’ve ever seen. And it can be pretty heart-breaking to see.
Overall Kunming can be a pretty decent place to live in, I must say. The weather is great, creating alot of greenery everywhere you go. There was this really beautiful-looking park near my hotel which I could see from my hotel room, but I didn’t have time to go walk there. But some places are also really dirty, though some of my companions who are well-traveled in China say Kunming is among the cleanest already!
I think the main tourist attraction in Kunming is Golf. Half the people on board the plane I came on all had golf bags! So if you’re a golfer, it is worth it to come. If you’re just a normal tourist…. in my opinion, there really isn’t much here. But to be fair I didn’t actually go see much anyway. Bloody tourist tours…..