17 May - First of all, PTL for making this entire trip possible, without which, we would not have gone and have such an enjoyable time and experience. We took a direct flight from Scoot (TR160) and flew into Kunming early in the morning at 2am. We quickly found our pre-booked driver who drove us to our hotel Fairfield by Marriott Kunming Xinying Hotel (昆明新迎万枫酒店). One point to note, the service provided by the hotel is top notch: They offered complimentary free breakfast and a fruit platter that is delivered to your room by their in-house robot!
For Internet connectivity, in case you are wondering, even if you are on Singtel Dataroam, with the Great "Wall" of China in effect, your Google, WhatsApp, Yahoo and Pokémon Go does not work here! What does work is their Amap (高德地图), Alipay and WeChat Pay. Literally, with these 3 apps, you are good to make your way around China. Physical cash are not commonly used. In my entire trip, I think I only used physical cash twice!
Our hotel room at 昆明新迎万枫酒店
View from the morning breakfast @ hotel
First stop after breakfast was to visit the blooming jacaranda trees, which peaks annually from mid-April to early June. We visited the iconic 教场中路, which features a 2-kilometer stretch of over 200 jacaranda trees forming a dense purple tunnel.
教场中路 decorations
Blooming jacaranda trees
After snapping enough pictures of the jacaranda trees, we moved on to 翠湖, a 21-hectare urban oasis featuring interconnected lakes, historic pavilions, and willow-lined stone bridges.
翠湖 entrance
竹林岛, which seems like a replica of Kyoto's Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
After spending a few hours roaming through the greeneries, we moved on to our last destination of the day: 傲城 - 天空之眼. For this, we need to climb 4 to 5 floors up the stairs and this is the first time that we finally felt the effect of high altitude (Kunming is at 1900m above sea level)! I have never felt so breathless climbing just 5 floors that I needed a rest break after 4 floors of climb! Well, at least the view at the end of this exercise is worth it!
傲城 - 天空之眼
Evening time was spent roaming around 南屏步行街 to experience their night life and take pictures of iconic buildings
昆明 - 对月楼
Apparently there is a long queue for their 鲜花饼. We decided to join in the crowd as well
昆明台北街
南强街巷
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