Hello Interesting People,
This past Wednesday I took Alf and Helga to the HK airport and bid them aufwiedersehen. After seeing them off I hung around the airport for another hour and then said hello to an old friend of mine Brent Kirchner from Lethbridge, Alberta. I have known him since dirt was invented and even though we are quite different in terms of physical size and interests, we do share a mutual interest in God, travelling, and cultural experiences. After giving Brent a blitz tour of HK over a day and a half we took a two hour flight to Kunming, China where his wife's relatives live.
Kunming is located near the Vietnam, Thai and Mynmar borders. It is a midsize Chinese city of about
6 000 000 people! Seriously. Kunming is located on a flat plateau at an altitude of about 6000 feet and enjoys a year round mild climate of about 25 degrees and the skies are blue because of a gentle cool breeze that constantly blows. Lovely. It is called the city of eternal spring and I agree it is pretty sweet. Heat without humidity is nice as well. Yet when I ran I was wheezing quite a bit due to the altitude. Not enough air!
Here are some highlights of my stay in Kunming:
-spent two days with a "real," Chinese family. Wan Chi (Brent's brother in law) and his wife Nancy and daughter Becky were great hosts.
-walked around Green Lake. Green swamp really. The ornate archways, the graffiti on the bamboo, and the statue of a guy holding a weedwhacker was interesting.
-had English corner (speaking English with some Chinese) with three native Chinese, Brent, and an American who claimed to have been a prof at UCLA, a millionaire, a car designer for Mazda, owned 40 acres in Michigan, and said his IQ was ranked near the top of all mankind as was his wife's. More like his nonsense was ranked near the top of all mankind. He was bizarre and I will always remember his name because it is Kirk. Still I had a good laugh about it all later.
-went to Walmart. Terrible. Way too crowded, but the frozen frogs in the meat section were to die for. Also the skinned rabbits, head and eyes included, no ears however, (maybe they are found in another section like the chips and snacks department) looked real good. (Gag)
-walked along a canal and was amazed at all the old people playing cards or Ma jong. Some were dressed in their old Mao suits. Interesting.
-had a dinner with a Chinese Christian youth group at a restaurant who later were ministered to by a Christian college group from South Africa. The reason Brent and I were there was because Brent's brother in law and his wife are pastors of a huge church in downtown Kunming and they had invited this group to visit their youth. The South Africans all spoke English and the group was a mix of white, black, and a mixture of both, (in SA they are called colored.) I talked for a while with a colored girl about South Africa and apartheid and she said that the younger generation are for the most part mixing and matching without any regard to racial differences. The group sang great worship songs and it was cool to see how God can unite different races and ethnic backgrounds into a beautiful, encouraging, loving group who care much more about character and helping others along than worrying about race and culture. Amen.
-went to Brent's brother in law's church and we had a chance to talk to the youth through a translator. Judging by the reaction of the kids it went well.
-after church Brent and I wandered around a market. The Chinese are rather cruel to animals. The poor bunnies were in tiny cages so that was sad.
-we saw some statues which was interesting. Many people played on them, but I did not see anyone mess with the soldiers. Hmmmmm
-had ice cold tea lemonade at Starbucks. Yup Kunming has Mcdonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, you name it all over the place, but always nearby there is a market where you can buy cow entrails, live frogs, etc, etc. China is certainly an interesting place, but it is dirty and the public toilets, basically holes in the ground, make me a little sick even writing about it. Hygiene does not seem to be a big issue in China. Yet Christianity is growing as fast as the buildings they throw up so that is great news.
God bless you all and have a wonderful week.
Love adios and peng on!
Dirk
This past Wednesday I took Alf and Helga to the HK airport and bid them aufwiedersehen. After seeing them off I hung around the airport for another hour and then said hello to an old friend of mine Brent Kirchner from Lethbridge, Alberta. I have known him since dirt was invented and even though we are quite different in terms of physical size and interests, we do share a mutual interest in God, travelling, and cultural experiences. After giving Brent a blitz tour of HK over a day and a half we took a two hour flight to Kunming, China where his wife's relatives live.
Kunming is located near the Vietnam, Thai and Mynmar borders. It is a midsize Chinese city of about
6 000 000 people! Seriously. Kunming is located on a flat plateau at an altitude of about 6000 feet and enjoys a year round mild climate of about 25 degrees and the skies are blue because of a gentle cool breeze that constantly blows. Lovely. It is called the city of eternal spring and I agree it is pretty sweet. Heat without humidity is nice as well. Yet when I ran I was wheezing quite a bit due to the altitude. Not enough air!
Here are some highlights of my stay in Kunming:
-spent two days with a "real," Chinese family. Wan Chi (Brent's brother in law) and his wife Nancy and daughter Becky were great hosts.
-walked around Green Lake. Green swamp really. The ornate archways, the graffiti on the bamboo, and the statue of a guy holding a weedwhacker was interesting.
-had English corner (speaking English with some Chinese) with three native Chinese, Brent, and an American who claimed to have been a prof at UCLA, a millionaire, a car designer for Mazda, owned 40 acres in Michigan, and said his IQ was ranked near the top of all mankind as was his wife's. More like his nonsense was ranked near the top of all mankind. He was bizarre and I will always remember his name because it is Kirk. Still I had a good laugh about it all later.
-went to Walmart. Terrible. Way too crowded, but the frozen frogs in the meat section were to die for. Also the skinned rabbits, head and eyes included, no ears however, (maybe they are found in another section like the chips and snacks department) looked real good. (Gag)
-walked along a canal and was amazed at all the old people playing cards or Ma jong. Some were dressed in their old Mao suits. Interesting.
-had a dinner with a Chinese Christian youth group at a restaurant who later were ministered to by a Christian college group from South Africa. The reason Brent and I were there was because Brent's brother in law and his wife are pastors of a huge church in downtown Kunming and they had invited this group to visit their youth. The South Africans all spoke English and the group was a mix of white, black, and a mixture of both, (in SA they are called colored.) I talked for a while with a colored girl about South Africa and apartheid and she said that the younger generation are for the most part mixing and matching without any regard to racial differences. The group sang great worship songs and it was cool to see how God can unite different races and ethnic backgrounds into a beautiful, encouraging, loving group who care much more about character and helping others along than worrying about race and culture. Amen.
-went to Brent's brother in law's church and we had a chance to talk to the youth through a translator. Judging by the reaction of the kids it went well.
-after church Brent and I wandered around a market. The Chinese are rather cruel to animals. The poor bunnies were in tiny cages so that was sad.
-we saw some statues which was interesting. Many people played on them, but I did not see anyone mess with the soldiers. Hmmmmm
-had ice cold tea lemonade at Starbucks. Yup Kunming has Mcdonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, you name it all over the place, but always nearby there is a market where you can buy cow entrails, live frogs, etc, etc. China is certainly an interesting place, but it is dirty and the public toilets, basically holes in the ground, make me a little sick even writing about it. Hygiene does not seem to be a big issue in China. Yet Christianity is growing as fast as the buildings they throw up so that is great news.
God bless you all and have a wonderful week.
Love adios and peng on!
Dirk
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