We spent two days in Kunming and it’s by far the cleanest and most organised city we've seen so far on this trip. People are constantly sweeping the streets and cleaning the public bins and there is no smog. All that said, the language barrier is still very challenging and people still spit and cough up mucus everywhere.

Unfortunately we both had painful limps for various reasons while in Kunming which was a bit of a downer but we still feel like we walked around enough to get a good feel for the city.

We took a trip to the “Dwarf Empire” that we saw on Karl Pilkington's “An Idiot Abroad” which turned out to be a colony of Dwarfs dressed in silly outfits performing for our amusement which we thought looked quite demeaning. In hindsight I'm not sure what we could have been expecting. I guess it didn't help that it was all narrated in Chinese.

China on a whole:

Costs

• Meals for no more than $5 each
• Accommodation for about $10/person/night
• Public transport ~$1 per day
• Temples ~$1 per entry
• = very affordable

People and culture

• They have no shame in bodily functions. Everywhere people are coughing up mucus, clearing their sinuses and spitting where ever they may be standing regardless of their proximity to other people.
• They have accepted that going to the toilet is what it is, they have made no attempt to glorify bathrooms. Sometimes toilets were lucky to have individual cubicles let alone doors to the cubicles. If you’re unlucky enough to look the wrong way in a public toilet, expect an eyeful.