Jindian Park: Peep and her coworkers had some free time in the morning on our second day in Kunming, so we all headed out to see a famous park on the outskirts of town, Jindian (Golden Temple) Park. It was another rainy day spent inside rain jackets and huddled beneath umbrellas as we dodged puddles making our way from site to site within the park.
The Golden Temple: Passing through the First, Second and Third Heavenly Gates, we came upon the namesake of the park, an ancient Daoist temple. The temple itself was first constructed in 1602, during the Ming Dynasty. The 200 tons of bronze (not gold) used to construct just about every part of the temple on the outside had weathered to a dark brown color, but the interior decorations and figurines still retained their golden sheen.
Bell Tower: Making our way to the top of Mingfengshan Hill brought us to a three story bell tower, constructed to hold the "Great Bell of the Ming Yongle Era," cast from 14 tons of bronze in 1424. After being moved several times from its original position at the south gate of Kunming, it ended up in Jindian Park in 1983. After ascending to the top and each taking a turn ringing a small bell also located there, we took in the views of sprawling Kunming below before continuing on to the tramway that would take us to the foot of the mountain.
World Horti-Expo Garden: Still part of Jindian Park, the World Horti-Expo Garden was constructed for Expo'99 and designed to showcase the vegetation and gardening styles of the different provinces within China, as well as in countries from around the world. Stepping out of the tram car, we found ourselves at the back of the international section of the park. Disappointingly, the international section was obviously past its heyday, with gardens unkempt and some completely destroyed for ongoing construction of what appeared to be future shops. Because time was tight, we skipped the China outdoor garden display, but did go into China Hall, which had little on display and seemed to be used strictly as banquet halls. We also made it into the greenhouse located there before heading out the main entrance to meet our driver for the ride to the Kunming International Exposition Hall.
Kunming International Exposition Hall: Having been unable to contact anyone from the Lao Tourism Authority attending CITM all morning, we next went to the Kunming International Exposition Hall to check on the booth. Being quite simple, the Lao booth was ready to go, but many of the bigger, more grandiose booths were still under construction and would not be ready for the short opening ceremony scheduled for later that afternoon (and consequently cancelled). Once at the booth, we found a note with instructions on how to contact the Lao Tourism official, which Peep did and made arrangement to meet him at his hotel.
A Short Meeting: Peep met with the official for a short time, picking up the exposition passes for each member of her group. She received a fourth pass that I would use the next day when meeting them for lunch. The extra pass was available because the representative from Lao Airlines cancelled his trip and would therefore not be needing it.
Yunnan Art Theatre: With the remainder of the evening free, we decided to go see a show. Dragon inquired at the front desk of our hotel and was told about a popular show that gives performances every night. After confirming with the box office that seats were available, we hopped into a cab and headed over to the Yunnan Art Theatre. With no time for a formal dinner, we grabbed some instant noodles in the lobby of the theater and then made our way to our seats for the 8:00 show.
Shangrila-Dynamic Yunnan: The show featured song and dance of many of the ethnic minorities of Yunnan Province, many with a modern interpretation. We all sat riveted in our seats stunned by the exceptional performance being given on stage. The only detraction from the show was the sound of cell-phone camera shutters and flashes going off throughout the performance even though photos were prohibited. I did sneak one photo of the signature "Peacock Dance" near the end of the nearly two hour performance.