Last Full Day in Kunming

Kunming, China (5/1/2013)

Our last full day in Kunming. There was nothing scheduled on the itinerary but we had to go on the mandatory shopping stops in town, fortunately only for half a day.  But what happened this morning still caught us by surprise.

When we boarded the bus in the morning, we did not see our tour guide but another gentleman who introduced himself as the replacement. He then told us that their boss was not happy with the service that our tour guide provided in the past few days and that his sales was not satisfactory. He was being punished and 'sent home' to take a month off from his work with no new groups scheduled. The way that this new guide delivered the message was in such a way that angered many members of the group and a heated argument started on the bus. As we were heading to the jade store, harsh words exchanged, phone calls made, and seemed like we were at war with the tour operator.

We kind of sensed that something was going on when our guide was called to the office on our way to the show the night before. At the end of the show the tour guide from another group told us to just go back to the bus and back to the hotel on our own.

After much angry exchange, they finally decided to call our guide back to finish up the tour. There is no telling if this was real or just a show put out by the tour operator so we feel sorry for our guide and buying more on our last day. For the low cost of the tour price, we were prepared and did not mind sitting through the sale pitches as long as we were not forced to buy. Actually it was quite fun watching the interaction between the salesmen and the group. Most people in our group had been on this kind of tours before so we all knew what to expect but this was just drama that we did not expect.

at the jade store

After the jade store, some people had to leave for the airport so we kind of said our "good-byes" here. This tour was mainly a land-based tour, so everybody had a different itinerary before and after. It was good that they provided transfers to and from the airport no matter the day and time of our itineraries.

We met some wonderful people on this tour...

...from Australia, Canada, Chicago, and even Southern California.

Last group lunch together minus many people.

We were scheduled to leave the next day, and originally we wanted to go visit some places like the downtown area of Kunming but decided to stay in afterall and spent a restful afternoon at the hotel.

Dinner was at the hotel restaurant again, ordering similar meal as our first night here.

Good but unhealthy.

Just us...in the very quiet restaurant.

They were also leaving the next day.

After dinner, we did walk a little around the hotel and tried to get some baked goods from the bakery around the corner. Unfortunately, most items were sold out so we came back empty handed.