13 HOURS IN KUNMING

In a city home to 4.3 million people, we were 2 college students passing through what China considers a small city.

Our journey began in the early hours of the morning as we made our way into the city. After a 30 minute drive, we arrived at 2.am. "What now?", we thought, start creating. I had travelled to China previously but had never had this level of independence I had not quite wrapped my head around how strange it was to be back. We wandered around, hoping somewhere would open soon, but we only had about ¥60 which is about $14. Our options were limited so we kept walking, doing laps of the iconic Cui Hu Gong Yuan, a lake in the central residential area. Eventually, and now with nothing but food on our minds, we found the nearest ATM. We had no idea if the machine would just eat our card, or how much the international fee was, we were just hungry. We withdrew ¥300 ($65), and headed straight for the first place to open, which happened to be...KFC. A combination of sweet bread, instant coffee and hash browns somehow made us feel a whole lot better. 2 hours later we got back in the taxi and went back to the airport where we would board the plane to Kathmandu.

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