Pineapple Pie

Wednesday 4^th May 2011

27 days left travelling the world.

MP3 track of the day: Park life – Blur

Weather: Good; temperature was just about right and the blue skies had returned.

Before I delve into today's events, there's something I must tell the world about … Pineapple pie. Just like I said yesterday, I went to the restaurant pointing at the poster of the black forest cake; the waitress, looking to where I was pointing, moved back slightly with a look of sorrow. She said that, unfortunately, the restaurant had stopped serving cake a while back; I turned the pages of the menu unable to find anything with a sweet taste that my body urged for. Seeing my disappointment the waitress suggested a cake shop located close to the hostel; I was off like a shot however, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find said store. Walking slowly back to my hostel I saw the 'golden M' of Mcdonald's and decided to go in for an apple pie … it'll do I suppose. Once inside I pointed to, what I thought was, the apple pie; however the cashier brought pineapple pies and two of them. I said that I only wanted one however she replied saying that one was 50p, whereas two were 70p. I decided to keep them both and went to sit down, wondering what a pineapple pie might taste like.

Wonderful was the answer; I'd had BBQ'd pineapple before - and that was lovely - but this was something else. It tasted so rich and sweet, yet it's wasn't over powering meaning that consuming two was easy. So my fellow blog readers, just before you make that apple pie why not exchange the apple for pineapple … you won't regret it!

***********

After breakfast I walked with a purpose; I had one, and only one, destination in mind. Once I'd reached Cuihu Park I walked around the perimeter noticing two things; firstly the park wasn't that big and secondly it mainly consisted of small lakes. The park was relaxing, due to the calmness of the water and the reflection of the blue sky within it. As I walked around I saw flowers, and trees, in bloom and many groups of Chinese people doing their daily exercises. Some of the Chinese weren't that old and, considering the time was 10am, I did wonder why they weren't at work. Still, for once, having Chinese people around helped with the park's attraction. It took two hours to walk along all the paths and bridges the park offered; once done I found a quiet spot to continue reading my book … Julius had just landed in Egypt and I had to know what was going to happen.

By 12:30pm Julius' mission within Egypt had become clearer; as I looked around the sky was still blue, the trees were still in bloom and the people were still exercising. I was getting hungry and so I walked back into town, for lunch, before heading to my hostels common room with little to entertain me.

After reading as much news as I could take I left my hostel, around 4pm, with little to do but walk. Since being in Kumming I've head north, east and south from my hostels front door; therefore, this afternoon, I went west. I walked for a while, seeing nothing new; stores selling clothes took up most of the retail units with restaurants in a close second. I did get lost and only after checking my map did I change course and head back to my hostel – stopping at McDonald's for some Pineapple pie goodness – for a chilled out evening.

So this marks the end of my time within Kumming; there may not be much going on but, out of all the Chinese cities that I've visited, this is the best. There seems to be a peaceful, and slower pace of life, than the other cities had and I hope this continues as I move around the province of Yunnan. I spent the rest of the evening eating pizza (25% off on a Wednesday) before having a long shower and an early night. My bus to Dali leaves at 10am tomorrow and, considering it takes an hour to reach the buses' departure point, I would need to leave my hostel by 8am at the latest.

Toodle Pip!