I've been living in Bj for about four rockin' years, one mostly made of couch surfing and bunker guesthouse shuffling, two spent living in the hutongs of Houhai, then shaping up my little family, while not neglecting this destroy nightlife thing, till it started to get boring as all the good spots where nuked one after the other to make place for big ass towers, supermalls and what not. I moved to that nearby artists' village called Songzhuang which rocked for the first year I've been there till, after a nude day event including boxing, to which I participated, and some unnecessary political provocation turned bad and gave local authorities an excuse to scare the sheepish artists and just nuked all the fun.
That led my French pal -Seb- and I (a franco canuck) to hit the road for a bicyling trip that would -at least- drag us to Vietnam, just a few months ago. Well, we stopped our trip in Kunming, as we found the place to be unsually graced with a greater number of interesting folks per capita than Bj. Bar and musak scenes, altho small, more rock and roll. How to say? Let say that this small comunity that we found revolving around that laowai street, speakeasy'n company to have more charm and personality than what we know of beijing. The town itself has actual hills and curves, nearby moutains, green stuff all year round, cheap accomodation, good yet cheap food, delicious girls and boys, cheap Jinro and much less traffic than Beijing. Hm. Air is clean, crisp, almost fragrant. Never truly cold, never scorching. To boot, the place is nearby southeast Asia, India, etc., offering a much more diverse catalog of cheap traveling options. Anyway, all that led us and a couple of pals back in Beijing to envisage a very soon move to that lovely town. For my part, I leave Beijing on bicycle or foot (not decided yet) somwhere between Friday or Monday, and should be in Kunming in a couple of months. Well, perhaps a tad later if I do that by foot. Few months later, about two tons of material possessions, one woman and her four kids should be joining me.