Feature

A trip to the 'city of eternal spring'

Md. Rahber-E-Alam Raafa

KUNMING, the city of eternal spring, is a province of China to where I made a four days tour last week. Hearing of the city people might think it as a small piece of land with farmers grazing their cattle. Even I was disappointed to find out that I was going to Kunming instead of the main cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. However, when I looked up Kunming on Internet, I found that Kunming is the richest city when it comes to natural beauty, monuments and culture. All throughout the year, people of Kunming experience a better weather than spring and which is why it is called the city of eternal spring.

The trip was organized by Rangs Electronics Ltd due to the annual sales target achievement. My father could have easily gone to this trip as he went to Malaysia last year but he totally gave away this opportunity to me as a gift so that I could gain some experience of the real world outside.

When my father first said that I was going to China, I stood amazed. As he submitted my passport and opened a bank account for me, I began counting my days to go to Kunming.

On 26 July, my father and I attended the annual conference of Rangs Electronics Ltd where the Chairman, Mr. Akter Hossain handed over the ticket to Kunming and an incentive of 7000tk to me. After a week, on the morning of 2 August, I found myself in the airport along with my parents. They were really worried and happy at the same time. My flight was at 2:40 pm and my parents stayed until I got done with the immigration desk.

It was a whole new experience seeing the clouds just below me from the plane. Sometimes, the plane even hauled itself through the clouds. Luckily, my seat was just beside the window.

The plane landed safely at Kunming International Airport approximately at 6:30 pm (China Local time). The airport was huge compared to our Zia International airport. I wondered how much bigger the other airports in China were if its province had such a big one. In the airport we met our guides. One was called Bai and the other Noman. Both of them were Chinese, but they knew English.

The name of our hotel was Hua-Cheng hotel. A three star hotel in the middle of the main city. Surprisingly, the receptionists did not know English. But we had our guide for that time to act as a translator. Later, I found out that 99% people in Kunming didn't know English.Although that does not mean they are uneducated. Kunming is very advanced and the people are highly educated in their own language. I even met a man in a small store who made an I-phone all by himself. His name was Mr. Wang.

I got to learn a handful of Chinese words in Kunming like 'Shuwe', which means water, and 'Shiyeshiye', meaning thank you. The next morning had a very pleasant weather. I had my breakfast with the other members and then we headed for the 'Stone Forest'. It's a forest of huge irregular blocks of stones covering acres of land. The men there are called Akhi, which means gentleman and the women are called 'Ashma', meaning pretty ladies. The local people become very happy if they are called by those names. The 'Ashmas' wear a piece of cloth (more like a hat) on their head. If they have two triangles on their hats, it indicates that they are married. If they have four triangles, it means they are unmarried. Even if by mistake, you touch the triangles of the unmarried Ashmas, you will have to marry them. You will lose your job and you will have to do farming for the rest of your life.

Later, we visited the silk factory and the local bird and fruit market from where I bought many things for my family.

The next day I was busy shopping for my family and friends and I missed my lunch at the hotel. At dinner, a little photo session was held where I missed my parents the most. I would like to thank Rangs management and the chairman of Rangs group for giving me such an opportunity.