Honeymoon: Jungle in Yunnan

B and I went to try to see wild elephants, and spent one (uncomfortable) night in little somewhat foul huts in the hopes of seeing them. But we didn't see any, although we saw their excrement and footprints and trails of destruction (elephants destroy trees and everything else in their path wherever they go). We did see a monkey and a bushbaby and several kinds of birds. Also many, many kinds of insects: glowing cockroaches, flying worms with no visible wings, fireflies, leeches (which swarmed B while we were hiking: once they sense you, they head towards you surprisingly fast), red furry caterpillars, yellow spiders, etc. I got bitten by some unidentified creature, and now my shoulder is covered in red, itchy tiny bumps (not a mosquito though). Because the jungle is so dense, it's difficult to see any animals, although you can certainly hear them. We heard elephants (we think) but they laid low.

We stayed in Jinghong as well, which is the biggest city (although it's not very big) in that part of the country. We stayed at a four-star hotel, which was nice although not four star by US standards (it was only $33/night thanks to B's cleverness); then we took an overnight bus to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, and arrived here yesterday, where we are staying at a (much nicer) four star hotel. It has internet in the rooms, which is convenient.

As for rickshaws: they don't really have the kind where the person runs you along here, but they do bicycle you. Some of the rickshaws are motorized, and those I've ridden in; I wouldn't feel comfortable with the running kind, but the bicycle one isn't too bad as long as it's flat. Sedan chairs are horrible: they had them at the elephant nature reserve, but they also had cool cable cars which take you over the jungle. Honestly even at national parks walking of more than a few blocks is not required. Apparently people in Hong Kong (who are richer and thus can arrange things to suit themselves better) do the least physical activity of anyone in the world.