A Wonderful Headache

Reid here. I am sitting out in the courtyard of the Cloudland youth hostel, sipping on an Americano (delicious, made with Illy coffee). People are just starting to wake up and there is a comfortable bustle around. There's a vine covered in small purple blossoms covering the wall opposite me. As I wait for my breakfast to arrive, I am enjoying the remnants of the best headache I've had in years.

It started last night, as all good headaches do, when Dyanne and I dropped down to the courtyard for a beer before an early bed time. We got into a bit of conversation with Peter, a German who has traveled to the area several times. He gave us more information on Vietnam, then gave us his lonely planet Vietnam - very nice of him! He was sitting with a group of about 10 people from various countries (South Korea, China, Sweden, Germany, and Australia). They were all very friendly and, after learning that I was from Chicago, I learned that Sue from South Korea loves Al Capone. I then learned that she was much better than me at ping pong, and her Chinese friend from Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) was even better. Dyanne had the good sense to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I, on the other hand, stayed up with this international group drinking until about 1am. At that point, the situation was beginning to deteriorate rapidly, and I judged it past time for bed.

I woke up this morning to sunlight and noises in the street. It was very early and my head hurt. Dyanne was sleeping soundly. We had a long day ahead of us that would end in a long trip on a sleeper bus. I weighed my options. I tried to sleep more. That failed, so I decided to go for a jog. I only made it about three blocks before I came to a little park that was just filled with activity. There were several groups playing the most vigorous badminton I've ever seen, a few people doing calisthenics, and a big group of people doing tai chi. I was the youngest person in the park by at least 20 years. I started following along with the tai chi from near the park entrance. After a few minutes, a couple of older ladies noticed me and emphatically gestured to an open space in the square. I joined them and did my best to keep up for about 45 minutes. My headache completely forgotten, I had the most excellent morning getting a free (and very genuine) tai chi lesson in a park overlooking a pleasant pond.

On a slightly related note, there is something very striking about the sense of community I've been seeing in Kunming. Older people doing tai chi (how many years have these same people been getting together to do tai chi every morning?), playing cards and mah jong at little sidewalk tables, etc. It definitely puts the community in communism.