A few days ago, we wandered into an area of Kunming we hadn't seen been before. Since being in Kunming, I hadn't really witnessed the type of poverty I witnessed in this particular neighborhood. This area is next to what they call "Ancient Kunming." You have your typical Ancient Chinese intricate styled buildings like this...
These buildings have been historically renovated at some point, and they have good maintenance. As you're walking the streets by these beautiful buildings, you'll see a lot of allies that twist and turn. Because of curiosity, I really wanted to go back in the allies the first time I came to this area, but a friend brought us, so she took us through all the touristy places. The next time I came alone with my American roommate, and we explored through the allies. It is so interesting how right in the middle of all this restoration and very suitable places, there was so much hardship...but you can't even see it. Seeing this really reminds me how I want to pray for these people.
A very old building
Sewage system...
The clothes line...
Old bricks on a house
and an alley.
A different day I was here I saw a toddler playing in the mud by this building. The building is a public bathroom, the mud is most definitely sewer. The woman who worked at the bathroom counted her money from that day, my guess is it didn't even amount to $3.
Doggy
A building so old it is made of sod bricks. Notice on the right of the picture it is next to a concrete building.
A little girl playing on the stair ramp as a slide.
This lady's job is to sort through the trash. Some people support their families like this, it is very possible they are migrant workers.
A great example of a new building built by an old one. There's just part of the old brick one and the new one was build right in the middle of it.
These carts are used for trash clean up and things like this. In Kunming, you won't see a garbage truck, you see these bicycle carts with huge piles of trash in them. People go through the trash and sort it to get anything recyclable out. The workers who do this work very hard for little pay.
A man with his baby on a bus.
Wow, this is really eye opening.
ReplyDeleteMy partner and I are planning to move to Asia next year and China is one of the big possibilities for where we'd like to end up. However, online all I can find it amazing information on how great it is and I personally need to know the other side of the coin too so I know what to expect! So thank you for this.
Kate - diariesofanessexgirl.com
Kate, glad it was helpful to you. Generally places westerners live is very different from this, so where you can expect to live yourself will most likely be much better. I loved living in China! I'd say if you're open to a little change, then you'll love it too! But as a developing country, there is a huge wealth gap.
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