It sounded kind of historic, probably not humane for the animals, at any rate, we were interested. We went to the Bird and Flower Market in Kunming. It turned out to be a colorful, outdoor market full of life, with all kinds of things for sale, most excitingly for the kids, there were animals.
The kids loved holding these mice (below). There were also kittens, puppies, chipmunks, hedgehogs, birds… That blue bin held live beetles, for feeding the birds I suppose. 
Kind of cool, flatiron style building:
These guys were smoking but at least it was more interesting than all the cigarette smokers!
We could not figure out this store. Walnuts? For carving maybe? That’s all he sold. I love the photobomb mom and kid there:
There was a rock store:
I managed to find some older buildings, even though we know there is so much new construction and many of them get torn down.
We met a man named Dwight, an ex pat from the US who lives in Kunming and is a life coach. He contacted us on couchsurfing and invited all six of us to dinner and we went. It was harrowing getting there at night in the rain in an area with large apartment buildings that all looked the same to us, and as usual no English! A fairy godmother rescued us by looking at our little piece of paper with the address written in Chinese and she walked us all the way there. We can never thank her enough but we tried! It was an adventure getting there and we were rewarded with a nice evening with a unique person. We took our picture with Dwight, his assistant Grace, and his mannequins in his colorful apartment, which was full of art and photos and porch swings and a trampoline!
Grace makes beautiful watercolor paintings like this one:
On our last day, we returned to the market. I sat on a curb a little ways away, near a man who was eating lunch and listening to records on a record player (below). It was Classical Chinese and Classical European music, and the moment was lovely as I watched the locals and a gentle drizzle fell.
The man later insisted I take a chair and I sat in it for a short while until the twins came by. I loved the background.
We passed a temple on our way back to the hostel. We had to go in and peek around. It was beautiful. I never did get the name of the place.
There was a gazebo and lots of lovely details.
This is the entrance; it was just on an ordinary sidewalk!
We left Kunming on a sleeper bus, stay tuned for that adventure!
Tripping Fantastic 