To Korea via Beijing.

Today, I met the brother from the Kunming church. He bought me to a Chinese Restaurant for lunch. He rides a bike. Reminds me of those times in Taipei. The brothers and I zoom around the city in bike.

After lunch, I was alone again. I decide to get my train tickets to Beijing. I made enquiry at the ticketing booth of the hotel. They can arrange for train, bus and flight ticket. To my horror, I was told that tickets to Beijing( from Kunming) are sold out for the month of Feb. Should I trust them, I thought? I prefer to ask another booth.

Again, to my dismay, I was told the same bad news. Immediately, I was offered flight tickets. The best price they offer is 900yuan, inclusive of tax. In comparison to train, flight cost 400yuan more. My last resort- go to Kunming Station (train). The main station, the big mama. Got to be fast, tickets are selling out fast.

True to the travellers 'holy bible' Lonely Planet. Kunming Station ticket office is quite a crowd. On the big LED flashes the status of seats. There are so many destination, I waited patiently for Beijing's seat status. Here it is.

Beijing West- Hard seats, soft seats, hard sleepers, soft sleepers, no seats (I wonder what is that). 无无无无. There is still a handful of 有 in the sea of 无. I jumped into a queue, waited anxiously, hoping that those before me in the queue purchase tickets for destination other than Beijing West.

Everyone seems to be unhappy- People in the queue, ticketing officer, information counter. I want to make a difference, so I ask the ticketing officer politely "您好，北京的票好有吗？" (Hello, do you have tickets to Beijing). She maintain her stoned and stern face. But at least i feel good about being polite.

So I got my tickets. 550yuan, hard sleeper, middle deck. Just what I wanted. I skipped my way out, holding my prized ticket in my hands.

Next I need to get my flight tickets for Beijing to Seoul. I need internet access. 程现(Korean girl I met in 丽江) gave me 2 good website for booking flight tickets. 2 days ago, the price was 430yuan. Today, the price increase to 540yuan. Hmm, increment of 110yuan in 2 days. Gosh! I called up another company-Ctrip.com. I was surprise that they're offering 410yuan, 850yuan inclusive of tax. What am I waiting for? So I bought the ticket. 550 (train) + 850 (flight) 1400yuan. Hey, that's about 280 Sing for 1-way ticket. Assuming 2-way ticket is multiply by 2, it'll add up to 560sing.

My brother Raymond told me that typically a 2-way ticket to Seoul from Singapore starts from 1000sing. Do the maths, I think I got a great deal.

Korea... Here I come.