I easily found the hostel Lost Garden – a really nice small family-like place built as you would your own home and with an incredibly friendly and helpful staff particularly Philip and Allison; no wonder it’s by far the highest ranked hostel in Kunming. While waiting for the dorm to be ready, I had the staff help with Chinese notes for the practical things I needed to do – bus ticket to Xi’an, maps, local phone number, etc. Despite the notes, I had to call Philip and Allison several times when I had language problems at the bus station and phone companies.