Just came back from the airport for the second day in a row... my 10pm flight was delayed to 11:30 and it seemed like no flights were managing to take off. Didn't want to spend another five hours at the airport waiting for my flight to be canceled, so I left.

There were several departure gates with angry crowds wanting to get out of Kunming. One small group was chanting "We want to go home!", they were being escorted away from their departure gate by the fuzz.

I saw a few lines of 50 or more people waiting for hot water to drink or for instant noodles. The airport's food and beverage facilities were doing brisk business.

I called the flight info hotline (96566) several times before going to the airport and after arriving and it was out of service.

Given the state of the airport tonight, I would suggest that anyone with flights tomorrow assume that there is a chance your flight will be delayed or canceled tomorrow. If there's any way to avoid checking luggage, I would recommend it. Should your flight be canceled, you won't be in the mood to wait an additional hour or two for your bags.

@blobbles: No changes to the article text were made.

Deng Ling requested a different photo at the top of the story because she said the original pic, which I shot the day before she left for London, made her look "like the old woman on the Hongdouyuan sign".

Anyway, I passed her request on to current GK management and they kindly complied.

Thursday we were wondering why the haze was so bad despite reports that the fire had been extinguished... until we saw this:

"A forest fire in southwest China's Yunnan Province started again Thursday morning, the local forest fire prevention headquarters said Thursday.

The fire was rekindled in Wangjiatan forest in Anning, a county-level city on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Kunming. The fire is currently under control, and nearby villages haven't been impacted, Cao Long, chief of the Yunnan forest armed police said."

english.cri.cn/6909/2012/03/22/2021s688540.htm

An update on Solondz's situation in the US:

seattletimes.nwsource.com/[...]

Flights between Kunming and Taipei began at the end of 2008:

www.gokunming.com/[...]