It's big, it's new, it's New China, it's home to endless tour groups: it's Guilin airport. The departures hall is vast, making it surprisingly hard to see the four check-in desks (2Y, 1C, 1 latecomer) that serve all the airlines in the airport. The queues aren't long, but the latecomer desk is shut, and I'm there just as a flight's about to leave, so I get a load of people asking (well, I assume that's what they were doing) to go in front to catch this flight. It seems the done thing (and was certainly the done thing last time I flew within China), so I cheerfully waved them on.

I should explain: my last China 'domestic' (it wasn't domestic, it was HKG, so it was a semi-domestic-international) was quite hellish. So I'd decided that the only way to cope with this flight was to let an air of calm wash over me. Deep breath. Calm blue ocean. Place in the fridge and chill.

But this isn't bad. It's only a couple of minutes to get served, and security isn't bad, either. I note that they keep you outside security until the previous person is clear, but once you're in, it's pretty efficient. There are plenty signs telling you to present liquids separately, but nobody seemed to, and nobody minded.

Airside is pleasant - airy, all glass and marble, seats aplenty, and adorned with slightly-too-upmarket shops. The ones that really stick out are the tobacco shops, done out like showrooms, celling cigarettes in very expensive looking packaging. And then your standard upmarket souvenir shops - buy a panda, a belt and some silk clothing. Oh, and a Toblerone - you can't fly without buying a Toblerone, surely. But something's missing. Ah, well, there's a supermarket, but it's mostly snacky stuff and more souvenirs. It's lunchtime, and I'm getting a bit peckish (the Yangshuo air will do that to do). Somewhere to eat, maybe? Oh yes, there's one over there, hidden, with no menus out, and conspicuously dressed hostesses on the door. Ah, and another one over there. And another. I ask for a menu and get one, but the cheapest dish is a staggering Y80 (well, not staggering by home standards, but pretty staggering over here).

I don't like the look of them, and don't like the prices, so I look around to see what everybody else is doing. This is a new airport - was it still built under the assumption that it's only a wealthy elite who fly in China? Because that no longer seems to be the case. What everybody else is doing, it turns out, is buying cup noodles from the supermarket, and using an overly complex water boiler to fill them up. So I join in. It's not bad, although it gives me severe student flashbacks.

The boarding area fills up, so I grab a seat near the door. I'd anticipated a bit of a scrum when boarding was announced, or at least a proto-queue forming when it was obvious it was near, but there was none of this. Instead, a leisurely stroll followed, leaving me about 3rd to board, and the flight boarded incredibly efficiently - the BPs were barcode scanned in seconds, and people seemed to manage to take their seats with minimum fuss. I seem to have ended up with the only middle seat free in economy - perhaps the check-in agent took pity on my size.

The aircraft, presumably quite new, is in good nick. It's very standard issue Chinese domestic (blue seat covers, white antimacassars with adverts) but clean, and, glory be, decent legroom. We're given food and drink, the former in a small cardboard box. The food is... Interesting. The fried soya snack thing is pleasant. The bread-roll-cum-croissant is strange. And the cake with the consistency of foam (and a slight tamarind flavour) is downright odd. The green tea flows, though, and I'm glad I went for the cup noodles before.

Approaching Kunming is rather impressive. I'm not sure what I'd expected from the landscape in Yunnan, but the actual view surpassed whatever I had. The hills and lakes (hydroelectric dams aplenty) aren't Alpine or Himalayan dramatic, but have a drama of their own - a green-brown expanse, hazy through mist and afternoon sun, dotted with shining-bright water... And then the turbulence starts. It's rough up here, and there are a few on board much less used to it than me. Outside, the hills give way to flatter land as we approach Kunming proper, and the scale of development and industry around this city reveals itself. The building work is non-stop. The final approach is impressive in a different way - Kunming very much surrounds its airport. There are apartment blocks a few yards from the runway; it's an odd sight.

It's another bus stand, but more of an 'administrative' one, the actual door being really not far away. A good thing, too, as they weren't overly generous with the number of buses meeting us. Luggage is out quickly enough, and I remembered, from last time, to have my luggage check tag handy, as you can't leave the claim area without it. I'm quickly besieged by women selling lighters (they're pretty hot on confiscating them at security) and offers of taxis, but I'm not headed to Kunming just yet, I'm headed upstairs.