Guandu Ancient Town or Guandu Guzhen (官渡古镇) is Kunming's 'Old Town.'
For those of you who have not traveled in China, 'Old Towns' of varying size, beauty, and authenticity are common throughout China. Typically (as is the case with Guandu), the old town will be a sectioned off neighborhood of the city, blessedly free of cars (unfortunately not ebikes), consisting of old and old-style buildings. As tourist attractions you can count on an 'Old Town' to have lots of yummy food and lots of shopping, particularly small street-side venders selling local goods.
The Guandu Ancient Town is fairly small, but is pretty packed with temples, pagodas, and other old buildings. It's also a lot less expensive than downtown Kunming. For example I once had a five course dinner there (including four beers) with two local friends of mine for 85 RMB...about $13. The same meal in city center would have cost about twice as much.
Although frequented by local tourists, Guandu Ancient Town is off the map for western tourists. I've been spending one full day (early morning to evening) there a week for several months now, and have only once seen any other foreigners there (aside from the few I've brought to the temple with me).
Between the lack of cars, the lack of foreigners, and the traditional architecture, the Guandu Ancient Town feels more like the China of our period-piece-kung-fu-movie-tainted-minds than anywhere else I've been so far. Of course it doesn't hurt to have a kung fu temple there as well.
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