When Beijing retiree Zhang Yumin left home at daybreak on Sunday to catch an early morning flight to Kunming, she didn't know the spring city was overcast with terrorism and bloodshed.

Kunming, reputed for its mild climate and perennial sunshine, was the first stop of Zhang's six-day sightseeing tour of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

About nine hours before her plane took off, a group of knife-wielding attackers slashed frantically at crowds at Kunming railway station, killing 29 people and injuring more than 130.

Zhang, 59, was already on her way to Beijing airport when she heard the news. "I was shocked, but it was too late to change schedule."

But the former cashier at a Sinopec subsidiary in Beijing's Mentougou district did not panic, as she was traveling with her husband and friends in a tour group.

As the plane was about to land in Kunming, Zhang said she was amazed by the dazzling sunshine, a luxury for Beijingers who were fed up with the gloomy winter and suffocating smog.

"It's hard to believe what has happened under such beautiful sunshine," she told Xinhua reporters who were taking the same flight to Kunming.

POST-TERROR QUIET

Kunming airport was quiet and not so crowded when the first flight from Beijing landed at around 10 a.m.

Police officers were in most parts of the terminal building, which made Zhang feel safer.

Zhang and her heavy-hearted travel companions were taken to Dianchi Lake, one of the city's major tourist attractions.

They were excited at the sight of the beautiful lake and the gulls hovering over its water when news broadcast from a handheld radio threw them back into silence.

"The terrorist attack of last night has caused 29 deaths...," said a loud voice among the quiet lakeside crowd of tourists and joggers.

The radio belonged to an old woman surnamed Shao, who always takes it with her to morning exercises.

But this morning, it broke the tranquility and reminded people of the terrorist attack.

The lake is about a 20-minute drive from where the killing spree took place -- Kunming railway station.

An area within 300 meters in radius from the station was cordoned off on Sunday. The area was off-limits to motor vehicles, but pedestrians were allowed to enter the area along the pavement.

People were heard whispering about Saturday's nightmare.

The area was supposed to have been free of peddlers, but some managed to stay.

A middle-aged female vendor was surrounded by about a dozen passersby, who were more interested in her account of Saturday's bloodshed than the cell phone battery packs she was selling.

"There were a gang of them, men and women dressed in black and waving long knives," said the 40-something woman from the eastern province of Anhui. "We all ran for our lives."