• Lijiang Huayang Language and Culture School
• WildChina
• Dune Cafe
• Empire Foreign Language School
• Chicago Coffee
• Kunming Yu-Cong Enterprise Management Company
• China Highlights
• Keats School
• IC Holiday Serviced Apartments
• Ganesh Bar & Restaurant
• Bakery 88
• Sandra's
• Tenwest Mandarin School
• Chapter One
• The Box
• JKH Design
• Huiying Dental Clinic
• Heqi Serviced Office Provider
• Salvador's Coffee House

Latest Comments

• • June 3, 2010
  • Yunnan preparing warily for China smoking ban
    

    I'll have to introduce you to my smoking dentist who's also a wiz at teeth whitening!

• • October 27, 2009
  • Kindergarten teacher detained for pricking children with syringe
    

    Way to go local government. I know I'd love to send my kids to an unlicensed kindergarten to be stabbed by that teacher.

    How long was this school running before someone "found out" it wasn't licensed? She should not only lose her job, but face some prison time for assaulting children. Imagine if the children were Uyghurs! No, wait...

• • October 13, 2009
  • Kunming news roundup
    

    come on and tell us how you really feel!

• • September 3, 2009
  • Yunnan news roundup
    

    It's called a satchel. Indiana Jones used one.

• • August 25, 2009
  • Kunming air quality ranks number two among Chinese cities
    

    Wow.
    I mean it's quite an accomplishment, but to my eyes over the years it seems to have gotten worse rather than better.
    What with hundreds of thousands of newer cars over the years, how does this happen? Does that fall under this 2.5 particulate matter?

    Did they happen to mention which city had the overall worst air quality in China?

Latest Forum Posts

• • August 1, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Patriotism
    

    I feel bad for the op, because I can understand exactly how he feels. I've experienced this type of treatment on more than one occasion among acquaintances in and above my age group, late 20s and up.

    In reality it has little to do with any conscious racial bias and more to do with ignorance. I've heard the same excuses again and again about how China was forced to bend to the will of foreign colonial powers, forced to suffer humiliating defeats, allow areas of their country to be annexed, etc. The most amazing part of this entire argument is that it really doesn't prove anything! China is not special in this context, and arguably (aside from a few well-known horrific incidents) made out pretty well in the end with a global financial center and an incredible network of production and transportation infrastructure built by the Japanese.

    It's really just a scapegoat the Chinese use depending on the context of the argument. In a lot of cases you see one of two things happen when discussing anything of global significance with some Chinese (note I am not making a blanket statement about all of them). "We have 5,000 years of history and culture, so you should listen to us. We know what we're talking about." This is usually used to dismiss nearly anything an outsider mentions, regardless of whether it's "correct" by any standard of logic or not. The second is, "We've only been developing for 30 years, so you shouldn't expect so much from us," which is essentially used to excuse blatant xenophobia, disturbing social trends and official abuses...the list goes on and on.

    It's really quite interesting that the op mentions his Chinese should be considered to be upper-intermediate. You would think that this would be welcomed, but I've had experience that says otherwise. When you just get to China and can't wrap your head around tones, can't form a cogent sentence, and essentially blabber like a fool the Chinese will tell you, "Ni de Zhongwen shuo de hen hao," or something similar. A nice gesture to say the least, but I haven't figured out whether it's genuinely meant to make you feel more at ease or a bit of a jab. I guess it depends on who's making the statement!

    However, once your Chinese gets to a point that it could be called "fluent," or "really good" things start to change dramatically. Add that to being a westerner with a good grasp of any local dialect and it changes even more. You find that the compliments don't seem to come as often and when you're among them they seem to be far more cautious about what they say.

    You know too much! They don't want you to always be around because they know that you're going to catch everything they talk about, and for some reason they have some sort of instinctual need to have their secrets and be able to speak freely without having some westerner listening in. It's just a characteristic of a group of people that have been isolated for so long that it's difficult for them to accept.

    Granted with a lot of young people it seems to be getting a lot better, but there are disturbing trends as well. I've found that middle-aged Chinese tend to be far more accepting of us and more interested in learning new things. The education system has done well to encourage the young to harbor illogical resentment against outsiders and instill a sense of superiority even as the vast majority with financial means run to Australia or Canada as fast as they can.

    The coolest thing to do is to show them WHY they can like you. Chat with them in your courtyards or when you run into them on the street. Bring them some fruit or small gift and show the effort to create what could be a great friendship. You may even find this kid's mother is actually a cool person, if only a bit misled. It's worth a shot!

• • July 18, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Photos: Old Kunming
    

    I nominate this for best and most relevant thread on the site right now. Thanks for sharing, these are really fantastic.

• • July 18, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > expat population in Kunming
    

    Funnily enough if you see how incredibly dedicated hardcore Trekkies are to the stories and worlds created by Roddenberry, you could argue that he's created another religion just like any other - - - and presumably made a lot of money in the process.

• • July 17, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > expat population in Kunming
    

    I'm so disappointed that not ONE person on this thread could pull

    their heads out of their rears for a moment to recognize the awesome
    Star Wars quote I posted...

• • July 16, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > expat population in Kunming
    

    I find your lack of faith disturbing...

Latest Reviews

• • timkunming
    August 22, 2010
  • Kunming > French Café
    兰白红

    This is a bit of an update from my previous review three years ago. I still enjoy coming here more than any other place in the area, and find it to be far quieter and much more relaxing than other places nearby.

    I'm still going to complain about the service. This is the ONE thing that they still haven't managed to do correctly or consistently. It's not so much the girls working there...most of them do a good job and even smile from time to time. My main complaint lies with the incredibly rude "manager," a rather rotund, homely looking Chinese woman.

    When I ask for an order of fries at 10:30 PM for my friends and I who've been buying drinks for the past three hours, I'd appreciate not getting a irritated smirk back. Don't feign looking towards the kitchen like it's such a chore you'd rather not bother. In fact, I had to ask her twice. The second time I said, "Can they be made?" to which I simply received a nod. No smile, no nothing.

    Get rid of this woman and the place would improve and be even better than it already is. It's not the first time she's been rude or dismissive to us and we consider ourselves to be "regulars." She's a mass of pestilence that's ruining an otherwise great place here in downtown Kunming.

• • timkunming
    March 3, 2008
  • Kunming > The Silver Spoon Café

    I visited this fine establishment with my wife on Valentine's Day and we had a wonderful experience.
    The first thing we noticed was the ambiance - it was fantastic. A nice, quiet place playing relaxing music.
    The second thing we noticed was that it was CLEAN. Spotless. I felt like I was back home in the states, and it felt good to be in such a well-maintained restaurant.
    The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and we were a bit taken aback, to be honest. We hadn't received such wonderful service since being back home - - - we've been accustomed to rude waitresses and horrible service for a long time!
    A bit on the pricy side, but not outrageously so. I'd certainly recommend some of their desserts, and their sandwich selection looked amazing.

    The only downside I can see to this place is the location. Too. Damned. Far. Unless you live in the area it's quite a pain to get out there in a reasonable amount of time due to Kunming's less-than-adequate transportation systems. On that note, however, I think it's relative remoteness from the center of town allows it to have the great atmosphere it does.

    The first time I've been in a restaurant where I forgot I was in China. I really felt at home.

    Give it a shot if you haven't been there already.

• • timkunming
    October 9, 2007
  • Kunming > Yunjoy
    云嘉

    This place used to be quite decent, but the staff is pretty much awful and the prices are (generally speaking) outrageous. Why go here for coffee when Salvador's is just down the road?

• • timkunming
    October 9, 2007
  • Kunming > Bangkok Café
    曼谷咖啡厅

    A great little place right on Wenhua Xiang that offers good Thai food at excellent prices.

    Why only 3 stars then? Well, despite the place being somewhat of a "dive" and the staff all being generally very friendly, the place is a mess. Being in China for quite some time of course I've made a curve for this, but even for the cheap prices it wouldn't hurt to give it a good cleaning every now and again, would it?