I want to buy a SIM card for my android smartphone, so I would not get lost on my north Yunnan tour next month. A few GB's for surfing would be nice.

Which products are available/recommended?
Where to buy in Kunming? I don't speak Chinese.

I'll arrive at the airport and stay at Lost Garden guesthouse.

Thanks!

Be advised that access to Google services are generally blocked by China. This includes those items you mostly need to prevent getting lost, the Map and the Translate.

Of course if you have other services to cover that, you'll be ok. Otherwise you'll need to be prepared with something to outsmart the Great Firewall.

You can get a SIM card at any outlet, China Mobile or China Unicom, if you bring your passport and cunning explanation skills. Maybe just let the people at Lost Garden help you.

Thank you for your answers, guys!

I have OsmAnd offline navigation and offline dictionaries for Google translate on my cell phone.

OsmAnd is the best. Forget Google in China unless you have VPN.

Just remember China Mobile 3G doesn't play well with non China Mobile phones. But I think their EDGE 2G and LTE 4G should work on most phones.

Osm offlinemaps won't be detailed enough to find things, but may keep you from becoming totally lost. You can cache google maps quite easily now, except they have some detail loss too, but still better than osm. But like JanJal said, need a VPN for almost anything google related, including the play app store.

@AlexKMG: I think, 2G should be acceptable to prevent getting lost. ;-) I hope to find ANY network coverage in north Yunnan, especially in the remote parts of upper Lancang valley.

So maybe 3G from China unicom is better for that area?

China Mobile has best coverage still, but Unicom and even Telecom should be ok for nearly all of Yunnan. It takes a lot longer to locate position and scroll maps with 2G, and if you need sat maps, well.

I have a friend arriving tomorrow and he was wondering if there are any retailers within the airport where he can buy a tourist SIM. I don't recall seeing any, but then again I was never looking. Can anyone recall seeing a stand or shop where one could get a SIM card?

i dont think that is a legal option. ch controls all telecoms. real name registration of ch nationals only methinks