Good implied point, Campo - lots of stuff on the forums about Kunming good/Kunming bad - does get a bit repetitive.
Wow, so much anti Kunming lol, does anybody living here actually like the place?
@HFCAMPO, @Alien No harm in rehashing a never ending question :)
@Voltaire I agree, the variety of Chinese food here is quite good. I'm always looking forward to dinner time of an evening.
@zhudan I don't know where you're from but you should see the 60 year old ladies in the UK these days. They are enough to burn your eyes with horror lol
@Liumingke1234 The weather's a big enough selling point for me coming from London lol, I love days spent in the garden working on laptop or even just outside a coffee shop.
Activity wise I'd agree with what a few people have mentioned, unless you want to travel a little then Kunming doesn't offer much. That has had a weird effect on me though and I find myself more focused on stuff I should concentrate on like work or learning. But if you don't mind little journeys then Kunming is quite a good spot for this with fore mentioned bordering countries one way and the rest of China the other. I've had quite a few and being based where I am now they end up very cheap :)
Life here is great. Good food, nice people, plenty of things to do, a large city: what's not to like?
You will have a much richer, more rewarding experience if you make Chinese friends, do Chinese things, eat Chinese food, etc. Do not make the mistake of trapping yourself in a foreigner bubble.
Also, ignore the angry whiners here. They must be trapped here against their will. All they do is complain here, or complain on the Mayor's hotline, or complain at Sal's, etc.
Life here, like anywhere, is what you make of it.
Great points JeanDP
I'm only a short termer but have managed to find a lot of delightful ladies through GoKunming of all places.
Have enjoyed the company of flower managers, English teachers, musicians all the way through to Police Women.
Nothing lurid or sinister just enjoying company. good food and my face is tired from talking.
They have my respect and I salute the wonderful women of this city. Go for it girls. Definitely helping to make Kunming enjoyable.
'this place beats the rest on character and charm alone'
What would you say is Kunming's character? What things would you say are charming about it?
To me, KM seems to be about 90% big concrete buildings made in the last 10 years. Yes, there are a handful of older buildings in the city centre, but it's hardly Nanjing/ Beijing/ Hangzhou/ Suzhou in terms of history. Maybe by character you mean the different tribes and nationalities that gather here?
I maintain it's not a bad place to live for the reasons mentioned in my earlier post, as well as the travel options, which I have made use of on a few occasions. Don't find the people especially friendly or unfriendly. Most are just glued to their phones, like everywhere in China. It's amazing how much people here like rice noodles, like the Irish with potatoes I guess - it's a staple and their bodies are addicted to it. Chinese people are generally (not all of course) rather ignorant and bigoted about food from outside their home province and especially from outside of China. Modernisation will hopefully make navigating and living in KM's modern sprawl easier, I'm talking about more subway lines, high speed rail, better designed roads and junctions. I want Kunming to develop (it's already too late to get back most of the charming old buildings and alleys), but of course it has to be development that puts people and pedestrians (and perhaps bikes) first, not cars.
I will probably be long gone before the metro lines are finished. These lines would make my life so much easier.
Before all the bloody private cars the metro lines weren't needed.
The purpose of public transportation is not to alleviate road traffic, it is to provide the public a convenient and efficient (ie, cheap) mode of transportation. Without "all the bloody private cars", people would still need to get from point A to point B. With out cars, more buses might be possible, but a metro will still eventually be needed as it is more convenient and reliable in many situations, just not as cheap.
Bus system used to be convenient, now it can't be, hence necessary metro at great expense. You may be right, Tony, that a metro might eventually be needed, but the introduction of the obsession with the private car (production of which increases privately-concentrated wealth) has sped the process up and, as we can all see from just going out on the street, has not been much fun.
Anyway, now that we're beginning to have a metro system, I hope people will park, or recycle, their cars, & use it.
But then look at Beijing.
I hope the metro will be more energy-efficient than a bunch of buses and less productive of air pollution, but am not at all sure - cars certainly aren't.
