Hi all,

I'm coming back to Kunming soon, but haven't been here for what seems way too long for me.

So, could you please advise me on where to find :

- A good place for chinese breakfast in the street, meanning xiao long bao, jiao zi and dou nai

- A good spot/street/area for good night food along the street (shao kao), a lively place with nightcrowds and stuff.

- A good and cheap enough place to get a nice massage (just massage, no...) and also a good foot massage (I so much love foot massage).

- Oh ! and a good hairdresser too (rather a nice and comfy beauty saloon, not a sad little one at the corner please).

THANK YOU for your replies

I don't know about hairdressers, but small blind massage shops and foot massage places are easy to find. Probably best to ask again once you know where you will be living or working and can narrow it down to specific neighborhoods. Street snacks, similar advice.

@aum235
Outside ANY university inside Kunming. Yunda, SciTech, Normal, etc ad infinitum - you'll find all the cuisine your heart desires - not to mention nightcrowds.

Thanks for your answers, specially laotou (more precise).
I'm not coming back for living, but just for a few days (travel).

And also, when it comes to such places - breakfast, night food, massage, etc... I don't choose depending on where I live but depending on where is the good stuff.

But if it may help, I should be staying around cuihu, probably lost garden or upland.

I certainly hope your trip has a happy ending.

I certainly hope my trip has a happy everything !!!
But it should, as it does each time I come to Yunnan.

Apologies for sounding abrupt. Didn't realize you would be coming as a tourist. Hope you find good eats and good relaxation during your visit.

I also read your other reminiscing post about the "old days" here. Maybe some of your previous chums are still around and can show you some enjoyable new venues.

For whatever it might be worth, a good basic foot massage should run you about 30 to 35 RMB these days and an hour of blind massage is usually 40 to 45. These will be at small "locals" places, where no English is spoken.

DongFengDong Lu and BaiTa Lu.

On the very corner, tucked almost under the foot bridge on the NW corner is a 24 hour restaurant that is always busy with locals.
2-300m on East on DFDLu on the N side is the Camelia Hotel. They have a legit massage business attached.

There also used to be a blind woman (with her elderly brother as minder) doing upper body massage on the pavement outside on a wooden chair. This was in the evenings.

@tigertiger
would you not mean NE corner instead ? because NW corner is Kunming Fandian, and I don't recall any shop or restaurant on that corner (last time = 2009, not so old). Probably are you refering to the restaurant that is more or less attached to Mamafu's, no ?

As for the "legit massage" business that is attached to Camelia (inside one of the buildings, with the entertainment part, right ?), let me tell you this story : yes, I experienced that joint. What an adventure ! I went there very innocently wanting a good back massage after a long day's walk, and I ended up with woman whose tits had seemingly been pumped up, and were almost hanging out of her bra, while she was dead trying to convince me to go beyond the normal massage. the situation was hillarious, as I did not want at all any "happy ending" services, and so she thought that it was just a technique of mine to bargain the price !
...in the end, without my having said a single word of bargain, she was offering to give me the whole big game for just only 50 RMB !!!

And as for the upper body massage on the pavement outside Camelia, yes, I did that too once during one of my stays, and how ever nice these people were, I ended up with my back and neck muscles in greater pain than before !!!

No, I'm really looking for a relaxing massage, in a nice institue, where it doesn't always smell like insence and medicinal plants and oils.
I want something more up range, done by women with firm although soft touch and pressure, but no hanky-panky.

@GBTEXDOC

Same goes for foot massage, I want a confortable place, with hostesses at the front desk, a private baoxiang for two or three, a plate with nice and fresh sliced fruit, tea or coffe as you want, big TV screen, and people bringing wooden buckets with tea, herbs and flower petals inside to wash your feet, etc...
That kind of massage lasts generally for an hour, and if it is well done, it sets you asleep after 30 minutes !

You know, I used to live here, and also elsewhere in China, went out a lot and so on... so when I come back, I generally know what I want, and I want it well done, with the kind of comfort and service excellency that you can only get in China, for a ridiculously small portion of the price of that in the west.
Don't you guys ever head to such beauty or massage parlours ?

If not, then let me tell you that you don't know what you're missing !

@aum
Yes I meant NE and you have the place you mentioned.

Ref massage. I have never had a relaxing Chinese massage. They are always painful, I think it is par for the course. I have never seen what is termed Swedish massage, which is gentle manipulation, in China. I have never tried Thai massage, but I think I have seen this in Kunming.

There is a Russian guy who goes by the name of Roman who may be studying Chinese massage, but is also a practitioner of other massage. However, I am not sure of his contact details.