@harriss, Chinese people do the weirdest things in China, certainly not westerners or other foreigners! What about all the parents allowing their children to take a piss or a crap in a supermarket in the nappy (diaper) section!!! Hello....buy a freaking nappy (diaper)!
But anyway, I digress...
My 2 cents - it seems that even if Chinese nationals are eligible for a visa-on-arrival the Chinese government does not let its nationals leave the country without a visa for that country. Things may have changed, but every Chinese person on the flight from Kunming to Vientiane I was on in March had a visa in their passport (no one used the visa-on-arrival facility at Vientiane airport). Similarly, I observed numerous Chinese people at Bangkok airport with Thai visas from the Embassy in Beijing; this despite Chinese citizens being eligible for visas on arrival in Thailand too.
Sounds like you are one of the few foreigners who haven't been to Thailand yet made it to Kunming first. Thailand has about 100+ times more foreigners in any given location than you'll find in Kunming or Yunnan in general. English is widely spoken and it's very easy to get around. Anyway, since you're asking, well you can start by staying in the Sukhumvit or Silom areas of Bangkok, or Khao San road for the cheapest backpacker style accommodation options. However, there are plenty of cheap beds to be had even in the former areas and there are equally cheap beds in other areas such as Ramkamhaeng road (though few first time travellers stay in these other areas as they are further away from the sights, English is less widely spoken and it's harder to get around, though with the extension of the skytrain this is beginning to change). It's quite easy to find hotels or guesthouses for around 400-600 Baht per night (around $13-20), however, cheaper places can still be found though prices have certainly increased over the years.
Try searching on www.agoda.com to see what you come up with. The same goes for Phuket and Koh Phi Phi.
Try John's car service. His contact details are listed on this website. John Xie speaks great English and has about 4 cars available for use. He can just act as a driver and not a guide - he charges 450RMB a day, however petrol and tolls are extra.
@blobbles, I agree with you about your points regarding interaction at home vs. Asia. However, I think that in China people tend to avoid any contact with strangers and don't care about people they don't know (only when they go to foreign countries do they try to seek out strangers due only to the most superficial commonalities). Although when it comes to Chinese people's reactions to foreigners in cities with relatively limited numbers of foreigners (i.e. Kunming) a small number of locals will have strange reactions to the presence of foreigners, which to someone quite self-conscious like me, becomes rather irritating and makes me want to avoid such situations (I'm talking about the hellos (by far the most common comments probably accounting for 90%+ of "interaction"), but also the occasional comments about foreigners that would appear racist or otherwise discriminatory if they were repeated back home).
The presence of foreigners in a given location automatically removes that stigma, because you're not likely to face such comments in areas frequented by foreigners, since people are used to seeing them. Therefore, while there's nothing wrong with being the only white guy in a particular location, for me at least, the excitement and possible feeling of uniqueness is no longer something positive, but becomes annoying because at the end of the day I am not that special, I'm just an everyday guy and why should I be the object of attention when a Chinese person (usually) doesn't receive much attention in the west anymore?
Therefore, if a westerner were to come up to me and start a conversation, I'd be more than happy to engage him/her. Sometimes we forget that living in China is still considered to be a "difficult" environment (especially for a foreigner) and trying to fit in and gain acceptance is not as easy as some people think it is. So if someone, especially a foreigner goes out of their way to be nice, rather than make an unfunny joke like saying "hello!" that's a good thing. Of course it's also an awesome thing if you can befriend locals too.
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What do you mean by "foreigners"? Everyone who is a non-citizen of Myanmar and wants to travel there is a foreigner. I doubt Burmese citizens require visas to return to their homeland.
Horrible tasteless, thick-crusted "cardboard" like pizzas that are a far cry from what they should be like. Way overpriced too. Wine may be good, but why bother when the nearby Prague Cafe makes much better pizza at a more reasonable price?
Great Mexican food and ice cream, excellent Raspberry smoothies and an overall good atmosphere. Can't do much about the low ceilings on the second floor, but the early closing time could be adjusted, after all, the nearby French Cafe closes at 1am.
Riding into Kunming's future
发布者There's a flight from Kunming to Beirut? Wow...
Changshui Airport set to debut
发布者Some airlines, particularly international ones like THAI have not updated their systems to reflect the new airport. At the beginning, starting tomorrow, I'm sure there will be some passengers that won't know about the change and will thus go to the wrong airport and miss their flights.
Yunnan goes infrastructure crazy
发布者Yeah the Lijiang line is currently under construction, while the Ruili line is supposed to form part of a proposed Kunming-Myanmar rail link - it will probably also be constructed at some stage (as reported by GoKM last year) but I suspect it will take a little while.
Yunnan goes infrastructure crazy
发布者All of this is quite amazing, but even in China not everything goes to plan. Originally the proposed high speed railway from Kunming to Vientiane, Laos via Jinghong and Boten was supposed to be completed by 2015, but a number of issues will likely push back that project for another 10 or more years, though I do believe that it will eventually be built. Also, since the idea is to link south-western China with the south-east Asian coast, Thai and eventually Malaysian and Singaporean co-operation is vital to building this link in the first place; building a line only as far as Vientiane would likely turn out to be a white elephant project since the objective is to make most income from moving goods between SE Asia and SW China quickly via train rather than passengers and that requires linking SW China to a coastline - something which Laos doesn't have.
Regarding the Hekou line, they've been proposing that one for years now since trains stopped running between Kunming and Hekou in 2002. Finally this article mentions a new high-speed line is under construction, but this will be of little use unless the Vietnamese also build a complementary high-speed line on their side (sure, they already have an existing railway line running from Lao Cai via Hanoi down to Saigon, but it's rather slow). Also, the Vietnamese government recently turned down a proposal for converting their existing line into a high-speed line, citing the high cost and the low passenger volumes that would utilize the line.
Changshui Airport set to debut
发布者Wow, it's finally upon us. The new airport will finally open at the end of this month! Only thing is, I'd avoid non-essential travel in and out of this airport for the first couple of weeks since it will probably be more chaotic than usual and things may not go as planned (for example baggage claim may be unusually slow).
I like the statement "For travelers without cars, taxis are always an option." well of course they are. For starters, most people in Kunming still don't own a car despite all the cars on the roads these days. Secondly, even if you do have a car, who would drive to the airport in order to catch a flight and then park their car for the duration of their overseas or interprovincial stay there? I don't think long-term parking is well known in China so even a week's worth of parking could become very expensive and possibly more expensive than even in some western countries.
I am looking forward to the proposed direct Europe flights. Anyone have any idea about when these flights might begin and who which carriers will offer service (presumably Chinese carriers I would imagine)?