Freegate has had problems well before now. When I first used it in 2010 it was already fairly unreliable. Luckily I have a VPN (which is free in my case as it's provided by a company I used to be associated with) that does the job reliably everytime.
@filipd, thanks for that info. Seems like the clerk I dealt with was correct then. I have plenty of credit cards but they are all international ones.
Any ideas about other car rental firms in Kunming, particularly ones that accept international credit cards and/or cash, not mentioned on this thread so far?
Does the remaining visa validity really matter? I thought that having a Chinese driver's license is what counts. Sounds a bit strange to me, but anyway, you have direct experience renting from them. When I went to Zuche near the airport back in late 2010, they didn't care about my visa, but the main issue was the deposit. Apparently they don't accept international credit cards. On the other hand, another poster on GoKM mentioned that they do as he had successfully used his visa card with them; in fact it was probably the particular clerk that I dealt with that didn't know the rules.
For a better deal and less paperwork, how about renting from John Xie's car rental? He has a couple of vehicles available and accepts cash. He advertises here on GoKunming. He normally charges 250 Yuan a day for his sedan. Only 140 for the minivan. There is also a refundable deposit payable at the time you pick up the car and refundable immediately upon return.
@dazzer, you obviously aren't a linguist and I don't understand what you are trying to say - I think I was being very clear though. Then again, I'm not a linguist either (I'm an engineer with a passion for languages though!) I am just pointing out what every Chinese language student starts to realize: the number of different sounds in Chinese is very limited. A syllable is a sound. I apologize for using the word "words" to describe what is actually a syllable in an earlier post.
Chinese has 2000 syllables with which to create every possible word. Many words consist of single syllables, others are composed of two syllables; a few words have 3 or more syllables but in general not many. Whereas in English many complicated medical, engineering and scientific terms have been borrowed from other languages including Latin and German, in Chinese, you'll find that unfamiliar words are composed of familiar syllables (or sounds). The characters for these words could however be very complex or different to anything you've ever seen.
That's why it's so important to be able to read Chinese characters. I can't stress this enough. There aren't enough syllables in Chinese to be able to make sense to a learner that doesn't have any knowledge of the written language. It's also another reason why Chinese can never use a phonetic writing system: every word would look the same even after adding tone markers. There are too many homonyms.
Absolute insanity.
Anyway, as I have previously mentioned on another thread, and as is evident in the news all over the world, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and many other countries around the world will become even greater recipients of Japanese investment as a result of these crazy incidents in China.
The news channels in Thailand are currently showing reports featuring economists and businessmen rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of increased Japanese investment inside the country. Already Thailand is "Japan's manufacturing hinterland" with most Japanese pickup trucks built in Thailand these days, both for domestic consumption and export. Japanese electronics and supporting industries for cars, electronics and hard disk manufacturing are all big industries in Thailand, where a pro-Japanese and pro-foreign investment business environment are in force. Vietnam is also an emerging destination for Japanese investment thanks to a large, skilled laborforce and low wages.
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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.
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
发布者Yeah there are lots of hebrew speaking travellers in Vang Vieng these days. Same with regional tourists from Thailand - frankly given that Thai and Lao are nearly the same language I don't see how a Thai speaker can't read Lao, but apparently many can't hence the reason for the Thai signs you saw. Same in Thailand - at petrol (gas) stations near the Lao border, which are popular with Lao motorists you can see signs in Lao next to the Thai since there are some subtle differences between the two languages.
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
发布者@Senorboogiewoogie, in Laos everything is flexible due to the power of money aka corruption. I was in Vang Vieng around midnight back in 2009 and it was still noisy in parts, but generally quiet outside the center of action.
Also, while perhaps not a good idea, every foreigner living in Laos knows you can sleep with a Lao citizen of the opposite sex in the same room if you are discreet about it and you'll only get in trouble if you piss someone off. I also think that the government only sees the images of westerners in Thailand and the Philippines "buying" girls at girlie bars and wants to maintain a more lowkey image, but naturally no Vietnamese or Chinese (or Thai) truck driver would be without his karaoke and Lao prostitute in the border provinces. The reality is that prostitution is as big in Laos as anywhere else, but maybe just a little less visible. However, in Vientiane there are large numbers of local girls with western or other foreign "boyfriends", or in genuine relationships.
Booming Southeast Asian trade necessitates bilingual graduates
发布者Haha, well I don't think I was that pessimistic, and I do agree with you on some of your points - although being quite knowledgeable about languages myself, there is more overlapping of the dominant language from the more economically powerful country into the less dominant one than the other way round - i.e. despite what you said, there is very little Lao spoken in Vietnam, but the other way round there is quite a bit of Vietnamese understood in Laos. Lao officials on the Lao-Viet border can usually speak some Vietnamese, but Viet officials generally can't speak Lao. I have been there and know this for a fact. Same with Viet officials on the Chinese border - they can speak Chinese, but Chinese officials speak only Chinese and English, not Viet.
Vietnamese is also only understood amongst a very small minority of people on the Thai side of the Lao border, not many as you say...same with Thai in Myanmar but not Burmese in Thailand (except amongst the immigrant workers and some Burmese signboards near the Burmese border) in Thailand. As mentioned above, Chinese is quite strong in northern Laos, but Lao is non-existant anywhere in Chinese territory except when it comes to the Dai language, which is fairly close but not exactly the same language.
I've also found that the majority of South-East Asian Chinese language students here in Kunming don't speak much English at all for some strange reason. The ones back in their home countries that didn't major in Chinese are often quite good at English, so I guess there aren't that many polyglots around as you say - 2 languages seems to be what the average person knows and not more.
Although if we're on the subject of which SE Asian language to learn IN ADDITION TO English, which will continue to be important, then it must be Thai. Thai is understood throughout Thailand, Laos, western Cambodia and the Shan State of Myanmar. No other SE Asian language is as dominant as Thai.
This is reflected in the much greater interest amongst Chinese students in studying Thai than say, Vietnamese. I have met tons of Chinese students interested in, or with at least one semester of Thai behind them, but only two who had studied Vietnamese.
Booming Southeast Asian trade necessitates bilingual graduates
发布者Sounds good in principle, but learning to speak all SE Asian languages would require you to be some kind of linguistic genius and probably half a lifetime of devotion. Speaking only one of the languages from the region, say Thai or Burmese or Vietnamese, wouldn't help much in neighboring countries since each language in the region is not mutually intelligible with only limited overlapping...so such an approach would mean limiting your engagement to one country.
In parts of northern Laos and northern Myanmar, no attempts are made by Chinese settlers to learn the local language - everything (signboards, menus etc.) is in Chinese and locals [Laotians and Burmese] who can't speak this foreign language [Chinese] are left out.
Also, I don't think English should be forgotten - despite various levels of English fluency in the region, English is still the only global lingua franca and the global language of business. English is the only language you can successfully use in all SE Asian countries. While it's great to know Thai, Lao, Burmese etc. it isn't realistic unless you are living in those countries. I have also noticed that just like with English, Chinese learners of these SE Asian languages really struggle, and when encountering a local that speaks good English, the conversation will usually inevitably switch to English since the local will assume the other party can't speak their language well enough. It's only once fluency is achieved that this is overcome.
My recommendation would be for both Chinese and other foreigners interested in investing/doing business with the region to know how to speak English fluently, followed by becoming proficient in at least the basics of their host countries' language to at least show some interest and respect. Apart from those interested in becoming translators however, I personally think time and money is better spent gaining technical skills and then applying some language skills on the side - not the other way round.
I've done that and I'm doing quite well. I am an engineer that has worked in Vietnam and Thailand and I speak Thai and some Lao with an almost native accent (and can read and write both languages) - something that is of enormous benefit to me, but I have achieved this as a side passion rather than as my main job. Still, I barely speak Vietnamese and don't have the energy or time to work on it - in any case, doing business isn't difficult as most educated people there speak English anyway and I have a very good friend who helps me so it's all good. Ditto for Cambodia and Myanmar.
Getting Away: Luang Prabang
发布者There is an error in this article. Lao Airlines flies only twice (2) a week from Luang Prabang to Jinghong, not daily. They only just restarted this service recently and I highly doubt there would be enough demand for a daily service at this time. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this service were to once again be suspended in the near future. Luang Prabang-Kunming flights are said to be restarted again in the near future too, but no date has been given.
Check out online copies of Lao Airlines' Champa inflight magazine for more details.