Forums > Food & Drink > Kunming Chinese Food "We went to Laos with a Chinese friend and she was so miserable. Face long and sad from having to eat all that weird Laotian food."
Unless she was facing black curdled goat blood soup or chewy water buffalo jerky, Lao food is great and in general a lot better than Kunming food. Don't know why she had to "seek out" a Sichuan restaurant, which is nice once in a while, but it would have been more interesting to eat some western, Thai or Indian food, which is prepared very well in Laos (at least in the major cities).
Good places to eat in Kunming? Most western owned bars and restaurants including Salvador's, the French Cafe and Prague Cafe. Unfortunately, the Box bar is gone but hopefully there'll be something similar that goes in it's place.
Other good places? The Hong Kong (or is it Guangdong) noodle place next to the movie theatre just around the corner from Wenlin Jie. Don't remember the name right now, but their banana custards are delicious, not to mention their noodles and chai. It's about 30 Yuan for a bowl, but it's a large bowl at that. Definately a big step up from the local noodle places and with far more atmosphere.
Yitianyuan, a chain of Muslim restaurants (one branch is located directly opposite Carrefour Longquan road) is one of the best places in Kunming to eat Chinese food with a few friends around a round table with that rotating glass thing on top where all the dishes are placed.
When I like something, I tend to eat it again and again. When I'm with a friend (or just alone) I tend to go to Salvador's, the French Cafe, Prague Cafe, the Hong Kong noodle place, the Box (until it closed although I never went there very often), A Slice of Heaven etc. With a couple of friends, I tend to go to Yitianyuan.
Mixian? Not my favorite thing...I would never eat them by myself and if it's noodles, then I tend to stick with Brothers Jiang for cross-the-bridge noodles which are actually pretty good.
Getting Away: Luang Prabang
发布者@flengs, what do you mean by being fed up with the "foreigner-local" relations? Some of them seem quite superficial, but it depends on what level the relationship is. When both parties speak at least one of the other's languages really well, then mutual understanding will increase of course, however, this is rarely the case as few foreigners can speak Lao (except for a few words maybe) and few Laotians can speak very good English.
Major Kunming traffic arteries converted to one-way roads
发布者An interesting read. I first came to Kunming in mid-2009 and by then the changes were already made. I actually live just off xue fu lu and everytime I'm in a car or taxi (except late at night) we have to go the long way round starting on yi er yi, passing by hongshan bei lu and finally onto xue fu lu. In the reverse direction it's a straight route direct to yi er yi that takes all of 5-6 minutes outside or rush hour; in the original direction going back home it takes about double that. Good for taxi drivers (they get more money!), good for bus patronage but a little annoying for the average commuter affected by this everyday. Anyway, nothing wrong with it, it's just the way it is now - i never realized it used to be different before!
Getting Away: Jinghong
发布者Really nice city.
First-hand account: Setting up a guesthouse in Xishuangbanna
发布者Geezer, where did you hear this? Would be really sad if it was true. I too have thought about such a business and indeed have also considered xishuangbanna, which is one of the nicest parts of all of China. However, all things being considered, I find it much easier to set-up something in SE Asia.
First-hand account: Setting up a guesthouse in Xishuangbanna
发布者First of all, Thais are foreign tourists too if they are outside of Thailand. Anyway, nice article, I wish these people lots of success. I think it would be nice if there were more westerners (and foreigners in general) travelling in Xishuangbanna, because right now it's a world away from neighboring Laos and Vietnam. In fact, even though it's so restrictive, I find it easier to come across other travellers in Myanmar than in Xishuangbanna...why is that? I look forward to the day you can find a central backpacker district in Jinghong that looks like its equivalent in Laos filled with hundreds of western backpackers.