Forums > Living in Kunming > Rain! Personally I'm not a fan of rain at all, particularly in a temperate climate like Kunming. For all I could care, it should be sunny everyday here like during winter and somehow they would have to figure out a way of bringing water here (desalination plant + pipeline from Guangxi or Hainan anyone?)
OK, perhaps a bit expensive and clearly Kunming isn't located in a desert; but last year I hated the weather here...too cloudy or foggy, too much rain and this combination meant going back to boiling water in a tub and mixing it with cold water just to have a shower! Me thinks that perhaps Kunming isn't sunny enough to justify the big investment in solar hot water heating systems...
Forums > Food & Drink > Restaurants you 'love to hate' I'm not sure what kind of "fine dining" experiences customers are used to back home, but I've been perfectly content with most of the western food in Kunming, with the exception of Momma Teresa's on Wenlin Jie. For a restaurant that supposedly specializes in pizza, they have done a really horrible job. Awful, tasteless thick-crusted pizza (ughh!!) rather than the crispy thin-crust which most people seem to prefer these days at prices higher than the French Cafe and the Prague Cafe and A Slice of Heaven, all of which dish out quite decent pizza at a better price!
As for the service in restaurants, yeah it's not that great...but right now I'd rather not receive too much unwanted attention from people who are employed merely to take my order, serve my food and take my money. As long as they manage to do all these things right, it's fine (and there's nothing worse than someone interrupting me when I'm in a restaurant talking with the friend(s) I am with and enjoying my food). Also, it's perfectly fine to click your fingers or shout out "waitress" in Chinese to grab the attention of a waitress and they will always happily come to serve you, try doing that in the west, haha...
Forums > Food & Drink > US student becomes viral hit in China for sharing his fries Chinese people are weird. Always commenting on the little nuisances or physical appearence of foreigners. In the west it would be considered racist to comment on a Chinese person's slant eyes, but yesterday a Chinese person told my Sri Lankan friend that his "skin was too dark". That kind of comment would cause a huge furor in the west.
And now this (a good thing happened, and Americans are known for being friendly even to strangers...so I don't get what all the fuss is about?!) He should be commended for his friendliness and caring attitude towards strangers, but I doubt he would like to be considered a hero. While I am wary of giving handouts to beggars (except visibly disabled people, I never give to able bodied begging children or adults); I respect this guy.
Sometimes I am grateful for the level of PC we have back home because it shields us from this kind of discrimination and unnecessary attention (which in a way is a subtle form of discrimination in my opinion). Maybe one day China will jump on the bandwagon...or perhaps maybe not.
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Help - Need info for Kunming to Ventiane bus and Laos Visa much appreciate @ludwig, I thought that the Huay Xai bus only runs from Jinghong, not all the way from Kunming.
I believe there is a daily Kunming-Luang Prabang and a separate Kunming-Vientiane service. The latter I have seen in Laos; I was driving just north of Vientiane, and the bus was just in front of me headed north towards Kunming. I think the Kunming-Vientiane service leaves around 5pm daily or when there are enough passengers. BTW you might want to consider going only as far as Luang Prabang, stopping for the night and catching a faster minibus rather than the tortorous 48hour direct service.
Lao Airlines offers a reliable and cheap daily A320 service (occasionally they will use an ATR-72 when passenger loads are smaller) from Kunming to Vientiane. One way flights are no problem, and if purchasing a return flight you can easily change your reservation free of charge.
For VOA, use USD since the rate in RMB will be significantly worse. However, if you have difficulty sourcing USD in China, then RMB may be your only choice. I believe only THB or USD are accepted at Vientiane airport, so if flying in you'll need to exchange your RMB at the border when you arrive.
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Renting a car to see Yunnan independently @yogaden, yes, road signs are quite ubiquitous in China, this is not Vietnam where road signs are non-existant! Although most of the major road signs will have either pinyin, English or more commonly Chinglish posted along with the Chinese characters, smaller road signs will be only in Chinese so do bring along a map with Chinese characters and preferably a manual of some sort with Chinese road signs to familiarize yourself with.
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.