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.
Video: Kunming driver crosses pedestrian bridge
发布者I'm surprised his car was still driveable and didn't end up with a zillion dents (or maybe it did). I wouldn't dare drive like that knowing that damaging my car is almost certain if I were to attempt that and secondly I have more regard for the safety of pedestrians than this bozo did.
Still, this was an entertaining piece of news.
Kunming addresses taxi shift change troubles
发布者Yep...though I'm more used to getting hassled than ignored. I thought we were all walking atms to these guys! Haha...anyway, it really depends though, because those taxi drivers that constantly pester you in places like Vietnam often rip you off, but if you go for the ones that are not specifically looking for fares they'll actually use the meters. Of course, taxis are better than motorcycle taxis though since they are less likely to rip you off. Also, you can almost always find a taxi or something else when you need one in those countries, even during rush hour. Something that's hard to do in Kunming and even Shanghai...
Also, apart from the occassional three-wheeled scooter or electric scooter driver willing to drive you somewhere, there are few alternative forms of transport in Kunming apart from the standard forms you'd see in the west: buses and taxis (and eventually, a subway). Only on the outskirts of town will you find motorcycle taxis who congregate around tourist spots such as the Nationalities Village, but these guys don't pick up fares inside town, probably because they aren't allowed to, I presume.
Kunming addresses taxi shift change troubles
发布者What i find that's totally bizarre to me is that in a developing country like China, no taxi driver follows a foreigner like would happen in neighboring Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia or elsewhere. In those countries, you don't look for the taxis, they look for you! In Kunming and China in general, you can walk down the street and no taxi driver will ever stop for you unless you want them to.
Yunnan preparing warily for China smoking ban
发布者Tell the people to look at the signs and see what their reaction is! If they don't react, tell them that they can't read (which is what I would assume, if someone was just so oblivious to a sign right above their head).