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...

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...

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.

@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.

@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.