Yang laoshi is still teaching at the zoo on Yuantong shan... I don't know how to get in touch with him, but I believe he teaches class sometime around 9am on weekday mornings

Hi Jimmy,

I've only been to Jinghong once, but while there I did get hooked up with a good rafting guide via Sara at Forest Cafe (www.forest-cafe.org/). Forest Cafe also offers guided jungle tours - I've never taken one, but Sara seems to have a good grasp of what foreign travelers are looking for, she may be worth contacting. Hope that helps.

Chris

I always enjoyed quiz night... maybe instead of fortnightly it could be revived as a monthly event - first Wed of each month or something along those lines perhaps. I think a lot of people would attend regularly if it started up again.

I think there are a few places out of town, you may want to try Juhua Cun, GoKunming ran a short piece about it last year: www.gokunming.com/en/blog/item.php?blog_id=394

Sounds like they have all kinds of houseplants as well as herbs - the story's author evidently scored some rosemary.

Street food in Kunming tends to focus on Kunming/Yunnan-style snacks: cold noodles, stinky tofu and barbecue are all worth trying

I remember that outside of Yunnan University's west gate there was a row of food vendors selling all kinds of snacks, somewhere in there was a vendor of "Thai-style" pancakes that were pretty good, I think the banana and strawberry pancakes sold well. As far as I can tell that area has been more or less shut down, but I'm not positive as I haven't lived there for a while now.

Another area that used to have crazy street food - but I'm not sure if it still does - is the street heading north from Yieryi Da Jie just west of the Yunnan Minority Institute. This major student area seems to have also been getting gradually shut down by its friendly neigborhood chengguan too, but there should still be plenty of stalls selling quick eats near the top of the hill. Good luck.