Forums > Travel Yunnan > Travel to Wuhan

I know Wuhan is not in Yunnan, but I figured this is probably still the best place to ask.

I'm living in Kunming and I'm currently pondering about going to Wuhan next week(end) or on the 2nd Monday from now for 5 days to join an Esperanto conference.
I have no experiences in travelling through China (besides having gone to Thailand via Laos by bus), so I'm not sure what would be the most convenient way to go there.

Can someone suggest something or tell me of any travel experiences? Options are of course: train, bus(?) and airplane. I hope to not spend too much money on the trip there and back again, but I'm also a little afraid of a train ride where I have to stand in the hallways for 9 hours or something. ;) How're sleeper trains? Recommendable or awful? The sleeper bus to the Laos border wasn't bad, actually.

Any suggestions?

Greetings,
- André

Forums > Study > Esperanto

Hi GracY,
Yes, Esperanto is interesting indeed. :)
I'm not planning in teaching a real class or becoming a special tutor, but I enjoy teaching the language to people who're interested. It's definitely possible to learn Esperanto through the internet. That's how I learned it, too.
If you give me your contact details (like, e-mail address) via private message, I can contact you. We could then talk on MSN or Skype.

Greetings!
- André

Forums > Study > Esperanto

Saluton ĉiuj,
I asked this question several months ago, without success, so I'll try again.

Is there anyone else in Kunming who is either able to speak Esperanto OR interested in learning this easy-to-learn artificial language? I'd like to meet fellow esperantists here, even if they might just be beginners.

And if someone is interested in learning the language, I offer to teach it for free.

More information about Esperanto (世界语) you can find on Wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/世界语

Feel free to ask any questions. :)

Amike,
- André

Forums > Living in Kunming > Day to Day expenses

Lemme see...
$ 75 = ¥ 500

Wow. You speak only of food and day-to-day expenses, that means it doesn't include lodging or any other biggies like study fees. So just food, drinks, sometimes a night out with friends, taxi and bus fees (they're really cheap here!), money for things you might need to buy (whatever these may be)...
Sounds like you'll be lucky.

I'm here on a scholarship (no study fees, no lodging costs), getting ¥ 1400 ($ 212) a month, which equals ¥ 350 or about $ 50 a week. Somewhat less then you. I'm curious and I love statistic, so I kept accounts for the half year that I'm here, only couting daily expenses, excluding bigger expenses like buying a digital camera, a smartphone but including a two-week travel to Thailand.

They were quite high in the first weeks, but then got considerably lower. For a student with a scholarship, ¥ 1400 a month is really well calculated (my monthly expenses are sometimes above, sometimes below that value). But then again, I don't smoke nor drink, don't need expensive things and I avoid going to places like "Foreigner Street" too often (really, there's way better and cheaper food in other places).
I think, if you don't go out to party every night or smoke excessively, $ 75 a week will be quite much. It's easy to spend all the money, but once you get used to China, you can live with much less and still have a decent life-style.

Forums > Study > Esperanto in Kunming

Well, Esperanto is an artificial language based on the more prominent languages of Europe, paired with a really easy-to-learn and completely regular grammar. So it can be learned very quickly, especially if you have a basic knowledge of one or two European languages (like English, French, Spanish or German). It's possible to become fluent in it after less then a year.

Although it's not the official or native language of any country in the world, Esperanto speakers can be found in every country and Esperanto meetings occur frequently all over the planet. The use is... well, communication mostly. You use it to communicate with other speakers of the language, be it online or in real life. So, chances are low if you want to use it by chance somewhere on the street, but if you look for Esperanto speakers online, you will find there are quite many. I am really surprised that in Kunming I so far have found none... still looking. In Europe or other parts of Asia (e.g. Russia) it's usually easier to find speakers.