Forums > Travel Yunnan > Travel to Wuhan Sleeper trains generally are not bad.
I prefer the soft sleeper as there are only 4 to a berth and the berth door locks. And the bed is softer. Toilets are cleaner, more to do with the class of passenger.
The hard sleeper is 6 to a berth but not much head room, and the end of the berth is open to the corridor. People may also play cards till late and drink.
I am not sure if there is a bullet train to Wuhan, CRH train.
The only other things I can say about the sleepers is.
Soft sleeper get the top bunk as the bottom bunk is also seating, and you have to wait for others to go to bed.
Hard sleeper, middle bunk as the top bunk has the least headroom.
Keep valuables inside your outer layer of clothing, including phones etc.
I never get much sleep on the sleeper and have a stiff neck and feel like crap for several days after a trip.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Rental agents near Green Lake Real estate is a very localised market here. Almost by the neighbourhood.
Go to the neighbourhood you like and look in all the realtors' windows. You will soon see that 80% of the property is common to all of them.
There are some bigger chains here, like 21st Century, but they will be less likely to negotiate over the finders fees and deposits.
Some however will work harder than others.
Don't just say I am looking for something how much, you will get stung. Ask to see specific properties from the window cards, as the rent is already marked on them.
The market here is not regulated. Don't expect high levels of professionalism. Some agents are helpful, others are just pap.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Natural Gas versus Electric Hot Water Heaters Ref gas/elec bills differential
They are probably only using gas to cook for about 15 minutes per day. And a shower twice a week. Washing up in cold water is common here. Mop floor with cold water.
We may be using it to heat water for washing up and showers twice a day. Hot water to mop floors.
Elec will also be higher for us. We leave lights on, use more than a single bulb on dim lighting, watch more TV and have computers running longer. Thier kids will have no TV and will be ruining their eyes studying to a 5w bulb.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Natural Gas versus Electric Hot Water Heaters Sounds odd Chingis.
Gas blockage would not stop water flow that I can see. Unless someone can enlighten me.
The nozzles on the taps has a filter that clogs. This reduces water flow. If flow is too low the heater will not come on due to a safety mechanism.
We cleaned our nozzles with vinegar (2 day soak), although a propriety drain cleaner may work better. Having said that, I have now taken our nozzle filter off. The only differences are that water comes out faster, but not in a nice jet as before.
Beijing attempts to curtail "excessive" government spending
发布者I bet the guy on the US 100 dollar bill is also spinning in his grave. But for different reasons.
Beijing attempts to curtail "excessive" government spending
发布者As for going after the lower level guys.
The fat cats were milking other fat cats.
It is all the little lower level guys that make life difficult for the guy on the street, and expensive for those on low incomes.
It would be nice to think of an egalitarian round up (tigers as well as flies), but most people are plagues by flies, and are unaffected by tigers.
Beijing attempts to curtail "excessive" government spending
发布者There are a lot of restaurants in our area. It used to be that there was congestion caused by cars parked at the side of the road. This was most nights of the week. Some places had exotic dishes and high prices.
Now the roads are clear except for festivals, and prices even a middle income family can afford.
You can draw your own conclussions.
Photos of flash flooding in Yunnan's capital
发布者Talking of construction. One solution is to build a new town from the ground up the adequate infrastructure. This was done in Dali and oops, Chenggong. Shanghai has also built a number of satellite cities/towns.
The accumulated debris is a problem and not all of it is trash, a lot of it is leaves, twigs, and dust/dirt. Often this can not be effectively dealt with until it accumulate. You can have teams going around clearing culverts and grids, but not every bit of debri that could potentially reach the culvert.
This is a universal problem.
Photos of flash flooding in Yunnan's capital
发布者There is the same problem in Shanghai and Beijing, the drains are not up to coping with the heavy rains, even though they come yearly.
Urban planning is often about sprawl, without the effort to upgrade the old infrastructure. The norm is to jus connect the new drains to the old. The new drains may even have sufficient capacity, but there is a bottle neck as water reaches the old drains. Until there is the political will to dig up and replace the drains in the older parts of the city (costly and very disruptive to local residents, traffic, and business) we will continue to see occastional flooding. It used to the be same in many towns in the west.