User profile: Yuanyangren

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Is living in China hazardous to your health?

Hmm...I don't find China noisy at all. Sure, there are many impatient drivers who constantly blast their horns, but the lack of motorcycles, mopeds and inconsiderate idiots that blast their stereos at 5am is a sure sign China is a lot quieter than neighboring Vietnam and Thailand, where people are seemingly oblivious to all that noise.

Unless you are used to living in North Dakota or something, Kunming and China in general are quiet enough; it's rarely noisy in a housing estate where most people live.

Try Vietnam for a while...it's absolutely horrible. The people get up at 5am (to do what?!), they blast their stereos with good morning Vietnam banter, some horrible music, whizz past on their scooters and mopeds all day long (hardly any Vietnamese own cars), the trucks in Vietnam have the craziest horns in the world and the whole place stays noisy until about 9 or 10pm at night. It doesn't necessarily become quiet at night either, just quieter. China is much more civilized by comparison.

Air pollution? Well, Kunming's air quality seems OK to me; I don't think the air quality in Ho Chi Minh City with it's 11 million mopeds could be any better than that of Kunming. Just some food for thought.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Problems with China Eastern Airlines

Which is why it's usually worth paying a bit extra to fly with a reliable airline! Airline safety is not an issue to play around with, so some careful consideration about who you are flying with and their standards of service makes a HUGE difference. I personally only fly with Star Alliance carriers and a few others and I never make any exceptions for any reasons. For example, flying THAI between Kunming and Bangkok and Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City is always worth it. I will never fly Air Asia because firstly, their ticket prices are often not any cheaper than THAI and once you add on the extra baggage charges, it may even be more expensive than THAI! Also, I have been able to fly for free many times even business class with THAI a privelege you won't get with Air Asia.

While I think that China Eastern is a perfectly safe airline to fly with and I found their service to be OK (on domestic flights; I have never flown with them internationally), why don't you just fly with say, Cathay Pacific? They offer very cheap flights via Hong Kong from Kunming to Toronto and Vancouver.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Renting a car to see Yunnan independently

I've also been to Dongchuan numerous times always by car...takes about 2.5-3 hours, god knows how many by bus. Driving yourself (or with a driver if necessary) will allow you to see as much as possible in as short a time as possible. 2 weeks in Yunnan just using land-based public transport is possible, but it won't allow you to see everything - you'll either need more time or your own transport...Yunnan is quite a big province and away from the expressways it takes a long time to get anywhere.

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@flengs, what do you mean by being fed up with the "foreigner-local" relations? Some of them seem quite superficial, but it depends on what level the relationship is. When both parties speak at least one of the other's languages really well, then mutual understanding will increase of course, however, this is rarely the case as few foreigners can speak Lao (except for a few words maybe) and few Laotians can speak very good English.

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An interesting read. I first came to Kunming in mid-2009 and by then the changes were already made. I actually live just off xue fu lu and everytime I'm in a car or taxi (except late at night) we have to go the long way round starting on yi er yi, passing by hongshan bei lu and finally onto xue fu lu. In the reverse direction it's a straight route direct to yi er yi that takes all of 5-6 minutes outside or rush hour; in the original direction going back home it takes about double that. Good for taxi drivers (they get more money!), good for bus patronage but a little annoying for the average commuter affected by this everyday. Anyway, nothing wrong with it, it's just the way it is now - i never realized it used to be different before!

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Geezer, where did you hear this? Would be really sad if it was true. I too have thought about such a business and indeed have also considered xishuangbanna, which is one of the nicest parts of all of China. However, all things being considered, I find it much easier to set-up something in SE Asia.

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First of all, Thais are foreign tourists too if they are outside of Thailand. Anyway, nice article, I wish these people lots of success. I think it would be nice if there were more westerners (and foreigners in general) travelling in Xishuangbanna, because right now it's a world away from neighboring Laos and Vietnam. In fact, even though it's so restrictive, I find it easier to come across other travellers in Myanmar than in Xishuangbanna...why is that? I look forward to the day you can find a central backpacker district in Jinghong that looks like its equivalent in Laos filled with hundreds of western backpackers.

Reviews

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Horrible tasteless, thick-crusted "cardboard" like pizzas that are a far cry from what they should be like. Way overpriced too. Wine may be good, but why bother when the nearby Prague Cafe makes much better pizza at a more reasonable price?

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Great Mexican food and ice cream, excellent Raspberry smoothies and an overall good atmosphere. Can't do much about the low ceilings on the second floor, but the early closing time could be adjusted, after all, the nearby French Cafe closes at 1am.