Forums > Study > Yunnan University vs. Yunnan Nationalities University Yunnan University of Nationalities is so-so...most of the foreign students studying there are either from Thailand or Laos, in the case of the Thai students, most of them are there on a 2 year program learning Chinese to become Chinese teachers back home. There are probably no more than 5 western students in the whole university, so keep that in mind unless of course you'd prefer to make friends from these regional countries and of course with Chinese students instead.
The dorms at YUN also suck badly, although the foreigner's dorms are marginally better than the Chinese student's dorms. Still, the construction of new apartments behind the dorms often goes on at night as well, so if you do want to study there, choose the new campus, though the disadvantages would be distance from the city, as the new campus is located in Chenggong, on the outskirts of greater Kunming and entertainment, food and even transport options are quite limited, though the university does operate regular buses to the city campus for free.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Cable TV in Kunming Anyone know a good company to get cable TV service from? I am talking about a provider that offers the usual English language stations that you get in SE Asia and all over the world, including CNN, BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel etc. as well as presumably Chinese language ones. Any idea about costs, contractual obligations etc.?
Forums > Living in Kunming > Kunming sucks the life out of me... Forget Chinese food in Kunming...it's mostly just peas or corn on a plate, much like western food but just served in a different way, and cooked in peanut oil rather than vegetable or olive oil...that's the only difference.
Whatever happened to dim sum and kung pao chicken? You know, the good stuff? Anyway, you can find plenty of great Chinese food in Kunming (cross-the-bridge noodles and hot pot) and of course foreign food. You don't ever have to touch Chinese food if you don't want to, so I don't see the point of complaining about it given you can just eat foreign food (pizzas, burgers, pasta, sushi, Thai and Indian food etc.) everyday. Or make it yourself at home.
Forums > Living in Kunming > What's it going to be like? I agree with all these comments, though I HATE those stares. They may be curious, but it is rude and ignorant to stare for any length of time. I can understand watching a crime scene or a traffic accident for a length of time but not a person. A quick glance might be OK, but imagine if we stared at someone back home. Most likely we'd end up with a black eye.
If people are curious, they should just come up to us and talk...there's nothing more intimidating and uncomfortable than some jackass staring with his eyeballs half way outside their sockets and then going away or some other asshole saying hellooooo!! thinking that's even remotely funny (it's not...get a life and find out what real humor is all about).
I'm wondering what your experiences have been so far xuqiu19. Hopefully positive and I sincerely hope that your experiences have not been too bad...unfortunately this country still has a long way to go to achieve racial equality.
Forums > Living in Kunming > People wanting to learn Spanish... it's ok as a hobby on the side, but obviously it makes more sense to go to a country where that language is actually used, otherwise you won't make much progress.
Video: Kunming driver crosses pedestrian bridge
Posted byI'm surprised his car was still driveable and didn't end up with a zillion dents (or maybe it did). I wouldn't dare drive like that knowing that damaging my car is almost certain if I were to attempt that and secondly I have more regard for the safety of pedestrians than this bozo did.
Still, this was an entertaining piece of news.
Kunming addresses taxi shift change troubles
Posted byYep...though I'm more used to getting hassled than ignored. I thought we were all walking atms to these guys! Haha...anyway, it really depends though, because those taxi drivers that constantly pester you in places like Vietnam often rip you off, but if you go for the ones that are not specifically looking for fares they'll actually use the meters. Of course, taxis are better than motorcycle taxis though since they are less likely to rip you off. Also, you can almost always find a taxi or something else when you need one in those countries, even during rush hour. Something that's hard to do in Kunming and even Shanghai...
Also, apart from the occassional three-wheeled scooter or electric scooter driver willing to drive you somewhere, there are few alternative forms of transport in Kunming apart from the standard forms you'd see in the west: buses and taxis (and eventually, a subway). Only on the outskirts of town will you find motorcycle taxis who congregate around tourist spots such as the Nationalities Village, but these guys don't pick up fares inside town, probably because they aren't allowed to, I presume.
Kunming addresses taxi shift change troubles
Posted byWhat i find that's totally bizarre to me is that in a developing country like China, no taxi driver follows a foreigner like would happen in neighboring Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia or elsewhere. In those countries, you don't look for the taxis, they look for you! In Kunming and China in general, you can walk down the street and no taxi driver will ever stop for you unless you want them to.
Yunnan preparing warily for China smoking ban
Posted byTell the people to look at the signs and see what their reaction is! If they don't react, tell them that they can't read (which is what I would assume, if someone was just so oblivious to a sign right above their head).