User profile: bluppfisk

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Kunming to Ubon Ratchathani (Thailand) and most of all: back

Hey

I'm planning a cycle trip in the spring break from Kunming down to Thai Ubon Ratchathani (to see a friend and shit). Now, this is a call for tips and advice. For instance: which border crossings can I do overland (from Yunnan to Laos and from Laos to Thailand) and can I then get a visa at the border?

Is Myanmar accessible for cyclists (i.e. could I skip Laos and go through Myanmar to Thailand instead?)

And thirdly, I'm probably not cycling back due to lack of time. Are there busses/trains from Ubon or elsewhere in Thailand that will take me back to Kunming? Or need I switch transport? Which would be the most ideal way to get back, considering that boxing up a bicycle for a plane is a pain and that putting it into a bus is no good news for the gears?

Other tips and advice are also welcome!

fiskjäveln

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Forums > Living in Kunming > VPN services, which one?!

fixmylag sounds promising. It must be really fast then, also for intiating new connections? How does the smartphone support work? Do you need extra software to use it or can you just use any VPN-software to access the service? I.e. Can I use it on my android-phone without additional software?

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Very interesting data crunch there Matt.

What I cannot understand, is why there are no longer any connections to Hanoi since Vietnam Airlines cancelled the route two years ago. It's probably the closest foreign capital city to Kunming, and the overland trip takes at least 18 hours, so a flight route would make sense. Also, Vietnam is by some standards one of the world's fastest growing economies so I really don't get it. Are relations that cool?

As for the next international flight to and from Kunming, my money wouldn't be on Amsterdam, as rivalling Chengdu already has a direct route there. Even though the flower business is blooming in Yunnan, that hasn't compelled KLM to add a Kunming route.

Given the sheer number of Belgians in Yunnan, the new destination must of course be Brussels.

Reviews

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First and last experience. Absolutely horrible. I came in late with a big flesh wound. The doctor sewed it up and told me to come back in the morning "perhaps to redo it, and to change the bandage". When I did come back the next morning, they just changed the bandage and sent me off.

When I peeked at my own wound, I noticed it was horribly done. "Like a vet did the stitches," as someone commented. I then had to stay a night in a different hospital in order to do it right, with a 40% chance of getting infections. This cost me a lot more, thanks to Richland fucking up in the beginning.

Whatever X-rays were taken were not printed out and given to me so I couldn't go to another hospital for a second opinion or treatment.

The nurses didn't seem to know where half the things were and the doctors had to repeat orders to get basic things like scissors.

In the next hospital, it was noticed that I had fractured my jaw in two places. On the five X-Rays taken at Richland, they did not notice the fractures.

Pretty sure these people are not actual doctors and are therefore criminal.

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Super place. Really cool interior, lots of good beers and drinks, fun toilet inside the telephone booth, and an interesting clientele.

Cons: pretty hard to find, no matching glasses for the imported beers, and home brews need some work.

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Teaching and support lamentable.

Four people signed up for the highest-level class and got a teacher who does all the talking, refers to herself as 老师 and makes classes absolutely uninteresting. As of this moment, only 1 person is still going on a regular basis.

While staff is friendly, they are absolutely incapable to help out with visa matters in an adequate way. Lack of information beforehand, lack of support and lack of information during the visa process meant that I am waiting forever for my residence permit to be processed, without any information about why it's taking so long, why they can't get started ... I'd say this school is a good option if all you wanted is a visa, but they can't even handle this properly.

Anyone giving this school a 5-star rating hasn't been to any decently-run schools in Kunming, such as Keats'. The only redeeming quality is facilities and space, those are indeed excellent.

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Have been studying at Keats for almost four semesters now and I'm very enthusiastic about the quality of the teachers and the commitment of the school's staff.

One point of criticism is that I think they could put in some effort to group people of the same level together, rather than base it on who was together in last semester's class.

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I stayed here in the early days of March 2013. Dave and his wife are swell owners, the staff attentive, the food good, rooms in perfect order, WiFi fast enough... Much like the old hump, the entire place is an excellent place to relax and make friends. And that is what you come to do in Dali, after all. The location is a bit isolated from the old town, but nothing is really far away in Dali. Besides, it makes for a better starting point to walk up Cangshan.