I don't know the actual school, but I do personally know MattYuxi and the British guy who runs the school. Both are top quality people I'd put a lot of trust in.
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Apparently the visa office in Hekou just walks into Lao Cai with your passport, gets a visa and then returns it to you in two hours time. It's the fastest service and costs around 400 RMB. They can only do 1-month visas, though. I'll try it (with some days to spare in case everything goes tits up) and let you know.
I'm not talking about visas on arrival, I want to get one in Hekou.
Being an amazing cook doesn't make you a chef, or a restaurant manager for that matter. Ask the scores of businesses that have perished within the year, or are struggling to get some patronage who turn out extremely dissatisfied because the place is in disrepair, the staff uninterested, the food made with ingredients that have been lying around and the menu reduced to half because the volume doesn't support it any more.
Don't let that put you off - a good curry restaurant will be popular - but be warned that it's not a walk in the park to set up a hospitality business anywhere, let alone in China.
The real question is whether you want to give up all the perks that come with your qualifications (news anchor, PhD) to teach uninterested high-school (or worse, kindergarten) kids or to cook curries for a record-low wage in Kunming. Add in the pestering visa rules and daily annoyances, and my conclusion would be that you'd have to be very flexible and interested in the things that Kunming has to offer: great climate, learning Chinese, good outdoor options, seeing China develop ... Or you're not going to cut it beyond drinking in expat bars for a year or so.
Gome is 国美 in Chinese, there are several departments but like all mainland Chinese electronics shops, they are way too expensive.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Interview: punk band Hell Yeah
Posted bySo when can we see them in Kunming? Also, what's a 磨磨厅？
Li Ping fundraisers
Posted byI'm impressed that over 10,000 USD have already been collected in such a short while. I'm also happily surprised at GoKunming's continued efforts to support this cause. Now those last 14,000 can't be such a problem, can they?
Kunming to become more civilized
Posted byWhat's wrong with the spitting? People running in the West spit all the time while they do so. I know plenty people that spit on a regular basis and they're not all Chinese. The only thing that's different is that the Chinese like to lead in with a long loud snort.
Having monsters like the Chengguan enforce civil behaviour is a joke by itself. Last time I saw them in action, two of them picked up an old street vendor by his arms and legs, tossed him into the air and let him land hard on his back. 文明？我的屁股。
Kunming approves eight new subway lines
Posted byWell, nothing in Kunming is anything like Shanghai or Beijing. Don't expect it to be anywhere near as good.
I know of only one convenient yet extensive light rail system so far, and that's Berlin's. Almost all of the time your connection arrives at other side of the platform you arrived at, only in some cases do you have to take a flight of stairs and almost never do you have to walk over 2 min.
I don't expect that to happen here though.
Getting Away: Sapa
Posted byTrekking is just a another word invented by Lonely Planet to make the sorry excuses for travelling they promote sound cool.
As in "I just did this totally awesome jungle trek with these crazy locals. It was so humid man, my iPad like hardly survived it."