DavidJorm, "And the foreigners are by far the worst". Right,, coz the Chinese are very considerate when it comes to smoking. How exactly do you smoke "in an obnoxious manner",, do people come up to you to blow smoke in your face? Most foreigners here only smoke where Chinese people smoke in the first place,, I do not believe we are worse than the Chinese when it comes to that. The nanny state you (we) have back home wants smokers to wear flourescent green jackets when we smoke outside so that innocent bystanders can keep their distance. If you don't like smoking you sure came to the wrong part of the world :-)
hehe,, I completely forgot about the queue issue. 5000 years of history and noone figured out that everything runs more smoothly if you accept this weird and decievingly simple concept. Next time I'll have to get on a bus I'll tiptoe around the old ladies, trip a kid and elbow a couple of guys. If they start to complain I'll have my "This is China,, if you don't like it,," speech ready.
1. The climate is nice and comfy
2. The food is good and cheap
3. Housing is affordable
4. The lifestyle is relaxed
5. The girls are hot and approachable :-)
6. Most of the people I've met are nice and friendly
7. You can smoke without people beating you up
8. Taxis are cheap and all around if you need one (very different from my country), so are busses.
9. Vendors generally don't try to rip you off, Beijing sucks to that extent.
10. Kunming is probably one of the best tier 2 cities to live in in China.
Let's go for a controversial thread for once,, God knows this site could use one. :-) "Kunming" can easily be replaced by "China" if you prefer.
1. People spit everywhere and all the time.
2. The traffic is getting worse and worse.
3. A kid is one thing but I've seen grownups taking a dump in the street too.
4. The Lets-all-get-together-and-puke-our-guts-out gatherings in Kundu every morning from 3 to 5 AM.
5. Seeing people beating up their girlfriend in the street and noone does anything about it.
6. Seeing people fighting in the 5-v-1 style and noone stops untill the guy is near to death.
7. Taxi drivers having no clue where to go unless you put on a hefty Kunminghua dialect.
8. The women with a rent-a-kid on their backs grabbing your arm and screaming insults if you don't give them money.
9. The amount of thieves.
10. The way people look at you if you are walking together with a Chinese girl.
I gotta say I kinda like this city though,, I much prefer it to Beijing or one of the other cities I've seen in China. It's definately not the worst place you can be in the world :-)
I arrived in Kunming about 3 months ago, I am working at a language school and trying to learn Chinese at the same time. I have three days off a week and I have been thinking about spending one of those days doing some kind of volunteer work at an orphanage or something similar. Do you have any experience in these matters or any idea where to start if you want to do something like this?
While I think it's fine to regulate prepared food sellers I really don't have a problem with people selling fruit or vegetables out of a van or a cart. These people are usually sensible enough to set up where they don't bother traffic as opposed to say the morons in huge black show off cars being absolutely fine with parking on the sidewalk so nobody can pass.
In my area they recently closed the two nearest outdoor markets and opened a new one below a brand new apartment complex. Our regular go-to-cha-shao-rou seller moved there and he told us rent was up 400 percent. It's not hard to understand why many people would consider an alternative. We roughly pay twice as much for our greens as the vendors buy them for, so again, not hard to see why some farmers would try to sell their stuff themselves.
The "First offence,," idea is meaningless -to no one's surprise, it's a government proposal after all- so hopefully they can come up with something better.
Bruce: It's probably enough just to stand there and look at them. Filming or pretending to film can get you in trouble, especially as a foreigner. It's grounds for deportation to film government officials, government buildings and the police or military "in action".
If you aren't familiar with that area it can be a bit tricky to find. Start at Wen Miao bus stop (Confucian Temple) on Ren min zhong lu. You can spot a Dairy Queen from there. Turn left at the Dairy Queen and you'll be walking along the back of the mall, it's a small pedestrian street. It's probably a 3-4 minutes walk and Rocco's is in the left side. There are plenty of decent restaurants on that street as well and the prices are reasonable.
Interesting story. I think it's hard for us more recent arrivals to understand how Kunming was just 10-15 years ago. After having tried a pizza at his newest place I personally am glad Rocco decided to settle here :)
Went there yesterday and it totally made my week. Nice decor and friendly staff and a real salad bar. Sadly we both wanted mexican food so I can't really say much about their other courses. The food was great but just a tad spicier would have improved the dish. The best thing was that we almost had the place to ourselves and we could have a quiet conversation without shouting, spitting Chinese people in the background. I realised how much I had missed that since coming here.
We went to Chicago Coffee a couple of days ago and it was a nice experience. The place is cozy with soft comfy chairs (I realized how much I have missed one since coming here) and they have a nice little collection of English language books in the corner consisting mainly of classics and travel litterature. I was looking forward to trying their advertized tortilla bar but it wasn't up and running that evening.
Instead we went for 2 12 inch pizzas -roast chicken and pepperoni- but we quickly realized that 1 would have been enough. Those things are heavy. I am mainly into Italian style pizza but Chicago's double layered pizzas are well worth a try. Their coffee seems to be a bit on the expensive side but people say good things about it and they have got a nice selection. I wouldn't mind dropping by again some day,, hopefully when they've got the tortilla thing going. English speaking staff btw.
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Kunming proposes reforms to chengguan procedures
Posted byWhile I think it's fine to regulate prepared food sellers I really don't have a problem with people selling fruit or vegetables out of a van or a cart. These people are usually sensible enough to set up where they don't bother traffic as opposed to say the morons in huge black show off cars being absolutely fine with parking on the sidewalk so nobody can pass.
In my area they recently closed the two nearest outdoor markets and opened a new one below a brand new apartment complex. Our regular go-to-cha-shao-rou seller moved there and he told us rent was up 400 percent. It's not hard to understand why many people would consider an alternative. We roughly pay twice as much for our greens as the vendors buy them for, so again, not hard to see why some farmers would try to sell their stuff themselves.
The "First offence,," idea is meaningless -to no one's surprise, it's a government proposal after all- so hopefully they can come up with something better.
Bruce: It's probably enough just to stand there and look at them. Filming or pretending to film can get you in trouble, especially as a foreigner. It's grounds for deportation to film government officials, government buildings and the police or military "in action".
Starbucks moving into Yunnan to support China expansion
Posted bySo comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
Starbucks unites the human race.
Interview: Dr Wang Xiaowei
Posted byGood man, good man. The world needs more of his kind.
Interview: Rocco Capasso
Posted byIf you aren't familiar with that area it can be a bit tricky to find. Start at Wen Miao bus stop (Confucian Temple) on Ren min zhong lu. You can spot a Dairy Queen from there. Turn left at the Dairy Queen and you'll be walking along the back of the mall, it's a small pedestrian street. It's probably a 3-4 minutes walk and Rocco's is in the left side. There are plenty of decent restaurants on that street as well and the prices are reasonable.
Interview: Rocco Capasso
Posted byInteresting story. I think it's hard for us more recent arrivals to understand how Kunming was just 10-15 years ago. After having tried a pizza at his newest place I personally am glad Rocco decided to settle here :)