Don't think this was mentioned: There are lots of hidden prices and extras (some necessities) that many sites don't mention. Many of the top selling sites pay Taobao to be listed on page 1 or 2 as well. Example: Say you're looking for a tablet computer since Taobao has so many Chinese brands with excellent value for money. You see the first 3-4 shops advertising it for 899 yuan, and the rest from 999 to 1299 or whatever. When you go to check out the 899 site you find out there's no charger, no sd card, no cables, no cover, no HDMI, you name it. Great for some, but most of us need at least some of that stuff. You clock the Option 3 or 4 to get all the extras as well, and ding, the price goes up to 1299 as well or higher, which is the price the other shops used as well.
I've noticed this approach has become more and more common over the past couple of years. Fridge in polished aluminium pictured for 2500? Get in there and find out it's the boring white one for that price. Looking for an electric car for your toddler, 600 yuan? Cool, until you find out that you need to buy a better engine and batteries if you want to to run for more than 5 minutes.
In your price range, I'd definitely go for the Changfeng second hand. There are tonnes of those in China and they're surprisingly reliable. Even if they break down, they can get fixed almost anywhere. If I remember correctly, the 4x4 starts at 120.000 from the dealer, so you'll definitely be able to find a 3-4 years old one for half that. Even in Yunnan. Sean1 is right on the money with his assessment of the 2nd hand market here. I've seen adds for cars with 100.000 km on them, and the owner still wants 90 percent of what he forked over 5 years ago. The Yunnanese are still farmers when it comes to cars.
So I haven't been to Kunming for almost 2 years. I find the searches I've done regarding the metro rather confusing, not being able to find clear info on what's open and running. I assume the light rail to the new airport is fine, so that takes me as far as the Eastern Bus Station I guess. From there, is there a line going to the Wen Miao area or should I just jump into a taxi?
I don't think using a different font -this is assuming they'd even want to give me a new BC almost 2 years in- would do much since his name covers the male/female field and goes way into the date of birth one as well. My consulate told us to get it notarized and legalized but I guess that also means we have to take another trip back to Kunming (gotta love the bureaucracy here), but I'm not sure that even accomplishes anything. The notary public is supposed to translate the document to English, but is he even allowed to write a name he can not truly make out?
Nah, everything was fine with the midwife and the doctors/adm. The problem was fitting a foreign name into the standard birth certificate. Our BC is one of those green ones with everything in Chinese and English, but not enough room for the name. I'm wondering if other foreigners with kids here have/had the same problem. Did you get a standard certificate or is there a special one for foreign names that our hospital just didn't know about or could offer?
The entrance fees are and will be a concern for national tourists though I don't really know if Yunnan's direct competitors are charging similar sky rocketing ticket prices or not. Furthermore Kunming is going to get passed by as a stopover for tourists now that nearly every area worth visiting in Yunnan has an airport and frankly I can't blame tourists for not including Kunming in their plans.
This place might still be a decent place to live and work but honestly, what is there to see around here for a tourist? The Stone Forest it the only one think I can think about but there are karst formations all over Southern China, many of which are nicer and cheaper to visit than the one near Kunming. In 5 years Chinese tourists will fly into Shangri-La, take a bus or train to Lijiang, fly from there to Tengchong, then they'll fly to Jinhong (or whatever Sipsangpanna's main city is called) and from there they'll go back home. Kunming's tourist industry is pretty much fxcked and the hiked up fees all over Yunnan will ensure that no one ever comes back to visit.
Furthermore I think we all have a feeling that not only do we get screwed over when we want to visit the scenic spots but also that the money we have to cough up end up in the wrong pockets, or at least will be spent on anything else than preserving the natural beauty of the blah blah blah that every area claim.
Yet another hypocrite fundamentalist Christian succumbs to his inner homosexual. Loudmouth overcompensating in public equals schadenfreude when caught. I like the Shanghaiist's no-nonsense story on the whole deal.
"Looks like: good judgement, self control, integrity, healthy relationships, communication skills with parents, resisting peer pressure, and respecting yourself and others, are good topics to bring to high schoolers!"
I agree. My point is that these values can easily be taught without the influence of a religious group claiming some sort of god given patent on them.
The FOTF refer to itself as fundamentalist Christian. While I shake my head at all the different religions I reserve the right to step it up a notch and use nutjob for people who are fundamentalists (here in the sense of taking the ramblings in the bible literally as facts and truths).
"Nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide." is FOTF's official mission.
One could of course argue that the family is a natural development in human evolution since we in order to function efficiently as upright bi-pedal beings developed a narrow birth canal hence our offspring needed to be born early before the skull grew too large. Ergo we had to devote lots of resources from both father and mother to allow the child to develop sufficiently to take care of itself. Bingo,, the family was born, but let's save that discussion for some other day.
Now I wonder what the -supposedly atheist- central government in Beijing has to say when Hu and Wen discover that Yunnan has let fundamentalist Christian nutjobs influence the educational system.
/
"A professor at Yunnan University's student counseling center told Global Times that young women should not have sex prior to marriage.
"If a girl had sex with her boyfriend, she would become mentally dependent on the boy," Yang said. "It would do no good for her studies and daily life."
-Why don't you just mind your own damn business professor Yang? Who gave you the right to morally lecture people and dictate how they live their lives and what exactly qualifies you to do such a thing? Nice sexist view towards women you display by the way. Obviously females are incapable of thinking for themselves so you and other fools like you have to do it for them. How the hell can this guy be allowed to teach at a university??
/
Some dumb sheep said on Yunnan.cn:
"This way of thinking is very good. Old Master Confucius said as much more than 2,000 years ago. But this step comes a little late, now only using educational materials won't get the job done, things like the internet, television and movies must be controlled."
I wouldn't even know where to begin with this one.
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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Yunnan's tourism industry lagging behind its neighbors
Posted byThe entrance fees are and will be a concern for national tourists though I don't really know if Yunnan's direct competitors are charging similar sky rocketing ticket prices or not. Furthermore Kunming is going to get passed by as a stopover for tourists now that nearly every area worth visiting in Yunnan has an airport and frankly I can't blame tourists for not including Kunming in their plans.
This place might still be a decent place to live and work but honestly, what is there to see around here for a tourist? The Stone Forest it the only one think I can think about but there are karst formations all over Southern China, many of which are nicer and cheaper to visit than the one near Kunming. In 5 years Chinese tourists will fly into Shangri-La, take a bus or train to Lijiang, fly from there to Tengchong, then they'll fly to Jinhong (or whatever Sipsangpanna's main city is called) and from there they'll go back home. Kunming's tourist industry is pretty much fxcked and the hiked up fees all over Yunnan will ensure that no one ever comes back to visit.
Furthermore I think we all have a feeling that not only do we get screwed over when we want to visit the scenic spots but also that the money we have to cough up end up in the wrong pockets, or at least will be spent on anything else than preserving the natural beauty of the blah blah blah that every area claim.
China men's footballers to battle Syria in Kunming
Posted byFirst chance to watch some live footie in more than 2 years and it's on a Friday where I can't go. :(
American conservative group makes inroads into China's classrooms
Posted byYet another hypocrite fundamentalist Christian succumbs to his inner homosexual. Loudmouth overcompensating in public equals schadenfreude when caught. I like the Shanghaiist's no-nonsense story on the whole deal.
American conservative group makes inroads into China's classrooms
Posted by"Looks like: good judgement, self control, integrity, healthy relationships, communication skills with parents, resisting peer pressure, and respecting yourself and others, are good topics to bring to high schoolers!"
I agree. My point is that these values can easily be taught without the influence of a religious group claiming some sort of god given patent on them.
The FOTF refer to itself as fundamentalist Christian. While I shake my head at all the different religions I reserve the right to step it up a notch and use nutjob for people who are fundamentalists (here in the sense of taking the ramblings in the bible literally as facts and truths).
American conservative group makes inroads into China's classrooms
Posted by"Nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide." is FOTF's official mission.
One could of course argue that the family is a natural development in human evolution since we in order to function efficiently as upright bi-pedal beings developed a narrow birth canal hence our offspring needed to be born early before the skull grew too large. Ergo we had to devote lots of resources from both father and mother to allow the child to develop sufficiently to take care of itself. Bingo,, the family was born, but let's save that discussion for some other day.
Now I wonder what the -supposedly atheist- central government in Beijing has to say when Hu and Wen discover that Yunnan has let fundamentalist Christian nutjobs influence the educational system.
/
"A professor at Yunnan University's student counseling center told Global Times that young women should not have sex prior to marriage.
"If a girl had sex with her boyfriend, she would become mentally dependent on the boy," Yang said. "It would do no good for her studies and daily life."
-Why don't you just mind your own damn business professor Yang? Who gave you the right to morally lecture people and dictate how they live their lives and what exactly qualifies you to do such a thing? Nice sexist view towards women you display by the way. Obviously females are incapable of thinking for themselves so you and other fools like you have to do it for them. How the hell can this guy be allowed to teach at a university??
/
Some dumb sheep said on Yunnan.cn:
"This way of thinking is very good. Old Master Confucius said as much more than 2,000 years ago. But this step comes a little late, now only using educational materials won't get the job done, things like the internet, television and movies must be controlled."
I wouldn't even know where to begin with this one.