Getting photos printed in poster size or bigger is easy. Decent quality will cost you maybe 60-100 yuan for a 1x2 meters one. Canvas,, no idea.

In Ruili? I guess it's OK. We take a trip there now and then to relax. There's a very nice waterfall, some of the border villages are interesting. There are many Burmese restaurants (recommendable) and you can buy tax free in the many shops on the border. Western brand cigarettes is the only think that really is cheaper than Taobao though, around 100 yuan a tiao. The climate is nice during spring and autumn but it's sweltering in the summer. I haven't been there in winter but people say it's still shorts-and-a-shirt weather then. Also, fresh fruit is cheap AND you can stock up on avocados, I haven't found those on sale anywhere else.

The driving is absolutely horrific and probably just about as bad as it gets in Yunnan. It's minority country so expect motorcycles appearing out of nowhere constantly, seemingly without any knowledge of how braking and right of way works.

If you've seen one temple you've seen them all.

Kunming is like America in the 19th century. People will offer you the bare minimum and if you complain you're escorted out with a solid derriere stamp and a new immigrant is grateful to be offered a job. China's unions are government controlled jokes and only recently have people begun protesting working conditions. Yunnan is backwards and the people are relaxed bordering on lazy and the capitalists getting things done don't trust anyone. It all adds up to a simple supply and demand scenario. As long as there is a demand for these crappy jobs, the conditions of the supply do not change, which realistically boils down to four options: Shut up and work. Get the hell out of Dodge. Try to unionise (and see how that one plays out), or finally, move on or branch out to other areas of business and employment as many of us have done.

Finally: If a school tries to lower salaries they are greedy bastards who don't deserve a shred of respect, especially if they simultaneously are bragging about their successes, and people should be warned about them.

If a school promises to supply the applicants with a TESOL training and does not comply, they should be outed and prospective applicants must be warned.

Btw,, did the school lower the promised pay while at the same time offering accommodation? Does it balance out somehow?

PS. Am I the only one who thought this part sounded fishy and fake?

"..and during my contract the staff at this school have shown me the utmost kindness that continued to the day that I left. Every time I was sick they personally helped me at hospitals and mediated between the doctors and me. Every bill I had to pay, they paid for me and I reimbursed them."

I've been to Ruili 4-5 times and I can confirm that they don't allow overland passage for Westerners. That said, policies change regularly depending on a myriad of factors so the Ruili agency thing might be real. Tom is correct that visas need to be done from Kunming (only place in Yunnan) beforehand. I don't know if it helps, but you're normally allowed to cross into China from Myanmar through the Yunnan crossings. It might not be worth the hassle though considering you'd have to fly there first and arrange a ton of things after that. Also since few to no Westerners arrive from there, the border check might not be pleasant nor quick.