The tropical botanical garden at Menglun (勐仑) is quite nice, I went there for the first time in November and was very impressed. One can easily spend a day or two there and still not see everything there is to see.
I really enjoyed the afternoon I spent there and only saw a fraction of what there was to see. My favorite part was a less-visited section of pristine rainforest in the back.
There's a hotel located within the garden compound where you can stay overnight, allowing you to essentially have the entire facility to yourselves.
If you choose to stay a day or so, you may want to stock up on food. There's plenty of tasty tropical fruit to be picked up in Jinghong or Menglun. If you want to have a picnic there it may be worth stopping by Wangtianshu Deli (www.gokunming.com/en/listings/item/wan_31347/) in Jinghong before heading out:
It takes about 60-90 minutes to get to Menglun from Jinghong by car. I'd recommend showing up around one or two pm, as during mornings the park has a lot of tour groups passing through. That gives you an afternoon with the gardens basically to yourselves.
If you don't mind taking a little extra time to get to Menglun, I'd suggest rafting from Jinghong downstream to Ganlanba (橄榄坝) and taking a car east from there. It is possible in Jinghong to arrange a driver to meet you at Ganlanba.
Enjoy your trip!
Interview: Bunny
Posted by@tamar: Her new shop is on Shiqiaopu, I've updated the address and phone number, map point may be slightly off, but it's a short street so you should be able to find it:
www.gokunming.com/en/listings/item/bun_119/
Giveaway: "Chinese Standards"
Posted byCongratulations to Dave Schilling, who will be on the guest list plus two at "Chinese Standards" Saturday night at Nordica. The answers:
1. Which TCG Nordica founder won a Nobel prize this year? -Tomas Tranströmer
2. In what category did he/she win the prize? - Literature
3. What does the 'TCG' in 'TCG Nordica' stand for? - Tranströmer Culture Gallery
Fatal beating puts spotlight on security guards
Posted byIt turns out that there may have been a third beating victim and the security guards may have been from a nearby KTV, but media reports on the matter have been all over the place. This post/video on Shanghaiist sums up the Chinese media's rather difficult job:
shanghaiist.com/2011/10/12/cctv-journalist-kunming-psb.php
China's men's footballers remain undefeated in Kunming
Posted by@Tim_W: As you probably noticed, the AFC website doesn't say where fixtures are scheduled to be held. I'm guessing there won't be any further matches at Tuodong Stadium, but I'm happy to be wrong. Unfortunately, events like this aren't promoted so well, and even buying tickets usually requires knowing someone - not surprising in a town that scrapped its initial plans for the Olympic torch to pass through town and then made it a VIP event out at Yunnan Minorities Village at the last minute.
Giveaway: 500KM City Music Festival
Posted byCongratulations to reader Bryan Allen, who was the first to provide us with all four correct answers:
1. Wild Horses
2. lip-syncing
3. Lijiang
4. Devils on the doorstep (鬼子来了)
Thanks to Bryan and all who participated in the giveaway... watch this space for more giveaways in the future!