I'm amazed that the GoKunming community hasn't, so far, jumped at the opportunity to bitch and moan about the old Uprock.
C'mon people. Give us your feedback on what the new place should be like. We're all ears.....
Uprock will be moving to a new spot in Kundu about 400 metres from the old location.
We will be keeping the best parts about Uprock; good music, cheap drinks, relaxed atmosphere and shifting it all to a slightly bigger place albeit with no roof terrace.
Currently the new place is under construction but if you have any suggestions about what to add, keep or discard from the old Uprock, please tell us.
We're planning to expand the range of beers available and on re-opening will boast one of Kunming's best selection of imported beers. If you have a favourite beer that you'd like us to stock, please tell us which one.
We expect to be open in mid June with a couple of big parties.
Watch this space!
They certainly look quite nice, I didn't realise that they were so cheap.
I was up at Metro a few months back and they had a VW Beetle knock-off type car selling for 40+k. I can't remember the make or model
I personally would like to get my hands on the Great Wall Hover. I've been told that the basic model is 80k or so but if you want to get all the gadgets and gizmos they're a bit over 100k.
www.gwm.com.cn/eng/html/models/hover.asp
The issue is always whether the thing is reliable long term and how much money you spend on it and how much time it's in the repair shop.
My current car is a complete piece of junk (old Cherokee) but the engine was built in the states. So whilst the outside of the car is falling apart, it still rumbles around fairly happily despite its age. The only real maintenance work I have to do on it is minor.
I quite often ask taxi drivers about prices and quality of cars. They often seem to know which cars are fuel efficient, break down a lot etc. Failing that, ask a Chinese friend if they know anyone who works in a garage to give you some tips.
If you do buy it, it would be great if you would write a review of the process and any issues that arise.
You can definitely buy Alaskans in Kunming and I'd guess the best place to go would be the market on Jinhua Pulu.
Coincidentally, I am looking to get a new dog and was thinking of looking for an unwanted one (you'd be surprised how many people take their sick dogs to the vet and then abandon them). I asked my vet whether she knew of any such dogs and she told me she has either a husky or an alaskan (it's slipped my mind) that somebody dumped with her.
If you'd be interested in getting this dog I'd be happy to put you in touch with her to see if it's still there. I'm afraid I can't tell you anything about the dog's age, gender, condition as I never asked. The vet's do expect people to pay for the medical bills of the dog though.
There are 30 odd breeds banned in Kunming. I think that if you go to a vet they have posters depicting the banned ones on the wall.
The obvious ones are on the list, Pitbulls, Bulldogs, Rottweilers, Tibetan Mastiffs plus a few bizarre ones; Afghan Hounds, one that looks like a Red/Irish Setter and another fairly innocuous breed. According to the list there is a banned breed called the Kunming Farmer Dog. Only in China could the government invent a breed just to ban it!
Sadly they didn't ban small yappy rodent-like mutts.
The ban is not enforced stringently but I had a visit by no less than 5 coppers who wanted to inspect my doggy passports. I think they react to complaints rather than being out looking for banned breeds.
From what I've seen, when you take your dog into be registered and pay your registration fee (Dog Tax) they police look at your dog and compare it to the poster. So long as your dog doesn't look like a banned breed they'll go ahead and register it. If it looks anything like a banned one then they'll refuse. They can however be persuaded and as far as I could tell they know little to nothing about dogs.
No results found.
Update/Retraction:
I went to the new Red Star on Jinhua PuLu last night (they've moved across the road) hoping to have a good steak and a chat with some friends.
From the moment I walked in I had a bad feeling about the place. There were swarms of fuwuyuan all over delighted to welcome us with synchronized yells but nobody seated us. We found a table upstairs and ordered three of their French Steaks and some beers. After waiting 15 minutes our beers hadn't arrived so we called over an indignant waiter who bluntly told us we hadn't ordered any.
Having re-ordered our beers and confirmed how we wanted our steak cooked we began our discussions only for the speaker next to us to crackle into life at full volume. Unable to hear a thing we moved to a table away from the speaker where we still struggled to hold a conversation. We asked the staff to turn the music down which to our surprise they did. Within 5 minutes, however, they cranked the music back up whereupon we again complained that we were eating and unable to hear a thing. Another indignant (and this time belligerent) waiter told us that after 8pm Red Star turns into a bar and thus loud music was a pre-requisite.
We ate up quickly and left.
Whatever charm the Red Star used to have has gone. The new place is huge, the staff are beyond useless and completely unable to answer the simplest question, the bathroom is brand new and looks like it's already been through 30 years of use, the food average and the general feeling is that they don't care at all about customer experience.
After all this time it seems that Bernie was right!
28th Jan 2007
Whilst I'm loathe to defend the Red Star I must point out that 'niche' doesn't equate to 'standards'. If I may point out a few similarities between the two:
1. Both Bluebird and Red Star are multi-level bar-restaurants with roof gardens.
2. Both Blue Bird and Red Star have live music in the evenings (BB a Filipino keyboard-crooner couple and RS a guitarist)
3. Both BB & RS are quiet drinking venues outside eating times.
4. Both BB & RS serve western food, chinese food, Thai food, Italian etc. In fact the menu content is surprisingly similar (RS is perhaps a third or quarter of BB's price).
5. Both BB & RS were designed rustic-style. BB just renovated and RS was renovated badly.
And finally whilst BB may have a 'chef' to RS's 'cook', the RS's cooks, in the most part, used to work as chefs in BB.
The RS is quite plainly an imitation of BB with lower standards. It is the Wimpey to BB's Burger King.
Next time (of if) you go, try the French Steak at Red Star and then head over to Bluebird for the same. Sour and Spicy Noodles, iron-skillet squid, spicy devil fried rice, pizza, pasta, the list goes on....
Pretty much the same recipes but made with lower quality ingredients, presented less professionally and delivered by waiters with a quarter of the IQ, in a setting that as Bernie rightly states could have been knocked up in a couple of hours on Wenlin Jie.
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Red Star is very much in the same niche as Bluebird but not quite as expensive. The restaurant is on 3 floors, I'd recommend going up to the roof terrace for the best atmosphere especially if you want to eat. The second floor is more of a bar with lower ceiling and smoky atmosphere.
I had some pretty good food last time I went to Red Star. In the past though it has been hit or miss. I'd recommend the steak and the chicken burrito isn't bad.
The one thing that brings the Red Star down is the service. The waiters look like they've been pulled out of the Firebird, thrown into uniform and told to stand around and ignore customers. They are masters at avoiding eye contact.
If you like Red Star get one of their VIP discount cards for 100 kuai. The savings tot up pretty quickly.
Oh and don't try the house wine. It's foul (makes Yunnan Red seem like premier cru bordeaux!)
3 1/2 stars for food
0 stars for service
In the past few weeks most, if not all, of the Feiyang branches have upgraded menus and some have renovated. Annoyingly some of my favourite dishes have disappeared to be be replaced with poor but expensive replacements.
From my last visit expect prices to have nearly doubled - I kid you not.
This is my favourite Feiyang. It's a lot more spacious than the one on Jiaoling Lu.
Other reviewers have given a good description of the food and service. However I have to reiterate the Japanese beef is awesome.
For draft beer fans, they stock KK draft. It's nothing special but it's cold and wet and 15 kuai a pitcher.
Feiyang have discount cards that can get you up to 15% off. Used to cost 100 kuai or sometimes a friendly manager gives you a free one.
Depending on what you order, meals can cost from 20-40 kuai per head (with drinks). I think it's best to go in a larger group so you can get more variety without wasting too much food.
It closes at 2am for late night snackers.
Who were the ad wizards behind this one?
Posted byNice one! I found some eye drops in Kunming whose usage was only recomended when "the eye fucks the eye". This one was just a silly translation but don't must Chinese translators know that "fuck" is a dirty word?
Beerlao returns
Posted byBeer Lao is now available in Chapter One, Salvadors, and Speakeasy (No Dark Beer at Sp'easy). French Cafe may well be next on the Beer Lao circuit.
If anybody has a bar that is interested in stocking Beer Lao please contact me at Chapter One or thru this site. For Beer Lao sales in Dali, contact Brian at Dragonfly Garden.