@HFCAMPO
Thanks as always for your near encyclopedic knowledge of things in and around Yunnan...and for popping these threads again for reference.
I utterly loathe airplanes and airports, aside from the people-watching opportunities.
@daithi
There are a wealth of professional management, project management, etc opportunities coming to Yunnan and the greater south, west, and central provinces of China. China and especially the inland provinces lack professional management across all sectors, so for a limited time, the windows will open for expat leadership in the areas of high tech, rural and municipal agricultural and environmental sectors, renewable energy sectors (NOT utility scale), healthcare, IT, etc ad infinitum.
China is still a developing country, despite the outward appearances which technology masks, especially in the inland provinces and these are the focus of the 13th Five Year Plans and beyond. EVERY economic industrial sector will see growth, once freed from the shackles of corruption and government innovative sloth.
Japan and even the USA went through the same processes with each successive industrial revolution as those countries geared up again and again, to become world class players and leaders.
Teaching is still an absolutely mandatory requirement, but teaching will migrate to bi-lingual English Chinese, as it already has in many advance management programs.
Several years ago - it was rare to find experienced or certified project managers - PMI certified project managers are beginning to ramp up - even here in the inland.
One can wait for the opportunities to arrive, or create them one's self. The Kunming expat restaurateurs and even the gokunming website are excellent examples of pioneers breaking ground in the west of China. The international five star hotels - while not always perfectly successful, are also harbingers of things to come.
2018 marks the year when China's protectionist barriers will begin to come down (albeit, Chinese style). Even with a domestic growth of 4-5%, this still far exceeds the growth rate of developed countries' economies - and those foreign companies are coming for a slice of that pie, but windows of opportunity don't remain open forever and China is an incredibly quick study - they already occupy several of the top slots for super computing technologies, despite US embargoes on those leading edge technologies. China has yet to field its own domestically designed and produced jet engines. Healthcare IT systems and electronic patient record systems are a virtual greenfield. And of course, the financial sector will absolutely begin sucking global talents into China.
Alibaba recently co-produced the latest Star Trek movie - China's domestic movie economy, which is also part of its soft power projection, is ramping up, and all the related industries that go with it (such as advertising agencies).
China has domestic products which are greenfield in most foreign countries, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine - still regarded by the west as superstition, but increasingly gaining respect and prominence as a science based alternative to traditional western medicine.
On top of all that - responsibly managed companies as opposed to the typical meat grinders that have become the global standard - example employee owned companies.
China suffers from massive pollution, over-fertilization and pesticide pollution, heavy metal pollution of the food chains. Massive opportunities if one can develop business cases and revenue models NOT dependent on sucking money out of Beijing - hence the government's increasing focus on PPP (Public Private Partnerships). Even Japan's newly elected government has announced an incredulous growth plan of 20% over the next five years, in time for the Tokyo Olympics, heavily based on the PPP model.
Opportunities are virtually infinite. The massive uptick in English language training schools in Kunming alone should be an indicator of change - as the result is directly opposite what one would expect given the decrease in significance in the gaokao.
And I wax economically evangelical on economic opportunities in China, especially the South, West, and Central provinces. As for the alleged economic differences between XiJinPing and Li KeQiang - I believe Xi has marked the long-term strategy of China - the strengthening of domestic infrastructure, starting with a lattice of high speed rail networks. Li is probably more focused on the shorter term goals of sustainable prosperity, so I don't currently see them as conflicting, but mutually complementary (just my opinion based on virtually zero knowledge of what those two and their respective supporting organizations are really up to).
Many of the more senior university level expat English teachers I've had the good fortune and honor to meet, typically seed their classes heavily with work experience from their respective fields of expertise, to include extensive industry experience.
Change is coming - and we all know, people hate change - even if it's for the arguably "better".
Google and others make profit from spam mail - those annoying click ads (THANK YOU gokm for NOT falling into that trap) - but China's equivalent and some may say copied social media platforms are executing a plethora of social service ecosystems (in addition to ads) - as the recent gokm WECHAT thread opined.
The opportunities for cross-pollination are infinite. It's not traditional warfare, but the opportunities for economic pioneers and heroes, who demonstrate social responsibility above pure profit is right here in front of us.
We plan to move within China, but for family and environmental issues. Yunnan in general is high altitude and I'm a coastline kind of person, with the seafood itch - not that frozen crap that's shipped in and sits in the freezer until ordered...and we all KNOW chinese restaurants pay no heed to food safety and expiration dates.
Yunnan is full of non-english teaching professional opportunities and the clamp down on corruption makes this province finally an even better place for the future.
I'll always maintain residence here for business purposes, but it's time to spoil myself and the wife and work steadily towards the partial exit plan.
Yep yep yep..those pesky cacheing engines...they NEVER flush as advertised.
That's why you're supposed to use and have a "staging" platform, to test stuff before you dump it on the "live" platform.
No results found.
Took the family here to stroll around and there's a LOT of walking. Many of the stores appear closed, but the bar street nestled inside seems quite well populated.
We chose the Japanese restaurant near the entrance (there are many entrances). The food and service was quite acceptable - from the fruit salad, tuna salad, curry pork cutlet, and the ubiquitous California Sush Rolls (you can buy the small size or the large size).
It rained a little while we were there, which helped drench the heat and humidity. When the sun came out - it was HOT.
If you're lucky, you'll occasionally see people (usually women) wearing minority clothing being photographed by professional photographers. There's also a small photographer's store where you can rent various ethnic clothing and have professional pictures taken (maybe the two are related...now that I think about it).
There's also the ubiquitous game centers (shooting galleries etc) for the kids and unaccompanied teenagers.
It seems the most popular venues were the prolific food courts - but that's probably related to it being lunchtime when we visited. The place is clean and plenty of antiqued door fronts (the wood panels) for those photo shoots.
Capping off the visit, one must of course take pictures on the bridges crossing the lily ponds and the landmark temple spire. We didn't make it to the surrounding temples. Maybe next time.
Transportation is everywhere - but make sure you have your mobile phone ride share app working, just in case you hit rush hour.
Again - for now - it seems many vendors were closed - but I'm positive that'll change again as the economy begins to rebound.
Excellent way to spend a half day as opposed to the kids faces glued to their mobile devices...fresh air, good food, plenty of people watching, and walking...walking...walking...
Took the family here a few days ago. Wonderful place to go walking with lots of snack & drink kiosks (along with chairs and tables) to rest frequently. This zoo is similar to most other large open air zoos with reasonably spacious enclosures. This place is HUGE so be prepared for a LOT of walking. Consider wearing sensible hiking or walking shoes. Your feet will be grateful.
Entrance fees when we went still cny100 for adults and kids cny70. Feeding the animals at the managed venues - cny30 per site...per child. Monkeys can be fed by tossing carrots and sliced apples into their enclosure - which is good. Monkeys famous for flash mobbing. Can be terrifying for kids (and adults). Even in the enclosures, you can clearly see they're territorial and aggressive. Bullying is displayed frequently enough for teaching moments for the kids (cuz there are monkeys in all schools everywhere in the world).
MOST people bring their own food and drink, as the kiosks are quite expensive. Example a cny5 drink outside is cny10 in the zoo, so expect most everything to be twice as expensive. I had a bbq chick drumstick (leg?) for cny25...ouch.
Bring carrots. LOTS of carrots. The zoo has several managed (paid) and unmanaged petting areas for most semi-domesticated animals, such as the Alpacas (seriously cute), deer, giraffes (ok...you can feed the giraffes on an elevated platform, but probably difficult to "pat" the animals. It's kind of spectacular to actually see giraffes face to face - these animals are simply vertigo inducing huge and tall.
The seal show was nice - typical of seal shows everywhere. Seals are kind of like the dogs of the sea. Friendly and ravenous appetites so easily trainable.
Lots of cheap touristy souvenirs to buy the for the kiddies (and relatives kids).
HIGHLY recommend taking the bus tour - they basically zoom around picking up and dropping off customers (they check your e-ticket at every pickup site) at entrances and exits to walking enclosures. They'll drop you off at roughly 15 minute walking sites. NO need to rush and you can grab ANY bus upon emerging from the walking enclosure sites.
Of course, the ultimate attraction always the lion and tiger exhibits at the top of the mountain.
Bring a fan. It gets hot. We were fortunate as the sky was mostly overcast so the temperature was generally cool, but heated up almost instantly whenever the sun peeked out of the clouds.
Bring LOTS of water. Most veteran tourists have their own liter bottles of water. Bring your own umbrella. When the sun comes out - it's HOT. Bring a wide brimmed hat if you're into comfort over vanity. SUNTAN LOTION never goes astray.
Aside from that - typical Chinese group site with everyone rushing the buses and ticket counters. Not so much rushing for the food venues, so seems the elevated prices keep that comfortably in check.
All in all - GREAT place to take the kiddies (or a date if you both know you're into each other - cuz you'll be spending an entire day together). The Outdoor Zoo seems exceptionally well designed with plenty of both managed and unmanaged (eg walking deer along the roadside and the stroll through the peacock "garden").
Easy cab or shared ride out and back. Taxis aplenty when you're ready to leave (just walk past the parking lot gate - they'll be waiting for you). You should consider dining out or delivery at the end of the day.
Took the kiddies here again.
1. It's FREE.
2. NO knives, lighters, sharp objects, etc. There's a place in front to check bags, luggage (if you're traveling), etc - but the exit is in the rear of the monolithic building, so it's a bit of a hike to walk back around to the checked storage area (it's also FREE).
THIRD FLOOR
We went straight to the third floor - History and artifacts of Yunnan (mostly). Rich history - lots of original sculptures etc removed from grottoes and displayed in the museum. Lots of English language titles and occasionally some explanatory text in English.
SECOND FLOOR
This is the evolution floor with lots of petrified artifacts - sea life mostly, lots of recreations of animals and environments from pre-man times.
There are coffee shops and dining areas on the first floor and drink vending machines on the second and third floors. The place is HUGE so a great place to take the kiddies and walk around until they're tired. They'll probably enjoy the dinosaur exhibit on the second floor the most. Wait a few minutes and the dinosaurs will roar and move their heads and maybe pretend to chew (open and close their maws).
PLENTY of parking and unfortunately NOT close to any subway station, so you'll have to grab a cab or rideshare but seems taxis and transportation are aplenty in the city and surrounding environs.
And...it's FREE for now. Museum closes at 5pm so make sure you leave by 430-445 so you can hike back to the storage area if you checked anything in as they also close at 5pm.
Enjoy!
This is a great place to walk around and generally kill time while shopping for nothing in particular. Nearby is the Paulaner Brewhouse for super fantastic food, coffee and drinks, outdoor patio dining or just hanging and people watching.
DATE
2022.01.17
SUMMARY
Just popped in for the annual to biennial visa health check. Cost was CNY 487 - don't forget to bring at least THREE (3) visa pictures and your mask.
As usual, there are TWO health codes to display - the usual kunming/yunnan green QR code and the green "Arrow" code.
ARRIVAL
I went late in the morning, but still managed to shuttle through all the departments and get out before lunch.
I used didi to get there and the map now correctly shows the rear parking entrance as the destination drop-off point. You can also take the subway to a nearby station, and walk walk walk walk walk - it's actually not too far but it will elevate your blood pressure and pulse (BPP) - so make sure to rest 5-10 minutes to allow your BPP to drop back to resting state.
Upon arrival at the main gate, you'll do the usual check-in procedure - mask, sign-in, green QR code, temperature check.
Once inside - Present your passport, green QR code, and green (hopefully) arrow code. Scan the QR codes on your left as you walk in if you don't have these prepared already. The staff will then pass you an application form. Walk over to the wall of stand-up desks to your right, fill out the forms, then stroll over to the clerks to present the form. They'll print out a sheet of bar coded labels for your tests, take your digital picture, attach everything together with a paper clip, then direct you to the cashier to pay CNY 487 (WeChat, alipay, bank card, etc) Don't know if they still accept cash.
HEALTH CHECKS
Hike up the the 2nd or 3rd floor to start the battery of tests:
3rd floor
Chest X-ray
Physical (height, weight, BMI/body mass index)
2nd floor
ECG
Sonogram
Urine test
Blood Test
Eye test (color blindness and eye chart)
Dental
Heart (pulse, blood pressure)
I may have missed a few like the OB GYN...
It seems they also have a COVID/NAT (nucleic acid test) center in a shipping container lab outside the health center - but I didn't bother jogging over to check if it was still operational. In retrospect, should've checked, as the hospitals are jam packed with Chinese New Year travelers.
RESULTS PICKUP
The test results are ready the afternoon of the second day. The facility seems sparsely busy even though they service both foreigners and nationals. There were rarely lines or noticeable waits beyond a few minutes, with at most 1-2 people ahead of you.
Staff are always nice, polite, professional and tirelessly patient for those of us with limited to no communications abilities.
Kunming's bike share options: A user guide
Posted byI seem to see quite few people, including kids, using the various systems, so in that regard, assuming it's economically sustainable, I personally think it's a great idea, with tremendous social value.
As for the very valid issues raised above, the system will have some growing pains as the operators and the cities learn to coexist with this new emerging social and business model.
Interview: Kunming Keats School co-founder Liu Zier
Posted byGreat article and introduction to Keats. I noticed the article did NOT touch on employee loyalty and retention programs (at the cost of profit). Keats may wish to address this kind of core infrastructure in the future, at the appropriate time.
Popular night market locations closed, ban appears permanent
Posted byAlthough the street markets were somewhat interesting - I'm actually glad they cleared them off the sidewalks and are also clearing the streets of illegally parked cars. The area around wenhua xiang looks and feels much more relaxed now.
Fall from grace complete, Qiu He sentenced to prison
Posted byVery sad to hear about Qiu He. Accomplished so much for this city during his short tenure.
Yuxi begins experiment as one of China's 'Sponge Cities'
Posted byFinally - the beginning of separation of sewage from rainwater. Now - if they could only monetize the system in some manner, so they won't need to raise taxes.