User profile: michael2015

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Shopping at Metro

Metro used to be a regular bulk buying stop for us until we gradually replaced it with Taobao, Tmall, and jd (pinduoduo et al).

You can buy international cheese, steak, beef, burger patties, tortilla chips, salsa, cereals, etc ad infinitum. For Italian goods (wine, cheese etc) there's a company which advertises and is listed on gokm.

We used Metro's online service a couple of times - but for regular groceries and liquids (from detergents to beverages) - Hema (alibaba's online and brick & mortar grocery store) et al and skip the parking and crowds.

Wet markets for fresh vegetables, meat, fish, poultry...

Also - if you like the ingredients etc at Salvadors, you can ask to buy their cheese, tortilla chips, etc and they can usually facilitate, so I don't really see the value of Metro for our family's paltry needs.

Plus - deliveries are to our door - so no need to stuff everything into the car, taxi, e-bike then haul it up the stairs (old apartment).

Wicker Baskets (they have several locations) also have cheese, tobasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, bread, canned soup, canned tuna/fish, and my favorites - sausages, beef and chicken pot pies, coffee, apple pies, sliced bacon, and sliced ham...in addition to their restaurant at competitive prices and we've always found their service outstanding (better than excellent). If only Wicker Basket had a delivery service and an online store...

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Gokunming-Where have all the foreigners gone

The USA is a great country, with great people - however its politicians and political allies have a rather bad habit of finger pointing and scape goating for political gain, and then end up spastically poking themselves in the eye. China responds to finger pointing in kind, for which it is globally and grandly condemned and criticized. Expats are merely collateral damage from the pervading nationalistic sentiment and international power plays for hegemony or supremacy.

That said - China continues to be the industrial capital of the world with a focus on the belt and road revival with a goal to be a competitive financial center and influencer.

While many may bemoan the current state - please remember Chinese businesses (such as the cram schools) are also suffering as the country realigns itself. Also bear in mind that despite the western rhetoric - China sustainably eliminated poverty for over 600 million rural residents over the last 20 years. That's twice the population of the USA, with half the GDP.

The western model of IPO and finance is steeped in corporate greed, corruption and an inestimable lack of social responsibility. The current trend of reigning in the rampant profiteering of tech giants, to encourage them to balance rampant profiteering with social responsibility to both it's employees and the communities they serve is a debatably welcome and long overdue act of sustainable social engineering.

Expats have been and will always be guests in whichever country they choose to live. That's the price one pays. I suspect in the distant future, China will slowly open up it's immigration rules to also allow citizenship, beyond the debatably difficult to get green card (perhaps that's just a Yunnan thing, due to lack of training or motivation).

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Gokunming-Where have all the foreigners gone

You mean that country that invested over USD 80 billion in taxpayer monies and countless military and civilian lives for over 20 years to force create a middle eastern democracy, then abruptly left a few days ago (a la Vietnam style), leaving behind millions to billions of dollars of ...blah blah blah...and they still can't effectively control the rolling nationwide COVID pandemics at home.

Meanwhile, California is on fire...again...literally...

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Gokunming-Where have all the foreigners gone

gokm is still and will probably always be my "goto" site for international English-based traffic. Hopefully content and client interactions will pick up again once gokm hires its new editor.

A lot of forum traffic seems to be occurring offline in various WeChat forums, such as US Citizen's Services, Rotary-KM, and the Foreign Business Owner's groups, to name a few.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Teaching in Kunming/China

Chinese students in China study English from around grades 1-3 until high school and sometimes in university. Typically they study English every year for at least 10-12+ years, college and post grads even longer.

Most of these alleged college grads I've met panic and go into catatonic shock at the simplest business communications phrases:
1. Hello. Nice to meet you, what's your name
2. Where do you work?

3. What do you do?
...etc etc etc...

If I studied Chinese (or latin, Hebrew, farsi, Urdu, Swahili etc) for 10 years - I could sing Beijing opera from memory and recite, read, and write (and somewhat understand) the entire litany of popular Tang Dynasty poems, dizigui, dao de Qing, and possibly Sunzi's art of war...

There is something inherently wrong with the way English is taught and learned in Chinese schools (starting with a lack of action-based learning outside the classroom), not to mention the general lack of motivation by students to actually be bilingual fluent.

That said - I have no solution...but it's rather a waste of government and academic resources and students limited time based on my very very limited perception of the results.

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Ahh...city folk. Visit the countryside to see HUGE kitchens with giant woks (usually a side-by-side pair), albeit wood burning. Don't need to emigrate to the USA for a larger kitchen - just move to the countryside.

Reviews

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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...

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.