User profile: michael2015

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Chinese Birth Certificate with both Chi & Eng name

Technically and theoretically, it is possible to list both the Chinese and western names, assuming the computer field can hold that many characters - but the reality - impossible to get the hospital staff to enter BOTH the english and Chinese names - as it would look like one really really long name and that will create infinitely many complications for your kid in China.

We used Chinese names on their Chinese birth certificates, then used the officially translated and notarized translations to registered our kid(s) (USA) with English language names on their USA birth certificates aka Consular Report of Birth Abroad certificate (NOT inexpensive). You can also get baby passports - truly expensive baby passports - that are only good for 12 months for babies. The birth certificate is sufficient to get a passport later, which is the option we chose. Also - if you're a US Citizen - you can register the baby for a social security number at the same time. That's a point in good stead for the US Embassy/Consular Services.

IF you use the kid's US passport for residency in China - you'll need to have the birth certificate authenticated by the US State Department. They control Consular Reports of Births Abroad certificates. There are SO MANY REASONS why you would NOT want to do this, to include the expense, insurance, schooling, health insurance benefits, etc etc etc ad infinitum.

The problem with US Consular Reports of Birth Abroad certificates - the US State Department refuses to authenticate the birth certificates that they ultimately issue - they've had this insane policy since around 2012. It's well known and not expected to change within our lifetimes, POTUS Trump notwithstanding.

If you fall into this frustrating abyss - use a US visa agent (I can give you a referral) and they can get your consular report of birth abroad directly authenticated by the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC. NOT INEXPENSIVE but it's the only workaround that I know of.

Other countries - dunno.

and..um...congrats on having this problem (birth of a healthy peeing, pooping and hopefully NOT vomiting bio-machine).

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Forums > Living in Kunming > House Prices

As I understand the residential real estate market for NEW properties - developers are now packaging in interior design and decoration into their packages. Previously, during the boom times, you'd only purchased bare concrete walls with basic utilities and infrastructure such as plumbing, capped water pipes, and electricity holes (if lucky) - supply your own outlets, light switches, etc.

Nowadays - apartments are generally move-in condition (BYO linens, soaps, toilet paper, etc). This added service generally costs around ¥200k for nominal furnishings, and then spirals upwards.

As always, sweeping statements regarding China, much less Yunnan and Kunming are subject to vary, but that's what I've noticed from my limited and random observations over the years.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Places (Province) to live in China.

@H
Thanks for the info on guangxi. The altitude is lower, things are greener (more mold and mildew?), and the place just seems more progressive than Yunnan in general, based on the many projects it leads.

The GDP per capita is significantly higher (about ¥10k per year) than Yunnan, so I'd be wondering if Guangxi is a more expensive place for day-to-day living (or is Kunming just a ripoff city) - veges, fruit, meat, cooking oil, etc - staples.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Health Certificate

oh...and don't forget to ENSURE your work invitation letter (ostensibly issued by some government department) is barcoded AND addressed to the correct consulate or embassy. If it's NOT entered into the system correctly - the consulate or embassy can NOT verify your work invitation letter - yep - I had this problem also.

In addition to the work invitation letter, is the temporary visa authorization. This MUST ALSO be barcoded AND sent to the appropriate embassy or consulate.

Please note - in the USA - the embassy and the consulate do NOT communicate with each other on these visa process issues. If your documents are addressed to the consulate, the embassy cannot and will not help you...and vice versa.

Additionally - if you're home or address of residence is outside an embassy or consular jurisdiction - they will tell you to redirect your documents, applications, and visa requests to the appropriately responsible office. I thought I could get my stuff done in San Francisco - they told me they won't help me - gotta use the Los Angeles consulate. I could have used a San Francisco area address - but the point was moot - neither office could expedite my work visa without the mandatory documents and authentications.

Bring a briefcase - keep everything organized, keep copies of ALL your receipts (assuming you get reimbursed).

On another note - on the way back to China - we used e-tickets all the way - not a boarding pass stub in sight - this works wonders with the accounting department - who requires these non-existent ticket stubs to confirm we actually travelled to China, as opposed to swimming over, to save a dime.

Pardon the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary - I've been integrating qinglish to ease communications issues and be more culturally sensitive.

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@gokm
Thanks much for the ad, sponsored or not. I've been meaning to drop by Igor's since he opened - so thanks for the reminder. Difficult to find authentic (aka not laden with a kg of sugar) French patisseries, so hope I find the culinary delight I seek (wait for the review).

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@Geogramatt

If you have feasible economic energy solutions competitive in price, energy output, resource consumption (land, rivers, etc) feel free to enlighten me. Hydro comes with a cost - that is well established - the issue is does anyone have viable alternatives?

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.