@BoJoke
A simple hotel in Yiliang. Also I stayed there at least 5 times I don't know the name but I always went back there but mainly because the restaurant next door is very good.
That hotel charges 60 kuai but we ended up at the 'foreigner approved' hotel in the middle of town which charged us after some haggling 130 kuai (down from 175). Admittedly the hotel was better and even included breakfast but was more than twice the price.
The next day we stayed at Zhushanxiang some 60 Km south of Yiliang and I stayed there at least 4 times as well and booking in was no problem but that evening the police showed up to inspect our ID’s which never happened to me before there. It was clear that they never had seen a Permanent Residence ID card but on doing so you get the VIP treatment ;-)
That place only has one hotel so no way of sending us to a higher grade one.
Let it be clear that these places are way off the tourist track. You will not have any problems in any hotel or guesthouse in places like Dali or Lijiang or any other clear tourist spot.
To add to the above:
On a recent trip outside Kunming I noticed as well that the regulations for foreigners staying at certain hotels have been tightened. Places where I have stayed several times over the years are not allowed to book foreigners any longer. I was however allowed to stay checking in with my Permanent Residence ID card but my colleague with the normal residence permit was not.
Bikes here fall in two categories: Cheap and expensive. The expensive bikes are for show-off and the more expensive the better (for show-off). It is however possible to buy a cheap bike which will do the job. I have one and it has been serving me for ten years and is still going strong. Did long trips with luggage on it as well over gravel roads and other bad surfaces. Mind you it is not up to a trip around the world without hiccups but it will do the job. Indeed frame sizes here are a problem but I am the same size as you and managed to find one without too much problems.
A bike like that will now cost something like 3000 RMB. This beats the cost of shipping your own bike in and out and makes it possible to abandon the bike at the end of the trip. You can buy bikes here under a 1000 RMB but usually not in the larger frame sizes.
@pjn54
Basically there is no policy. It is up to the bus driver. It all depends on the point of there being space for the bikes in the hold or on top of the bus.
Busses from Kunming to the outlying areas of Yunnan transport all kind of cargo as well such as one-day-chicken. In these cases there simply is no space. Bikes are not allowed in the passenger compartment of the bus even if there is plenty of space.
Often an extra payment is required direct to the bus driver but not always. Our longest trip from Lushui to Kunming for instance was free of extra charge. All other trips were some 20 to 50 RMB per bike.
PS-1: Bikes are not allowed on the high-speed trains.
PS-2: It is quite possible to send your bike as a parcel ahead of you with one of the many parcel services in China.
Going with the flow: Cycling the Nujiang
Posted by@pjn54
Basically there is no policy. It is up to the bus driver. It all depends on the point of there being space for the bikes in the hold or on top of the bus.
Busses from Kunming to the outlying areas of Yunnan transport all kind of cargo as well such as one-day-chicken. In these cases there simply is no space. Bikes are not allowed in the passenger compartment of the bus even if there is plenty of space.
Often an extra payment is required direct to the bus driver but not always. Our longest trip from Lushui to Kunming for instance was free of extra charge. All other trips were some 20 to 50 RMB per bike.
PS-1: Bikes are not allowed on the high-speed trains.
PS-2: It is quite possible to send your bike as a parcel ahead of you with one of the many parcel services in China.
Law prohibits new shared bike companies from coming to Kunming
Posted byAt least Manchester is leading in all the statistics ;-)
The golden fields of Luoping: two perspectives
Posted bySorry you are to late. Was there last week and then the blossum had already nearly all gone.