Still some not bad options up bao zhu...
At the top of the road before heading down to the downhill tracks (where most bikers stop), take the major dirt road on the left (watch for trucks, can get dusty). Up the road about 5km take a left and keep following your nose exploring a few decent tracks.
Do the first part of the downhill (the least dodgy) to the part with the nice view after the big jump and the smaller one, then turn left. This is a brilliant sometimes technical x country track. Watch out on this track for some big worm spots (writhing wriggling masses of worms) which I have never seen before! Ends at a cemetery where you can carry your bike through to a service road on the other side. Follow this to a Y intersection at a small cornfield next to a little house (yapping small dog), turn left to get back to the road (keep straight). I think you could turn right past the house maybe to hit the trail opposite side but I never tried. This trail is a very good x country ride which you can combine with the other bao zhu normal trails making a fairly good figure of 8 ride returning to the bottom of bao zhu. I used to do this as a run all the time about 12 km) - up bao zhu via the road, start of downhill track, turn left as above, take road back to start of downhill tracks, do start of downhill, turn right past the almost landslide hills (don't hang around), take the sometimes technical track down (watch for walkers).
There are also some good tracks that can be very long up jin dian beyond the expo gardens. Ride past the dam, stay on the road for about 10km more until you get to a village at the top of a series of climbs (you will likely see other cyclists here on the weekends). From here you can go right to hit some decent trails that can last for 30km plus (find your way!) or continue on the road a little and go left up through some villages to a quarry road with some interesting technical trails coming off the left... These all seem to end near a damn where a few people fish. Contact Lee at Pegasus cycles for these ones, he knows them pretty well and bikes them with (sometimes large) groups on Saturdays (look for "Guided Group Cycling to nearby hills" event).
I would go exploring with ya, but aren't in KM for the foreseeable future sorry!
Kunming opens province's first 'baby refuge'
Posted byI agree with liumingke, there will be more and more couples that cannot have children as the pollution in China means many reproductive toxins are in the food system causing huge issues. While it may not currently be socially acceptable to adopt children, this may change with couples unable to conceive and a ready supply of healthy young women (particularly those in university conceiving as a result of non existent sex ed) giving up their babies at a young age. Add to this the newer social pressures of women having careers and having babies later and later, subsequently not being able too as they wait too long. Surely this will just facilitate a demand with a supply and in the end cause the necessary change in cultural norms. Well, one can hope.
Chinese academic ponders globe-spanning railways
Posted byNot sure people would want to take a high speed train for 2 days as they are the worst of both worlds. Too fast to see the scenery out the window, too slow (and with too many things to go wrong) to get to your destination quickly.
Don't get me wrong, they are fine for a few hour trips on common routes and better than planes for short-medium routes (e.g. HK-Shanghai/Guangzhou etc), but for longer distances planes win every time. Or if you have the time, slow comfortable trains with decent windows are much better than planes.
Kunming police now permitted to carry sidearms
Posted byYeah, I can imagine in a few months they disarm all the cops in Kunming after 12 incidences of them shooting themselves, 18 accidental shootings (playing with their guns or cleaning them when loaded), 3 dead civilians (walking past when playing with their guns), 28 necessary cover-ups (when the police use the weapon for shooting people they don't like) and 35 lost pistols (where they were stolen from sleeping cops). The authorities decide Kunming is safer if the cops don't have guns even with the threat of terrorism.
(Actually I hope none of this comes to pass, but I can imagine!)
A quick guide to Kunming's Metro Line 2
Posted bySpartans... dude, did you read the article? Dongfeng is very much operational... and yes, all the way to Chenggong.
A quick guide to Kunming's Metro Line 2
Posted byGregomatt - YES! But the line doesn't stop in the train station. I was there today and walked around a bit, couldn't find where to enter the subway from the train station as (according to the article) its on the south side of the station, which is all but useless for getting to the train station as far as I can tell.
Instead I walked north to the 2nd Ring Road station (HuanChen Nan Lu) and took it south, past the train station stop. I took it only to Rixin Lu, but it goes all the way to University District in Chenggong. I aren't sure this is the best way to go, you may be able to find a way to get to the subways entrances on the south side of the Railway station, but I couldn't find it. It wasn't signposted or anything yet either as far as I could see.
It was actually really full this morning, standing room only and already pretty squashed. The trains seem to be going pretty slow at the moment too, I expect they will crank up faster after a few months shortening the travel times somewhat. 2 minutes wait between trains too.