The UN won't prosecute its biggest funder... in fact everyone sucks up to the US - the Hague should have prosecuted Henry Kissenger for crimes against humanity for carpet bombing most of Cambodia and Laos. Instead the mass murderer received the Nobel Peace prize! Obama received the Nobel Peace prize while conducting drone strikes killing dozens of innocents while running two wars.
The problem is also the American people are apathetic to most of the ideals they are supposed to hold as sacrosanct. Freedom important or patriot act important? Who cares. Real democracy important or the persistent invasion of money into their politics destroying any chance of real democracy? Who cares. Rampant racism or peaceful understanding? Who cares. Taking the lead from other countries in dealing with your problems (healthcare/gun laws/education systems/etc)? Naaaah, we know how to solve all our problems ourselves... everyone should follow us!
The apathy of the voting ignorant means that nothing will change and if any international people wish to make them change it will get their backs up and they will start crying "FREEDOM" as if it is something they haven't already lost (see what was insinuated when the UN tried to restrict the export of small arms - they all started crying 2nd Amendment even though it wouldn't have affected them at all). Unfortunately they have a battle hardened and provocative military and "intelligence" machine behind them linked directly to mass media. This makes domestic change virtually impossible while forcing the rest of the world to kiss their feet lest they become the next target. UN crackdown on police brutality in the US? Not going to happen. Half of the US don't even know what the UN is, another quarter think the UN is a conspiracy for world domination... (*purposefully exaggerated, sorry!)
Farmers markets are all over the place, you will have to be more specific regarding which area you are looking. Organic food, not so much. Salvadors works with an organic farmer though and does (still?) vegetable packs from them if you want.
There is an organic store attached to this vegetarian restaurant I believe? : www.gokunming.com/[...]
International bandwidth is throttled regularly by ISPs in China I suspect at the discretion of the Chinese government. All international traffic, including VPNs, which is what happens around the "interesting" anniversaries. No matter what you do, you will have problems around these times.
Going through a VPN provider might help, but it puts another link in the chain of possible problems. You could instead set up a VPN in your overseas office especially if it has a static IP address. Then use your local PC, connect to your overseas offices VPN and you are essentially using the PC in your overseas office (connected to your overseas office local LAN). I did this as an IT worker for a bank for 2 years in Kunming and it was fine, slow, but fine. I did the same in Hong Kong for 3 weeks which was blazing fast, in comparison.
I was lucky to get 500 kbps in Kunming in 3 different places (usually 250 kbps average), Guangzhou was easily 3Mbs, Hong Kong in excess of 8Mbps. This was 2 years ago now, but gives you an idea of speeds in different places. Kunming international traffic is really slow.
The honey shop that Chris above suggests is still there. Walk South from Salvadors about 150m, on the opposite corner from the produce market. They also sell Vietnamese bread rolls out the front, not bad when they are fresh! Walk another 30m down that road and you can get one of the best chicken soups in Kunming!
HFCAMPO - I think you will find you can only get a resident permit if your wife is from Kunming OR she has a temporary resident permit for Kunming (临时居住证). Otherwise you will have to apply in the county capital.
I 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.
Not 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.
Yeah, 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!)
Gregomatt - 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.
Wow, just wow. Possibly the best Chinese food I have had in Kunming. And in one of the nicest, traditional courtyard style restaurant I have been in. A woman dressed in traditional qi pao playing a gu zheng just adds to it.
We had okra, mushroom soup, dried beef and chou dofu. All top notch with the bill coming in at just over 250 kuai. But we could have fed 3 people for that so not too bad at about 80-90 kuai each. Not the cheapest but for the quality, it's damn good.
If you have people visiting and want to take them to a traditional Chinese style restaurant with Yunnan style food, or want a romantic night out with a gal, you can't go wrong here. Close to Green Lake (down a little alley) for a romantic walk... Just perfect.
Pretty good place for getting all your documents translated and/or notarised. Note that there are a number of notaries in the building which you can find by going up the stairs (the elevators are impossible). But you have to find the stairs to do so... go in the door, head over to the right, go up the big wide stairs which head up a floor, turn right then right again into the elevator area and right again into the stairwells. Whew!
One point off for the elevators never being available and having to hike 7-9 flights of stairs (not good if you have to go 3-4 times a day like I often did!)
This does not stop at the Jinanya hotel at Da Shang Hui as the flyers state (and is on the images tab here). They need to have another stop in the same area or else they are missing out on covering a big chunk of the city.
You can take another bus, the 919C, I believe, if you are nearby Da Shang Hui, which leaves from the bus station on HeHong Lu, nearby the Qianxing road intersection. This bus goes every hour and is white, found at the western end of the station. It is operated by a different company and takes about 1 hour 10 minutes to get to the airport due to a large number of stops especially near the airport.
Friendly people, even got to the talk to the vice consulate, who told me she had done a stint in Malaysia's Siberian Consulate!
English is spoken by some of the Chinese girls working at the desk who are pleasant to deal with. I assume they do Visa's as well but I wasn't here for a visa, this time!
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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.