User profile: blobbles

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Rugby World Cup

All right, sounds good! Camel bar for the match and back to Slice of Heaven to celebrate the All Blacks win. If the unlikely occurs and the French win I will be going home to cry for the next week :-) But I might be able to squeeze in a pie to comfort me anyway

Hate to say it at Samoana the atmosphere is good but the internet is a bit too unreliable for the finals. I would go mad if the internet cut out and we couldn't watch!

So is this the plan? Everyone head to Camel bar?

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Forums > Living in Kunming > My mac needs reviving...

Most people don't realise but all Apple products have secret programming in them which links them to the life signs of Steve Jobs. Once he dies, all Apple products will last for maximum of 1 year but can fail at any point within that year. Looks like yours is one of the early ones.

OK OK, bad joke, what is actually wrong? "Acting funny" isn't really too good of a description! How full is your hard drive? Do you get errors on start up? If so what? Do you get any errors at all? Or is it just slow?

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Rugby World Cup

I am a kiwi that lives close by to Samoana... I am totally there. It looks like the NZ v France game is at 4:30pm this Saturday, 8:30pm NZ time. Be there or be .

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Forums > Food & Drink > Kebab craving! Kebab!

I eighth this motion, I loved the box kebabs and went through 2 cards when they were here! They were as tasty as you can find (or tastier) than anywhere in the west! KEBABS somebody, kebabs! Actually I am surprised the Box hasn't continued the service... it can't be all that hard!

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Luang Prabang is one of my favourite places in Asia. Laid back locals, cheap, great scenery, good architecture, a few really nice local sights... what more can you ask for. Perfect romantic getaway...

Political achievement or not, Kunming must be one of the only cities in the world that is getting an MTR before it is drastically needed. And poor quality shade trees? I aren't too sure where you are looking but they seem fine to me...

Wether or not they are corrupt, the projects benefit the people first it seems. Unlike other places where projects would be populist or for the elites only...

I suspect the car ownership face thing will continue the increase of cars in the city. The government will eventually start tolling people through high parking charges and the like to discourage it, it won't happen overnight but it will happen just as it has in *insert name of any big city in the world*.

I think Kunming will be an interesting case for the subway vs face value of cars. Kunmings streets aren't really that congested (have you been to Malaysia/Jakarta?) and the majority of workers don't appear to have cars yet. To be honest, I think the subway here is coming in before its really needed. It will be VERY interesting to see if the middle classes that have been aspiring to own a car will continue to aspire to stupidity when most of the subway system kicks in, i.e. once they realise that a car is not needed, is a hassle and a waste of money. One thing I know about Chinese is they are mostly financially savvy, which means they think about where to put there money more. They also care less about personal space than us so a squashed subway is less of a problem. And when they realise they can get from one end of Beijing Lu to the other in 10-15 minutes on the subway or 40 minutes in a car...

Regardless, the majority of the population here has never used an MTR system before, so the first few months of operation will be filled with hilarity I am sure!

I am almost sure the local govt will put a good bus route through to the new airport. Thats the way I will get there, probably by taking a taxi to the last bus stop in the city and then catching it to the airport. Might cost 2 kuai but its better than the 40-50 default charge that most taxis will probably quote...

"If suddenly there are many more competitors, everybody will have a difficult time surviving," he added. "Furthermore, in two years, after the subway is operational, the number of people taking taxis will suddenly drop. Then what do we do?"

This is such a common complaint of so many taxi drivers and completely unfoundered. You go to any big city that has a subway (think HK, NY, Singapore, Rome....) and you see taxis everywhere. What taxi drivers don't realise is the subway means its less likely people own cars (even with their face value). But subways don't go everywhere so you often need to take a taxi to the out of the way place you are trying to get to after getting off the subway.

Subways are actually good for taxis, it causes more short trips more often for drivers, which with a flag fall fee means more revenue.

Its finished??? I look back on it so fondly now, almost being killed by boulders or asphyxiation from the dust. Its a shame other cycle tourists won't get to experience the same exhilaration and breath taking air? Camping in the middle of it was...interesting as well. Ahh well, like all things in China change is inevitable.

Looks like you got the same as me when you went through omgiri! If you are guys are still around we should go for a ride sometime. My usual ride of up and down Changchong Shan is becoming rutted, I think mainly from me!

Reviews

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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.

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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!)

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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.

Great bus though if you can catch it!

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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!