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Forums > Living in Kunming > Do Kunming Drivers Know they are Inconsiderate and Dangerous

Ref PLA vehicles.

I don't think the traffic laws apply to them. I don't think the police have the power to stop them.

The don't hit anybody else is the unwritten law. However, when the traffic cop arrives he will look to see if anyone has crossed a white line illegally, or not given proper right of way. Proving someone busted a red light is harder.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Natural Gas versus Electric Hot Water Heaters

My experience

Electric
The electric water heaters are fine, if ugly. You need to make sure you get one big enough for each bathroom. Get separate tank for kitchen too.
If people are a bit thoughtful about water use there is no problem.I.E. Water on, wet body. Water off, soap body. Water on, rinse body. No luxuriating.
The good ones keep the water hot for several days, and they have a speed heat setting (double heaters).

I can see a problem with a pressure booster before the tank, it creates negative pressure behind it that may cause problems for other residences, and may even cause an airlock. They may not be permitted by the water company. I had the same issue in the UK for mains fed water, not permitted.

Solar,
Good solar heat exchangers can reach temperatures of 120 degrees, before heat is exchanged. You get what you pay for.
We have solar heating and it is crap. The biggest issue is that water feeds down into a hot water tank. The tank has a heating element to boost the temperature. However, the thermal lagging seems to have little effect, possible becuase the water is circulating in poorly insulated pipes. The water can drop from 50* to 20* in less than three hours. To make matters worse, the heater cannot be timed, and so the water is on 24/7. We tried to heat the water before bed, but in the morning the water is down to 20*.

I think to get a high quality complete system is going to cost you bigger money. And you need to ensure than having bought the best pipe, the installer does not swap it out for cheap stuff when you are not looking.

Gas
We had gas installed in Shanghai and it was expensive to run. Part of the problem is that even the factory engineers could not get the thermostat to work on the timer setting. And so the water was on 24/7, and the central heating we switched on on demand.
I have not experience with Kunming gas.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Walmart no more

I usally do buy from the wet market.
Most of us do need Metro/Wallmart/Carrefour occasionally.

Yes I miss pie and chips too. I get bisto Gravy Granules sent from home as well.

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Comments

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I would guess that a proportion of the money is being invested. Invested in setting up (dumping lots of bikes on the streets) in new cities to attract more deposits. If that is the case, there are parallels with Ponzi schemes.

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Didi are unlikely to go broke anytime soon, but even if OFO is owned by Didi, if it is running at a loss, Didi will offload it very quickly. Once the business case is established, or not, people will either re-invest or divest.

The OFO bikes are cheap, have a manual lock, no GPS, I assume no app except for payment. These are the bikes mostly seen ridden by kids, who often are riding a misappropriated machine. It looks like the OFO business model is lowest cost, and accept the losses of assets.
The MOBIKEs have remote locking, and GPS tracking. The bikes were custom built and were expensive to have made, but the app helps to find the nearest bike, and you can reserve them, to save you walking to a bike which in the meantime is hired by someone else. The MOBIKE business model seems to be larger upfront costs, but better service, and traceability of the assets.

I am not sure if the OFO business case is sustainable, only time will tell.

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Elevated trains would have been quicker, which is why they use them for long sections of track outside the city.
However, it would have requited tearing down whole neighborhoods, causing huge disruption to city life, not just traffic. Then there is the socio-economic impacts of closing down large areas of the city. Additionally, the large numbers of demolitions would have a major impact on air quality, and what do you with all of the building rubble.
Finally, the increased cost for the whole process; bearing in mind that cost was also a major factor in the lack of progress thus far.

Reviews

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A reasonable choice of lumber that has improved over time. Fancy hardwoods like walnut, and mahogany are in abundance. There are some plywood and rubber-wood boards available. There are also some kiln dried imported softwoods and merbao available. Some of the lumber is very green, so look for the kiln dried if you need stable timbers.

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Echo everything said by others.
Breakfast great and the serve from 8am. Most other places say 9am and they still are not ready.
Sandwiches are cheap 22-32, and really packed full of filling. We got some sandwiches for a day out, the only mistake I made was ordering two, as this was too much. These are seriously good sangars, and they are wrapped in alu foil.

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In fairness to Metro, they are a wholesalers, and not really a supermarket. Hence the need for a card, which can be got around.

They have improved in the year I have been away. They now carry a more consistent range of imported foodstuffs and they also seem to have sorted out the mported milk supply.

They have a wider range of electrical appliances now, there is a coice of more than one toast. There is also a better range of seasonal non foods, like clothes, shoes, garden furniture and camping gear.