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Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China

Carrefour is selling and 80% stake, does not necessarily mean that stores will close. Initially stores and staff will be absorbed by the new owner Sunning. For those areas that do not currently have a Sunning presence, t first all that will change will be the name on the door.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China

Airless holes. I think that sums up a lot of superstores/hypermarkets, in many parts of the world, that are located in a larger multistorey shopping complex. True for Walmart, Homemart, Sunning, Metro, and other places I have visited.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Bike registered - Selling second hand

The authorities have been trying to control the ebike market for several years and previous attempts have not been successful. This time I believe it will be successful.

Almost daily I see police with a recovery/flatbed vehicle seizing unregistered machines. There seems to be a clear mandate to get the no longer legal ebikes off of the road.
Like @JanJal, I thing the main issues have been around safety. When I first came to China in 2004 ebikes were small, light, and only did about 20kph. I also believe they were only 12 v.
Now ebikes are bigger and heavier than a gas scooter, 72V and capable of over 60kph, and still no license, insurance, or training is required to ride one.

I have been hit by an ebike once, whilst riding my bicycle, and nearly been wiped out on at least two other occasions by kamikaze ebike riders.

I have seen several ebike crashes caused by riders who do not have proper control of their vehicle (using feet as brakes, slamming on the front bike causing a low-side and dropping the machine, panicking and just freezing as they plow into other vehicles), this is a training issue. Alternative, let the untrained ride smaller and slower machines.

The market needed controlling. Yes there will be some waste, but in the next 4 years some sanity will quickly return to the streets and cycle paths.
The alternatives are to let the 'arms race' (bigger faster ebikes) and carnage continue, or do what other cities have done and ban ebikes and bikes from downtown (more cars would be the pattern, not desirable), or let the old bikes die through natural wastage (bureaucratic and uncontrollable).

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This isn't a rant. It is said with a little sadness.

This development is good for Kungfu, but perhaps not so good for Buddhism. Anyone who has visited the main Shaolin Temple will have experienced Kung Fu Incorporated. Including the Kung Fu cabaret, Cirque de Soleil rip off, blatant commercialism, and overpricing. The only thing missing are the harlots and moneychangers. Call me cynical, but many Chinese visitors I have spoken to are also saddened and disappointed (with a capital D) by the culture.

Many temples are now attracting money from many sources, and the need for commercialism is not as strong as it used to be. Those temples that have not already died, seem to be more stable than before, many are renovating.

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@ James,
This is sadly the result of unrestrained capitalism.

There is nothing new under the sun. A book was recommended to me, Upton Sinclaire's 'The Jungle' about the meat industry in Chicago in 1905. Not just tainted meat, but other fake foods, tainted milk (sound familiar), exploitation of factory workers (Fox... anyone?), crime, trafficking, drugs, etc.
The jungle was a protest book, and shares common flaws with other protest books, but the parallels with life in modern China are uncanny.

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Ref. shit brew.
That is more to do with the processing, and not so much the bean.
There is a reasonable variety of different 'flavours'/roasts of Arabica beans available. Some of it really good.
Nestle seem to specialise in instant coffee. The top one is Gold Blend which is not very hard to find, probably too dear for local tastes, but a damned sight better than UCC's offerings IMHO.

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.