Well, I suppose there are worse places to be locked. Reminds me of the time I was locked in a hotel bathroom in Jianshui after cycling from Tonghai and running out of water. Ahh, the subtle and irreplaceable joys of China...

Maybe Kunming's traffic and public space issues are perhaps too bad for a public bike system to really work anymore in the middle of town.

However, in some areas like down the canal from the northern part of the city or out to Qiongzhusi from Huangtupo and down Xuefu Lu there could be some better segmentation/enforcement (eg. no diandongche allowed) to encourage cycle-based commuting.

I've had bikes stolen in Jinghong, Kunming, London, Qingdao and Shanghai. I believe the best defence is to keep them in view at all times.

Darkone264 please clarify whether you are talking about Americans, who are subject to additional restrictions, or everyone. Also, please state the source of your information? Normally, particularly in Hong Kong, you can get better conditions with less hassle through agencies.

As of my trip through circa September last year, Vientiane is powerless to issue visas longer than 1 month to foreigners. They were nice about it and apologized that that was the case. If you want longer ones, you have to apply in Chiang Mai, Bangkok or Hong Kong. Vietnam was very long lines and the political situation means they are likely to say "go apply in your own country". Chiang Mai is OK, they can give 3 months. Hong Kong can probably give longer for the right money. Avoid Bangkok like the plague unless you know a good agent: turning up in person has always been bad, but is getting really extremely masochism-level painful these days.

PS. All this info from in-person experience, sourced within the last 12 months in HCMC, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Vietiane. Haven't been to HK for awhile (3 years?) but there are always agencies there that can get you 3 months min for the right price. JTA is one I've used.

Helpful note for fellow laowai! If you are considering opening a local account for the purposes of receiving foreign transfers, you don't actually need to do this in order to receive money from overseas. Ask the bank about how to organize a SWIFT transfer to you personally... this way it stays outside the Chinese banking system until you have actually accepted the money ... which can be done as USD or possibly EUR cash, if you like, or otherwise you can convert it.

Of course, if you want a local account for Taobao or something else (like practicing masochism trying to get your internet banking to work on a browser that's not internet explorer) then you will need to open an account.