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Jared's User Profile

Date registered: Wednesday, 17th January 2007
Region: China

Latest Comments

  • This weekend around Kunming
    Saturday, 22nd March 2008
    Saturday @ Halfway House
    星期六在半山咖啡馆

    3rd ANNUAL PURIM PARTY

    I saw one of their fliers advertising a free drink if you arrive in costume.
  • This weekend around Kunming
    Sunday, 9th March 2008
    The blues band Fang was great. Yuansheng is kind of out of the way, but well worth the trip. Thanks for these weekend updates.
  • Kunming bans car horns downtown
    Saturday, 5th January 2008
    This would be great if it were eventually enforced. Does anyone know if regulations like this have worked in other cities?
  • This weekend around Kunming
    Saturday, 22nd December 2007
    Thanks Chris for the info on Fisherman's Bar. That just made my weekend.

Latest Forum Posts

    Posted: Tuesday, 1st July 2008
    Posted in: Forums > Food & Drink > Does somebody know the MUST Colombian Cafe?
    By the way, that website has nothing to do with the cafe.
    Posted: Saturday, 28th June 2008
    Posted in: Forums > Living in Kunming > Kunming (and Yunnan) in the Economist
    I never really liked this kind of journalism. Leaning far too heavily on snap impressions gleaned from a day or two of travel, this unnamed correspondent makes mistakes that could easily have been avoided with some basic background research.

    I'm not sure what day the reporter visited the city, but Kunming's air quality is downright pristine when compared to other inland Chinese cities like Xi'an or Wuhan. In fact, Kunming ranked 4th out of the 31 major cities with at least 351 days of "fairly good" air quality by China's National Bureau of Statistics.* A major factor behind this ranking is the relative absence of heavy industry. Yunnan doesn't have a ton of mega-manufacturers. Those that are present, like Kunming Iron & Steel Company (abbreviated in Chinese as Kungang), tend to operate a safe distance from Kunming. In Kungang's case, 20 miles (32 km) away. The larger factories closer to Kunming - like cigarette manufacturing - are generally less heavily polluting. Meanwhile car ownership, while increasing rapidly, still lags far behind the more industrialized centers to the east. The city government has taken at least a symbolic interest in addressing auto emissions by holding monthly car-free days. They're also planting a heck of a lot of trees.

    Similarly, the reporter's "affluence" argument is a bit problematic. To begin with, the evidence is shaky. Smog is clearly not what it's made out to be. And a smattering of high-end retail hardly counts as anything besides a convenient anecdote. I'm no economist but if you look at GDP per capita Kunming (at ¥7,833, US$1,141) doesn't hold up so well when compared to other cities like Shanghai (¥57,310, US$8,346), Chengdu (¥20,625, US$3,004), or even Nanning (¥16,121, US$2,348). Even discussing affluence in broad general terms can obscure the fact that while a small but growing number do sport Gucci bags and drive BMWs, the vast majority survive on less than US$200 per month.

    I'm not out to poo-poo travel writing. Last September The New York Times travel section ran a terrific piece on Kunming (http://travel.nytimes.com/[...] Unfortunately, this reporter just didn't do his or her homework.

    *The figures are from 2004, the last year I could locate specific numbers. In 2006, Kunming was listed as Class II, meaning it had "fairly good" air quality. Only two cities in 2006 - Lhasa and Haikou (the provincial capital of Hainan) - were listed as Class I, meaning they had "excellent" air quality. Most of the other cities in the Class II category were either located directly on the shore or had far smaller populations than Kunming.

    2004 data: http://www.allcountries.org/[...]

    2006 data: http://www.china.org.cn/[...]
    Posted: Monday, 12th May 2008
    Posted in: Forums > Living in Kunming > Booze @ Uprock
    I haven't tried their Heineken but I can say that they are walking a thin line on their "Qingdao Laogao" beer. Despite the name it is a copycat brand of no relation to the original Qingdao. When they first opened they didn't even mention the Laogao part. If that's any indication, you may be right about those Heinekens.

    Personally I think Uprock's atmosphere is a welcome change in Kunming's nightlife scene, but I am definitely annoyed about the alcohol situation.
    Posted: Tuesday, 15th April 2008
    Posted in: Forums > Food & Drink > Milkshakes
    Colin- Some of the other posters seem to be having a good laugh with this one, but I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
    Posted: Saturday, 12th April 2008
    Posted in: Forums > Food & Drink > Milkshakes
    Despite the name, the most important ingredient in a milkshake is ice cream. It's the ice cream that gives a good milkshake a thick consistency. That means you shouldn't be able to stir it too easily with a plastic straw.

    So by "too milky" I mean too watery.
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