• Lijiang Huayang Language and Culture School
• WildChina
• Dune Cafe
• Empire Foreign Language School
• Chicago Coffee
• Kunming Yu-Cong Enterprise Management Company
• China Highlights
• Keats School
• IC Holiday Serviced Apartments
• Ganesh Bar & Restaurant
• Bakery 88
• Sandra's
• Tenwest Mandarin School
• Chapter One
• The Box
• JKH Design
• Huiying Dental Clinic
• Heqi Serviced Office Provider
• Salvador's Coffee House

Latest Comments

• • August 20, 2010
  • Getting away: Fuxian Lake
    

    Fuxian Lake is the 3rd deepest lake in China. there's a lot of water in it. pair this with water's thermal properties (i'm thinking high specific heat capacity, not the nice little 4 degree C switcheroo that keeps the fishies alive) and you've got one cold lake for most of the year. however, now is where it's at... it's cool, but swimmable, and it'll likely get a little warmer over the next couple of months. i guess if i had to put a timescale on it, i'd say september and october are the best months to swim in Fuxian

• • August 9, 2010
  • More swimming options around Kunming
    

    i expect Just Hotel has changed its name, as i remember it being easy to find (you mention elsewhere that you speak Chinese). it's further from town that the youth centre, and on the north/west side of the road. also, it's no longer listed on this site. for all i know, it's been chai'ed :)

    i keep hearing about a pool on jiaochang zhong lu (教场中路) that's run by the military but open to the public. i've not been there myself, but the recommendations have come from people whose views i trust. 30 kuai a time, with a discount if you buy a 月卡. ah, it's this place: http://www.gokunming.com/[...]

• • July 30, 2010
  • Getting away: Black Dragon Pool
    

    according to http://www.kmbus.com.cn/ the 115 gets you to ciba 茨坝 via longquan lu 龙泉路, so there's a bit of walking to add on at the end to get to the park gate. there might be other buses to ciba that get the job done the same way.

• • July 28, 2010
  • Car-focused development neglecting pedestrians and cyclists
    

    @Liumingke1234

    i can relate. i get off on seeing yellow parking tickets fluttering from the sides of illegally parked cars. especially when they're stuck to police cars :)

• • June 11, 2010
  • GoKunming Weekend Preview
    

    wasn't Uprock supposed to re-open this weekend?

Latest Forum Posts

• • September 6, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > informal 1/2 marathon - takers?
    

    it's been a long time since i bothered with Green Lake laps, as it became a lot of mafan to get around after they planted all the spindly trees. i remember it being more like 1.6km in perimeter, but either way, running a half there sounds daft.

    @gordonsanders
    do you mean along the panlongjiang? this sounds like it might fly, but we'd need to choose carefully to find a suitable section (and probably have to lap on that too). time of day is also relevant.

• • September 6, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > informal 1/2 marathon - takers?
    

    a few have us have been talking marathon... but i guess a half would cut it :P any ideas for the route?

• • August 28, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Where to get Kunming Map in Pinyn?
    

    just to avoid any confusion, Salvador's and Mandarin Books (the English language bookstore mentioned) are on Wenhua Xiang, not Wenlin Jie. time to buy a map perhaps?

    google maps are generally useful for the streets, but some annotation is wrong or out of date. no need for the iPhone, any smartphone will do - and GRPS comes as standard on many cell phone plans.

• • August 25, 2010
    
  • Forums > Living in Kunming > Bedding Shop
    

    errr, directly across Renmin Lu from the Human Resources building everything got mad chai'd. i remember buying some stuff from a place on the west side of Wuyi Lu that roughly fits debaser's directions, but now it's gone... @debaser - have you seen your place open since the chai bomb hit?

• • August 20, 2010
    
  • Forums > Food & Drink > Eating vegetarian on Fridays
    

    i think putonghua73 is onto something with "I'm a vegetarian, but I don't go to exclusively vegetarian places, but rather places that are vegetarian friendly"... vegetarianism and Buddhism are all too often conflated in China (e.g. you sometimes see phrasebooks with something like "i don't eat meat, please cook my food as if i were a monk")

    here's where the blandness may come in, as a strict Buddhist (correct me if i'm wrong, as i'm no Buddhist, and no vegetarian) will not eat garlic, chilli, ginger etc. so if you're using the 'monk gambit' to get your veggie eats, it's possible you're doing away with flavour at the same time.

    i personally find yunnan cai very edible and very tasty, and i've found my meat consumption has reached all-time lows here due (in part) to the various and flavoursome veggie options.

Latest Reviews

• • hedgepig
    September 2, 2010
  • Kunming > Uprock
    Uprock酒吧

    the area surrounding Uprock (Kundu) is at times unsafe, but if you're going over there, Uprock is likely the best choice of a place to hang out. good sound system, great selection of beers, frequent band/DJ events and hands-on management make this *the* go-to Kunming nightspot. 嘎.

• • hedgepig
    August 25, 2010
  • Kunming > Lazy Bones Pizza

    just went for the Wednesday all-you-can-eat night. i wasn't really there to do it up, but it's great value if you're ready to do some serious eating. for me, getting a side salad (it's part of the deal) was a nice touch, as it allowed me to feel i was eating healthier than just (hedge)pigging out on pizza. which i was. but i digress.

    the red sauce has improved since the last time i went, though maybe there was a wee bit too much of it. pizza base is a bit soggy in the middle (maybe due to the aforementioned sauciness), but was crispy and tasty towards the edges. the tables are still annoying wobbly. no complaints on the amount of topping. the cheese seemed to break up a lot, and while i have my theories, i think the subtleties of the physics of cheese when exposed to heat might actually be beyond me. oh (getting picky now,) the napkins were a little flimsy: serious pizza eating can get messy.

    service was without a doubt the best i've experienced at 'Bones: friendly, smily, attentive to the point of sneaking quietly upstairs to see if i needed anything, clearly spoken (my Kunminghua ain't so hot). there was even a gentle attempt to take more money off of me - being a capitalist roader, i consider being asked "would you like to order anything else?" something of a plus.

    加油!

• • hedgepig
    March 12, 2010
  • Kunming > Cacaja Indian Restaurant
    印度菜菜

    i've recently rediscovered this place. it's a little hit and miss, but i have to say that with a little experimentation, you can find some quality food here. while not perfect, the vindaloo is the best i've had.

• • hedgepig
    October 22, 2009
  • Kunming > Ganesh Bar & Restaurant
    印象阁

    yummm. many improvements over its predecessor.

• • hedgepig
    May 28, 2009
  • Kunming > Vintage Café
    茴转时光

    this place once looked like it was going to take on the big boys. a creative menu, great desserts, and a pleasant atmosphere all pointed in the right direction.

    unfortunately bad management, an argumentative attitude, and an inability to get even the simplest dishes on the table in a timely manner seem to have ended these hopes.