Forums > Living in Kunming > RMB to American Dollars You can buy $500USD per day no questions asked. If you have ATM receipts or receipts buying RMB with USD, you can change more. I bought $2,400 one day at the BOC at West end of Nan Ping Jie a couple of months ago.
You must declared $10,000 or more on entry to the US. Don't think there is a limit but I am sure they will ask
questions.
Think to wire, or Western Union, USD requires the USD in hand when you do it.
I live off my US money, income, so I have lots of ATM receipts.
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Laos visa Made it to the Laos Consulate, about a 40 kuai taxi ride from Bei Chen Da Dao, Walked from the security gate to the consulate and got quick service. But left without a visa.
If you are an American, you get your visa at your entry point. Sorry about that.
Getting a taxi back home is nearly impossible. It took more than one hour to get a taxi. Was unfamiliar with the bus numbers and the bus signs were so dirty even the Chinese couldn't read them.
See you in Vientiane!
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Exchanging RMB in Laos I am planning a trip to Vientiane, visa run. You can buy $500USD per day at the Bank of China downtown on Dongfeng Xi Lu. No questions asked and it is simple. Bring your passport, RMB, and fill out a form, it has English labels for the stuff they want to know. Normal questions.
If you changed USD to RMB, like using your US ATM card in Kunming, and have the ATM receipts, you can buy USD up to the value of receipts. I got $2,400 in one trip a few months back.
Check the USD you get carefully. Give back any worn, wrinkled, old or defaced bills. Hard to unload them for kip, baht, dong or yuan.
Forums > Living in Kunming > New Visa Regulations Is a visa run to Laos doable? I'm gonna need to do one and also need to go to Vientiane as well
Forums > Living in Kunming > New Visa Regulations Best I can tell these changes apply only to ethnic Chinese. Only one item did not mention "Chinese" but it referred to living with "immediate family" which may include a Chinese spouse.
Yunnan's Dulong minority, isolated no more
发布者Fascinating look at disappearing culture. A really frank report on the effects of the introduction of modern ideas and methods.
Thanks, good article.
George Forrest: Scotland's Qing-era plant hunter
发布者I read either a book or long article on Forrest and his work in the last year or two which was interesting. As my memory fades I can't locate it. Did find this story on an attempt to locate Forrest's grave.
www.rhododendron.org/v53n1p8.htm
Book Review: Xinjiang: A Traveler's Guide to Far West China
发布者This is a great book! Josh is a font of knowledge on Xinjiang and this book is useful. I spent a month there a few years back and found it to be one of the more pleasant travel destinations in China.
All but one of my Han Chinese friends warned me not to go to Xinjiang. My girl friend begged me not to go. Xinjiang is dirty and dangerous I was told and far too hot as well. But a Chinese teacher I worked with had spent a few years there told me to go. So I did.
I went in July and the weather was great. A little rain every day kept the temperatures down. Security did not seem to be a problem despite just about every male carrying a knife on his belt.
If I had "Xinjiang: A Traveler's Guide to Far West China" back then I would had a more interesting trip.
Climbing Away: Liming
发布者Sounds like a great trip even if you don't climb. Wish I was still healthy.
Go before it gets "developed."
Mike Dobie's blog:
mikedobie.tumblr.com/
Burmese soldiers reportedly killed near Chinese border
发布者I can recommend a recent book on China which has a section on Yunnan. by David Eimer, "The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China." Kindle Edition.
Mentions the Kokang. Section on Xinjiang and Uighurs is excellent.