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Forums > Living in Kunming > who thinks we chat is for business use

HFCAMPO
I know what kind of mobile phone you use - WECHAT is absolutely not targeting you as a user and I respect both sides of that issue.

WECHAT is a P2P social media platform that provides a wealth of additional features, including B2C and C2B. Western social media platforms, such as twitter, etc are beginning to copy the Chinese phenomenon as an extension to increasing market share and revenues without the annoying googleads crap. Expect to see a flurry of M&As as they snap up applications and services. WECHAT et al will naturally suffer from abuses, such as spam, identify theft, and solicitations for sketchy services - so caveat emptor. Abuses can be reported and similar to most social media platforms, requires an unpublished and un-advertised critical mass of complaints before some kind of punitive or blocking action is enforced.

It's a great platform for group messaging, but not particularly useful for professional group messaging (look at bitrix24, github et al for something more professional and private).

As for protecting your identify - putting yourself out on the internet demands a certain amount of discretion and common sense. The need to publish one's self online for the world to see, when you wouldn't normally reveal such information personally to a complete stranger defies logic.

Along with useful public and social benefits, comes all the associated abuses, but I've personally found WECHAT to be an interesting and diverse platform for providing a wide breadth of consumer services - from their UBER clone, POS e-payments, paying bills, ordering delivery services, etc ad infinitum.

But again, a modicum of common sense is in order.

And for the record, WECHAT and similar social media platforms in China were recently lauded in the hi-tech west as examples of copied western tech that then took off in a flurry of incredible innovation to become a global example of the commercialization of formerly free web services WITHOUT the click ads approach to revenue generation - although those activities are most certainly also present.

My neighbor uses WECHAT to run her own home-based store selling various products to her increasingly growing network of contacts.

Best approximation is an network extension of the AMWAY/Nutrilife/Mary Kay et al social networking businesses, using a social media platform - with the associated risks of doing business online for both parties.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Kunming FRAUD

The above things being said, these kinds of behaviors are quite common in legitimate businesses also - minus the buying government officials gifts - ANYTIME somebody mentions the word government official (or state owned company) and gift - walk away - it is pure corruption and illegal in China and most of the developed world.

Nominal gifts would be something from YOUR country of nominal but cultural value. Buying crap here to give away is bribery. Nominal gifts are things like pens, books, confectionaries (chocolates, candies, etc) and should ONLY be give to the company leader IF they are NOT government officials or officials of state owned enterprises.

As the alleged source of finance, it is inappropriate to request gifts of any kind - this is akin to taking money out of your pocket, giving it to someone, and asking them to buy something for you - it makes zero sense, unless that money in your pocket doesn't belong to you.

When dealing in foreign countries, one should ALWAYS work with established legal entities in those countries to vet opportunities.

The only time this is difficult to do is when the projects are project financed - usually the project owners will solicit various stakeholders BEFORE they create the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle), but those projects are easier to vet as each party is a stakeholder and bears it's own costs - no gift giving there, unless you're feeling particularly happy and generous.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > 10 year visa updates?

Depends on budget. For an upscale HK expat style budget - the Landmark Hotel has a beautiful pseudo-open air cafe on the ground floor. Grilled cheese sandwich is allegedly to die for.

There's also a "secret" prime rib hole in the wall hidden away in Central is you want to pamper yourself. Delectable and delicious!

For more hole in the wall joints - any of the local HK fast food joints prolific in Central, serving their famous HK fried rice. Just remember - the tea is for washing utensils...NOT for drinking. BUY your drinks (HK Pearl Milk Tea - I call it frog egg tea...to screw with foreign newbies). Look for the crowds - in this particular case, it actually means something.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > searching for a Kungfu teacher

A poster by the name of taijijulia teaches various styles of TaiJi, which is a good foundation. She does both private and small group lessons. Go to the classifieds tab above, hunt for the search window, then type in <taijijulia> and you'll find her - PM (private message/mail) her. Her rates are quite reasonable. I believe Taijijulia teaches Chen Style Taiji, which is a little more dynamic than the traditional Yang style you see most people emulating.

If you're around the Yunda Green Lake Campus area, there's an elderly gent who holds private classes, mostly for the Yunda faculty. Chat them up - some of them speak English. His son has a formal studio in one of the larger shopping malls. They both teach a more martial and combative form of Taiji, to include couples (one-on-one) exercises, which you may find more to your liking.

Good luck finding your instructor!

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Forums > Living in Kunming > House Cleaner

I recently noticed a poster on Salvador's front door or thereabouts - Salvadors also provides cleaning services.

Just make sure you provide a checklist for them to follow, to include cleaning under sofas, beds, tables, chairs (moving movable furniture), laundry (instructions for separating whites from colors). etc ad infinitum.

Then they can just check off the list as they go through your home. Expecting a poorly educated peasant to resemble a trained professional hotel maid is an invitation for disappointment.

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In some cases, government officials and departments get government funds as grants, loans, copay/cost share agreements, then either can't or won't spend the funds - so they try to "sit on them" until they utilize them favorably. We can't actually judge them to be wrong, lazy, or irresponsible - as we don't really understand why they couldn't spend the funds.

Regardless - discovering funds that were allocated and then perhaps "moved around" to make it look as though they're being utilized but are in reality merely funding "other" things - is an illegal and fraudulent practice in other developed that may not currently be illegal in China.

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The Chinese internet may have lit up - but the fact still remains - what he said is probably true - otherwise we'd have seen a mass exodus from WeChat, Alipay, and Baidu.

As for the government ranking systems - it's a social engineering experiment designed to test cultural and behavioral engineering on a grand scale. Don't like it - go offline and off-grid and start prepping a la US preppers (prepare - preparing for the breakdown and implosion of government and society - bunkers, arms, supplies, self sufficient compounds etc.

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This regulation, as stated here, is for government officials and employees of state owned enterprises only. It has no bearing on normal people. While I'm personally ambivalent about the rules - it is definitely the government's continuing attempt to quell rampant, pervasive, and apparently generational corruption. That's a tough rodent or cockroach to control.

In most developed nations - they continuously make laws, mostly for people who don't obey laws, flagrantly circumvent laws, or even use laws for legalized corruption - this law however seems to have teeth - as flagrantly displaying wealth is a discipline violation. Un-flagrantly displaying wealth and influence is a separate matter.

For example - in the above case - the limit was allegedly 200 people - so the solution is simply to have 10 separate banquets - to host your village of 2,000 people. Other alternatives - sponsor large legally recognized celebrations (such as water splashing or fire festivals) and have your public banquet under those kinds of blanket covers.

For every law - there are always infinitely many ways to circumvent or abuse laws - been that way for aeons.

So support the government's attempts at anti-corruption or support corrupt government officials and corrupt employees of state owned enterprises. I detest corruption - so I favor the former, hope it works, but suspect it will merely drive the corruption underground and only capture the truly stupid.

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Wonderful review for the budget minded - minus the eternal bus ride portion of the odyssey. Beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing.

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Fuxian Lake is a major vigorously and rigorously protected potable (drinkable) water source. It's host to a plethora of fresh water food, BBQs and the Hilton Hotel overlooks the lake. Behind the Hilton is a rather large collection of villas (HK style), many with basements, garage (not necessarily connected to your home though), and lap pools, if the lake is too far to walk (it's about 1-2km away).

The lake surroundings are a future development site for Yuxi City, so should be interesting to see how the city develops, while complying with the national protection of water resources.

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Took the family here to stroll around and there's a LOT of walking. Many of the stores appear closed, but the bar street nestled inside seems quite well populated.

We chose the Japanese restaurant near the entrance (there are many entrances). The food and service was quite acceptable - from the fruit salad, tuna salad, curry pork cutlet, and the ubiquitous California Sush Rolls (you can buy the small size or the large size).

It rained a little while we were there, which helped drench the heat and humidity. When the sun came out - it was HOT.

If you're lucky, you'll occasionally see people (usually women) wearing minority clothing being photographed by professional photographers. There's also a small photographer's store where you can rent various ethnic clothing and have professional pictures taken (maybe the two are related...now that I think about it).

There's also the ubiquitous game centers (shooting galleries etc) for the kids and unaccompanied teenagers.

It seems the most popular venues were the prolific food courts - but that's probably related to it being lunchtime when we visited. The place is clean and plenty of antiqued door fronts (the wood panels) for those photo shoots.

Capping off the visit, one must of course take pictures on the bridges crossing the lily ponds and the landmark temple spire. We didn't make it to the surrounding temples. Maybe next time.

Transportation is everywhere - but make sure you have your mobile phone ride share app working, just in case you hit rush hour.

Again - for now - it seems many vendors were closed - but I'm positive that'll change again as the economy begins to rebound.

Excellent way to spend a half day as opposed to the kids faces glued to their mobile devices...fresh air, good food, plenty of people watching, and walking...walking...walking...

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Took the family here a few days ago. Wonderful place to go walking with lots of snack & drink kiosks (along with chairs and tables) to rest frequently. This zoo is similar to most other large open air zoos with reasonably spacious enclosures. This place is HUGE so be prepared for a LOT of walking. Consider wearing sensible hiking or walking shoes. Your feet will be grateful.

Entrance fees when we went still cny100 for adults and kids cny70. Feeding the animals at the managed venues - cny30 per site...per child. Monkeys can be fed by tossing carrots and sliced apples into their enclosure - which is good. Monkeys famous for flash mobbing. Can be terrifying for kids (and adults). Even in the enclosures, you can clearly see they're territorial and aggressive. Bullying is displayed frequently enough for teaching moments for the kids (cuz there are monkeys in all schools everywhere in the world).

MOST people bring their own food and drink, as the kiosks are quite expensive. Example a cny5 drink outside is cny10 in the zoo, so expect most everything to be twice as expensive. I had a bbq chick drumstick (leg?) for cny25...ouch.

Bring carrots. LOTS of carrots. The zoo has several managed (paid) and unmanaged petting areas for most semi-domesticated animals, such as the Alpacas (seriously cute), deer, giraffes (ok...you can feed the giraffes on an elevated platform, but probably difficult to "pat" the animals. It's kind of spectacular to actually see giraffes face to face - these animals are simply vertigo inducing huge and tall.

The seal show was nice - typical of seal shows everywhere. Seals are kind of like the dogs of the sea. Friendly and ravenous appetites so easily trainable.

Lots of cheap touristy souvenirs to buy the for the kiddies (and relatives kids).

HIGHLY recommend taking the bus tour - they basically zoom around picking up and dropping off customers (they check your e-ticket at every pickup site) at entrances and exits to walking enclosures. They'll drop you off at roughly 15 minute walking sites. NO need to rush and you can grab ANY bus upon emerging from the walking enclosure sites.

Of course, the ultimate attraction always the lion and tiger exhibits at the top of the mountain.

Bring a fan. It gets hot. We were fortunate as the sky was mostly overcast so the temperature was generally cool, but heated up almost instantly whenever the sun peeked out of the clouds.

Bring LOTS of water. Most veteran tourists have their own liter bottles of water. Bring your own umbrella. When the sun comes out - it's HOT. Bring a wide brimmed hat if you're into comfort over vanity. SUNTAN LOTION never goes astray.

Aside from that - typical Chinese group site with everyone rushing the buses and ticket counters. Not so much rushing for the food venues, so seems the elevated prices keep that comfortably in check.

All in all - GREAT place to take the kiddies (or a date if you both know you're into each other - cuz you'll be spending an entire day together). The Outdoor Zoo seems exceptionally well designed with plenty of both managed and unmanaged (eg walking deer along the roadside and the stroll through the peacock "garden").

Easy cab or shared ride out and back. Taxis aplenty when you're ready to leave (just walk past the parking lot gate - they'll be waiting for you). You should consider dining out or delivery at the end of the day.

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Took the kiddies here again.

1. It's FREE.
2. NO knives, lighters, sharp objects, etc. There's a place in front to check bags, luggage (if you're traveling), etc - but the exit is in the rear of the monolithic building, so it's a bit of a hike to walk back around to the checked storage area (it's also FREE).

THIRD FLOOR
We went straight to the third floor - History and artifacts of Yunnan (mostly). Rich history - lots of original sculptures etc removed from grottoes and displayed in the museum. Lots of English language titles and occasionally some explanatory text in English.

SECOND FLOOR
This is the evolution floor with lots of petrified artifacts - sea life mostly, lots of recreations of animals and environments from pre-man times.

There are coffee shops and dining areas on the first floor and drink vending machines on the second and third floors. The place is HUGE so a great place to take the kiddies and walk around until they're tired. They'll probably enjoy the dinosaur exhibit on the second floor the most. Wait a few minutes and the dinosaurs will roar and move their heads and maybe pretend to chew (open and close their maws).

PLENTY of parking and unfortunately NOT close to any subway station, so you'll have to grab a cab or rideshare but seems taxis and transportation are aplenty in the city and surrounding environs.

And...it's FREE for now. Museum closes at 5pm so make sure you leave by 430-445 so you can hike back to the storage area if you checked anything in as they also close at 5pm.

Enjoy!

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This is a great place to walk around and generally kill time while shopping for nothing in particular. Nearby is the Paulaner Brewhouse for super fantastic food, coffee and drinks, outdoor patio dining or just hanging and people watching.