Strange, I have never not been picked up by a taxi! I smile and wave one down, they stop and are almost always pretty happy to take a foreigner. My Chinese isn't excellent but I can usually make it known where I want to go and they are happy and usually try to make a little conversation in Chinese. I also tip them because I hear they sometimes don't pick up foreigners so this is a little bit of encouragement!
The rage! The sarcasm! The scathing attitude to all that is Kunming! Even the foreigners that come here are subjected to the rage!
Its just so entertaining! More, more, more! Though you may need some more material.
Subjects I believe not yet covered by BillDan:
People saying "Hello!" to you after you have passed them. If you acknowledge them, they giggle hysterically. People (especially old people) saying "Wai guo ren!" or "Lao wai!" or something similar when they see you. I consider the above two cute but I would love to hear your opinion on them BillDan.
Please, oh please, tell us about your cat and the "veterinarian" you went to. That will be awesome.
You have talked about the food in all of Kunming being terrible, but nothing about the service. I mean come on, any self respecting rage filled cynic MUST be able to create at least 1 tirade on the service!
Anyone think of anything else BillDan can rage at?
You mean Wal Marts? There are quite a few around in KM, 3 or 4 that I know of.
That was awesome!
Bill, I have switched to eating tuna sandwiches... 24 kuai for 2 cans of tuna in sunflower oil from Metro (4 meals for me)... very good Irish cheese - 28 kuai from metro (about 6 meals for me), tomatoes/lettuce/cucumber from any market, bread from Metro is passable and doesn't cost the earth. All up about 15 kuai a sandwich, very hao chi and very healthy! Man, are you stuck in your ways you HAVE to have ham! Bacon must be at least a worthy replacement? The fact you lasted so many years in Kunming is a testament to your fortitude!
Kunming isn't an international city by any standards, lets all admit that. Its got bits and pieces of internationality here and there, but most of us love it because its a bit "rural" in so many regards. Where else do parents hold their kids in a squat position for them to shit all over the footpath? You wouldn't find that behaviour in any city considered international, therefore you also should not expect to find ham!
As for the local cuisine, its quite good if you like spicy stuff, which is what I personally looove. Gutter oil is a little overblown and probably used by a minority of restaurants. The local food is loved by the locals. Kunming doesn't have a big enough international community or local interest in international foods to make it profitable for supermarkets to stock western perishables like ham or provide the expertise on how to store and serve it so you probably can't blame them. In the future, this will probably change, so lets enjoy rurality (?) while we can!
Bill, I think we should start a fund for you to buy you a return ticket for 2 weeks to mei guo! How about that everyone a "Bills Great American Fix" charity?
Wow, Bill is jaaaaaaded!
Bill, if you want some ham, I recommend going to Metro, buying some bacon frying it and using that instead. Or some of the local salami type stuff which is really tasty. Sometimes we have to deal with not having exactly what we want here, but substitutes aren't usually hard to find. That is what happens when you are in a foreign country. If I try to find Yunnan food in my country, its pretty difficult (and I have looked).
The stinky barbecued tofu here is excellent too mmmm.... actually I like the barbecue places where you can cook lots of different things yourself, tofu, vegetables etc. There are some pretty good hotpot places around too, I particularly enjoy some of the frog ones (weird, but really tasty!).
Check out the bugs that they eat here too, haven't tried them yet but apparently very hao chi!
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So fast, so convenient. One star off for opening before the train station stop is connected!
Wow, just wow. Possibly the best Chinese food I have had in Kunming. And in one of the nicest, traditional courtyard style restaurant I have been in. A woman dressed in traditional qi pao playing a gu zheng just adds to it.
We had okra, mushroom soup, dried beef and chou dofu. All top notch with the bill coming in at just over 250 kuai. But we could have fed 3 people for that so not too bad at about 80-90 kuai each. Not the cheapest but for the quality, it's damn good.
If you have people visiting and want to take them to a traditional Chinese style restaurant with Yunnan style food, or want a romantic night out with a gal, you can't go wrong here. Close to Green Lake (down a little alley) for a romantic walk... Just perfect.
Pretty good place for getting all your documents translated and/or notarised. Note that there are a number of notaries in the building which you can find by going up the stairs (the elevators are impossible). But you have to find the stairs to do so... go in the door, head over to the right, go up the big wide stairs which head up a floor, turn right then right again into the elevator area and right again into the stairwells. Whew!
One point off for the elevators never being available and having to hike 7-9 flights of stairs (not good if you have to go 3-4 times a day like I often did!)
This does not stop at the Jinanya hotel at Da Shang Hui as the flyers state (and is on the images tab here). They need to have another stop in the same area or else they are missing out on covering a big chunk of the city.
You can take another bus, the 919C, I believe, if you are nearby Da Shang Hui, which leaves from the bus station on HeHong Lu, nearby the Qianxing road intersection. This bus goes every hour and is white, found at the western end of the station. It is operated by a different company and takes about 1 hour 10 minutes to get to the airport due to a large number of stops especially near the airport.
Great bus though if you can catch it!
Friendly people, even got to the talk to the vice consulate, who told me she had done a stint in Malaysia's Siberian Consulate!
English is spoken by some of the Chinese girls working at the desk who are pleasant to deal with. I assume they do Visa's as well but I wasn't here for a visa, this time!
Cycling from Kunming to Lüchun
发布者Looks like we could easily have a cycle tourists convention here in Kunming! Maybe this is where all the cycle tourists go when we retire (from cycle touring?). Its like Florida for cycle tourists!
Cycling from Kunming to Lüchun
发布者I liked Nansha too, I got a fabulous hotel there for 60RMB per night and everything was brand new. I got sick and collapsed in a restaurant and the owner of the restaurant called the local hospital for me and two nurses picked me up in a cab and looked after me for the night for a measly 200RMB. Can't complain!
Snap bluppfisk!
www.crazyguyonabike.com/[...]
Around Town: Biking the trails of Changchong Mountain
发布者Omgiri, you still around and keen for a ride? Would like to see this trail!
Went up this morning and had a poke around on the west side (check out my map: maps.google.com/[...] Was a bit scared to head all the way down the South end of my ride as I didn't know where the military base was and I didn't want to get off the mountain. Anyone been out the road on the Southwest side? Looks like a good way up as well if it isn't gated somewhere.
Regarding trail building, there is definitely potential for a loop around the top and heading north past the road (though they are building the road further north too). There are some good guys in the Specialized bike shop in Beichen who are mates with former China/Asia MTB champions who might be interested in such a project. The owner of that shop appears to be a lihai dude probably with a lot of guangxi who may be able to help with the government side of things. It would be a win-win as we could get a good trail, he could grow his business being the closest good shop to the trail... would be good to include a number of shops/clubs around though and get some organisation together to push this on.
Rock Climbing in Kunming
发布者I scoped out a pretty nice boulder on a ride around Changchong Shan today that would be pretty good for bouldering. Its got a nice exit to the top for getting down and top roping if desired (although its only about 5 metres high). Check out the blue boulder on my map here: maps.google.com/[...]
There were maybe 3 routes up this thing, one particularly nasty slight overhang lay back on the south side which would see me barn dooring for africa!
Note I also included a blue link to some cliffs which I am sure would have some good climable routes. There is a little view station on top of the cliffs and a good path to it so reeks of climbing potential. Its all limestone rock and undiscovered... local climbers should get in there and start developing it up there!
'No-car day' underlines Kunming's car conundrum
发布者Yep, you guys are probably right. The subway won't decrease car usage which is tied to status. Instead probably half of the people using electric scooters and bicycles will use it! Not exactly the target audience, damn!