Sorry for the double posting. CORRECTION: the military installation may also be on the west side of the mountain, not the east side.

WARNING: The north side (and possibly also the east side) of the otherwise lovely rocky butte of Chang Chong Mountain abuts an unmarked military base. I found this out the hard way while descending that side on a narrow trail and then canal (seeking to do a loop back to Long Quan Road/bus #84) and spent ten hours in uncomfortable custody. My advice is to stick to the road from the cigarette factory, bring your passport, and make sure you are properly registered at your local PSB before you head up.

Hey, Beautiful girl! so nice to read about you! Wish I could see you very soon! good luck with everything!

^Marc, I just tried your climb this morning. Awesome!

The valley it goes up is really pretty and there were great views from the top of the parts of Kunming that weren't shrouded in fog.

This might be my new favorite; I can't believe I've done Bamboo Temple so many times without trying the side road.

I still don't reckon it's as difficult of a climb as the Baozhu Si hill, though.

-Dan

I had met her briefly earlier this year, and I'm glad to learn more about her through you guys interview!
Thanks GK!

It is indeed a great climb. Beginning is really steep but the second half is much easier. The views are awesome in some of the hairpins.

Another really steep climb, even harder than this one i would say, is a side branch of the bamboo hill climb. After about one km on that climb you cycle over a small bridge (located in a hairpin). If you turn to the right there you have a gruelling 3.3km climb ahead of you. Self-named 'Dead man's ride' as it is a 'killing' climb which ends at a huge graveyard. Views on the top are awesome!

Give it a try.

Very sad. We survived childbirth at Richland last year, but were unimpressed with the lack of professionalism, honesty, knowledge and MDs. (The "hospital" appeared to be staffed by minimally trained nurses after hours.) I'm sure Richland will try to buy the family's silence and repaint the lobby and then more unwitting foreigners and middle class Kunmingers will assume from the name "international" and the beautiful lobby that the quality is similar to Bumrumgrad, Suan Dok, Ram, Lanna or Pra Ram IV in Thailand. But the name "international" and nice 装修 a good hospital do not make.

The boom in the real estate market in china may be signs of another economic bubble. Who will have the power to save the average chinese once it bursts? definitely do not count on those irresponsible and corrupted governing officials.

Thanks for reporting on this. I live next to Richland and though I could read the graffiti I wondered abt the details of the incident.

yeah, I was told once before that because that is the busiest time of the day it is preferable that neither of the 2 drivers gets it than one of them makes money instead of the other.

Of course this is nonsense as they could swap shifts at different times (before and after rush hours) on alternate days.

^Yeah Greg, they seem pretty set in their ways. I asked a driver about why they waste time and money by driving around with empty cabs during the busiest time of day and he said he would be too tired if he got off at 8pm. I think the actual problem might lie somewhere in the murky division of labor and finances between the two or more drivers of cab.

I hope this works. My wife told me she saw some news interviews with drivers who said that they will simply not stop at all, pretending they didn't see people, instead of stopping and then refusing a fare.

We'll see.

WOW!!!! It's about time!!!!!

Sounds like a cool guy. Definitely one you wouldn't mind getting a couple of beers with and let him do all the talking.

That was probably the most interesting article i've ever read on Gokunming. Good work.