Hi guys, I've been in China a couple of years, currently in Yangshuo, and am tired of my crappy pigeon Chinese... so, to that end, I'd like to buckle up, and learn Chinese, propper.

Right, so, Kunming looks like a good spot to do it, and not to expensive either.

Looking at Yunan University... did I spell that wrong?

Few questions.

1. Accomodation, around 1,500 - 2,000rmb per month for a decent place?

2. Air quality, I'm guessing... not too good these days?

3. Local dialect... gibberish?

4. Night life... are there decent bars, restaurants?

5. What sort of monthly budget, after tuition fees.

6. Getting around, bicycle, scooter... busses? Would a scooter be ok? I drive one here, but Yangshuo is pretty small... yet, still dangerous at times.

Cheers

I dont know how you can improve your chinese by moving from Guangxi to Yunnan. I am sure you will find a different variety of crappy pigeon Chinese here as well. Maybe you should try somewhere a bit further northeast.

I agree. Outside of the University environment, people mostly speak Kunming hua. Their mandarin is horrible. When you try to speak mandarin, they look at you like if you're the one who is speaking wrong. Go figure! Head North where people speak mandarin most of the time and not some dialect.

Cheers for the feedback guys, ye, a mate recommended Harbin... brrrrrrr

The most pleasant Mandarin accent I've heard was from Shandong. There are smaller cities there that might be fine for your budget

Harbin? You must be kidding. What a S&*$hole. Best to stick with your "crappy pigeon Chinese".

I was thinking of Qingdao (Shandong) myself. As it is by the sea it does not get anywhere near as cold as Harbin. Wei Hai is another possibility in Shandong. I was told that the capital of Shandong, Jinin, is worth avoiding.

My wife is from Shandong and I was pleasently surprised at how nice it was when I visited. What I liked most is the link to the high speed train. It only took 1 hour to get to Beijing doing 300 km/hr. The people are freindly and talkative unlike here in KMG.

The people here are a bit friendly and shoutative.

If you aren't like, obsessed with overpriced western food and beer, around the same monthly budget as you had in Yangshuo should be fine in Kunming. 1500-2000 would give you a room in a REALLY fancy apartment, but it you wanna live on your own, you might have to move out from the city center a bit for that price. Personally, I'd say there's absolutely no reason to pay more than 800 for a room in Kunming.

The night life is okay, there's a vibrant local music scene, with some interesting chinese bands, but there's not many very laowai:y places, so if you like those, expect to see the same people a lot.

Kunming's traffic congestion is very bad, but the bus coverage excellent and extremely cheap; if you're prepared to spend some time in transit, buses'll do. Bicycles and scooters are both viable options too, but slightly more lethal, and scooter theft is a frequently discussed problem here on GoKunming. The mountains around Kunming offer interesting bicycling possibilities, if that's your thing.

The air is okay, I'd say, but I'm not too sensitive about that. The local dialect is okay, but not proper mandarin by any stretch, you'd better go to Harbin (yes, 真的) for that.