movin to town on sunday! hooray!

*so i know i can take the express bus, but is the bus boarding area clearly marked or will i need to search?
*i'll be arriving early evening, is there somewhere at the airport to change money at that time of day?
*any SIM-selling kiosk at the airport? or at least a place to buy a payphone card? would be nice to be able to inform my peeps when i can meet them after immigration.

thanky!

I don't know the answers to all those questions, but I have caught the airport bus before.
You buy the tickets at a little booth just outside the terminal. There are a couple of different lines, to downtown, to the west, and to the north. After buying the ticket, you cross the traffic lane to look for your bus.

Express Bus, Change Money, SIM Card, Payphone Card. Try to do all this upon arrival is just asking for trouble. I think you will be lucky if you find a direct bus to get you home. Also, depending on the time of arrival, if you arrive late you will probably have to take a taxi or black taxi. Have no idea what a payphone card is as it is very difficult to find payphones anywhere nowadays.

I recently took the airport express at 10PM so that won't be a problem. It's very simple, the buses are big and gold and right outside the terminal

Express bus is pretty darn easy... if you speak Chinese. Its still pretty easy if you don't though. Go outside and look for the buses... there is a ticket seller who you buy the ticket from which gets clipped when you get on the bus. Its all pretty easy to be honest and works pretty well. If you are getting off at where the bus terminates its easier because sometimes they don't call out where they are (I have only had this once though on a number of trips).

Since you (mostly) have to register to get a phone number in China, you will want to visit a China Mobile shop (or the other one) and show them your passport to get a SIM. Best bet, since you have peeps here, is probably to use the free airport wifi (which is patchy at best) to email your friends when you arrive, or basically say that you will meet them at xxx destination at around xxx time as a backup. As far as I know, there isn't a China mobile or other store in the airport.

There is a few ATM's in the airport, ground floor, up against where the 2nd floor starts. Every ATM in China that I have seen has dual English/Chinese if that is a problem. Best bet is to draw money from an ATM the first time (it may take a couple of tries at different ATMs, some don't accept international despite what they say and/or are out of cash). This will save you probably getting ripped off a bit as I have never found a place where changing money makes sense as opposed to getting about 3-5k out from an ATM and absorbing the fee.

Are you coming from another Chinese city? If so, it might be easier to use your current sim card for a few minutes of (overpriced) important calls upon arrival, then you can change your sim when you are settled. Also, if you know what is your destination in Kunming, people here might find it easier to give you better suggestions. If you arrive in the early evening, you might be caught in the middle of heavy traffic.