User profile: Yuanyangren

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Thailand for Yunnan expats

@yankee00 there are already enough expats living in Thailand, so I don't think they need more encouragement to go there. Besides, Yunnan is nicer in many ways, there are fewer foreigners, the climate is comfortable, not too cold and not too warm and the infrastructure is rapidly becoming more and more like that of a developed country.

Thailand is OK because people there even in rural areas can usually speak at least a little English but yeah it's not easy to live there long term mainly due to visa issues. Otherwise, the lifestyle is OK, the people are generally quite friendly, but I don't really think quality of life is really a big plus there as the roads are becoming more and more choked with traffic, even in rural areas (usually consisting of a mixture of pickup trucks, sedans and small 100cc motorcycles), dual pricing is prevalent (i.e. officially sanctioned by the government) at all tourist attractions and really there's not that much to do there except chill out in an air-conditioned room to avoid the heat.

In order to establish why you would want to live in Thailand rather than Yunnan you'd better ask yourself what's wrong with living here (I personally don't see a lot of reasons). Personally I doubt Thailand is any better (I've spent many years there and 95% of the time away from the tourist areas) as Thailand still feels like more of a developing country than China.

@HFCAMPO, Thai retirement visas are issued 1-year at a time with a minimum bank balance of 400,000 Baht if you are married to a Thai (about US$13,000) and 800,000 Baht (about US$26,000) if you aren't that must be maintained yearly in order to receive a visa extension.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Tickets wanted KMG to BKK early Dec

I agree with AlexKMG. I can't imagine any round trip ticket to Bangkok costing only 1200 RMB including taxes. If you can find something for around 2000 RMB then you are doing very well as THAI usually sells tickets for around 2400 RMB or above.

It might be a bit cheaper to fly with Lao Airlines to Vientiane and then connect via Udon Thani (70km away from Vientiane's Wattay Airport) on a domestic flight to Bangkok, but you're unlikely to save much if at all, so a direct flight for around 2000+ RMB is all you're going to find.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Foreign expert certificate

Sounds complicated just to send out one's own belongings as a former resident. Perhaps it might be an idea to send everything by truck via Hong Kong or Vietnam (Haiphong) and then by ship out to Australia? I can't see how that wouldn't work, although you might have to be prepared to pay for duties in Hong Kong or Vietnam in addition to possibly higher transport fees.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Paying with Visa for Local Shopping

I have shopped at numerous Carrefours and they all accepted my VISA card issued abroad. For example, the store on Longquan road always accepts my VISA or when I use it, Mastercard. One of my Mastercard credit cards uses an in built chip system and I sometimes have to explain to the clerk that it needs to be inserted into the machine and not swiped in this case.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Paying with Visa for Local Shopping

Unionpay and VISA are not the same thing. It wouldn't make sense that only a VISA card issued in one country could be accepted and not one from another country at a given business establishment.

Airlines, better hotels, some upper class restaurants, all Carrefour and Walmart stores, etc. all accept VISA cards. Unfortunately, not as many retailers as there should be accept credit cards in general in Kunming, but at least you can use them in a number of places.

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Some airlines, particularly international ones like THAI have not updated their systems to reflect the new airport. At the beginning, starting tomorrow, I'm sure there will be some passengers that won't know about the change and will thus go to the wrong airport and miss their flights.

Yeah the Lijiang line is currently under construction, while the Ruili line is supposed to form part of a proposed Kunming-Myanmar rail link - it will probably also be constructed at some stage (as reported by GoKM last year) but I suspect it will take a little while.

All of this is quite amazing, but even in China not everything goes to plan. Originally the proposed high speed railway from Kunming to Vientiane, Laos via Jinghong and Boten was supposed to be completed by 2015, but a number of issues will likely push back that project for another 10 or more years, though I do believe that it will eventually be built. Also, since the idea is to link south-western China with the south-east Asian coast, Thai and eventually Malaysian and Singaporean co-operation is vital to building this link in the first place; building a line only as far as Vientiane would likely turn out to be a white elephant project since the objective is to make most income from moving goods between SE Asia and SW China quickly via train rather than passengers and that requires linking SW China to a coastline - something which Laos doesn't have.

Regarding the Hekou line, they've been proposing that one for years now since trains stopped running between Kunming and Hekou in 2002. Finally this article mentions a new high-speed line is under construction, but this will be of little use unless the Vietnamese also build a complementary high-speed line on their side (sure, they already have an existing railway line running from Lao Cai via Hanoi down to Saigon, but it's rather slow). Also, the Vietnamese government recently turned down a proposal for converting their existing line into a high-speed line, citing the high cost and the low passenger volumes that would utilize the line.

Wow, it's finally upon us. The new airport will finally open at the end of this month! Only thing is, I'd avoid non-essential travel in and out of this airport for the first couple of weeks since it will probably be more chaotic than usual and things may not go as planned (for example baggage claim may be unusually slow).

I like the statement "For travelers without cars, taxis are always an option." well of course they are. For starters, most people in Kunming still don't own a car despite all the cars on the roads these days. Secondly, even if you do have a car, who would drive to the airport in order to catch a flight and then park their car for the duration of their overseas or interprovincial stay there? I don't think long-term parking is well known in China so even a week's worth of parking could become very expensive and possibly more expensive than even in some western countries.

I am looking forward to the proposed direct Europe flights. Anyone have any idea about when these flights might begin and who which carriers will offer service (presumably Chinese carriers I would imagine)?

Reviews

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Horrible tasteless, thick-crusted "cardboard" like pizzas that are a far cry from what they should be like. Way overpriced too. Wine may be good, but why bother when the nearby Prague Cafe makes much better pizza at a more reasonable price?

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Great Mexican food and ice cream, excellent Raspberry smoothies and an overall good atmosphere. Can't do much about the low ceilings on the second floor, but the early closing time could be adjusted, after all, the nearby French Cafe closes at 1am.