Forums > Living in Kunming > Cycling in Kunming I agree with the above. Kunming and Yunnan are great for cycling. Without stretching this thread past what it should be, you should just search the forums for one of the other, identically named forum threads. And of course, report when you are here so we can go on a couple of rides together.
Forums > Living in Kunming > UEFA EURO 2012 buy a projector, hook it up to CCTV5, project across the road on your neighbour's facade. instant entertainment for the entire street.
Forums > Living in Kunming > "Lazy" English teachers? Oh the newspaper is by no means wrong or trying to hold an anti-foreigner campaign. It is simply addressing a very real issue. Many English teachers are highly qualified and do excellent jobs. But there are others.
I know of one particular non-native teacher whose English was so bad that she was neither able to express herself clearly to native speakers nor to understand what native speakers were trying to tell her.
Yet she accepted a job as a kindergarten English teacher. You may well think: any English is better than none at that level, but however mouldable the brains of young kids are, getting them to pronounce stuff wrong in the very beginning and teaching them meanings of words that are incorrect is definitely not helping and unworthy of a salary.
It is the school's fault for not checking and I find the attitude of this person is very immoral but I know of more than just one student or traveller accepting such jobs. The low salary does not stop these people.
Forums > Food & Drink > Vietnamese food afaik, that's the Daizu 傣族 place on Jianshe Lu 建设路. Other than that the Dai are probably the ancestors of the Thai, the food is nothing like it. I go there quite often and enjoy the place even for its spartan interior. iirc the place does not have a proper licence and is therefore so cheap but also so basic. Anyway I know of few Chinese restaurants where I like to linger around long after eating.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Lenovo Thinkpad support thanks for all the help.
for the record, the engineer at the thinkcentre can be reached on 0871-5157999
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
Posted byWith regards to the roads, I have some first-hand experience, riding a bike in February 2012. Luang Prabang to Phou Khoun and Vang Vieng on highway 13 is pretty smooth sailing, until the last 15-20k before VV, where you suddenly get intermittent road-wide gravel gaps (at least one every 500m) until, well over 100km past VV, you reach the junction to Thalat, where you can opt for the much better maintained highway 10 to Vientiane.
Here is "highway 13", on one of its longer street-wide gravel gaps (imagine the dust):
www.crazyguyonabike.com/[...]
Kunming road beautification project initiated
Posted byLess dirty buses and other vehicles you mean. And more terraces on the sidewalks, along with more balconies!
Kunming Fair again sets records
Posted byIt was also a great place to spend some time. Especially the Middle-Eastern section, where bearded patriarchs in expensive-looking garments showed their tapestries and jewels. Yes, it's all in a sterile modern building now, but I almost felt like in an Indian bazaar: with a little fantasy, the walls melt away, the scent of incense fills the air, camels lazily circle above the white roofs and fakirs test their arses.
A lot of the goods sold there were also fake (not real Jade, a different kind of Eaglewood). But the owners were mostly honest about it (though not everywhere, I learned from someone who worked there as a translator).
I went home with a couple of coins from Bhutan and an invitation to the country and a set of funny photos.
The fair moves on to Chengdu and Beijing after that. There it'll be free, because business with the locals is generally better, according to some salesman whose Chinese translator was surprised that I bought the 30 RMB ticket "just to look around".
Getting away: Haba Snow Mountain
Posted byAh okay :) I must've been lucky or the guards must've remembered me after exiting first.
I understand that you haven't made it to the top? I did this last year: getting to 5396m was a pretty sweet experience, but it would probably be unwise to do this without a guide. Especially if you've never been hypoxic on a mountain before (I hadn't).
Photos and story on www.crazyguyonabike.com/[...]
Getting away: Haba Snow Mountain
Posted byIf by bike, coming in from the East side of TLG will probably cost you nothing. I haven't ever been checked on that end despite my multiple entries and exits.