User profile: voltaire

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Forums > Study > Ask where to go

DISGRUNTLED KUNMING TAXI

<i>ennmmph. zhizoujiuxinglaga. ga. eeemph.</i> Straight ahead.
<i>zuuuuuorbiarph. ga. eeumph.</i> Left.
<i>yoooooubiarr.yoooooubiarr. ga. eeumph.</i> Right.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Hong Kong Visa Run URGENT

If you are travelling light and don't mind carrying your luggage while getting stuff done you can get ~200HKD/night (sleep length time only, must check in after 9PM and leave before 9AM) around the west and south end of Mongkok in the short-stay love hotels. More pricey option: for 700HKD you can get a nice room for 24 hours with security etc. @ M.K. Hotel, www.hotelmk.com.hk/. Cheapest way from that area across to Wanchai is walking down Nathan Rd. to the star ferry (7HKD?). Faster way is the subway. I've always used agents around Tsim Sha Tsoi (TST) though myself... a good one is Japan Travel Agency (JTA), website @ www.jta.biz/chinavisa/china_visa.htm

10HKD buys you entry to the HK Fine Arts Museum at the north end of the star ferry line (ie. Kowloon side) which is a great way to spend time cheaply. Other museums near there too (northeast).

UK citizen 3M single entry tourist @ HK$490
UK citizen 3M single entry tourist (rushed) @ HK$790 .. if submitted in morning, can pick up next evening by 5PM.

There are all night buses from circa western Mongkok to one of the 24 hour border points, so you can immediately and cheaply slip back in to China and be on a train back to Yunnan.

If you pay for next day service you can possibly save money overall since staying in HK is pricey.

There's a great buffet all you can eat Chinese vegetarian place in between them, open around 11AM-4PM. plus.google.com/109899716890260196850/about?hl=en

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Why I love Chinese women

But with dollar now sliding
And frequent poor tidings,
The orient does rather seem best!
Aye if USA visas,
Berkeley feminist divas
Could yet warrant a tired "may-be"
With all due respect
Most are pains in the neck,
And I love a good Chinese lady!

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Poetry anyone?

OK but I hope the venue is providing my free beer? :)

Just wondering what makes you think Muyu (where i've never been) is a better venue?

I must admit a bias: my hotel is usually near Moondog :)

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Xiefei: Of course, we will probably never know the real reasons, but the result is the same. Absolute depoliticization of the site, the movement of anything still suggestive of a pluralistic history out of town to what amounts to the middle of nowhere, and the vaguaries of apologetics resulting from a lack of transparency in government decision making. What next? Personally, I expect to see a coffee shop in former exhibition space.

I believe it's hard to interpret mtDNA evidence without being an expert... there are a lot of Chinese mtDNA studies in the Yungui Plateau area.

Other studies I have read show things like the pre-modern peoples of the Yangtse delta (Shanghai) region came up the coast from Southeast Asia on boats.

Then of course we have the development of long-distance, multihull sailing vessels in the islands (some even attribute this to prehistoric Vietnam), which resulted in undeniable migration of one linguistic group (Austronesians) as far west as Madagascar and as far east as Easter Island and (by a recent article published in the prestigious journal Nature) South America ... all this allegedly from Taiwan.

See en.wikipedia.org/[...] for some background there... "some Amazonian Native Americans descend partly from a Native American founding population that carried ancestry more closely related to indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andaman Islanders than to any present-day Eurasians or Native Americans."

The main point is, there's evidence of all sorts of things, but a coherent picture is far from agreed upon, and the picture is changing.

Perhaps it would be fair to say that what we really know about ancient Yunnan, other than its extreme diversity and ancient peopling since neolithic times, is that it was a melting pot important in the initial dispersal (by both prehistoric migration and trade) of critical technologies such as intensive rice agriculture across a broad swathe of Asia, and that this importance is not widely known in either academia or public consciousness, despite the geographic/topographic sense this makes, the continued discoveries of ancient settled agricultural sites (Jianchuan), etc.

We are only beginning to learn about our own ignorance! :)

If I recall correctly I read the sign at the entrance to the old museum site on Dongfeng Dong Lu a few months ago, which suggested that the powers that be were in the process of "depoliticizing" the contents of building by turning in to some kind of modern fine art gallery, no doubt with a carefully audited inventory to raise no pesky questions about historical independence and ethnic identity.

I was the friend that dragged Jordan down. It's not a bad museum as far as space goes, but the exhibitions are pretty lame. The lack of translations is grating, as is the wholesale abortion of any attempt at a timeline of Yunnanese history. It's as if the curators were afraid of political backlash for actually laying out history in an honest fashion.

The Nanzhao stuff is pretty detailed, and there is a good selection of bronze age items - far more than the original provincial museum in town.

Overall it's worth a look if you're in to history, but a pain to get to.

One is drawn to question whether the remote location is intended solely to dissuade visitors or was purely a victim of political wranglings.

Good effort by some of the involved, I would say, but an overall poor showing given the investment and background, all said.

Huge areas of interest such as the bronze-age discoveries at Jianchuan, the neolithic paintings in Lincang and the historic connections with Vietnam's northern region are largely ignored. As are any links to Hindu religion in the Nanzhao period (evidenced in carvings at Shibaoshan), the historical seige of Kunming by Tai troops from what is now modern Shan state, Burma, the amazing influence of Zheng He, the history of boats on the central Yunnanese lakes, the 'qi' tiles of Baoshan, and so on...

Overall, poor show.

I wish Yunnan would get a clue about how to market their amazing history and drop the political wankery.

Reviews

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@nailer is being unfairly dismissed: they are certainly fallible. At one point they were well managed and the only game in town, and their outdoor bar had an interesting social vibe. Recently, none of these is the case (was given a bad bill to the tune of ~300% - no managers present and a subsequent complaint resulted in a less than ideal outcome, many more places are now open, and the outdoor bar is closed). Unless you are specifically seeking faux-Americana (often far better examples elsewhere) or two degrees removed faux-Mexicana, there's little reason to go there. How come French Cafe can serve a great sandwich for 24 but Sals requires 50 for a pretend-exoticized nibble? Certainly the business will continue, but the hey-dey is clearly gone. Romaniticizing the past aint gonna help. E-waste recycling by shipping (non carbon neutral) junk across the country? Puh-lease. Garbage processing people here recycle anyway! I applaud the ethical stance of one of the managers, but the place has frankly lost its mojo.

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Hands down the best draft craft beer in Kunming. On top of that, very reasonable prices for food and other drinks (especially wine).

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Called the number provided on a Friday at 2:15PM while a 10% discount was advertised "on Friday and Saturday" (listed in GoKunming specials).

A Chinese person answered the 'English' phone number in Mandarin then explained in broken English that you need to order 3 hours in advance. (Subtext: As their business is so slow)

Grumble. False advertising. Waste of time. Seems 100% Chinese run. Probably bad pizza.

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The listing here is wrong! Teresa's are not defunct, they are just back to being one store instead of two stores on Wenlinjie now! They are still in business, still answer on this phone number, and are still delivering! Points for consistency, it's been years! As of right now, it's 68 for the more toppings vegetarian at the largest size. They will do thin or thick crust. Yes, it's not to everyone's taste, but I always used to find adding dried chilli powder and some extra salt brought it up to tasty. Might go for a dash of Sichuan pepper oil to spice it up this time around. (You know you've been in China too long when...)

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I also had a bad experience here recently.

Honestly, I wish them the best of luck, but I do think the staff are poorly managed and the owners have the wrong attitude and a clear lack of experience in service-oriented business. While the pizza is OK, everything else I have tried (including overnight stay) can be had cheaper and better elsewhere, and the pizza at Roccos is better in my opinion. The service has always fluctuated between acceptable to don't care.

Since they don't have their situation resolved yet, and it has been a few years, I have made the decision not to go there anymore or send anyone else. It's just not worth the hassle, given the crappy location (masked as private or lost). Better pizza with more quiet and privacy on Roccos' terraces.