I'll say. It doesn't take a a leap of faith (maybe just a series of smaller leaps, and a well-secured front-pocket carry bag?) to realize: it's amazing what kind of gymnastics those Australians are capable of. I'm all for innovation across the pond, but they've clearly taken the lead here. The competitors are merely sheep.
China Eastern may be crap (and their website has massive security holes, too), but:
1. They fly direct to Paris and Chiang Mai, which nobody else does.
2. Their Tuodong Lu ticket office have a separate international section which is usually always vacant and makes booking more pleasant than usual.
Both Lijiang and Dali are awash with violence and gangs, often police are part of these networks. (Sources: Personal experiences, local business proprietors, long term residents).
Lijiang is widely known to have a high proportion of involvement by North East Chinese gangs, who are known China-wide for their thuggish nature and migrated there on mass about a decade ago.
It is unfortunate that China has such a relaxed attitude to local corruption.
Perhaps the telephones of police and those who interact with them regularly (eg. spouses, immediate family) should constantly be big-data (metadata) surveilled by the state to help detect corruption and create transparency.
In addition, any and all visitors to and interactions with high ranking police at their place of work should be video surveilled by out of province authorities. This is not technically difficult.
PS. When you get the bus to Guanlei from Jinghong consider overnight in Menglun, which has a fantastic tropical botanical garden. They also have really yummy mushroom mi gan (flat rice noodles) near the bus station.
I took it in about August last year.
The number of vessels depends heavily on the season (water level) and there isn't always a vessel waiting.
To be sure, you can call the immigration staff in Guanlei and they will tell you how many vessels are available, since arriving in Guanlei and having to wait a few days for a boat would not be much fun. It should cost about 300-400元/person for a private room with cooked meals included. It is a really nice trip.
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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元 but Sals requires 50元 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.
Hands down the best draft craft beer in Kunming. On top of that, very reasonable prices for food and other drinks (especially wine).
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.
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元 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...)
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.
Kunming's etymological vapor trail
Posted byNote that 柘 can refer specifically to the Chinese mulberry (on which silkworms are grown) or may refer more generally to thistle or thorny shrubs. As the document is written for the Emperor/imperial bureaucracy, the choice of character could be an purposeful implication, ie. 'its a thorny horrid place', or 'we will gain mulberry fields and silk through conquering their territory'.
Note also that the Chinese author of the text specifically accuses Nanzhao of stealing silkmaking technology from the Chinese through capturing large numbers of women and children in a recent invasion of Sichuan, and asserts that all of Nanzhao is now capable of silk production.
Kunming's etymological vapor trail
Posted by@Peter99
Your theory sounds good however my observations differ - in the 9th century Nanzhao-era / Tang Dynasty text about Yunnan I am translating 柘 is used instead of 拓 or 陀 for Tuodong.
The degree of character-shifting observed over time would suggest that the 'real' origin of the sound Tuodong is an earlier, endemic, non-Chinese language. Given the time and historical linguistic makeup of Yunnan to which modern groups and other evidence attest, this was probably related either to a language spoken by the Yelang Kingdom (eg. Miao/Hmongic) or an Yi language.
As I have already found very directly attested Yi words transliterated to Chinese in the same book in the context of Nanzhao's army, weapons and customs, I would suggest this may be the origin.
Unfortunately Yi is a very fragmented language family so it is difficult to infer meaning to ancient phonemes.
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Manshu
Book Review: Travels through Dali with a leg of ham
Posted byI wonder if there's some kind of historical study about the cured hams ... clearly Xuanwei took the cake as the 'famous place' in modern times, but how far back did that extend? I suspect not all that far. What of the cured hams of Pu'er, Dali, etc.? Is this all stemming from a single tradition (as is likely) or are there distinct approaches? Curing can occur through salt or smoke, what range of techniques are used across Yunnan? Are these limited to or aligned with particular geographies or meats? 'Ganba' beef, for example, tends to be smoked water buffalo meat.
Flare-up in Myanmar violence sends refugees over Chinese border
Posted byIt seems to be an alternative(/old?) name for the Ruili River (瑞丽江).
Flare-up in Myanmar violence sends refugees over Chinese border
Posted byPatrick I believe you must have been referring to the 龙川江 (Longchuan River) which is evidenced online and means 'River of Dragon-Valley' or some such.