Just a friendly warning to any and all reading this thread to BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL about combining anti-depressant drugs with other recreational drugs (including but not limited to alcohol).
There are plenty of repair places, but only one licensed Apple repair place.
If you are in warranty, you want a licensed place. If you are out of warranty, for a simple job like replacing a hard drive, I wouldn't worry. The only issue with replacing a hard drive is that you also need to replace the operating system, and cheap shops may not do that properly or at all.
There's also the budget option of beg/borrow/stealing apple screwdrivers and opening it yourself, which is basically what most repair places do.
Overall, given that you are asking the question, I would recommend considering the licensed place. There's one in the middle of town, and their used to be one on 121. I've been to both of them, the one on 121 was in my opinion poor in service, speed, parts and customers. I complained and it seems they have been de-listed.
The one in the middle of town, which I have used multiple times and always had good experiences with is behind Starbucks in Jingying Plaza on Huguo Lu.
You are best to turn up exactly when they open as the queue gets long really quickly (most people are repairing phones).
Their address in Chinese...
新亚－昆明店
云南省昆明市五华区威远街168号昆明金鹰购物广场Ｂ座1楼L1-01号
昆明, 云南 650000
0871-68184199/64644199
... you should probably call first and ask when they open, as unfortunately the website doesn't say when that is. Good luck.
There are a lot of road bikes nowadays. One common thin tyre route is (partly or fully) around Dianchi Lake. Another is a trip to Fuxian Lake, then around the lake. Another is northwest to Fumin, then southwest to Anning via the hot springs, then back to Kunming. I have most of these (everything except the bottom of Dianchi Lake), and you shouldn't have any problems on a road bike. That said, Chinese road surfaces are not up to foreign standards of repair so be careful - you can easily cycle in to a huge hole that isn't marked and wasn't there yesterday.
TC's suck. Just use ATMs and stash some higher value foreign notes.
Yes - I believe they are too expensive, but agree that this is echoed in local establishments.
Retail food prices in major Chinese cities are largely at western levels (or close, often higher), whereas standards of management, service, cleanliness, and choice have rarely kept pace.
Whereas you can have a white tablecloth dining experience in Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenzhen or Beijing, Kunming currently has zero (really, zero) options, but is happy to present many inferior places in the same price range.
I believe this situation is partly because of the following:
A) Macro-economic influences in the domestic economy, such as significant real inflation, rising wage expectations, lending, credit and the longer term trends in rising ingredient prices.
B) Cultural norms where very high food expense as a percentage of income is considered normal, where living in the moment is considered normal, and where dining is considered a group activity with 'face' elements.
C) A significant breakdown in multi-generational residential situations in preference to single generation residential situations, even bachelor apartments.
The hive mind 'go with the flow' mentality is fine until things break. I believe there will be a correction in the near future, because the situation is currently borderline ridiculous.
I mean, frankly, apartments are way cheaper and nicer in Bangkok (a place without Chinese visa issues), and many western meals are cheaper in Sydney (which is known to be an expensive western city). What does Kunming really have to offer to justify these prices? Not a great deal. A lack of adequate competition, perhaps.
If I were running a conventional food retail outlet right now, I would be worrying.
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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.
Interview: Deng Ling
Posted bySo many memories! The first Tuodong Camel was my first regular bar way back in 2001... things are different now but Camel's still so damn friendly! Thanks Dengling, and thanks your parents and Ian too. Camel is an institution. Smiles from Sydney! Walter.
Cycling from Kunming to Lüchun
Posted byOh one more thing. The Canadian paraglider, Mike, has a jeep and is interested in taking cyclists out of Kunming to decent trails. If you want to get a lift out (or back in to) Kunming he's willing to consider helping out. His number is 15825256431 and he is mostly based around Chengjiang (north of Fuxian lake). When we went paragliding together recently (really fun!) he took a great road leading south to Chengjiang through the mountains that is a lot nicer than cycling through Chenggong.
Cycling from Kunming to Lüchun
Posted byHey Frank, cool trip!
I haven't cycled south out of Kunming for ages but am not surprised at your difficulties. Chenggong is definitely to be avoided. Let me know if you want to do another trip soon, I'd love to join in and have cycled around Yunnan quite a bit. My first trip is written up at pratyeka.org/bike/southern-yunnan.html
Like you, I really enjoy the area south of Yuanyang and love Nansha. Let me tell you though - it used to be a lot nicer, before the dam. This brings me to a correction. When you stated "The Yuanyang (元阳) county seat was moved from Xinjie (新街) to Nansha in the early 90s, upon completion of a large dam on the Red River." this is actually false. I first visited the area on a bicycle in 2001 and there was no sign of dam construction. The dam must have been built circa early/mid noughties, and the size of Nansha almost tripled overnight. That said, the county seat may have easily moved earlier.
I've visited the Yuanyang/Luchun area twice and cycled it the second time on some locally acquired cheap Chinese mountain bikes around 2006. However, I was with a not particularly keen cyclist and we jumped on local buses for some of the uphill segments past Luchun on the way down to 'Banna, eventually copping out and bussing as far as Menglun (between Mengla and Jinghong in 'Banna).