Generally you want to get a bus to most destinations in Yunnan. Trains don't go to many places, leave less frequently, and the train station is a pain to get to with the traffic these days.
Once you get 'out there' a bit sometimes you need to hitch or whatever as well.
I'd recommend the north bus station on Beijing Lu (in the north part of the city) as a good jumping-off point.
There are so many.
The villages in the mountains near the Yangtse north of Kunming on the border of Sichuan.
Jianshui and Gejiu and Yuanyang.
Jinggu/Jingdong area.
Dali.
Luoping.
Just go to a bus stop and jump on a random bus! You won't be disappointed.
Where's this Thai store I hear about? And why isn't it on GoKunming?
There's load of great food: don't listen to the haters. Though there was some oil stuff in the news awhile back, you don't have to fear it in most places.
For starters, you can get a stupendous variety of vegetables (particularly mushrooms) done in many styles. For some ideas there check out vegetarian-china.info/ and pics on the facebook group.
Yunnan is famed for a few things, but mostly various types of rice noodles (cold, in soup, or fried), tofu dishes, the goat's cheese known as 'rubing', and Dai cuisine. Dai cuisine is Yunnan's Tai style cuisine, which can be roughly divided in to Dehong-style and Xishuangbanna-style, which are quite different. Both feature a lot of different types of bamboo as well as palm heart (banana flower).
A good place to eat a huge variety of cheap Yunnanese food is 'Kadilan', a two-floor restaurant opposite Mandarin Books on Wenhuaxiang.
Hey Tiger I will play Risk2210 any time! I have played it before. Message me.
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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).