鬼鸡 ('Ghost chicken') is an amazing dish that never disappoints, you can find a recipe for it here on gokunming. But it's 鬼火怒 ('Fireghost fury') that truly separates the vikings from the wimps. Any Dai fish dish is also generally a treat; the ones that are dry, cut open and spread out are much easier to eat than the ones that are cooked in a pot with sauce, as there's a loooot of bone on those. Occasionally you can also find a kind of dry sausage that's very tasty and sooo savory, but it's more common in Wa cuisine I believe. They have this sausage in the some-southern-Yunnan-city-I-have-forgotten-the-name-of-restaurant on the same road as Slice of Heaven, but closer to the intersection with Xuefu lu.
This is the best value for the money Dai restaurant that I've found in Kunming, it's amazingly cheap and absolutely delicious: kunmingsshabbiest.blog.se/[...]
It's an a back alley in the 麻园 area, down some winding alleys to your right if you're facing the gate to the old art college, and have old Laowo bar in your back to the left.
Any place remotely close to Kunming will be crowded in Golden Week, unless it's super-mega obscure. Dali, Lijiang, Jiangshui, Shibaoshan, Shaxi, Jizushan; forget about it.
Nujiang valley is your best bet; Bingzhongluo will still have available rooms if you arrive early/book ahead, as will the country guesthouses. Luckily, Nujiang valley is also one of the best destinations in all of Yunnan, and possibly the earth. The problem is; it's very remote, it'll take you almost two days to get to Bingzhongluo, even if you bus all the way to Fugong from Kunming.
There's a cubbyhole dog meat restaurant in the barbeque corner of Sujiatang lu, which is just north along the same road as Slice of Heaven is on. That's where we bought the dog meat for this review: kunmingsshabbiest.blog.se/[...]
I'm gonna enter Vietnam through Hekou shortly. But I need to get to Hanoi as quickly as possible, which makes me wonder; is there any way I can book vietnamese train tickets from here in Kunming?
chinese students seem to love Dona Donuts, one reason is probably that it's one of the cheapest ways around to get wifi. Exchange students seem to love Mazagran, probably because their wifi always works and the place is relatively relaxed.
But my favorite place by far is a café immediately opposite the entrance to the scandinavian art gallery, The Loft. This cafe has functioning wifi and is almost always rather empty, and has a very cosy atmosphere.
There's no telling what humans may or may not one day be able to understand; science this far has been ever-progressing. I'm not saying nature isn't to be respected, but it seems almost religious to me to claim that nature is some eternal mystery that's inherent impossible to understand or master. With sufficient technology and scientific understanding, it simply -has- to be possible to control nature, to a measure; I just leave it an open question whether 'sufficient' in this case would mean 'god-like, scifi, off-the-kardashev-scale-level', or simply 'current human capabilities'.
Of course you can theoretically control nature, it's just a matter of technological and engineering capabilities. It's an open question to what extent humanity at present has these capabilities, sure, but China is indeed trying very hard. Viewed form another perspective: historically, the chinese civilisation has always been nature's bitch, subject to earthquakes, floods and other ravagings that, at least in art and religion, gave rise to an idea where humanity is essentially a victim of nature. Hence all the ancient chinese paintings with a small human figure in the midst of an enormous natural landscape and so forth; this is in stark contrast to european art history, where man is in the forefront and nature the background. I won't speculate as to what extent this ideas might have shaped the development of China visavis the West, but the chinese government nowadays does seem to be pursuing some kind of wierd revenge...
I wanna do this hike, but how more precisely do you find the original path, that you guys got to through some "light bush-wacking"?
And are their accomodation possibilites spread out along the trail, or do you need to time your treck so that you reach a particular place in the evening?
The Likan Waterfall is an absolutely amazing site for bathing (though the rocks are slippery), as the pond beneath the waterfall is tranquil and deep.
And the instrument-maker in Natuoba is not only a musician, but a shaman, who claims to be in contact with his ancestors. In addition to his amazing instruments, he also has an awesome necklace made from human bone inherited from his great-great-grandfather or some such. He's been on CCTV and is locally famous, and keen on preserving Wa culture. In general one of the most interesting guys I've ever met in China.
All in all, great article, Ximeng certainly deserves some love!
Today I discovered you can get to/frow Yu'anshan cemetery from Haiyuan temple down in Kunming proper. Behind Haiyuan si, up the mountain, is an enormous boarding school complex; follow the serpentine roads up to the top of this complex, until they end in a high mountainside platform with gorgeous views over Kunming. From this platform, a small, really steep path leads up the mountainside and to the remote gravesites at the slopes of the cemetary; from there you can find various trails that go up to the cemetary proper. This is a slightly difficult and steep climb, though, so one easier way to go about it would be to start at the Bamboo temple or the cemetary, and then walk -down- the mountain to Haiyuan (this is also a good option because the buses back to the city center from Haiyuan doesn't stop going until 10 PM, unlike the C61 and such up in the mountains; also, those buses are cheaper than the C61).
This discovery means it would actually be possible to combine Haiyuan street market, Haiyuan temple, Yu'anshan cemetery, the small temple along the way to the bamboo temple, the Jiaoye park, and the grand Bamboo temple itself, as a pleasant one day über-excursion.
The temple itself is interesting, but small; the surrounding exhibitions range from pointless and boring to rather fascinating, but you really need to know chinese or have somebody translating for you to get anything out of it. If you only have limited time in Kunming, skip it and head for the Bamboo Temple instead. Otherwise it's worth a visit.
Though overpriced, the bread is good and the pizza not bad (though a bit small). However, this place score tons of points for the great and cozy atmosphere, it's absolutely worth repated visits.
The temple itself is not very interesting, but the grounds are beautiful and the adjoining park (Admission fee: 5 yuan) makes for a pleasant stroll or picknick in a quaint and somewhat forgotten corner of Kunming. I don't know if people are ever allowed into the pagoda;if so, it would make for a grand view of the city, and be worth one extra star. Definitely worth a visit. Note that the temple compund and the park is connected via an underpass just behind the park's west gate.
Yunnan's Party Secretary lays out vision for the future
Posted byThere's no telling what humans may or may not one day be able to understand; science this far has been ever-progressing. I'm not saying nature isn't to be respected, but it seems almost religious to me to claim that nature is some eternal mystery that's inherent impossible to understand or master. With sufficient technology and scientific understanding, it simply -has- to be possible to control nature, to a measure; I just leave it an open question whether 'sufficient' in this case would mean 'god-like, scifi, off-the-kardashev-scale-level', or simply 'current human capabilities'.
Yunnan's Party Secretary lays out vision for the future
Posted byOf course you can theoretically control nature, it's just a matter of technological and engineering capabilities. It's an open question to what extent humanity at present has these capabilities, sure, but China is indeed trying very hard. Viewed form another perspective: historically, the chinese civilisation has always been nature's bitch, subject to earthquakes, floods and other ravagings that, at least in art and religion, gave rise to an idea where humanity is essentially a victim of nature. Hence all the ancient chinese paintings with a small human figure in the midst of an enormous natural landscape and so forth; this is in stark contrast to european art history, where man is in the forefront and nature the background. I won't speculate as to what extent this ideas might have shaped the development of China visavis the West, but the chinese government nowadays does seem to be pursuing some kind of wierd revenge...
'Hah', says the Gobi, and eats Beijing...
Getting Away: Hiking the Gaoligong Mountains
Posted byI wanna do this hike, but how more precisely do you find the original path, that you guys got to through some "light bush-wacking"?
And are their accomodation possibilites spread out along the trail, or do you need to time your treck so that you reach a particular place in the evening?
Getting Away: Exploring Ximeng County
Posted byTwo small additions:
The Likan Waterfall is an absolutely amazing site for bathing (though the rocks are slippery), as the pond beneath the waterfall is tranquil and deep.
And the instrument-maker in Natuoba is not only a musician, but a shaman, who claims to be in contact with his ancestors. In addition to his amazing instruments, he also has an awesome necklace made from human bone inherited from his great-great-grandfather or some such. He's been on CCTV and is locally famous, and keen on preserving Wa culture. In general one of the most interesting guys I've ever met in China.
All in all, great article, Ximeng certainly deserves some love!
Getting Away: Yu'an Shan Public Cemetery
Posted byToday I discovered you can get to/frow Yu'anshan cemetery from Haiyuan temple down in Kunming proper. Behind Haiyuan si, up the mountain, is an enormous boarding school complex; follow the serpentine roads up to the top of this complex, until they end in a high mountainside platform with gorgeous views over Kunming. From this platform, a small, really steep path leads up the mountainside and to the remote gravesites at the slopes of the cemetary; from there you can find various trails that go up to the cemetary proper. This is a slightly difficult and steep climb, though, so one easier way to go about it would be to start at the Bamboo temple or the cemetary, and then walk -down- the mountain to Haiyuan (this is also a good option because the buses back to the city center from Haiyuan doesn't stop going until 10 PM, unlike the C61 and such up in the mountains; also, those buses are cheaper than the C61).
This discovery means it would actually be possible to combine Haiyuan street market, Haiyuan temple, Yu'anshan cemetery, the small temple along the way to the bamboo temple, the Jiaoye park, and the grand Bamboo temple itself, as a pleasant one day über-excursion.