User profile: b galipeau

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Forums > Living in Kunming > GoKunming new features and functionality

Slightly unrelated question, but why does it seem like GoKunming publishes so few articles and features now?

It used to be several per week now it's only maybe a couple per month.

I'm guessing maybe coronavirus restrictions making it harder to visit places to write about them?

Still seems like even with that we could read more about things and life going on around town in Kunming? Just curious about this change as it was a major draw to the website for me in the past.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Nujiang Itenerary

I think the road should be alright.

I haven't been on it this year but several locals have all told me it is now quite passable.

Unfortunately don't have a more current number for Aluo, but he should be pretty easy to locate in Dimaluo and all local drivers know where his guest house is.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Nujiang Itenerary

The road from Dimaluo in Gongshan to Deqin is open but still not paved and bad in wet weather.

Rather than spending your entire trip in cars, I would highly recommend considering trekking for three days from Dimaluo to Cizhong, also in Deqin.

Much better scenery this way.

Aluo who has a guest house in Dimaluo can arrange the trek and guides for you or guide you himself.

Also, definitely no need for a sleeper bus from Dali to Fugong.

Easily completed in one day and as others have said much prettier this way.

The Nujiang Valley is not to be missed.

Don't travel it by night.

A note as well that you wouldn't be flying from Deqin to Kunming.

You will need to hire a driver (3 hours) or take the bus (4 hours) from Deqin to Shangri-La which is where the closest airport is if you want to fly out that way.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > GMAT/GRE Test centers?

The GRE is administered in Kunming in a test center at Yunnan University's old/original campus near Green Lake and Wenhua Xiang.

Seats and availability for tests there are scarce though so early registration is a good idea.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Incredibly rude floor staff , Chinese Eastern

Thai Airways also flies direct to Chiang Mai every Sunday and Thursday and they are far better than China Eastern.

For years this was the only service to Chiang Mai until it was discontinued in 2009 and China Eastern then introduced theirs.

Last year Thai brought back this twice weekly service (a stop-over on the daily Bangkok route) to compete a bit with China Eastern which is great because they are indeed far better.

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Two quick factual corrections, one of which was my fault. Cizhong is actually still in Deqin county, not Weixi, I misspoke. Second is that Benzilan is actually on the Jinsha not the Nujiang. Thanks to everyone at GoKunming for this great feature!

@ Geogramatt, there's actually a sticky little provision that the government managed to stick into the original designation for Three Parallel Rivers which says the World Heritage site only includes areas above a specific elevation (don't have the figures on me at the moment), thus actually excluding the dams from the heritage site. UNESCO has been expressing a lot of concern over the overall impact of the dams on the site, but by technicality it would be impacts that are created from outside the actual world heritage area giving UNESCO a little less footing to stand on since no dams are being built within the actual UNESCO designated area.

They've also threatened to revoke Lijiang's status multiple times over the years ever since the Chinese installed the bright neon lights on everything but it's never actually happened; I just don't think the UN has the guts to do that to the Chinese government.

Completely agree! The Exploration of Yunnan and it's updated version Yunnan South of the Clouds are quintessential resources for those of us who live and work here in Yunnan. Even as a researcher who has been coming here on and off over the past 8 years I never leave home without Goodman's guide and always find his information continually useful.

Just recently I in fact got a review back on an academic paper in which I cited him on the history of missionaries in the northwest and was told his book was an unreliable source by a reviewer, to which I responded to the editors that I completely disagreed. Goodman is by far the best non-academic person publishing on the Southwest; the Peter Hessler of Yunnan! His biography of Joseph Rock available at Mandarin Books is also incredible useful seeing as how the original biography of Rock by S.B. Sutton published in the 70's is now long out of print and incredibly expensive.

Any info regarding what will happen to the airport booking code for flights? Will it still be KMG who will Changshui get a new code?

Nice post about a great local mountain climb in Yunnan! A few words of caution though. I have climbed Haba and while it is indeed techically non-technical (pardon the pun), the last section in entirely on the glacier and as noted indeed reaquires somewhat skilled crampon use/walking. Over tha past several years a number of people have indeed died because they were inexperienced walking on ice or possibly didn't know how to self arrest after slipping. As long as you stay on route via a path of bamboo wands, crevasses are not a concern. But having had some expereince walking with crampons and the ability to self arrest is also advised, and many seem to have attempted the climb without taking this into consideration.

I don't seek to scare anyone off from Haba. It's a great climb, but having some prior experience or climbing with someone who does is a really good idea. Having worked as a climbing instructor, safety and experience is always a high priority in my mind. Some of the local guides also don't carry and ice axe, but this is also something that I would recommend.

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