Here's my two jiao on three of the language schools in Kunming:

Yunnan University - Though the tuition is about the same for all three schools, I've found Yun Da to be slightly more expensive in the past, especially for one on one teaching though I do not know their current pricing. Other issue is that the lower level classes tend to be bursting at the seems (my class had about 30 students). In addition, the school is not located within Yunnan University campus, but is separated from the local student population. On the upside, I had the best teachers at Yun Da, the location is quite conveniently placed near Green Lake Park, Wen Lin Jie, and Wen Hua Xiang (foreigner street) and the next door Yunnan University campus is beautiful. The class set-up is comprehensive class from 8-10am and listening/reading/speaking class from 10-12pm. Most students (when I attended) studied for 20 hours a week with a combination of comprehensive and listening/speaking classes. Thus, Yun Da offers the most amount of class hours per week compared to the other schools (I believe it's 16-18 hours/week for the other two). I'm not sure if the 10 hour/week package is available there. Please keep in mind that this is based on my experience 3 years ago.

KCELC: At the moment, has the cheapest tuition of the three schools mentioned, but the prices are rising. They are by far the most flexible of the three schools so you can tailor your study experience to cover comprehensive, listening, speaking, reading, small classes, or one-on-one. Class sizes usually range from 5-15 with probably the smallest teacher to student ratio of the three schools. The downside to the school is the location and the teaching staff. Comparatively, the school is located in more a business district while the other two schools are definitely in a more academic environment. True, it is conveniently located across from Wal-Mart and Kundu, but you are far removed from any Chinese student atmosphere. In addition, I've heard the teaching staff can be hit and miss. I personally like my instructor, but the first time I went to KCELC a few years back, the teacher I tried out was horrible. She didn't know how to teach and made us recite words all day without using them. In general, the KCELC teachers tend to have less experience then their Yun Da or Yunnan Normal counterparts. That doesn't mean you won't find a great teacher at this school, it just means you may need to search a bit for the right fit.

Yunnan Normal University: Out of the three, it has the best environment as the classrooms are located at Yunnan Normal University campus and there is a Chinese language club set up by the YNU foreigners to facilitate cultural and linguistic exchange. YNU also offers a 10 hour program though their class setup is a little different. From what I was told, you would do 6 hours of comprehensive (maybe in the morning from Monday to Wednesday) and then do either listening or speaking for 4 hours. They do offer a 18 hour program I believe though you'll have to contact them directly for details. Keep in mind that they schedule their classes differently from Yun Da and KCELC. The downside to YN is that you cannot try out the courses without paying money. Both Yun Da and KCELC let students try out courses before they pay, but YN requires a 150 rmb office fee in order to attend. In addition, YN has the policy that a student can only change classes twice, then must stay in that class, Yun Da and KCELC allow students to try out different classes and teachers until they find the right fit. Then the students register. I find this method of YN to be a bit anal, but I can understand the reasoning given: Teachers want to know who's in their class and the office wants to know who has paid and who hasn't. As far as the teaching staff is concerned, I'm not really sure since I've actually never studied there. Anyone else have feedback?

All schools offer elective courses such as Tai Qi, Calligraphy, and HSK prep. Comparing Yun Da and KCELC, KCELC offers more variety of electives and the course are not built into the curriculum. What that means is KCELC does not try to pad the number of study hours per week by adding elective courses (I believe this is done at Yunnan Normal), but offers the courses in addition to the study. All three schools offer school trips to various locations, though I have yet to hear about a good school trip that introduced Chinese culture or something of interest. Most of the time, it's about going somewhere to get drunk and eat free food.

There are other alternatives to the three mentioned above (Yunnan Minority University and two or three language schools,..some have posted their advertisements in the forum if you are interested). Something tells me most of this information can be found elsewhere or on previous posts, but I thought it might be worth reiterating.

For more information, check out previous posts.

I believe the shopping centre is called MBK or Mah Boon Krong for your reference.

Actually, I tend to use elong and ctrip as reference sites for the price, then I buy offline at one of the travel agencies in Kunming. Both websites either require a credit card or you need to contact them via phone in Beijing (a little troublesome). I haven't tried this website, but my friend suggested it to me: www.qunar.com

You can check out www.elong.net, www.english.ctrip.com, and there are numerous travel agencies in Kunming, some that speak English, some that don't. I can send you some phone numbers if the websites don't work out for you. You can also directly contact the airlines by typing in the airline name on any search engine (e.g., google = china eastern...www.flychinaeastern.com/home.htm)

There are a few posts in the forums about finding cheap air tickets already posted so have a look at past posts too.

Anytime you change residence, your passport, or visa, you need to notify the police station in charge of your neighborhood. You'll need your apartment lease/contract, your passport, a copy of your passport, your visa, a copy of your visa, and possibly a passport photo. Remember to get copies before you go just in case the police station doesn't have a convenient photocopier or the person's out to lunch. I haven't needed my landlord's ID in the past as the apartment contract was enough proof. After all is said and done, you'll receive a "Registration Voucher of Residence for Visitors from Overseas" which you will need to apply for a different visa (e.g., change from a tourist visa to a student visa) or for official matters in the future (haven't had to use it for anything except applying for visas or re-registering, but who knows). You may wish to go with a Chinese speaker to smooth out communication.