The cafes you named in Kunming would hardly be the first to charge much more for coffee than it costs them to make.
I attribute this to the fact that coffee in China is a lifestyle commodity. Most Chinese people drink it because it conveys a sense of social status and sophistication, not because they like the taste (though some might). Same reason Luis Vuitton can charge more for its bags. I like coffee but I rarely order it in restaurants (except for Salvadore's before 2pm...that's a good deal). If you like coffee so much, but (like me) are too cheap to pay Kunming prices for it, I suggest you make it yourself at home.
And btw 2000 rmb in Kunming is not "slave labor" but the standard service sector wage. There are farmers who make less than that in a year.
What's the point of this thread? It seems like inflammatory bait to me.
"Culture" is one of the broadest concepts in existence. It includes food, language, religion, dress, music, art, belief, social mores. There's high culture and low culture, ancient culture and modern culture, and everything in between.
Culture evolves and culture wanes, but it is always there in some form.
If the OP is looking for a serious discussion, I suggest narrowing down the question to whatever particular facet or manifestation of culture he is interested in understanding.
For example, "is there any Peking Opera remaining in China today?" is a much more answerable question
I signed up for Astrill's OpenVPN AND Stealth VPN, altogether cost about $200/year.
So far, I've been pretty disappointed with the service.
A lot of the time I have difficulty connecting. Sometimes when I finally do connect it works for a while only do disconnect. Maybe it's a little bit better than Witopia, but not by much. And at least with the Witopia the customer service was always prompt and thorough. Astrill's customer service sucks.
When my Astrill expires I'll be looking for a new VPN service...once again.
I didn't have a chance to visit Mopanshan, so can't comment as to the forests there.
The old growth forest is in Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve, which, as its name implies, runs along the Ailaoshan Range.
It's definitely not all old growth. A driver friend of mine used to haul lumber off the mountain in the 80s. On Google Earth you can see various rural roads snaking up into the mountains, so most of the logging probably would have taken place close to these. But most of the mountain range is pretty inaccessible, and it's here that the older trees, and animals, are most likely to be found.
As others have already answered, the Red River's source is in Dali's Weishan County 巍山, where it's little more than a trickle. The Red River had at least three different names within Yunnan that I know of:
Lishejiang 礼社江
Yuanjiang 元江
Honghe 红河
I'm all for allowing street vendors to do business, for allowing different levels of the economy to flourish. But these Xiaoximen vendors have gotten way out of hand. The traffic jams radiating out of Xiaoximen have just gotten ridiculous. It used to be on a bicycle I could weave my way around any traffic jam, but I recently spent ten minutes on Renmin Road approaching Xiaoximen from the west, in pure gridlock. Even the pedestrians were in gridlock. I'd never seen anything like it.
April Fools' jokes aside, there is in fact a piece of territory which reminds me of this story. The Jinsha (Yangtze) River usually forms the boundary between Sichuan and Yunnan. But one little piece of Yunnan's Yuanmou County (Jiangyi Township), juts up north of the river, seemingly annexed out of Sichuan.
The prettiest time of year to visit Puzhehei is June, when the lotus in the ponds bloom with pink and white flowers. Bear in mind, this is also the season when Puzhehei is flooded with Chinese tourists and room rates skyrocket. However, you can always stay in a hotel in Qiubei city, which don't go up during lotus flower season.
In just a few years, it will be possible to take the new Kunming-Guangzhou high speed train direct to Puzhehei, which will have its own station.
This is a really nice new restaurant in Dali. High quality vegetarian and vegan food, varied menu, daily specials. They make their own kombucha, too. The environment is very chill...multiple layers, floor seating, an outdoor courtyard and terrace balcony overlooking the the roofs of the neighbors in old Dali
Recently experienced both very early morning departure and very late night arrival at Changshui. Was worried about making the connection to and from the airport, but both turned out well.
First, the departure. It was 7:30 am. I arranged a taxi to pick me up at 5:00. That he did. Cost: 100 yuan.
The departure was scheduled for 12:30 am, was delayed, and didn't get in until 2:30 am. I was sure I'd have to find a black cab, and wasn't even sure if I would find that. Instead, I was delighted to discover that the Airport Express Bus was still running! For 25 yuan it took me to the train station, where I then caught a cab for the short ride the rest of the way home. I was very impressed by this late night bus. I'd thought the buses only ran till around 11 pm-midnight. I don't know if this is a regular occurrence or not. Maybe, knowing my flight was delayed and there would be hundreds of passengers looking for a ride home, the airport dispatched an extra bus. If so, kudos to whoever was responsible!
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Exploring central Yunnan's Xinping County
Posted byI didn't have a chance to visit Mopanshan, so can't comment as to the forests there.
The old growth forest is in Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve, which, as its name implies, runs along the Ailaoshan Range.
It's definitely not all old growth. A driver friend of mine used to haul lumber off the mountain in the 80s. On Google Earth you can see various rural roads snaking up into the mountains, so most of the logging probably would have taken place close to these. But most of the mountain range is pretty inaccessible, and it's here that the older trees, and animals, are most likely to be found.
As others have already answered, the Red River's source is in Dali's Weishan County 巍山, where it's little more than a trickle. The Red River had at least three different names within Yunnan that I know of:
Lishejiang 礼社江
Yuanjiang 元江
Honghe 红河
Urban management officers replaced by plants
Posted byI'm all for allowing street vendors to do business, for allowing different levels of the economy to flourish. But these Xiaoximen vendors have gotten way out of hand. The traffic jams radiating out of Xiaoximen have just gotten ridiculous. It used to be on a bicycle I could weave my way around any traffic jam, but I recently spent ten minutes on Renmin Road approaching Xiaoximen from the west, in pure gridlock. Even the pedestrians were in gridlock. I'd never seen anything like it.
Yunnan increases land area nearly ten percent
Posted byApril Fools' jokes aside, there is in fact a piece of territory which reminds me of this story. The Jinsha (Yangtze) River usually forms the boundary between Sichuan and Yunnan. But one little piece of Yunnan's Yuanmou County (Jiangyi Township), juts up north of the river, seemingly annexed out of Sichuan.
Snapshot: the Karst landscape of Puzhehei
Posted byThe prettiest time of year to visit Puzhehei is June, when the lotus in the ponds bloom with pink and white flowers. Bear in mind, this is also the season when Puzhehei is flooded with Chinese tourists and room rates skyrocket. However, you can always stay in a hotel in Qiubei city, which don't go up during lotus flower season.
In just a few years, it will be possible to take the new Kunming-Guangzhou high speed train direct to Puzhehei, which will have its own station.
Lijiang one step closer to becoming theme park
Posted bySeven years later, and while the 80 yuan maintenance fee is still posted at the main entrances to Dayan, no one's collecting and no one's paying.
Too bad the same can't be said of Heshun (和顺) near Tengchong