User profile: Alien

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Their back!

I'm usually happy about shaokao on the street - yeah, would be nice if they cleaned up afterwards, but...

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Forums > Living in Kunming > White Rabbit

Y'see, Peter, Gracie Slick and the Jefferson Airplane were secretly planting memes in American heads for a Chinese candy company back in the summer of 1967. Now the Americans are all crazy, especially those who couldn't understand the song - but in fact there are also some who have strong suspicions of the motives of Lewis Carroll - there's a line in THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, delivered to Alice by some impossible creature that she meets, I think: "I'll believe in you if you'll believe in me."
That's how conspiracies start. I personally belong to several, and you're welcome to sign up on the basis of the above quotation.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Passport waived at hostel. Good, bad or ugly?

Simplest to ignore the issue, it rarely if ever leads to any problems of note, at least for the traveler. The local person or hotel manager will be much more aware of possible problems than you will and will act accordingly and sensibly. Technically, I think you're right: legally you must be registered where you are staying, but I have successfully talked my way around such issues more than once. If you rent a flat, however, you will likely have a problem when you go to renew your visa, if you do not register at the local copshop.

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@Michael: I think there's a lot wrong with nationalism in today's world. However, overall I agree that more preschools are good, and 'free' in a socialist country would not be an amazing step forward but would be what socialists are supposed to do. My point is just that the indoctrination is the downside, and requires more space for different opinions in the overall political/media/educational culture from which its shortsightedness may be counteracted, and on that score there's a long way to go.

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All sounds good. But the flip side to universal compulsory state-run education, in China and everywhere, is that the state wants you to turn over your kids to them, for longer & longer periods of time, so that they can be molded into members of The Nation - which is something that they, of course, are very interested in doing. Cf, for example, church education where it exists.
I'm not suggesting kids should be kept ignorant of the world they'll have to deal with, but it's still a global conundrum.

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If you mean 'None of the stuff ever sold in LIJIANG is by customer demand', I'd suggest it does get customer acceptance, because when you go somewhere you have to buy some crap, and the crap on sale is apparently acceptable. And the lack of local shopkeepers is indeed a profit ripoff from the local culture. Most of the tourists are not really interested in local culture, but only in what they would like to believe is local culture - and even most of them know they are getting lied to.
However, there is no society without culture, Revolution or no. Lijiang is, pretty much, Chinese tourist culture. 'The real China' is a bit vague, but Chinese tourist culture is part of it.

Reviews

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Not quite what you'd call a jumping place, but not bad at all for rather standard US-type meals, not overly expensive, and with a really good salad bar that's cheap, or free with most dinner dishes after 5:30PM. You can get a bottle of beer or even wine if you really want to, but I've never seen anybody do it - maybe that's just to take out. Chinese Christian run, and they hire people with physical disadvantages, who are pleasant and helpful. Frequented by foreign (mostly North American) Christians and Chinese Christians - was started by a Canadian couple associated with Bless China (previously, Project Grace), who are no longer here, but no religious pressure or any of that. Steaks are nothing special, and I avoid the Korean dishes, which I've had a few times but which did not impress me.

As a shop and bakery, it's very good bread at reasonable prices, of various kinds (Y18 for a good multigrain loaf that certainly weighs well over a pound. Other stuff too, like granola and oatmeal that is local, as well as imported things, including American cornflakes and so forth, which some people seem to require.

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Large portions, seriously so with the pizza, which is Brooklyn/American style, I guess. Convivial, conversational, good place to drink with good folks on both sides of the bar, especially after about 9PM.

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Really good pizza and steaks. The wine machine fuddles me when I'm a bit fuddled, & seems unnecessary. Good folks on both sides of the bar.