"perhaps your friend is not familiar with internet". or international travel. or chinese bureaucracy. can she dress herself?
h/t to cindy_s for the detailed information, but really, it's all blindingly obvious.
i'd say your SIM card is 98% likely to be dead. don't rely on it.
i was about to say something mildly snippy about the "subway/metro construction" compared to the frenetic chai'ing, but it appears DanTheMan has beaten me to it (and was more snippy to boot.)
that aside, i agree with the view that demolition/construction dust and car fumes are major factors in the apparent decline in Kunming's air quality over recent years.
the demolition dust issue will hopefully fade once the current phase of demolition/construction has passed (5 years? 10? they're going at it fast.) also, i understand that, while it's unpleasant to find yourself grinding them between your teeth, the large particulates in dust are not a great health risk.
the car issue i see being more of a long term risk. with 1000 newly registered cars going onto the city's roads daily, and the city's population planned to increase, we're looking at some serious emissions. couple that with Kunming's strong UV, and we can expect some photochemical wonderment. yummy.
there were roadworks (seemed to be a road widening project) on the Dali to Lijiang stretch last time i passed through (November). didn't impede progress too much, but i'd suggest allowing extra time in case of delays.
they're called 蚂蚁搬家. never used 'em, but 听说 they're capable. close supervision is advised.
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no-one's reviewed this place for nearly 3 years! i think i know why: it's solid. a bit boring maybe, but they get the job done: food on the table in good time, attentive staff, wide selection of items. the 'Prague Breakfast' is a fine feed, still good value after the recent price increase.
i joined friends here on the weekend. they were getting food and playing a game. the pizzas looked great, but my friends advised me to avoid them, saying they tasted bland.
having made a selection, it took 20 minutes for the staff to tell me that my choice was no longer available. as my friends had nearly finished their game, we then all took our business elsewhere.
helpful advice:
- if someone arrives, give them a menu
- sort out the beer selection
- if i speak to you in Chinese, speak back to me in Chinese
i've recently rediscovered this place. it's a little hit and miss, but i have to say that with a little experimentation, you can find some quality food here. while not perfect, the vindaloo is the best i've had.
i first sampled the Silver Spoon burgers a few weeks back - not bad at all, though i was unconvinced that they were 1/2 pound. another visit yesterday, and this time i was persuaded... definitely a fat burger. i was very happy with my cheese and bacon burger. diners with large appetites, be warned - you'll need a side of something to make a meal - the burger is just a burger - no fries.
First-hand account: Setting up a guesthouse in Xishuangbanna
Posted by@Yuanyangren
"I look forward to the day you can find a central backpacker district in Jinghong that looks like its equivalent in Laos filled with hundreds of western backpackers."
really? was that sarcasm?
Singapore preparing for high-altitude challenge
Posted by@beni-w.
err, "Kunming is preparing to host..." implies to me that this game is in the future. and if we're gonna get all semantic-like, i think 'reporting' is, by definition, after the event. but maybe i've been watching too much sci-fi. seems the game is on September 2. future, innit?
Around Town: Biking the trails of Changchong Mountain
Posted bygreat idea, but it "just" needs government involvement. the Xiong bike shop seems to be having enough trouble getting a one-day race off the ground on roads that aren't even open to cars yet...
Kunming announces plan to increase green space
Posted by40% of the city's area was my understanding... which of course is not so easy to define... the original post has 昆明市城市 - which i take to mean the city area within Kunming Shi (the larger, administrative division.) I'd assume this means the 4 urban districts (Panlong, Wuhua, Guandu, Xishan) and excludes Chenggong New Area (which I believe is slated to become an urban district at some point.)
me, i'm tickled that a 2011-2013 three-year "action plan" is being discussed/deliberated halfway through the first year. errrr, _action_ plan.
oh, and there's more fun to be had with the stats if you're bored (boring?) enough to run the numbers... the plan is to add 6965 hectares of green space, which will raise the per capita green space from 12.41sq.m to 13sq.m, an increase of 0.59sq.m per capita. this implies that the population of Kunming is 118 million. oops. [the recent census reported the population of Yunnan as just under 46 million.]
oh, but these 6965 hectares will be added in 昆明市中心城区 Kunming Shi central city area - what's that then? same as 昆明市城市? dunno. maybe shoddy reportage from 生活新报, maybe they didn't have much to work with.
Construction begins on bicycle path around Dianchi Lake
Posted byi've looked into this a bit. while i'm prepared to be wrong, my conclusion is that there is no bicycle path per se. the only mentions of it i've found in Chinese are all sourced from the original announcement referenced in this post.
however, the road around Dianchi is complete, and is accessible to bikes all the way around. i'm thinking that this is what the original announcement was referring to, or maybe what the original plans were downgraded to.
including a bit of downtown distance, the lake lap clocks around 130km. there's talk of a round-lake race in July, but it's already postponed from June, so who knows if it will actually take place.