I know two routes of interest that involve the Anning - Fumin valley. Both start the same - i usually leave town by heading west on Renmin Lu until it ends. I then hang a left onto Chunyu Lu and ride this south until it meets the G320 highway, which goes over to Anning. There's a short climb shortly after the turn onto the highway, but then it's basically downhill to Anning. In Anning proper (the town) i take a right towards Anning hotsprings. At the hotsprings there is the option of the bus back to Xiaoximen (bike on bus inside), and there is a convenient place to stop for some liangmian. The route then heads to Qinglong Zhen and on into the Anning-Fumin river valley, which is basically flat, but is following the river downstream, so it's actually slightly downhill, allowing cruising speeds up to 30km/h, even on a mountain bike.

The option in routes is at 76km out from Kunming, where there is a turn off to climb out of the river valley. The climb is pretty hard, and gets noticeably cooler as you go up. This brings you up to the back of Haobao organic farm, which is another suitable food stop, as it has a restaurant in the greenhouse. From Haobao back to Kunming is a pretty easy, mostly downhill 35km. All told, this route is around 120km. Choose this route if the sky is clear and you love climbing.

The other route option is to skip the turn off at 76km, and just carry straight on to Fumin. This section of the valley is almost a gorge with white water, big rocks and a steeper (downhill) gradient. It's arguably the most beautiful part of the valley. Fumin would also be a good food stop. It also has a bus escape option back to Huangtupo (bike on roofrack). From Fumin back to Kunming (G108) would be gradually uphill (i've only ever ridden this section in the other direction). This brings you back into Kunming via Kunsha Lu. There's a badly lit road tunnel just before you get back into the city, which is safest to walk through. All told, this route would be around 130km. Choose this route if you like easy but long rides in beautiful scenery.

Regarding bikes from Xiong Brothers - check them thoroughly at pick-up, as a friend of mine had trouble with one recently.

I usually ride out from Salvador's, as this is somewhere that everyone seems to know, it's central, it's easy to keep an eye on your bike from the outside bar, it has a fairly good selection of fuel-food and it's fairly straightforward to get onto Renmin Lu from there (Longxiang Jie to the intersection at the bottom of the hill, then Xichang Lu to Renmin Lu).

i've emailed emotis, and we'll fix a time and place to meet and post it here. then, if schedule suits, cici kong or anyone else can join if they wish.

hedgepig is interested, but is about to run out the door - i'll ping you an email when i'm back at the computer.

someone was talking about a place somewhere near The Hump - sorry can't be more specific - this ain't my sort of thing, but you might want to ask around or go for an explore.

Longxiang Jie has a tattooist above the #88 shop - they might be worth asking for leads, or may even do piercing themselves.

i second the vote for "The Road Home". this is the movie that made Zhang Ziyi widely known. it's a love story told from the perspective of the couple's son, who has returned home to bury his father.

i'm a big fan of Suzhou He/苏州河/Suzhou River, set in Shanghai, featuring Zhou Xun. i have a feeling that this remains banned in China, but i might be wrong. it's a querky first person narrative involving infatuation and mistaken identity.

"haigeng dam" and haigeng park are not quite the same thing. haigeng park is fairly pleasant though; entry is something like 4 kuai. if it's seagulls you're seeking, it's far more convenient to see them in green lake park (cuihu gongyuan). there's been a story about it on GoKunming before: www.gokunming.com/[...] the birds stay pretty much all winter.