Our young family moved from the states to Hong Kong in 1987. On the advise of an expat, we purchased a Berkey instead of buying bottled water. Since then we have purchased several additional ones since we moved to Kunming in 2001. They are fabulous! I always bring a travel size with me wherever I go (other countries,etc.) We've recently been back to the U.S. where i hadn't been using it since the tap water is "safe". However, I developed a bad case of itchy skin and scalp that was driving me crazy. After some research on the internet, I concluded it might be the chlorine in the tap water. So started using my Berkey and the condition cleared up in a matter of days! Here in Kunming we have several large bottles for storing extra filtered water in case the water supply goes off. it's not that big of a deal to add several pitchers of tap water to the filter every morning....
Highly recommended!

I'm traveling with my small dog in the airplane cabin in a few weeks. I'm looking for the place to get an official health check. I'm told not every vet can do this. Only an office specifically for this purpose. Can anyone help me with the address, street name, or Chinese characters so I can show a taxi driver? Thanks for any info anyone has!

I'm trying to decide on a good package forwarding company from U.S. to Kunming. Does anyone have experience with a good one? We'd probably use it once a month for clothing, vitamins, toiletries, etc, which I order online. Thanks !

We've lived here for 12 years. I'd think the most important thing is the clothing and shoe sizes for the adults. I'm a lady 5'8", size 8 clothes, and I rarely find anything big enough or long enough for me here. I wear size 8.5 or 9 shoes, so I bring stuff from the U.S. My husband wears M or L in U.S., and we have to bring clothes from U.S. for him as well. You will need some jackets or coats that will cut the wind. My family has had problems with sickness, I think, from fluctuating temps inside and forgetting to layer appropriately. We keep one bedroom warm with heaters during the day. It's so dry that you can hang your wet laundry inside, and it drys fairly fast and helps the humidity, or you can purchase humidifiers. Some people have problems with nosebleeds because of the dryness. I can't stand ice in my drinks anymore, but my husband still does! We are from Arkansas. Hope this helps....

Has anyone had a good experience with the satellitetv-china mentioned by Jack Chen on June 15th? I'm just now getting around to buying/ordering one for hubby. Any new info out there?