Forums > Travel Yunnan > beihai or sanya? Stay in a highly rated hostel and dodge where the Russians hang out.
Like TICexpats noted, some tour guides are minor level thugs, so don't get between them and there clients.
It's China beaches, so forget any visions of wide open freedom. The best beaches are all controlled, and the public ones have swimming boundary areas and lifeguards who blow whistles at you.
There was a very nice hot spring in Sanya, but since Yunnan has plenty of hot springs, save it for a rainy/bad day.
Forums > Food & Drink > Wild mushrooms I remember when I was cycling through Naxi and Yi minority mountains during summer, there were lots of mushroom pickers trekking about. I stopped in a shack to have some hot instant noodles, and inside was a very large vat of boiling water with mushrooms. The water in that vat looks like it had been boiling mushrooms for a long time, very brown and thick with spores. Seems the mushroom pickers dumped the mushrooms into that vat to cook for a while, before selling them.
Why and how long, I wasn't able to figure out. They just said they did that before selling them. That leaves a lot of guessing. I thought boiling mushrooms would be considered cooking them for a meal and not some step in preparing them for sale. Of course, it was only one type of mushroom in that vat, so maybe it's specific to that mushroom.
Forums > Food & Drink > DaJiuJia 大救驾 - Where to eat in KM? Most of the chao erkuai I have had in Kunming is smothered in heavy salty sugary brown sauce and oil. The picture in the article of dajiujia looks much lighter. Your right though, cooking yourself is best.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Changing money in Kunming I have exchanged USD cash at a Bank of China teller window in Kunming. There was a lot of paperwork required, and cash rate wasn't particulary good.
The airport arrival floor has another fx currency booth at the end close to the information counter.
CRS machines have higher limits than ATM, but since foreign cards are capped at 3k or less, it usually doesn't matter, unless it's ICBC.
ATMs are the way to go for safety, and between ICBC, CCB, and BOC, you can usually find one in any town. However, many banks in the USA require you to notify them of international travel plans for security reasons, or the card could be declined. Not sure what stance NZ banks have on that.
Forums > Food & Drink > Kunming Chinese Food Spicy is ok, as long as they aren't trying to hide poor quality oil/ingredients. I'll give it a try this week. Also, going to see if the dajiujia exists in KM.
Snapshot: Grand Canyon of the East
Posted byI think you guys went back for the food! Man that last picture is making me hungry.
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
Posted byRegarding the roads, my impression was the opposite. I left Vientiane for VV via bus and found the road ok. From VV to Luang Prabang the road was quite miserable.
Nothing better than floating down the river with some of your friends; however, avoid the bar with the giant concrete slide. A Swiss guy drowned last year after using the slide, and it's cause innumerable other injuries to party-goers. Also, the tube doesn't make up for not being a good swimmer.
Safety concerns plague national school lunch program
Posted byVery happy that poor kids are getting a free meal at school...Very sad they are forced to eat spoiled food at times.
I think the children should be given 3rmb food vouchers to be spent with the local chefs and vendors outside the school. No more troubles for the schools to operate a kitchen, and the children can decide with their pocketbook (aka vouchers) which vendors food tastes best. If no food vendors can make decent food for 3rmb per child, then the gov't knows why the schools are forced to use rotten stuff at times.
First-hand account: Setting up a guesthouse in Xishuangbanna
Posted byHas The Balcony Guesthouse opened for business? Would be very curious if there was an update to the article, which was excellent reading.