User profile: Tom69

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > travelling form Yunnan to Myanmar

I have also heard that you might need to contact a Ruili based travel agency to arrange the guide, but in order to do this, you'd need to have your Myanmar visa already and be in Ruili (or phone a travel agency there to be safe prior to arrival). From Lashio to Mandalay, there's plenty of transport options, down to Yangon it's even easier with buses, planes, trains and taxis/private cars with drivers. Both Mandalay and Yangon airports offer flights to Kunming.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > travelling form Yunnan to Myanmar

My understanding is that you can go overland with an expensive permit and a guide from the border town of Mu-se to Lashio, after which you can go on your own. There are people who have recently done this. Enquire at local travel agencies, particularly the one at the Camellia hotel and at the Myanmar consulate for more details. A visa in advance is also required, which is very easy to get. Most people fly, not only because it's a lot faster but I believe the permits may cost as much as the air ticket.

In the near future, this crossing will become an official overland crossing between the two countries and no more permits will be required.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Lower exchange rate for RMB outside China?

@baiyuxiang, that is not true at all. The Bank of China representative in Kunming told me quite clearly that I should exchange Yuan into Baht in Thailand not in China (I already knew that, but I was checking exchange rates for comparison purposes) and indeed this is what I found. As for the black market, no idea where you would find someone selling Baht in Kunming outside of a bank or money changer but I think you probably don't know about the money changers, specifically superrich and similar ones located in the Centralworld area of Bangkok. In December and January, they were buying Yuan at around 4.85-4.90, while at the airport you would get a mere 4.50. At the Bank of China I was quoted about 4.75.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > teachers visa without degree

I agree that an English teacher needs to have a relevant degree as the basis for obtaining a work visa and being employed. Unless you really can't get a job as an engineer after graduation, or as a lawyer, accountant etc. becoming an English teacher is being underemployed and employers are right not to employ such applicants. I couldn't imagine that an employer in the west would employ an engineer as an English teacher - it simply wouldn't be possible. Only a relevant Bachelor of Arts degree in English, teaching, linguistics etc. would qualify you for the job. Also, these days most young people are capable of attending university and obtaining a degree, so this requirement for obtaining a Chinese work visa is not unreasonable - but please dismiss job descriptions for teachers that say "any degree is OK". I only agree with this notion if you hold a Bachelor of Arts degree or similar, not a technical degree as already mentioned.

When it comes to the 2 year work experience requirement - that can be fudged a little bit. If you are young, armed with a degree but no experience and want a teaching job (or any other job you may be qualified for) in China, just talk with some people you know back home who work for relevant companies who can put in a few good words for you just in case the Chinese authorities contact them (however unlikely this may be) after you put up some fake "experience" with these companies on your resume just so you can pass the basic requirements for being issued a work visa. However, my understanding is that one requirement may not be bypassed that easily - age. I think you have to be aged at least 24 to qualify for a Chinese work visa, not only 22, the general minimum age when many young university students graduate.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Am I the only one to be shocked by Top One's add ?

What are you talking about, Danmairen? There is no more official, government sanctioned dual pricing in China - luckily China is not like Thailand, which has the worst, most extensive, government sanctioned dual pricing regime in the whole East Asian region, if not the world. As a foreigner myself, whenever I have been to a tourist attraction in Yunnan, my Chinese friends pay the same as me - indeed, the signs are only in Chinese anyway, rarely is there a sign in English so if there was a difference I'd notice it. Also, as a foreign student at a local university, you can get a discount like everyone else, in some cases they may even accept foreign university cards, though generally not.
Although a curious exception sometimes applies to locals from the town or city where the attraction is located, or to the driver of your vehicle, which could even be yourself.

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The article mentions the planned "Kunming-Laos-Thailand" railway. My understanding is that line has been delayed numerous times and it is currently unclear if construction has already begun or when it will begin. Even if it has, as the author of this article eludes to, it does not necessarily mean that once it reaches the Lao border that it will be able to continue inside the country. I suspect that if things don't go according to plan, then at least there will be a line down to Jinghong as that won't be affected by any change of plans.

And as for an extension into Thailand, this would be even further off. The current government there has not made a commitment to using Chinese technology to build the Thai line - in fact, recent announcements suggest that initially, there won't even be a link to Nong Khai on the Thai-Lao border, connecting to the Kunming-Vientiane line, but rather, only a Bangkok-Phitsanulok line (which is part of the Bangkok-Chiang Mai line) and Bangkok-Nakorn Ratchaseema (less than half way to Nong Khai) and also a Bangkok-Pattaya-Rayong line. Only the second line would connect to the Kunming-Laos line, but according to the Thai government's plans, this would be many years off as the Bangkok-Pattaya line is the first one likely to be constructed.

Of course this article is about the newly opened Yuxi-Mengzi line, but I just wanted to point out that in the absence of any definitive news on the Kunming-Laos line, I wouldn't jump to conclusions about anything happening on that line so far. Even the Vientiane Times, which has talked about progress on this project in the past has had very little to say since last October, when it claimed a new agreement on this line was reached with China.

@bluppfisk, as clearly indicated in the article and the replies, you must be in transit to a third country not on a simple return ticket. For example, Hong Kong via Kunming to Kathmandu, Seoul via Kunming to Kolkata or Bangkok via Kunming to Mandalay. In the latter case, a stopover in Kunming would only make sense if you really had business to do in Kunming, but this new visa-free transit stay will allow you to enter China via Kunming for a short period without needing to apply for a visa. As more destinations are added to Kunming's airport, it will become more attractive as a stopover destination. Rumours suggest that next year, Sydney will be served by a direct flight from Kunming, which would mark the first non-stop, direct flight from Kunming to an intercontinental destination. If this happens, then flying via Kunming to say, Kolkata, Mandalay, Yangon or Kathmandu, all destinations not served from Australia and generally few other non-regional cities will open up another option to stopover in Kunming for some travellers.

The problem with this policy is it is too limited. China is trying to woo international travelers to it's shores this way by promoting a 3-day stopover, but the problem is that compared to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and even Hong Kong SAR, all of which offer lengthy visa-free stays of at least 30 days and up to 90 days for some nationalities, China's policy is so limited in scope and the requirements are so specific that many would be travelers under this policy are likely to give China a miss. Indeed for any trip from Australia to Europe for example, I would always fly either via Thailand or Singapore and would never consider China as a stopover, even with attractive airfares.

While Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou can get some traffic under these rules since they are hubs for airlines such as Air China, China Eastern and China Southern, respectively, with the exception of Hainan Airlines which also has a second hub in Beijing, very few other airlines and no foreign airlines use any mainland Chinese cities as transit hubs for their flights from say, Australia or SE Asia to Europe - indeed, there is no need and previous stringent visa requirements made such plans unlikely to ever be implemented. Even under the current terms, Virgin Atlantic is much better off using Hong Kong as a transit stop on it's Sydney to London flight, for example. This is in addition to Cathay Pacific and previously Qantas, which now uses Dubai as it's transit hub.

The policy would be much better implemented if the requirements were: must only be in possession of a round-trip ticket say Kuala Lumpur-Guangzhou-Kuala Lumpur, Sydney-Shanghai-Sydney or Los Angeles-Beijing-Los Angeles or even Sydney-Shanghai-Melbourne, rather than an onward ticket to another destination and a 1 or 2 week visa free period were implemented instead, even if it only allows limited travel in the same province or 1-2 adjacent provinces.

In the case of Kunming, it is highly unlikely that there would be a reasonable number of travelers using the policy for onward travel, since few airlines use Kunming as a hub - a traveler flying from say Bangkok to Seoul could use Kunming as a transit stop under this policy flying China Eastern but this would be rather inconvenient as direct, non-stop flights would be far cheaper (besides, there are like half a dozen operators flying the route anyway) - I don't think there would be any good deals available for flying via Kunming either, maybe via Shanghai but definitely not Kunming, which would likely require the purchase of 2 separate tickets. For all other possible combinations, separate tickets would need to be purchased thus driving up ticket costs and making Kunming an unattractive hub, unless the government and airlines can work together to implement a more attractive policy.

Still, I think if the implementation of this policy is a step towards some kind of future visa-free travel policy for foreign travelers, then bring it on. However, China would be wise to learn from the examples of the SE Asian countries (including Hong Kong SAR) I have mentioned, as they have earned billions of dollars in valuable foreign exchange from their open visa policies.

Thanks Dazzer, but irrespective of who you are, if you commit a crime you need to be held accountable. This guy could have said he is the most powerful person in China, that doesn't make it so, it's all hearsay. Most people wouldn't recognize him for anything other than his behavior. Of course, in this instance he was arrested, but I think it was disturbing that it took longer than the length of this video for that to happen - bystanders just watched him destroy thousands of dollars worth of property. Half the damage could have been avoided if he was pinned down more quickly. The thing is, people like this guy represent security threats. Of course, it's better this happened on the ground than in the air, because I can assure you that nobody would have let this guy have a tantrum up in the air - he would have been pinned down quite quickly.

What I don't understand is why this guy wasn't immediately pinned down by officers at the first moment he smashed a computer. Instead, everyone including the police just watched, behind the safety of a line. I can guarantee you in virtually every other country on Earth, the second someone destroys even the smallest airport property, half a dozen police or security officers will come and make an arrest. I didn't see any evidence of an arrest even at the end of the video, more than 2 minutes after Yan smashed the first computer.

I used to be told that if you do even the smallest bad thing in China such as stealing a loaf of bread, you'll be immediately arrested and locked up almost indefinitely. It seems that those people who told me those things were quite wrong - it seems like you can do almost anything before you actually get arrested.

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