I've noticed many flights out of the Kunming Changshui Airport start around 07:00, perhaps even earlier for some flights. All of the transportation options & schedules on the Web are outdated and/or conflicting and therefore totally useless for these early flights.

In early July, local TV news showed public bus line 93 to Changshui Airport actually stops 3km short of the airport terminal. Passengers must walk the 3km via a dirt trail to the terminal.

The transportation information given in a Chinese brochure published at the time of the new airport opening no longer reflects the actual routes or time schedules. No one answers the phone number (711-5051) shown in that brochure. Actual subway service (5RMB per ride) does not begin at 06:00 but at 09:00. The 3 airport shuttle bus lines (25RMB per ride) do not begin service at 05:00 but at around 08:00 or later depending on the location of your stop along your particular shuttle bus line. Last ride time schedule from the airport via subway and buses are just as conflicting and confusing.

I made a special trip to the Beichen Fortune Center bus stop, waited for a bus to come by and asked a bus driver, who told me 711-5052 is the correct number to call (Kindly note this number will be answered by a live person but only in Chinese).

Calling this 711-5052 phone number revealed the airport shuttle bus from the Beichen Fortune Center to the airport (bus stop to airport is across the street from KFC, bus arriving from the airport stops in front of KFC) will likely arrive the Fortune Center stop around 08:30 or later depending on traffic conditions. Every call to that phone line seems to yield a different answer for the same question. However, When I asked about the 05:00 service start time yesterday, I was told only the airport shuttle line from Wujiaba (from the old airport parking lot) starts at 05:00 – but this bit of welcomed news (or mere rumor) has yet to be confirmed.

Consequently, subway and airport shuttle bus services are useless and not reliable for anyone with a flight taking off before 11:00 or 11:30.

Taste buds vary from person to person. It's also a matter of personal choice or local customs.

At any take-outs in the USA, if I order coffee without "elaboration", the vendor usually asks how I want my coffee. In contrast, every time I order coffee in Hong Kong-style coffee shops & fast food chains, and if I am not quick enough to "customize" my request, milk & sugar are already mixed in the coffee.

If I am not mistaken, all pre-packaged instant coffee (and some tea) packets sold in China & in Hong Kong come with powdered creamer & sugar already mixed in the packets. I believe the coffee served on Chinese airlines is not "fresh brewed" but made from the pre-packaged instant packets.

At the suggestion of my non-coffee drinking girlfriend, I have used a reputable brand powdered milk in my homemade coffee. It does not require refrigeration (probably has less chemical components than the coffee powder creamer) and tastes better than the "powder coffee creamer" in my coffee. Just add one to two teaspoonfuls to your coffee according to your personal taste.

In New York City, a car thief will even put on a repair shop uniform and use a tow truck or a flatbed to steal expensive cars. Bystanders and even the police do not raise an eyebrow because it looks like "the person in uniform with a tow truck" is just doing his job towing a disabled car to the repair shop.

Alarms are totally ineffective in stopping car theft. In fact, New York City passed a law a few years back forbidding the installation of audible car alarms because they only add to noise pollution.

It is possible that your locked e-bike was lifted onto a small truck or a tricycle with a rear platform and moved to a shop where the thief can take his time to change the ignition lock.

I totally agree with tigertiger on dictionaries. I do not know tigertiger, but reading all of his posts here at GoKunming Forum, I consider him to be a most qualified teacher and English teacher. He's one excellent example of expats offering useful information & advice on GKM Forum without thinking of personal gains.

English to Chinese dictionaries often give incomplete, sometimes contradictory or even erroneous definitions. I learned this from my sting as a volunteer helping young students in Zhuhai a few years back. Merriam Webster, the "bible" of American English for students, is inconsistent in different editions. Dictionaries simply cannot fully explain each word used in every context. Even Spring's 3 Chinese "修订, 修改, 改变" definitions for "revise" in the post above seem to have different meanings, especially when used separately & independently. Using a particular dictionary in reverse, "修订" = amendment or revise; "修改" = modify; "改变" = change.

Spring, in my original post above, I was merely trying to help you understand the negative response to your original post. It was not an indictment! You need to read more carefully. A "connotation" is different from a "meaning" or definition. Words used in different context have different meanings. Sentences using words with multiple meanings without precision and/or proper elaboration is opened to interpretations. Believe it or not, every comment above, whether it's in support or in criticism, can be of value to you in some way. Often, one can learn more from criticism than from praise! This is an opportunity for you to learn English in an unconventional way, and perhaps with a little humility; you will learn one of the most important language & communication lessons in your "young" life.

I'd like to share with you the following Mark Twain anecdote:

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."