User profile: blobbles

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Forums > Study > Tudou vids

Yep, the youku app on my Android phone is excellent - last night I downloaded 6 episodes and 4 movies for viewing when travelling off line. Took about 2 hours (busy time and slow internet) and you have to wait for the adverts to finish before clicking the download button, but it works well and also allows my wifey to watch them too (she reads the subtitles in Chinese).

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Forums > Living in Kunming > ADSL or Network internet connection?

We moved into a brand new apartment block a year and a half ago. Actually people had been living in it for 8 months already...

Apparently the apartment block was waiting to be "registered with the government" and so didn't officially exist. Therefore it didn't have any services to it, people couldn't register that they lived in them, I couldn't register with the local police at that address and China Telecom (at the time we moved in) didn't know it existed. It took 2 months before we could get the cable into our building and actually connect to the internet, but it was eventually done and it was fibre, it was fast and reliable. So my advice - check first whether the internet can actually be connected i.e. whether people in the building have it connected already or if China Telecom has the building (the actual building, not just block) in their system. Our landlord said that it was no problem, just ring China Telecom, but it was actually a big problem...

Incidentally that same apartment block STILL hasn't been registered with the government, so people still can't register with the government etc. Its a real pain in the ass for lots of people there who are living there and wanting to register their local hukou as Kunming - no official address, nobody officially lives there, meaning their kids can't go to school in Kunming etc etc. Clearly not enough guanxi payments made by the apartment builders...

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Kunming flight to Koh Samui

Recommend you call them, it usually takes a little while for the flight to be registered in all the systems/with all the authorities. Even though they may be flying there is usually a lead time for them to appear, but usually you can book over the phone or at their office. Strange though that it isn't even on their own website!

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Sorry, poor reporting: "News reports of this most recent Changshui mess..."

Are you suggesting that somehow the airport could have controlled the fog/weather? Blaming airport authorities for something outside their control pushes into the realms of sensationalism journalism, I didn't really expect that from GoKM.

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Alien - yes it is always important to watch what happens to the money. But I have worked in aid organisations before and if you do not administer aid money correctly, it quickly ends up in the hands of criminal/terrorist organisations.

Often westerners have a simplistic view of "send them money, that will fix them", when the truth is a lot more complicated than that. Poor places with poor infrastructure that have been hard hit by natural disasters can't just be given money, they need supplies initially but increasingly they need properly managed infrastructure to be built and living/economic systems creation in a sustainable manner. Often the people that are left over after a massive event like what happened in some parts of the Philippines are not capable of handling such tasks as they are emotionally/mentally devastated over the loss of loved ones, hence the need for external/central government management and control. These areas are also ripe for criminal/revolutionary activities to flourish, meaning the potential for ongoing strife and particularly for the diversion of relief funds for these activities, potentially making a bad situation much worse for everyday citizens.

Just be very, very careful what you wish for when you want to limit oversight on relief funds, which calling for the lowest "admin" charges actually does. You should be calling for the organisations who have the largest/best effect based on past performance.

Reviews

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Wow, just wow. Possibly the best Chinese food I have had in Kunming. And in one of the nicest, traditional courtyard style restaurant I have been in. A woman dressed in traditional qi pao playing a gu zheng just adds to it.

We had okra, mushroom soup, dried beef and chou dofu. All top notch with the bill coming in at just over 250 kuai. But we could have fed 3 people for that so not too bad at about 80-90 kuai each. Not the cheapest but for the quality, it's damn good.

If you have people visiting and want to take them to a traditional Chinese style restaurant with Yunnan style food, or want a romantic night out with a gal, you can't go wrong here. Close to Green Lake (down a little alley) for a romantic walk... Just perfect.

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Pretty good place for getting all your documents translated and/or notarised. Note that there are a number of notaries in the building which you can find by going up the stairs (the elevators are impossible). But you have to find the stairs to do so... go in the door, head over to the right, go up the big wide stairs which head up a floor, turn right then right again into the elevator area and right again into the stairwells. Whew!

One point off for the elevators never being available and having to hike 7-9 flights of stairs (not good if you have to go 3-4 times a day like I often did!)

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This does not stop at the Jinanya hotel at Da Shang Hui as the flyers state (and is on the images tab here). They need to have another stop in the same area or else they are missing out on covering a big chunk of the city.

You can take another bus, the 919C, I believe, if you are nearby Da Shang Hui, which leaves from the bus station on HeHong Lu, nearby the Qianxing road intersection. This bus goes every hour and is white, found at the western end of the station. It is operated by a different company and takes about 1 hour 10 minutes to get to the airport due to a large number of stops especially near the airport.

Great bus though if you can catch it!

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Friendly people, even got to the talk to the vice consulate, who told me she had done a stint in Malaysia's Siberian Consulate!

English is spoken by some of the Chinese girls working at the desk who are pleasant to deal with. I assume they do Visa's as well but I wasn't here for a visa, this time!