Kunming Local Custom Tips by hooiluangoh Top 5 Page for this destination

You shall and You shall not..

The biggest board very strategically placed in the immigration hall in Kunming Airport is not an advertisement of a famous brand, rather, it is the "rules of conduct" for the employees there.

These rules can also be found in the banks, and on the street.

This one I posted here is interesting. It's about health and hygiene in the civilised Kunming City: The SEVEN shall not's.

1) shall not spit
2) shall not litter
3) shall not place "things" randomly, shall not pour dirty water randomly (??)
4) shall not indulge in graffiti
5) shall not air wet laundry everywhere
6) shall not swear

The great energy saver

Eletricity does not come cheap. But Kunmingnites know how to make use of cheap and environementally-friendly solar energy.

Most apartments have many solar panels installed on the rooftops. It's quite a scene, and you can always use that to figure out your bearings.

A sea of BLUE solar panels in the pic I posted.

May you wish come true..

Kunming has many Chinese temples. It is quite common to see a huge pot filled with water, with (usually, but not necessary) some auspicious animal (carving of course) sitting on the bottom, and coins scattered around the animal.

The animal usually has a small mouth. People believe if they make a wish, and throw a coin right into the mouth of the animal, then their wish would come true.

The coins (RMB0.10 yuan) can be exchanged at a manned desk nearby.

Ethnic musical instrument

Made from hoo-loo, which has the shape of an hour-glass.

It's a woodwind. The locals use it to play beautiful music.

Environmental friendly stool

This is made entirely of grass ! Slightly more than one foot high.

And it is very comfortable, can also be used as a potted plant stand.

Amazing yah !

Bamboo rice (like Malaysia's lemang)

I was somewhat surprised to see this. This is yet another proof how Yunnan must have been closely related to Malaysia.

Bamboo rice is a norm in the prefecture of Xishuang Banna.

It's glutinous rice cooked in the hollows of a bamboo.

Smoking Pipe

The traditional "cigar" in Yunnan. About 1 meter long.

At first glance, I could never figure out what that was for.

This apparatus is one of the Yunnan's famous 18 strange things. (shi ba guai in Mandarin).

It's made of bamboo.

It's alright to bargain

Bargaining is the culture, and the customer who is not aware of the "market price" loses.

It's also true the traders here are usually small businessmen who do not make much money. So if you feel sorry for them this way, perhaps you should just pay whatever the asking price is.

Don't be rude in the bargaining process though. Be pleasant, smile always, and offer a price lower than what you want to pay, this way you give yourself room to move up if the vendor thinks it is too low. Alternatively you can pretend to walk away, and the vendor will call you back if he/she thinks the price is still acceptable to him. If he/she doesn't, it does not really matter because you can usually find the exact same thing in the next couple of stalls.

Make sure you take it if they say ok. It's extremely rude to walk away when the vendor agrees to your price.

Honking

If you happen to take a bus, do notice, perhaps make a count of how many times the driver presses on the honk (it's a button right below the bulb of the clutch stick.)

They love it, even when the object blocking them is 600m away, and they are driving at a speed of 20km an hour. Sometimes they do it not because anything is blocking, but just to tell the pedestrians " give way".

They do it following some musical rhythm they have invented, but this must surely be a fast-paced song, for the frequency is akin to a drummer hitting furiously on his favourite drum.

They do it when they know it's pointless. It's a 5pm traffic jam, it's red light ahead, but they do it anyway.