Kunming

Kunming is a reasonably large city in south-western China. It's the capital of Yunnan.

Hitching out

Towards the West: Dali, Lijiang, Tibet

This instruction for getting out of Kunming to the west is a little bit complicated -- but bear with us, it will take you right to Kunming West toll gate, first grade hitching spot.

Towards the East: The rest of China

This is most likely not the best of options to get out of the city... but if you can't be bothered to research better alternatives, bus K9 can take you from the center to the eastern bus terminal for 1 or 2 Yuan. The terminal is near a big highway ring that goes around the city, and from here you are sure to find a car (or several) to take you towards your desired direction.

Towards the South: Jinghong, Mengla and Laos, G8511

Among others, bus 103 and 180 (?) can take you near a good on-ramp with a large toll-gate right before it. 103 departs from East Ring road, for example. Get on it in south-bound direction and wait until the bus has been going straight for a long, long time -- this is Caiyun North Road (yes, North). At one point, the bus will turn left at a big roundabout and then take the first right straight after. This is where you get off -- you follow the road that you turned onto from the roundabout for about 1 or 1,5 Kilometers and then hit the highway where you can hitch either at the on-ramp (worked fine in December 2013 even though works were happening) or at the toll gate a little ways back on the highway.

Sleeping

Zenit was recommended by a doctor to sleep somewhere in a random aisle of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming University. However, the basement of any random large apartment building in the city should be just fine, everybody is very helpful with opening the door and in the event of being caught the possible repercussions are very very small (Chinese love Westerners)...

Eating

There is a large mall near the crossroads of Wuyi Rd. and Dongfeng Rd., near the Yunnan provincial museum. In the basement, there is a wide selection of table diving options. It's reasonably upscale and you might be asked to leave; to explain what you're doing it's recommended to print a table diving letter to explain what you're doing and why. If you can't be bothered, proceed to the food court at the crossroads of Xiangyun St. and Nanqiang St. where nobody will ever bother you (it's easy walking distance from the mall). Lots of left-overs guaranteed!

Public Transportation

Most buses in the city cost 1 or 2 Yuan per person. However, you can attempt to pay with a large bill and a confused face and see if an impatient driver won't just wave you through (or somebody else might pay for you...). Having a big backpack also helps. You can also "grey-ride" by dropping any smaller amount than the actual fare into the box that collects the money, the driver has no way of checking how much you actually put.