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yeah like in the thread below this one, fuck china and the chinese mindset, i would never go to china, they are ruining the world

I should clarify, in regards to the above information, that the Chinese are not assholes through and through. If they happen to know someone for any reason or have any sort of connection to a person--even if it's a distant relative, a friend of a distant relative, or a friend of a friend of a distant relative--they'll treat him or her like family and insist on being *ridiculously* accomodating. It just takes some sort of connection. It's like they're completely black and white when it comes to dealing with other humans. Weird, but whatever.

On the topic of food:
I was introduced to all kinds of amazing, delicious new things that I had never heard of or seen before, but for each one of them I was also introduced to some kind of horrible, ridiculous thing that should never be ingested by human beings or even animals. I'm serious when I say this--I honestly ate some things that I wouldn't even feed to my dog. Speaking of dogs, I did NOT see a single trace of dog meat being served anywhere. I even asked some of my Chinese friends if there were any places that served it and they said they didn't know of any. I'm sure it's available somewhere in the city, but it's hardly a pervasive thing, as one of the other threads that's up right now on /trv/ would seem to suggest.

One funny thing about the restaurants that always managed to amuse me was the Engrish that appeared on most of the menus. Sometimes it was really bad, and other times it just baffled me. Pic very related (it's almost like they made this with 4chan in mind).

Anon posting a quality travel review? With pictures? Go on!

>>45102
i agree post more pics

>>45098
Well, one thing that I think a lot of people easily forget is that they were literally a 3rd world country only a few decades ago. Comparing them to the US, Europe, or Japan isn't really fair. Actually, this brings up one important and rather promising quality that I should mention.

The assholish mindset that I spoke of in the first post is mostly present only in people aged ~30 or older, which can easily be traced back to all the horrible shit that the Communist regime put the people through back during the cultural revolution, the great leap forward, and all that great stuff. It has literally left a scar on the populace that I'm afraid will not disappear until, well, those generations die off. As for why I called this "promising," most of the younger generation is actually quite polite and sociable. The country definitely has a ways to go, but it's certainly headed in the right direction.

Here is a picture of me wearing a silly tourist shirt (which I had to haggle for--more on that later), standing in front of this pretty cool dragon tile wall.

>>45108
Quite informative. Out of curiousity, are your facts coming from friends, personal experience, etc? It seems legit, but I just wanted to know. Also, cute anon is cute.

I'm looking forward to more!

I'm going to have to put this on hold for a bit while I go out to eat dinner. /trv/'s pretty slow, though, so I doubt the thread is in any danger. In the meantime, here's me at the great wall, just for the hell of it.

By the way, you guys should look more closely at the second pic I posted. When you see it...

>>45101
Jew's ears, I lol'd

>>45110

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew%27s_ear

It's not 'engrish' it is legitimate nomenclature, albeit outdated.

>>45110
You are hot. Post pics of you at a bath house plox.

>>45110
you are cute

Did any of the food make you sick? I've heard a lot of bad things about hygiene in the way they cook, chemicals etc..

>>45119
>>45120
Hey, this isn't /b/.

Take the camwhore shit and "PICS PLOX" elsewhere.

>>45122
doesn't like compliments :( this is a turn-off

>>45110
I'm gonna get me some Jew ear when I go to Beijing!

I leave on early August for just over a week. Tips on haggling and keeping safe from pickpockets in malls etc?

Vent
Ip:69.65.25.203 Port:3809 Pw:Egotist

Alrighty, I'm back.

>>45109 Quite informative. Out of curiousity, are your facts coming from friends, personal experience, etc? It seems legit, but I just wanted to know.
I guess it's mostly a combination of stuff I learned while conversing with people there and what I personally observed while simply walking around. I'd see things, and ask why they are that way and how they got to be like that.

>>45118
Woah, I had no idea. Damn it, now I can't laugh at that picture anymore.

>>45119
I don't think they have bath houses in China, or at least not many of them. I did get a foot massage, though--probably one of the most physically painful experiences of my life (I'm not joking).

>>45121 Did any of the food make you sick? I've heard a lot of bad things about hygiene in the way they cook, chemicals etc..
No, at least not due to the food. The weather there was extremely humid, which I'm not used to, so that had me feeling kind of shitty a few of the days, though. I'll go into the weather later.

>>45122
Most of the time when people go on vacations they end up appearing in a lot of their own pictures. That's just how it is, Anonymous.

>>45125
What?

>>45126 I leave on early August for just over a week. Tips on haggling and keeping safe from pickpockets in malls etc?
Well, China's actually pretty safe. Just don't put your wallet in your back pocket, leave bags unattended, obvious stuff like that. There are a few parts of the city that should be avoided in general (Chinese friends told me that a few of the minorities who come from the boonies are especially known to try to steal from people, so we just avoid where they congregate). It's really not that bad, though.

Pic is of one of the many large, ornate gate things that are usually found in the parks or at the entrances to important historical sites.

Dude i loved your first fucking post

it's true

last time i went to Guangzhou i arrived off the plane to get my bags

3 asian men were hitting each other with their small suit cases...it carried on for minutes - everyone was looking - then the police came and broke it up - and took them some place else.

So after i got my suitcase - i was going to leave the airport - i did - Which i then saw a lady and man arguing inside a fucking taxi - he got out - opened the passenger door and dragged her out by the hair.

All of this was funny - he come to me and then spoke english

WHERE YOU WANT GO TO:? i gave him a paper with my hotel name in pinyin and fucking mandrin symbols? - and he told me - I give you gooood price - So anyway. I just went along with him and he took me to my destination pretty quick - and he was listenting to fucking mandarin Rock and roll - I never heard such music

So got to my destination - i just gave him 100 yuan and he was fucking happy and he gave me his card and told me me "CALL ME - I COME PICK YOU- " and i was like xie xie.

it was like 13 dollars - just worth it - i ENjoyed the ride.

Got to my hotel - to see a bunch of women aruging - god knows about what.

i was greated - told then my name and etc - And went into my room - took a fucking shower - and went out to get some food.


I went to some high class restaurant across the street from the hotel - i was called "Yi ying Fantien" God knows what the fuck that is.

Anywa, i walked in - EVERYONE looked at be badly - i wasn't dressed in a suit - But fuck them

i gotr a table and eat some good fucking rice, aand brockley - and a ton of other tasty good stuff.

And i walked out leaving a good tip for my waiter and he was very happy and started speaking fucking fluent english

"thank you - come back next time"

They pretend to be stupid - But they aren't - they' are fucking insane.

Chinese people = my favorite

I'm loving this thread, more stories please.

>>45150
hahaha your one funny bastard..

i was actually living in beijing for almost a year and i just got back this spring i loved it there.

but i think generally those guys kept asking you to come back because you were throwing around your money like a lunatic.. i know $13 dollars ain't much but 100 kuai should warrant at least a 45 minute to 1 hour cab ride. that was the standard fare in beijing and i doubt guangzhou would be more expensive.

also nobody tips in china ever. its just not the custom.. not for good service, not at a bar, not for naked dancers.. nothing. so giving a waiter a tip was bound to make him love you.

>>45096

also OP i don't think the crazy traffic rules is limited to china.. i was in viet nam too and crossing the street there was 100 times more insane than anything i had to deal with in china. i had to J walk over a freeway ( and a guardrail) in order to catch my bus.. there was literally no where else to cross.. i just stepped behind a vietnamese lady and followed her every step.

your spot on about the new generation also.. i would say that its people over 40 though.. fuck old chinese people are massive cunts with no conception of civility in some cases.. old people will instantly walk to the front of a line with like 20 people waiting and no one will say shit. however generally speaking i found most to be the most generous and hospitable people i've met.. made me see canadians as a lot more cold than i remember before i left.

OP please post more!

>>45150
Wow, that sounds a lot worse than what I experienced. Actually, people kept telling me that Beijing is supposed to be just about the friendliest city in China. I found that a bit hard to believe, but after hearing your story, I guess they were telling the truth.

I'll make one more post (this one) before heading to bed.

Buying stuff:
As people who frequent the travel board, a lot of you are probably aware that you get about 7 RMB per US dollar. This isn't to say, however, that everything in China is one 7th the price. Things are indeed cheaper, but they usually end up coming out to about a quarter to half the price of what they would be in the US, which is still pretty nice. Most decent restaurants have dishes that average at 15-30 yuan each, making dining out every night a much more viable option than it is in the States. I think I ate dinner at a restaurant 12 or 13 nights out of the 15 I was there, and not just because I was visiting the country--the people I was with just went out every night.

Electronics cannot really be found for cheap, unfortunately, since they're pretty much all directly from foreign countries. Sometimes you can find cheap knock-off brands, but it's probably not the best idea to spend your money on such things. Clothing, however, can be had for extremely low prices. Usually the best place to get a deal would be in the little buildings where you can (and are expected to) haggle for stuff.

Pic related, although it's blurry as fuck (sorry). You can find all sorts of T-shirts, shoes, dress wear, etc. and almost all of it has a pricetag attached to it displaying a number that's 10 to 20 times what it should actually cost (or more). For example, I bought a shirt for my mother as a souvenir that was originally marked at 1600 yuan; haggled it down to 50.

(field too long, continued in next post...)

The store owners are all very good at what they do. They'll bitch and moan, whine about how you're not offering enough money, and the ones who are young girls (the majority of them) will try to get sympathy from you, tell you you're cute, and all that bullshit, even if it's just a dispute over 5 yuan.

It can be pretty funny too, since most of them don't really speak English, but rather know just enough English to sell their crap. As I walked through the place they'd yell various strange things out to me to get my attention, usually "HEY YOUNG GUY. HEY CUTE YOUNG GUY." One girl yelled "HEY MY BOYFRIEND."

Tomorrow, when I get the chance, I'll talk about something that most travelers to China probably don't end up getting that much experience with: Chinese hospitals, and bullshit that is their medical system.

>>45161
Oh awesome, it sounds like you're someone who's really been around. I actually have some questions for you, but unfortunately I'm falling asleep at my computer right now. I'll get back to this thread later, of course.

>>45168

Haha. Chinese medicene. Did you read about that older American woman who went to China? Had a problem with her legs on the flight (forget the name, but it happens from a lack of movement and blood flow), got them amputated at the hospital. Apparently the place was a hell hole.

>>45169
sounds good those pictures are making me nostalgic... pretty sure i ate at that same restaurant with the jew's ears. i like my jew's ears with eggs personnally. did you try hot pot while you were there?

>>45167
that pic looks like the silk market.. not a very good place for deals... none of that shit should ever cost more that 100.. it doesn't help that its coated in middle aged tourists paying top dollar for fake jade either. open air markets are where its at although i don't think beijing had a lot of those.. some other cities were farrrrr cheaper for decent quality knock offs.. like in nanning i could get mint nike rip offs for about 30 bucks.. in kunming i could eat at a 4 star restaurant with drinks and dinner for two and it wouldn't come to more than 14 dollars... beijing would triple that price at least.

still though if your thinking of going back and working there i recommend it.. there is a MASSIVE culture shock but once it wheres off some of the gripes you listed actually tend to grow on you... its a bit liberating having all your western social conventions thrown to the wind and you can enjoy the custom of smashing the close button on elevator doors so u don't have to wait for all the slow people to get on.. its not that it's prickish but theres kind of a everyman for himself thing going on.. its the only way to deal with those permanent massive crowds.

>>45101
the shanghainese are the most ridiculously accomodating people among the chinese. in fact, it is a shanghainese custom to treat their guests to feasts fit for kings and there *must* be so much food on the table that they should not be able to finish it.

>>45167

In my experience Hong Kong is the friendliest city in China. And no sarcasm here.

EAST TURKESTAN FOREVER
XINJIANG NEVER!

EAST TURKESTAN UNDER HAN OCCUPATION

I traveled to Macau last summer with a friend of mine who studied in the United States. I lived a month with his family and I found that city to be very friendly. I had no problems with the people there. The service was always great.

I'm guessing that that probably has to do with the gambling economy and the lack of the Communist influence. Needless to say, I wish I was there still.

>>45184
Don't pursue Lu Bu!

>>45184
Shut up, faggot. If it has slanted eyes, it's a chink.

Op is hot. I want to do him in a foreign country.

>>45172

rofl amputated?

YOU DO KNOW - THE CHINESE NEED BODY PARTS RIGHT?

THEY AMPUTATED HER FOR NO REASON - ROFL

She seriously got screwed.

Someone probably bought her legs already or it's auctioning off to the highest bidder.

Lulz

I went to china for two weeks around a year ago and I found the traffic was crazy. First thing I saw at the air port was somone getting hit by a carand then while walking to the hotel somone on a bike leaning against a moving bus while sending a text. Naturally I was amazed. But after a few days I learnt that if you walk at an even pace you will be fine. If you go too fast or too slow you will loose concentration and get hit or clipped by a car. My friend who I was travelling had a tendency to freak out at intercetions and start running. I must have pulld him away from atleast three taxies and even the odd bus. The people were always looking to make a quick dollar. Wich was good when the did It onestly I could always buy what I wanted and cheaply. I only saw a few pick pockets and once a guy got his suit case stollen by a cabbie. I found people to be tollerabel as I could speak some alright chinese although once I was walking on the edge of the sidewalk and got pushed In front of a moving car(it didnt slow down). China is definately a place I would like to live in and I can't wait to travel there again because its just so different to anything im used to which I think is the point of travel to get out and expierence the unusual

Anyone who says that Beijing people are friendly are crazy, and anyone who says Shanghai people are friendly are outright on drugs.
The number one rule about going to china is DO NOT base your general thoughts of china from Beijing or Shanghai.

I use to live in china in 2005 (lived in Lin'an in Zhejiang province) and in 2007 (Zhengzhou, Henan province). I've traveled around about half the provinces and plan to continue the rest.

Yours experience is quite typical for Beijing, it is a massive metropolitan that's moving very fast. But did well not to fall in the usual tourist traps. I strongly suggest anyone who travels to china is to travel outside of Beijing (and Shanghai) as you will meet much much much nicer people.

Yelling is a favorite pastime in china, they seem to really enjoy it a lot, to a foreigner it can sound quite serious and daunting sometimes but really its mostly about nonsense.

Zhengzhou would be one of my fave cities, the people there are genuinely friendly. The taxi driver would have a yan with you, the police will be happy to help you, pretty young girls will try talk with you. And best of all old people aren't psycho (well, to a lesser extent).

Chins is a relatively safe country. I've traveled much of western europe and south east asia, just petty theft is common but it wont get you beaten up or killed.

Its a huge contrasting country from my humble New Zealand to a crazy country like china, people just have no idea how crazy everyday like is there, and i love it! i'm going to look at buying an apartment in Chengdu a beautiful city.

tl;dr
Beijing =/= Proper Chinese experience. (but its a start)

(pic: talking about jews, it is said that the only jews in china are in Kaifeng, Henan. Nice city tho)

Ok, I'm back.

In my last post I said I would talk about my experiences with the hospitals and the medical system, so I guess I'll start off with that. A bit more personal info, explaining why I was going to the hospital in the first place (just skip to the next paragraph if you're not interested): during this trip, I was traveling with a native Chinese ex-roommate/friend of mine who was going back to China for a couple weeks because her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was due to go through radiation therapy each weekday, so she wanted to be there for her. This is, strangely enough, the main reason I went to China when I did, since traveling with my friend would obviously make things a lot easier, and I figured I'd be able to provide some moral support in the process.

So anyway, we paid a visit to Beijing's cancer hospital each weekday morning at 9. From what I was told, it was supposed to be one of the best hospitals in the country, although that isn't really saying much. While I wouldn't call the place dirty, it could have definitely used some work. (Field too long, I'll continue this paragraph in the following post.)

I snapped a couple pictures of the inside of the hospital, but they came out way to blurry to even post (I think someone bumped me). Instead, I'll just post one of the pictures I took of my friend's old university campus (Peking University), which was probably the most beautiful school campus I've ever seen.

>>45390 continued from the second paragraph
Almost all the seating was in the form of large, badly made wooden benches that looked like they had been dragged from older buildings that no longer needed them. The floor was made out of some kind of cheap material that seemed to easily crack and chip, which I guess didn't really make much practical difference, but it certainly didn't help the place's aesthetics. To top it off, the entire building was dimly lit; most areas made as much use of the natural outside lighting as they could, and those that didn't have any windows or doors either used 50% of the available lights at most, or just remained completely dark. I asked why this was, and, as I sort of expected, it was apparently due to the fact that the people running the hospitals were simply striving to cut costs by doing the bare minimum.

Pic attached is another shot of the campus (yes, all of that is part of the campus).

My hospital stories are not nearly complete, as I haven't even gotten to the good part: the human aspect.

Well, where should I start? Chinese doctors, to put it bluntly, aren't very nice, and are usually corrupt in what they do (I'll explain). The non-doctor hospital staff (the people behind the counters, the nurses/assistants, etc) are just plain jackasses. In more detail: the doctors treat people like objects. People's ailments are just part of their job and compassion is not in their vocabulary. This would be all well and good, provided you're thick-skinned enough to deal with someone who doesn't really care about your livelihood, except for the corruption factor...

One thing that initially struck me as odd about almost all the Chinese people I knew was how they literally had drawers full of extra medicine of all kinds. All prescription medicine. It turns out that doctors in China get a direct percentage of the profits from the medicine that they prescribe to their patients, so, naturally, they prescribe ridiculous amounts to everyone, often with medicine that people don't even need in the first place. Everybody knows that this happens but nobody seems to really care.

Anyway, just getting the prescribed medicine was a joke. We'd have to take a little slip of paper to a counter with a few asshole staff members behind it who would demand a non-trivial amount of money and then stamp the paper. Then we'd have to take the paper to another counter on a different floor to have it stamped again and pay more money. Then we'd take it back to the 1st floor, to yet another counter with more angry assholes working behind it, to finally pay a much larger sum of money and finally get the medicine that was prescribed.

Pic--I *believe*--is of a hospital we passed by, but probably not the aforementioned cancer hospital we spent so much time in.

Blah, I have to go now. I'll be back with more, probably to comment on the nightlife, girl situation, and all the stuff I'm sure most of you are actually interested in.

In the meantime, here's some myspace bullshit just to piss off Anonymous. It's me, the friend I mentioned earlier (middle), and her cute cousin (left). I told everyone to make a weird face, but I don't think her cousin understood. I forgive her.

>>45404
can you get the cute girl's (girl on the left) QQ number???

>>45404
Too bad 80% of China is fugly... those girls aren't that bad.

I actually came back from a trip to the Yunnan province a week ago. Was alright for an arranged group tour.
Had to go to the hospital in Dali. Wasnt dirty but wasnt clean. I was expecting far worse. Registration was RMB-5 and they gave me a number. Had to sit in a relatively small examination room for about an hour with quite a few sick people in it. When the doctor came in after tending to a few emergencies (It was around 8pm and he was the only doctor in the ward.) everyone and their families crowded around the doctor. At that point the number given for your queue didnt matter. It was whoever could squeeze in front of the doctor got seen and the doctor didnt care to check for the numbers either.
The one jerk who came in after me looked me right in the eyes before skipping me in queue. So at least ten plus people in this room at the time. Less than half of them were patients I only saw the doctor actually examine two of them. He just wrote down the name of the patient, symptoms, then prescription in that order.
Getting the prescription, pay at one counter. Pick it up at the next counter. Whole hospital trip was about RMB-47.
People were smoking in the hallways. Wish I had my camera. Some were smoking directly under the no smoking signs. In fact every trip I've been to China guys just light up everywhere. My last trip to Xian wasnt that bad but this one I had my most exposure to second smoke so far. I didnt see a single male who did not smoke tobacco in the time I was there.

>>45433

Wtf

Why would he look you directly in the eyes and then skip yuou

Rofl - Looking you directly in the eyes -

What was that all about

>>45454
He eyed him out.

ie. The guy who looked him in the eye made it seem like he would start a fight if the other guy didn't let him pass

>>45468

Don't want to start fights in Asia, that's for certain. Them boys know Kung Fu.

>>45145

Your Chinese friends were speaking of the Uyghurs, who are basically the Mexicans of China. They get blamed for everything from pickpocketing to the economy.

Obviously I don't need to tell you it's bullshit - no more than any other racial stereotyping. This all stems from China labeling them terrorists after the 2001 attacks.

I've been studying in Shanghai for about a month so far, and will be here for another 6 weeks. The traffic isn't that bad - I got used to it after a week or so. I'd say the worst thing about it is the fact that nobody stops at a red light if they're turning right. I wouldn't say people are any ruder than in another other major metropolitan city. In New York people will steal your cab in 2 seconds flat without a glance back. It's just the way big cities are.

Also, I've been treated extremely nicely as a foreigner living here, and they're even more nice when I speak Chinese to them - and more than just a simple "xie xie" or "wo yao zhe ge". In fact I was just speaking with my friends about it today - we went out to lunch together and after our meal we got free ice cream. They said in the years they've been going there regularly, they've never gotten ice cream - but the day they go with foreigners they receive some. How odd.

Also, 15-30 kuai is expensive for a meal. That price is for eating Western style food every day. If you eat Chinese food in a good restaurant you can get a meal for 8 kuai - or on the street you can get a meal for 3 kuai. But I would never recommend eating street food regularly, or at all if you're going for a short while. 3 students from America have already gone to the hospital because they have gotten sick.

50 kuai for clothing is very expensive. When haggling, always start with the most ridiculous price you could ever think of, and then if they refuse, walk away. Go to the next vendor that is selling the exact same shit and offer a price slightly higher. Repeat until you get what you want for a 10th of the price that was being asked. For buying Tshirts, 20-25 kuai is about what should be spent. An extra tip would be buying one Tshirt at one vendor without trying to haggle really hard, and then taking that Tshirt and showing it to another vendor and saying you got it for 10 kuai or something ridiculous like that. He may not believe you, but if you're persistent he may give in. Never look like you're interested in something - always be prepared to walk away. Nothing is "rare" in China, if you regret walking away from a purchase, you will find it somewhere else for half as much as you were going to spend on it originally.

>>45507
When you say kuai do you mean the yuan?

>>45536
kaui is slag for yuan, like saying bux (bucks)

50bux!

I should probably mention transportation too:

The first thing you should do, if you plan on traveling around a lot (at least in Shanghai, I'm not sure how well this translates to other cities, at least this first part), is buying a Shanghai Public Transportation Card - this card is invaluable for anyone using taxis, buses or the ditie (Metro) daily. You can buy it at any information desk at a metro station. You'll probably need a Chinese speaker there with you to convey your desires to the teller, but essentially you give them a 20 Yuan/RMB/kuai deposit and they give you a magnetized card. Then you load however much money you want onto the card - I usually do 100Y at a time, and you're good to go. This makes public trans extremely easy, as all you need to do is pass the card (or your wallet/purse/bag - as it is a magnet) over a reader on a taxi, bus or metro and you're good to go. No hassling with long ticket lines, searching for 2 yuan in your pocket for a bus, or not being able to grab a taxi because you blew all your money at a bar. When you leave SH you give the card back and you get your 20Y plus whatever is left on it. Simple as that.

I also cannot stress the importance of getting a good map and learning how to use the bus/metro system. It can turn a 14Y cab ride into a 2Y bus ride, and the metro can get you across town or into the city hub much cheaper and faster than any taxi could wish.

Also, the motorcycle rickshaws should not be overlooked just because they look shady. Admittedly taxis are the safest and most comfortable way to get around, but they also have a minimum charge of 11Y, which is pricey if you just want to go half a mile in a hurry or if you just got done shopping and don't want to hike it from the metro to your hotel/hostel/apartment. Usually there is a huge pack of them that would love to one up each other with cheap price, and if you have someone else with you you're looking at max 3Y a piece to get back to wherever you live. Plus, it's an experience in and of itself riding on them, with the wind whipping in your face - and the drivers usually offer up very entertaining (albeit Chinese) conversation.

Never, I repeat NEVER, ever get into a car that doesn't have a fare meter installed and a identification sticker. Even if it has "TAXI" on the roof, without a fare meter it isn't legit. These "private" taxis may tempt you by strolling up to you, taking your bags (usually at the airport after you're exhausted from a 12+ hour flight) and escorting you to their car. But they are notorious for either price gouging or flat out theft. They will charge double what any legit taxi would charge, or they may just drive off with your luggage without a look back. Stay far far away.

In general, be the most alert when you first arrive at the airport - this is when you're the most vulnerable. This first hour or so in a new country. Be smart and you'll be fine. It's not hell, but it will feel like it if you don't pay attention and lose all your shit 2 hours after you get off the plane.

Brief responses before I crash:

>>45410
Well, we went on a date, but unfortunately it was the last day I was there. At least I know I have something to look forward to.

>>45433
In Beijing they actually seem to be taking a stance against smoking and running a small campaign of ads that try to convince people to stop, which I found pretty surprising. Not sure how many people take it seriously, but it can't hurt.

>>45506Your Chinese friends were speaking of the Uyghurs, who are basically the Mexicans of China. They get blamed for everything from pickpocketing to the economy.
>Obviously I don't need to tell you it's bullshit - no more than any other racial stereotyping. This all stems from China labeling them terrorists after the 2001 attacks.
Yeah, I sort of had a feeling. Being the foreigner of the group, I wasn't really about to question their advice, though.

>>45507 Also, 15-30 kuai is expensive for a meal. That price is for eating Western style food every day. If you eat Chinese food in a good restaurant you can get a meal for 8 kuai - or on the street you can get a meal for 3 kuai. But I would never recommend eating street food regularly, or at all if you're going for a short while. 3 students from America have already gone to the hospital because they have gotten sick.
Well I was definitely eating Chinese food. I think I was mainly being brought to relatively nice/expensive restaurants, though, because people wanted to treat me well and show me the best food their city has to offer. I did get some food from street vendors, and it was pretty cheap and tasted good too. Never got sick.

>>45540
Actually, I had one of those, courtesy of my friend's mom (or at least the Beijing equivalent). It couldn't be used for taxis, which were all cash-only, but it worked for all the subways and buses. Very convenient.

>>45541
I took a bicycle rickshaw around a small part of the city, but it was mostly a tourist/sightseeing thing. I didn't see any bike or motorcycle rickshaws being offered for practical purposes. And thanks for your safety tips. I'll keep all that in mind, but I've also got several people in Beijing who know me and can help me out, so I'm sure I'll be fine.

I'll be back tomorrow, if people are still interested (and probably still if they're not).

Let's hear about the 5 tones they use

How the fuck can tou tell a difference

lmfao

dude this stuff is right as SHIT

ive been in shanghai since mid-June (summer job/internship + summer trip), and all of the stuff OP said has been pretty damn straight

just to emphasize a point OP made in his first post - im an asian and even i cant believe people like us can be such fucking faggots. every day im on the subway or waiting for the subway and i see people literally run and tackle people trying to squeeze themselves into the subway, and when some person gets up off of a seat, its like a pack of lions that see a piece of fresh meat after not having eaten in a month - the mad rush for the ONE seat is unbelieveable. and the worst part is that some young, hip, punk faggot gets the seat after pushing away MUCH MUCH older people and gets off the subway after one stop...

the fact that we can be so inconsiderate has really come to shock me

most of not all chinese food are cooked with lard ( atlest in hongkong)

and 30yuan for a meal is very expensive, most decent meals only cost 10yuan. ( not in expensive restaurants of course )

>>45548
sure, it's really cool to see your perspective on the city of my birth. :)

>>45558
i was always amazed by how everyone in the streets were completely expressionless, and never gave anyone any eye contact. this can happen even in the most busy places. it's like everyone of them have so much on their mind that they block out the rest of the world.

China is ridiculous.

There's so many people and they're all hilarious and wacky. All the kids walk around with poofy Sasuke hair and wear ridiculous JoJo's Bizarre Adventure esque clothes, like sequined jeans and a jacket with nothing underneath. I was in Shanghai and was planning on just going to sleep and flying the next day, but the family I was staying with had this super scummy guy and he took me out to go eat and do KAREOKE. We went to one of the bars and all these girls came into the room and you basically choose whatever one you want to pretend to be your friend for the night. So I got hang out with a bunch of drunken chicks and sing bad soft rock and play drinking games for a bit. One of the scummy dude's friends kept asking me about English phrases and screaming "COME ON BABY, FUCK OFFFF!" and pumping his fist. I think he wanted me to double team a girl with him.

OP, where did you meet your Chinese friends/contacts?

>>>45556
It's pretty easy to tell the difference--the hard part is remembering which tone to use when trying to speak the language yourself.

>>45559
From what people told me, the food in Beijing is very different from the food in Hong Kong. I'd have a hard time believing there was a lot of lard in any of the stuff I ate. Most of it was very lean, except for the occasional fried dish.

>>45600 All the kids walk around with poofy Sasuke hair and wear ridiculous JoJo's Bizarre Adventure esque clothes, like sequined jeans and a jacket with nothing underneath.
Yeah, now that you mention it, I did see a lot of people wearing vest-like things covered in pockets that immediately made me think of JoJo. People in general seemed to have little to no fashion sense, especially in terms of matching colors, or matching levels of formality (business jacket paired with jeans and tennis shoes, business pants paired with a T-shirt, etc). People just weren't all that concerned with their image, with the exception of girls being extremely worried about catching a tan. They'd all carry umbrellas to avoid the sun, sometimes even on completely overcast days.

>>45606 OP, where did you meet your Chinese friends/contacts?
The girl I was traveling with was a former roommate of mine from the time I was attending UCR. During my stay at Riverside I became very good friends with her, and also met a few of her friends and her mother who came to visit her from China. When I eventually went to China myself, I met and hung out with several more of the people she knew. Obviously, I really owe a lot to her--most of this wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for her help.

Sorry for the pseudo-update. I'll be back with more pictures in like, 3 or 4 hours. I've got a lot of annoying shit to do lately, if you guys couldn't tell.

>>45600

Wow, I haven't gotten up the guts to go to a traditional KTV (karaoke) yet.

I hope you know that you were basically in a very classy brothel, steeped in tradition. Essentially KTV is where China goes to do business deals, meetings, or any kind of corporate interaction. I shouldn't describe it as a brothel, per say, because it's way more about the person to person interaction than it is the sex. Basically you aren't paying for sex, you're paying for the night of entertainment. The karaoke, the company, the food, etc. Then after the "party" is over, you can opt for "desert". This aspect of Chinese culture fucking interesting as hell, I think.

This is a picture taken at a nearby KTV, but only with my friends. No "hostesses". It surprises me how upscale these places are.

If you have time, definitely check out the Confucian temple in Shanghai. It's almost always empty, and is cheaper and much cooler than the Jade Buddha Temple.

As for Shanghai night life -

Attica is you're European and prudish.

The Shelter if you're gangster or American.

Muse if you're from the Soviet Bloc or love techno.

Below is Attica. No pictures from Shelter or MUSE yet. Didn't bring my camera.

To clarify, those pictures were taken on a "special" night where they put a pool on the roof. The first picture is a view from the rooftop bar, the 2nd picture is me, my friend, and 2 random asians that hopped in the picture, last picture is of some damn fine women that came out to play in the pool. Some dudes were all, "Shit this club is great, look at all the hot chicks that come here!" I didn't want to ruin it for them by telling them those chicks worked there.

Any other night, and Attica would've been filled with half unbuttoned Armani shirts, pointy shoes and rich old expats. No cover, though.

Also, the water isn't red - it's just the bottom of the pool.

>>45719
>>45723
>>45724
>>45725
Damn, Shanghai looks like a lot more fun than Beijing in terms of its nightlife. When I said a few posts ago that I was going to comment on Beijing's nightlife, I actually meant I'd comment on its lack thereof. I kept asking Zhen (my friend) and her friends what young people do for fun in the city, but the best answer they could come up with was, of course, karaoke. And from what I gathered, it wasn't the same kind of karaoke that you were talking about. It was just the standard thing where you get a room and sing and drink with your friends.

I asked about the bar/club scene, but apparently those just aren't all that big in Beijing, outside of a few select areas. There seemed to be a general sentiment that bars were where older people went to hang out. We did end up going to a bar one night, and it was pretty nice inside, but all the drinks were crazy expensive. Like, they cost as much as the drinks in American bars, sometimes more.

Granted, I did have a pretty crazy drinking experience one night when I met up with Zhen's Mongolian friend. Those people can drink more than you can believe. We were at a Mongolian hot pot restaurant and ordered a few bottles of this 38% alc stuff called Jingjiu. Drank a few straight glasses of that as well as a few beers and I was puking my guts out along with everyone else--except of course for the Mongolian, who just sat there and smiled.

Here's a pic of the inside of a taxi. You can see the little yuan counter in the middle that all the legit ones have. Also, you can see the wonderful weather that we experienced pretty much every day there.

As far as girls go, Chinese chicks are pretty conservative. Children are raised that way by their parents, and the educational system shelters them from all sexual knowledge all the way up through highschool. It's not uncommon for girls to not even know what sex is until college. My friend knew one girl (well, woman) who was a virgin until age 35.

So yeah, I wouldn't say China is one of those places where foreigners can go and just expect to be drowned in pussy. There is, of course, always a certain demographic of females who go straight for foreign guys, and sort of make a living out of it. They're not prostitutes per se--they'll just latch onto a foreign guy who wants to check out the city. They'll act as a sort of temporary girlfriend, practice their English, help teach Chinese to the guy, translate for him, and he'll just pay for all the stuff they do together and maybe be expected to buy her some crap (depending on how ugly or nerdy he is, I guess). I didn't have any firsthand experience with this, but it's definitely there.

The girls there (the normal ones) do seem to like white guys, to an extent--just don't expect them to be hanging all over you. Japan or Thailand would probably be better places to go if that's the sort of thing you're looking for.

Pic is something I found very funny, especially since I'm from California. Apparently, to the Chinese, "California" is analogous to a miniature taco filled with cream cheese and raisins.

>>45784
>>45769

Shanghai definitely is more Las Vegas where Beijing is more Washington DC. There are loads of amazing night clubs here.

As far as sex and Chinese girls, I totally agree. We have Chinese roommates, and basically all of the girls here are virgins. I'm not really sure about the girls at the clubs, though. Obviously that's a very different demographic. I think the girls who are our roommates grew up middle class, and therefore were raised with more Confucian values, and thus are not sexually active. Whereas, the Chinese girls at nightclubs are either foreigners, expats or rich Shanghainese, who have had a lot of access to Western culture and therefore, Western sex values.

As for weather here, well, the first week or so it was rainy and abysmal, but then about a week ago this happened.

Fucking amazing weather. It's been like this for about a week and a half. Although, today we're supposed to get the effects of Tropical Storm Seagull (Hai'ou or Kalmaegi) - which means typhoon weather!

I'm fucking excited. Supposed to get a lot of rain plus 40mph+ winds.

The two buildings in the previous picture is the main campus of Fudan University - where I take courses.

Here is a view from the top of the tower.

>>45794
>>45795
Is it humid as fuck there? That's the thing that bothered me most about the weather in Beijing. Being from So Cal, I'm fine with the heat, but the humidity was driving me insane. I'd get up in the morning, take a shower, then go outside for 30 minutes and want to take another shower. I just totally wasn't used to it and it made me feel like I was constantly overheating.

This pic is a great example of the weather I experienced. It *looks* like a cold, foggy day, but it wasn't. It was a very hot, humid day, and the sweat was probably pouring down my face as I snapped this shot. By the way, it's from the top of Jingshan Park, overlooking the back of the Forbidden City.

>>45802

Yeah, it's been better here lately, meaning middle 80's, but we've had a week of 95+ degree temp. One day we had a high of 100 with a real feel of 115 - which was fucking disgusting.

Luckily the apartments they gave us have AC in every room. But I know what you mean about sweating buckets. I usually have an outfit for around the apartment so that when I get back to my room I can get out of my nasty clothes. It definitely sucks not being able to wear shirts more than once without having to wash them.

Attached pic is typical Shanghai weather. Haven't been up into the Oriental Pearl Tower yet - kind of gimmicky, but I'll make it up there eventually.

Also, how is the pollution there? I've heard Beijing is much worse than Shanghai pollution wise, which doesn't make much sense b/c SH had a larger population.

Have you noticed it at all? The first couple of days I noticed it quite a bit, but I seem to have gotten used to it. I just wonder what life back in small town, Minnesota will treat me when I get back. I think it'll be like swimming in a sea of fresh air.

I also think I'll miss China. It's definitely much more fun living here than the United States, but then again I blow through money like there's no tomorrow and I get free housing and my classes are all easy. I've got 9,000 RMB to last me until August 27th, and I've been spending a shitload since I've gotten here.

I'm also glad the dollar keeps losing in value. I was going to just exchange my traveller's cheques as I needed them, but then realized it'd be better to invest in the Yuan, seeing as I'll probably get a much larger return on my USD if the economy keeps sucking balls.

Have you been able to keep a low "American" profile? The other night I was at The Shelter, which I mentioned before, and I met two Australians who instantly asked me which part of the US I was from. I was like, shit. Is it that easy to tell? I mean, pulling off Canadian isn't that hard since I'm from Minnesota, but I couldn't fool them for a second. When I'm on the streets and someone talks to me in Chinese that I don't understand, I respond in French to try and minimize my Americanese presence.

>>45809
I think all the precipitation got rid of most of the pollution while I was there. It was on-and-off rain pretty much every day, so I think that kind of sucked it up. Or maybe it just didn't bother me.

And yeah, I was only there for 15 days but I still found myself missing it after I got back. Everything here just seems so dead compared to the busy city life over there. It feels like I'm just wasting my days away now, along with everyone else around me. It doesn't help that all the stuff people talk about here is so trivial and superficial and often just downright retarded. It's weird getting back from a country where you see everyone struggling just to get a decent foothold in life, then suddenly you're surrounded by dipshits whining about how much they need to get another manicure. Kinda had me depressed for the first few days I was back.

>Have you been able to keep a low "American" profile?
Never really made an effort to. I might try to appear Canadian if I ever go to France or something, but the Chinese are fine with Americans for the most part, and I was never around enough other foreigners for me to really give a shit about what they thought. Ended up talking to an Australian guy at one point and that was about it.

I live in Guangzhou and love it. I'm visiting family now but I go back in a week or two. Can't wait.

>>45809
>When I'm on the streets and someone talks to me in Chinese that I don't understand, I respond in French to try and minimize my Americanese presence
Going a bit far don't you think?

>>45822

Meh, whatever.

For tourism and sightseeing, Beijing is the better choice. There's just more to see.

If you're planning on staying in China, Shanghai would probably be better because there's more to do. I've eaten lunch at the top of the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai before... it's pretty nice and there's a magician that goes around doing tricks.

Hong Kong tops both Shanghai and Beijing though, being more developed and tourist friendly. But being so modern it kind of defeats the purpose of going to China in the first place.

I was in Beijing for 4 months, and when it comes to getting from point A to point B, yeah everyones fair game, but i would say that Chinese people are nice to you if you are nice to them.

nice travelogue in here

>>45822
doesn't matter. to the locals, white people = tourists = $$$

great thread and surprisingly troll-free

Also, they're racists:

http://www.theage.com.au/world/fears-of-a-nofun-olympics-in-beijing-20080718-3hkb.html

Hong Kong is still the best part of China, honestly. I'm a Honger and I cant stand the mainlanders

>>45769
>>45784
I'm sorry OP but i can't just let this go...
i know you were only there for two weeks but if you stayed there a little longer and found out the club and bar areas you would not be under the same impression regarding night life and girls...
>>45161
here.. lived there for a year.. beijing has some of the craziest clubs i've ever been to and there are lots... generally speaking there condensed around two districts.. but some very high end ones could be all over the city.. san li tun is 'the' bar street theres maybe 100 or so bars or clubs condensed on this one street north of the embassies and some surrounding alleyways. hou hai is another more high-end area south of the lama temple and lastly for some college age shenanigans...shit if forgot the name but its in the north west area of beijing... somewhat far from downtown..

about the girls you need to realize china's a massive country and there's different cultures predominating in each part. i dated two girls there one was from liaoning and the other Hunan, both were living in beijing.
the liao ning girl would literally curl up into a ball if any sexual contact was initiated.. the hunan girl was all for it. poorer less developed parts of china are inevitably more conservative where as girls from the big cities are far more open

>>45923 cont...
also i think regional cultures play a factor.. the liaoning girl (from a northern kind of barren province) was afraid to even talk about sex... whereas my hunan girl (from the south) had sex at the usual high-school/university experiences we have in the west along with most girls she knew... she seemed to think that if a girl hadn't had sex by the age of 23 she was either very ugly or had something very wrong with her. and some of the stories she told me damn... u know how guys can pick up girls from the KTV's? well she had a friend that used to do that too.. 'cept she was a girl and she used to pay for guys to bring home.. apparently she wasn't even ugly just had money and was bored.

and the whole white guy thing? dude they love us. no matter where i was girls would just stare at me.. ask me to take pictures with them.. ask for my email.. we're very exotic for them... generally they have a different idea of whats attractive i'd say (don't like facial hair.. prefer thinner guys.. perhaps its more close to what their used to)

i know a lot of girls would think the whole ktv thing qualifies as 'the thing to do' but there are nerds all over the world.. beijing is also the rock centre of china.. theres an aweomse underground rock scene there and i met a lot of cool people that way... you just have to meet some more people or learn where to look.

but trust me they like white guys!

>>45920
also dude.. i was in hong kong for almost 3 weeks and by the end of it i was getting seriously bored.. whereas i never got bored of beijing... although HK was a major relief once in a while to get away from the chaos of the mainland... but seriously why does every young person there dress exactly the same!? i mean seriously..

>>45923
Yeah, I kind of had a feeling there was a decent bar/club scene that my friends just weren't telling me about or didn't even know about. They're all a bit on the "good kid" side of things, even at college age, so there's a good chance they just never got any exposure to that side of the city. I guess I'll just have to ask around among the other foreigners when I go back. Thanks for the info.

>>45695
>>45714
Guys 45600 is a copypasta...

Anymore travel reviews going to be posted? These are pretty good and informative

Nice thread, I'm studying abroad in beijing two years from now, tantalizing stuff.

Great thread guys!

I'm going to Shanghai end of august and might visit Beijing for a few days and this thread gave me a nice insight on what I might encounter in China.

The only other asian country I've been to being Japan, China seems to be a bit more of an adventure.

Did anyone have any problems at the airport when "importing" them fake clothes and stuff? 50RMB~ sounds dirt cheap for whatever clothing so I might taking an extra suitcase with me, but I don't want to risk anything...

>>46525 Did anyone have any problems at the airport when "importing" them fake clothes and stuff? 50RMB~ sounds dirt cheap for whatever clothing so I might taking an extra suitcase with me, but I don't want to risk anything...
Customs doesn't really spend much time with the returning Americans, but they tend to look through the stuff Chinese people are bringing over pretty thoroughly. When I came back, I was carrying a laptop, a backpack, a suitcase, and a painted scroll that was given to me from my friend's father. They just looked at my passport, glanced at the stuff I was carrying, then told me to pass through. My friend, on the other hand, got held up for a few minutes (along with all the other non-citizens) while they briefly looked through her stuff.

I'd say it's really nothing to worry about. Hell, I'm pretty sure I was wearing one of the shirts I bought, and it was "Quicksilver" lol

Did you see many knives (lock knives, not kitchen ones) and knuckle dusters in the markets?

>>46959
No, but I was never really looking for them. Only weapons I saw were some cool shotguns that most of the army guys carried.

I'll leave one last bit of info before letting the thread die (unless of course some people have more questions). I should have mentioned this earlier because it definitely applies to others who are interested in living in China: I did manage to secure a job position there, and it wasn't all that difficult. I went to one of the more well-known English schools in the city (http://www.chinatefl.com/beijing/teach/bj-abc.htm) and they basically gave me the job on the spot.

Note that the requirements on that page list a bachelor's degree and 1 year teaching experience. I had neither of these. The page also states a salary of 5000-8000 RMB. They offered to start me off at 9000 (what I asked for) with a raise to 10000 after 6 months. The truth of the matter is that they *really* want native speakers of American English. I mean, they were practically sucking my cock to get me to sign their contract (and yes, I read the whole thing thoroughly).

For reference, 9000 RMB per month is pretty damn good money. Although it converts directly to only about $1200 USD, you have to consider that stuff's a lot cheaper over there. Apparently, many *doctors* make 4000-5000 RMB per month. And the real catch? This is for a 25 hour work week. With a full month of vacation (website claims half a month, but that's only the variable paid vacation, not including the major holidays).

So yeah, there's definitely an opportunity for English speakers there, if you're interested. It's not a goldmine where you can just go over, speak English off the top of your head, and get paid for it, but you can certainly get a decent job with pretty minimal qualifications (I'm getting my TEFL certification right now) as long as you take it seriously. So if you've been thinking about it, go for it.

>>46982
man i'm surprised you even trust any of that stuff that is being offered to you when half of the info as you said is not right

maybe one of the reasons why everyone can freely smoke and why traffic stuff is so messed up is because of the overpopulation? maybe they want people to die

anyway reading most of this stuff, china seems messed up

>>46984
it's not overpopulation. perhaps if you live there long enough, you will see that they follow a different set of rules. different cultures, you know?

btw, the US also seems messed up to non-americans.

>>46992
i'm not american, i'm canadian

>>46992
yes and that's why there's millions of chinese people moving to the U.S

>>47007
Not to mention the U.S receives the most immigrants in the world.

>>47007
So? Amerikkka is also pretty messed up from this here eurofags POW.

>>45924
>don't like facial hair
>prefer thinner guys
>chinese girls

What.

Awesome thread, have some obligatory photoshop.

Should this be our first archived thread?

>>46982
So aside from teaching jobs what's the job market like for foreigners?

Thanks OP for this very well endowered thread .
BTW OP im black so would theyre be any racial tension towards me being a black american . did you see any other black people theyre. and if you did how were they treated.i mean i will still go no matter how rude they are but if im going to throw money around i dont want to be insulted cause im u know. or anything cause it seems you had a really good time.

>>47317
Read >>45884

>Beijing police have been visiting bar owners in the popular Sanlitun area and asking them to sign pledges agreeing to not serve black people or Mongolians and ban activities including dancing.

If you travel during the Olympics, they may not like you as much.

Well i dont dance anyway , so i don't care that much for that . but not to serve me is kinda low . its sad that they were the ones who wanted to construct the martin luther king statue . oh well guess some people are hypocrits but like you said it may be because of the generation or something .

woops lol just read the article apparently thats a good enough reason if its that bad . wish the u.s had balls like that but then that would start a riot etc etc . i mean although im black , i dispise drug dealers etc etc . i mean we all have them and although i dont agree with the way theyre going about it at least theyre doing something instead of worrying about who it will offend .
im actually kinda proud in a sense . but i still think its kinda gay we cant go in certain places =(

>>47274

I voted, this was a great thread

>>47319
That was actually a rumor. Many reporters and expat bloggers dug into the story and found no official edict whatsoever.

Its true though that black people would probably have a harder time than white people.

>>47317
In general the Chinese think of blacks as apes, and if you throw money around they'll just whisper behind your back about how you got it from killing people.

They'll be afraid of you, though, so you might be a bit better off than others if you can stand all that.

>>47317
Chinese people definitely have some preconceived stereotypes regarding black people, but I think a lot of it simply has to do with the fact that most of them have never even met a black person in the first place, so all they have to go off of is what they've seen in movies. I actually did see two or three black people while I was there, so it's not like they're nonexistent.

>>47319
I saw that thread too. It sounds a little outlandish but it wouldn't surprise me if it were true. One thing you have to keep in mind is that the Chinese are quick to ban just about anything for the slightest reason, and on top of that they don't have the whole politically correct thing going on like we do in America, so singling out a certain race, creed, etc doesn't bother them a bit. It doesn't mean they harbor some sort of deep-seated resentment toward certain people--they likely just heard some anecdotal evidence about something and decided to make a ban. It's kind of fucked up, but you can either sit around feeling offended by it or just realize how little of an impact it actually has on you in the long run and forget about it.

Like I said, though, I didn't hear anything about an outright ban on any particular racial groups while I was there. I find that American news agencies like to pick up on extreme things in China that are indeed true but confined to very specific places, or only in effect for a day or two. They do the same thing with their news when they report on western countries. The more I travel, the more I find it's really best to form my own opinions on things.

(splitting this up, field too long)

>>47311
Honestly, I didn't look at much else. Teaching was pretty much all I had in mind for myself. All I can say is that you'll want to capitalize on your English speaking ability in some way or another. There are a few channels on TV that were entirely in English, and the news reporters sounded rather amateurish. If that sort of thing interests you, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get into. There's also the standard fare of interpretation/translation/transcription, but you'll need to be fully proficient in Chinese for that, of course.

In general, there were a lot fewer foreigners than I expected in Beijing. In fact, while I did meet a few people who were there on vacation, I never got the chance to talk to any foreigners who actually lived there permanently or semi-permanently.

>>47269
Woah.

>>47367
I like them already lal.

Anyway, do they really yell that much? I ate at a chinese restaurant once(suprisingly there is only one or 2 near me) And when i orderd he talked calmly in Dutch, yet when he gave the order to the chef he yelled like a grindcore singer.

It was funny as hell.

Also how are the girls from 18 to 24?

i'm an australian of european descent who's been living here in china for the last month. i'm working in a smaller city and will work between here and home for the next few years at least, in varying proportions. i know of two other white people in this city (and i work with one of them), but there are undoubtedly a few more. you wouldnt know it by the way you're stared at though. there are a lot of ways to make a lot of money in china, if you know what you're doing - yeah there are a lot of poor people but the proportion of european cars on the roads is amazing. ie when im not being driven to work in the company's 400,000RMB german car, i can get a rickshaw around town for 4.

i went to shanghai last week and i must say that everything is really fucking expensive there (but still cheap vis-a-vis the west). like 2-3 times as much, and where i live isnt the cheapest. tourists are fucking annoying twats.

the food varies from shocking to amazing. i get fed at work, and have eaten mainly in restaurants and at friends' houses while i've been here. street food is also a great way to get a feed for under a dollar. but there is a reason we dont consider chicken feet to be a prime cut in the west. they love kfc too. fucking love the shit. in 30 years they will be as fat as americans if they continue like this.

>>47380
very hospitable. they keep trying to set me up with each other, find me mistresses etc. i'm working in a real job, as opposed to english teacher/tourist, so ymmv. but if i could speak mandarin fluently, i'd have to pretend i couldnt.

i love this country. but wtf is the obsession with fake prada/dior/etc shit. noone's going to believe that crap is real.

age

bump

I call for archive, as well. This is a model thread that shatters the /b/ stereotype of 4chan.

do a barrel roll

>>49482
it's just an american who had obviously never left his country before sharing his naivete and limited experience. i mean, the guy thinks that chinese people all eat in restaurants every night because its so cheap (albeit seemingly relatively overpriced), because he only hung out with people rich enough to send their kids to american universities.

nothing against the guy - i hope he travels more and gets a broader view on the country, if not the world. but it was more depressing than refreshing to read another otherwise insular american's perspective on a place and culture, of which he really only scraped the surface. you cant really expect more than that in two weeks, though.

op: i mean you no disrespect, as you are just a product of your environment, and wish you all the best in changing that environment to grow as a person. what was your major at college? and what kind of jobs were you looking for?

>>49735 it's just an american who had obviously never left his country before sharing his naivete and limited experience. i mean, the guy thinks that chinese people all eat in restaurants every night because its so cheap (albeit seemingly relatively overpriced), because he only hung out with people rich enough to send their kids to american universities.
Oh, I'm fully aware that the people I was spending my time with were much better off than the majority of the country's populace. I know that the poor people there likely rarely set a foot in a restaurant, and many of the people out in the countryside have never even seen a restaurant. My intention was just to explain in detail what I personally experienced--no more and no less. I guess I should have emphasized that a bit more. I have left my country before, but only to Mexico and Canada.

>op: i mean you no disrespect, as you are just a product of your environment, and wish you all the best in changing that environment to grow as a person. what was your major at college? and what kind of jobs were you looking for?
I was majoring in language & linguistics, but I didn't finish (UCs are very expensive and I'm not a good enough student to get a scholarship). I'll probably finish my major when I can pay for it myself, but for now I'd much rather get some real-world experience, broaden my horizons, all that good stuff. As for the job question, I went there expecting to find opportunities for teaching English and that's exactly what I got.

>>49742
and your linguistic major would have been mandarin? how close are you to finishing?

teaching english isnt really a career move, its a lifestyle choice. it's not a serious job/career. if you have a bit of seed money, you can make a lot more money in china by trading. and if you live there, your overheads are very very low. being white will still be an impediment, however. but if you had some seed money, you'd probably finish college instead, which is a good idea. go back to school - if your idea of real word experience is outlined in this thread, it can be had during the summer. what are you currently doing for work?

i'm glad you appreciate that your perspective of the country is superficial - as is mine. in any of the wealthy provinces, most people will have been to cities and seen restaurants. i have found the restaurants to be ok but by far the best food i've eaten in china was in a family's home.

i cant speak for those who live further inland/outside of the 'rich' areas. but a chinese person/family with a regular job isnt really any worse off than an american on minimum wage, from what i've seen. but that's not saying much. obviously in tibet or xinjian it'd be a different story.

it's important to remember that china as a country has as much diversity in wealth as europe, or the americas collectively. the distribution is a bit different though. in many ways i have found china to be more american than any other country i've been to. or maybe america is just more sinicised than i had thought, i dont know.

>>49752 and your linguistic major would have been mandarin? how close are you to finishing?
Linguistics is the science of language in general, although I did study Chinese and Japanese as foreign languages. It's a shame, since my Japanese is much better than my Chinese, but I'm sure that will change with time. Total immersion usually has that effect, but I fear for my sanity.

>teaching english isnt really a career move, its a lifestyle choice. it's not a serious job/career.
Oh, I know. I don't plan on doing this for more than a few years. Mainly, it's simply something that I want to do. I want to live and work in a foreign country. If I were to win the lottery tomorrow, my plans wouldn't change in the slightest. Other than that, it would probably look impressive--or at least a bit interesting--on my resume.

>if you have a bit of seed money, you can make a lot more money in china by trading. and if you live there, your overheads are very very low. being white will still be an impediment, however. but if you had some seed money, you'd probably finish college instead, which is a good idea. go back to school - if your idea of real word experience is outlined in this thread, it can be had during the summer. what are you currently doing for work?
Well, I don't know much about running a business, marketing, trading, or anything like that. It's just something I never got into, but I've considered studying business in school. It seems like it would go a long way in China. At the moment I'm just doing retarded part time jobs to try and build up as much money as possible before I go back. I could probably get a much better job involving computers or editing, but the main reason I'm determined to do this right now is because I currently have nothing that's really tying me down.

>>49759 continued

Regarding the idea of attending school in the US and traveling during the summer: that would, of course, be the ideal situation, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a job opportunity that only needs me for summer break. And once again, money is a huge issue. When I was attending UCR, each quarter cost ~$2,500, bringing each year (not including summer) to a total of ~$7,500. Rent would add another ~$600 per month. Part-time jobs simply can't pay for that.

Anyway, it sounds like you have a lot experience with living in China. What's your background? It would be great if we could just make this into a thread with people sharing information and their experiences with China, rather than me just rambling off and answering questions about my trip there.

>>49763
I'm in Singapore currently and about to travel to Beijing for 10 days this Saturday. I'm assuming this thread will still be there and I'll try update it.

>>49763
I'll add in my experience of china and pictures tonight or tomorrow. I was there for 2 weeks also, back in November last year. I went to 2 different provinces, both of which I don't think have been mentioned so maybe I can expand this thread past Beijing/shanghai.

limp

this thread is great

this thread is fucking awesome, and I want to go to china so badly right now.

Thank you OP.

Don't let this thread die over the weekend, I'm going away before college starts up.

I think ya should avoid china atleast until the madness that is the olympics blows over.

archive this thread

>>49928
>>49813
well where are your updates

>>50457
I totally agree

This thread is amazing. Are there usually threads like this on different countries with people sharing their experiences? I've never really looked through /trv/.

>>51201

No, not often, but this is what /trv/ should be aspiring to.

>>51195
49928 here, sorry about posting this far later than I said I would. I also apologise for the length, though I did cut it down from a minute by minute commentary on a two week trip.

So, as I said I travelled to china last November and stayed there for 2 weeks. I spent most of my time in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province (which is west of shanghai, sort of in the middle of china I guess) and I also travelled to Guilin in Guangxi province (which is in the south of china). Both places are quite different, Wuhan is a typical big city, with a lot more people than Guilin and a lot more pollution. Guilin seemed quieter, though I didn’t really spend too much time in the city as I was on a tour type thing that took me and my girlfriend around the country side. During these two weeks I experienced different foods, chinese transportation and traffic, some of the medical system (but not to the extent of you guys) and a bunch of other things.

This trip was my first overseas trip, my first time outside of my country. I live in Adelaide, Australia, which is a tiny city. Going from a small city to a big city was fairly daunting at first, but I got used to it. In Wuhan there is a lot more people, more traffic, more buildings, and more pollution. Most of the time I was there I couldn’t see the sky, the sun was like a light bulb covered in Vaseline and I couldn’t see past a few kilometres. It was like being in a Nintendo 64 game. But apart from the visual aspect, I didn’t think it was as bad as people say it is. I was expecting to have trouble breathing and all that drama but it was fine. In Guilin it was similar to Australia, clear blue skies and all that.


Picture is part of Wuhan, taken from Yellow Crane Tower I think.

>>51423
Cont.

Just about all the tourist attractions I visited were great. Some of the places in Wuhan I went to were East Lake, Yellow Crane Tower, a Buddhist Temple, and I also walked across the Yangtze River. In Guilin I went to Elephant Trunk Hill, Moon Hill, Jingjiang Princes City, a boat ride along the Li River and a few other places. The places in Wuhan were nice, most of the ones I went to were big places you could spend the day at, and when we went it wasn’t too crowded. East lake was probably the biggest place, and most of the time me and my girlfriend were alone. It was nice and peaceful, sort of reminded me of places in Australia at times. Yellow crane tower had more people, but it had a lot of other things in the park, not just the tower. The Buddhist temple was interesting as it was a functional temple not just a tourist attraction, so people were using it to pray to whichever Buddha they worship. There was also this room with statues of all the different buddhas, and you could go in and find which one was connected to you or something like that.
The places in Guilin were visually better, but we were kind of rushed about by the tour we were on. Guilin in general is a strange place. You might have seen the mountains on tv or in a game (I hear Shenmue has a section where you go there but I never got that far) but walking around the city and actually seeing them is different of course. The city is built around these mountains, it’s funny to walk under them, with the road and footpath and everything else squeezing around. I would have liked to go around with my girlfriend showing me the places and having time to explain them, rather than her having to quickly translate from a tour guide.

Picture is Yellow Crane Tower.

>>51425
Cont.

Elephant Trunk Hill was interesting as it was a natural structure, but unless you have a boat you can’t really get close to it and there is only so long you can stare at the side of a mountain from afar. Moon Hill was similar, though more impressive. We went to a restaurant that had a good view of it as well, but the food there kind of sucked but it was a nice location. Jingjian Princes City was pretty cool, though I think we missed out on a large part of it. In the compound there is a small mountain that people can climb and get a good view of the city. The climb nearly killed me (I am really unfit) but the view was great. We also got to see how they took exams in the city back in old days by actually taking a sample exam. The exams were held in basically a small cubicle, with a spot for a candle on the wall behind the student and a plank of wood that would swing down to form a desk. The guy who finished first was dressed up like the students would have dressed and given a certificate or something. Of course, if he wanted to keep it he had to pay for it. We went to 2 places which were I guess theme parks centred around different ethnic groups in china and how they used to live. They were interesting but I didn’t really get much out of them. I think the Chinese would get more out of them as they would know the history better and have more of a connection. The best part of the Guilin trip was probably the boat ride along the Li River. The river flows around the hills and mountains that are famous in China. It is quite a beautiful place, and has apparently inspired scholars and artists and even the 20 yuan note. I had never seen anything like it before in real life, it blew me away.

Picture is Elephant Trunk hill, the symbol of Guilin apparently.

A Tokyo version of this thread is very very very very needed
Mainly because Tokyo is 15783 times more interesting and extremely beautiful than China will ever be.

I SINCERELY mean that.

btw, great thread OP.

>>51426
Cont.

In Wuhan I mainly took taxis to get around. The first thing that shocked me when I got into one was that they have no seatbelts, and the driver is encased in a metal cage. The cage makes sense, and drivers here in Adelaide are pushing to get them installed, but the seatbelts made most rides scary. The way people drive in Wuhan doesn’t help either. I don’t think I ever saw anyone use their indicators, it’s like they have some sort of hive mind so they know when other people are going to turn. The lines that separate the road into lanes are ignored, with people driving wherever they can fit. At one stage I even saw a large truck (trucks were everywhere, hauling building materials and stuff like that) decide that the traffic wasn’t going fast enough for him so he started driving on the wrong side of the road, with the oncoming traffic just driving around him. Being a pedestrian is even worse. Here in Adelaide (and I presume the rest of Australia) if you are waiting to cross the road the cars have to let you go across first. Apparently it’s the other way around in china. You basically have to wait until there is a break in the traffic and then run like a motherfucker. I saw pedestrian crossings but I think the cars just ignore them or something. I caught a few busses as well. They were cheap as hell, and ran pretty regularly. Most of them would announce over an automated speaker which stop was next and other stuff like that. The busses here are absolute shit. I also took a few private taxis mentioned in this thread. I never had any bad experiences with them though. I never thought there was anything dodgy until I read this thread. We would just walk up to them and my girlfriend would bargain with them for a while until she got a good price.

Picture is from the Buddhist temple in Wuhan.

>>51430
Cont.

In Guilin we mainly got around in a van driven by a guy who worked for the tour company we had a tour with. Like I said earlier I didn’t stay in the city for very long, so I didn’t see much of its traffic. I did see some, er, I guess they are cars that I hadn’t seen in Wuhan. They were kind of like a tractor/motorbike looking thing with a carriage on the back and the motor at the front exposed making heaps of noise and pumping out black smoke. I guess they were popular with the rural folk but they looked dangerous. To get to Guilin from Wuhan I took a train. The longest I can remember being on a train is about an hour, but this train ride was 13 hours overnight. They pack in people like sardines, with 6 beds either side of a small table in small compartments. I hardly got any sleep on the train, the bed was tiny and uncomfortable, it was noisy and a woman next to me kept snoring. I don’t know how the other people on the train coped when I did fall asleep because apparently my snoring is really bad. Going to the toilet on one of these trains is bad as well. Toilets in china are usually the squat variety, which is hard to use when you are used to sitting down. It’s even harder when you are on a train that is rattling and swaying from side to side. Anything you do goes straight on to the train tracks, so if you go to china don’t go walking along them hah.

Picture is part of Guilin taken from the hilltop in Jingjiang Princes City.

>>51433
Cont.

Most of the food I had in China was awesome. A lot of the food in Guilin was crap, but that was mainly due to the places the tour took us. The hotels I stayed in had nice breakfasts, but all the other places had some bad stuff compared with the food I had in Wuhan. I had food in a variety of places, in restaurants (nice, upmarket ones and small cheap ones), at my girlfriend’s house (cooked by her mother) and even from some street vendors. Each morning I would have breakfast in the hotel I was staying in. It had a room like a cafeteria I guess with these two nice ladies cooking everything. The food there was good and there was lots of it. It was also free with the room (the hotel I stayed in was pretty good for the price, more on that later). My first dinner in China was a home cooked one at my girlfriend’s house. Her mother cooked a heap of food, apparently she does that for every meal, and it tasted great. I had dinner there a few times, and ate some things I had never had before (like lotus roots, weird stuff). I went to quite a few restaurants as food is so cheap I could eat out pretty much all the time. One restaurant which was interesting served only tofu (it was in a Buddhist temple so no killing animals) which tasted like real meat. I had never had tofu before, and always thought it was some bland crap for hippies. I didn’t have much food from street vendors, some of them looked really dubious. From what I can remember I mainly had these things called bao zi, or steamed buns in English. They are one of my favourite foods from China, I love them. It’s a shame all I can seem to get here are frozen ones that taste kinda crappy. Another thing I fell in love with was longxusu or dragon whiskers, which are a candy kind of thing. I can’t even find them in Adelaide ;_;

Picture is taken from inside the Jingjiang Princes City.

>>51438
Cont.

I never saw any dog or cat or strange stuff like that, though most of the time when I asked my girlfriend what the meat was, she just said it was pork. Most of the time it didn’t taste like pork.

In Wuhan I stayed in the same hotel the whole time I was there. It was cheap (I think like $20something a night) and fairly small, but it was a nice place to stay. The room was large enough with a big bed which was comfortable and a computer with free internet access (and pirate copies of diablo2, starcraft and some chinese mmorpgs haha). The shower was sucky, the hot water only worked after 5pm, and there wasn’t much room to stand. As mentioned before, breakfast for 2 was free (though only I was staying there) and it was usually quiet. Apparently I was the first foreigner who had stayed there, and some of the staff would usually stare wide eyed at me. At times I felt like I was the first foreigner who had visited Wuhan as loads of people would stare at me in the streets. One guy almost crashed his bike while gawking at me.

While in Wuhan I went to a ktv place with my girlfriend and her friend. Most of my experiences with karaoke is drunk people thinking they can match Freddy Mercury’s voice in a dingy pub. This place was completely different. You get your own room with a tv and mic and all that, and you can have tea and I guess meals and stuff. The staff look like hotel staff, and the place is really clean and bright. It was pretty boring though, I’m not really into karaoke and the machine had like 5 english songs, none of which I knew the lyrics to.

Picture is the TV in Wuhan, which was being renovated at the time so we couldn't go inside it unfortunately.

hey OP, I think you should consider pasting all your posts into a blog or something so it's at least backed up somewhere. Never trust 4chan servers lol.

>>51441
and 49928 as well.

>>51440
Cont.

Shopping in china is an experience. I am not a haggler and have never haggled before, so it was good my girlfriend was with me. Everyone haggles in china apparently, most shops sell stuff way higher than it’s actually worth. At one stage in my trip, some guy bought a little statue of mao for like 3 kuai, when the original price was 60. In department stores staff follow you around waiting for you to look vaguely interested in something so they can pounce on you. I found it hard to find uniquely chinese things for gifts, so much of the stuff is western crap or overpriced trinkets pumped out of some factory. People are crazy for money as well. Lots of the time at historic sites and other touristy places there were people trying to sell you the same crap that is at all the other places, trying to sell you a photograph of you and them, trying to sell you the chance to go up on a rickety rooftop and get your photo taken, just like Clinton did! Even when you have the chance to interact with the place like hit a gong or a bell or something you had to pay. I guess this isn’t a new phenomenon, but I’m not used to a guy in a ratty bugs bunny knock off suit hassling me for a photo.

While in china I got sick, just a cold type of thing, nothing serious. My girlfriend also got sick from the same thing, and we went to a clinic she used to work at for treatment. The place wasn’t that fantastic but not as bad as some places mentioned in this thread. A doctor basically looked in our mouths and then told us to get some pills. The chemist was in the same building which was nice, and we were out in about 5 minutes.

Pictured is Moon Hill in Guilin. Apparently Nixon planted the trees at the bottom of the 'moon'.

>>51441
>>51441
>>51441

>>51443
Cont.

We also went to an eye hospital, where my girlfriend used to work also, to fix my glasses and have a look around. I find it odd that they have a hospital devoted just to eyes, and it’s a pretty big place as well. We didn’t stay there that long as I think my girlfriends colleagues weren’t working at the time so there wasn’t much to do there other than get a new screw for my glasses.

I can’t think of anything else to write now, if I do I’ll post it if this thread still exists. China is a great country, and I recommend anyone interested in travelling to a different country goes there. It will be cheap for you unless you live in Africa or something, it has lots of history, lots of diversity (the country is huge after all) and interesting people. If you think the place is scary or crazy because of what you see on tv or whatever you shouldn’t worry, I doubt anything will happen unless you are a retard and walk around with a FREE TIBET tshirt on or something stupid like that. You will most likely have little to nothing to do with the authorities over there.

Picture is of the Li River at sunset.

>>51442
I have all that I have written so far in a word document so I won't lose it. I dunno if it would be worthwhile to put on a blog, I'm sure there are shitloads of blogs about china allready and my posts aren't exactly well written.

>>51445
blogs aren't supposed to be 'well written'
they're supposed to be readable and enjoyable
this review of china is both. and the photos only enhance it.
i say do it.

>>51446
Hm, maybe we could start a blog for /trv/ where people post their pictures and stories. Kind of like a permanent /trv/ without discussion? Or is that too similar to 4chan archive, I dunno.

>>51448
Welp, if someone wants to set up one of them fancy community blogs go right ahead and take it on a trial run:
http://www.21publish.com/
(it should be free)

hey guys, i'm pretty new to /trv/

i come from other boards where all we do is insult and troll each other, so this is really kind of disorienting. are you guys always this helpful/knowledgeable?


oh and after reading all of your anecdotes i'm REALLY interested in paying china a visit (this is coming from a taiwanese guy whose ancestors would probably have a fit if they saw me write that).

thanks for all the insight everyone :)

>>51455
/trv/ is a pretty slow board (this topic has existed for over a week now). I don't visit it that often but when I do I don't see much trolling. I guess people get their trolling fix on the faster boards before coming here.

>>51455
I only knew of 4chan through friends who frequented /b/ and was more then happy to receive all the memes second hand. However, I decide to check 4chan out eventually and stumbled upon /trv/ where I was surprised to find interesting tales of adventure and some honestly good advice. Being the only board I frequent, I'll take this opportunity I'd to thank /trv/ for it's mature, fun, and educational entertainment. Sorry for the hijack.

>>51448
Well, since I first suggest that they back these up on blogs I said fuck it and went ahead with the 21publish idea. Let me know what you guys think.

http://anontravel.21publish.com/

bump to save informative thread.

>>51428 Jap spotted
... and I SINCERELY think you should GTFO if you dont want to/cant contribute to the thread in a meaningful way. Bump for awesome informative thread.

So from reading this thread I gather it's better just to go for a tourism trip than to actually live there

>>45101

lol you just didn't go to the right place.... or you don't know what's 'dog' in Chinese... you know, some place in China they call dog meat by other names, once I saw it was called 'emperor meat'

Fuck Beijing. Worst kind of people I have ever met in my life. Rude, dirty and uncivilized

>>45145
>>45145

Yes they do have bathhouse. Because some people like workers in cafeteria, cleaning people, etc have to live in a dorm, and the dorm have no place to bath. (included some student dorms). So they build a bathhouse outside and allow these people to bath there. In some case, they only let them shower 3 times a month. And you wonder why Chinese smell...

There's a kind of expensive and luxury bathhouse too. You can do massage, milk bath, and all kind of shit there. (Some place has nice food too)

Hey anons, this is a pretty good thread. It seems there's a lot of people here that have visited China. How many of you speak Chinese? And how was learning Chinese? I'm taking a class right now and I'm scared as shit, so tell me the good and the bad points about learning the language.

>>52731
>>52731

There's nothing bad learning a new language. I think it's all the same.

If you're coming here to study language, come to Beijing. People suck and all but its the best place to study the language.

Lots of foreigners who come to learn Chinese come to Beijing Language and Culture University （北京语言大学) . They have nice teachers team but there're fuck tons of foreigners and most of them come here to play rather than to study seriously. Beijing University is pretty good too. (more stressful than the BLCU, tons of Chinese nerds) Don't go to Qinghua University... it might be the best uni in China and all their leaders are from the place but they're very new for teaching Chinese to foreigners. Their teacher don't even speak mandarin properly.

>>52701
I wouldn't mind living in China if I spoke the language. Not sure what I would do for a living there.

Sorry to mini-hijack thread. I just got to Beijing yesterday. I'm in need of a really cheap (maybe used) phone. Any ideas where I could find one? I don't feel like forking 300 kuai for something I'll give away in a year...

>>53737
300 kuai = around $60 in NZ money, so even less for Americans

>>52731
Spend ten years trying to learn Chinese and I still can't construct a sentence right aside from stuff like "wo shi ming zhi (name)" and so on.

And I can't pronounce anything right. Having five different accents for each word is nice and all but how the fuck can you tell when it's written in Chinese and not English with the funny lines on top?

In contrast it took me five years to get to JLPT1 in Japanese.

I think the Chinese intentionally made the language overly complicated and hard to learn because only the scholarly civil servants were supposed to learn it, and as for the peasants "Well fuck those guys"

I've been lurking thru this thread since last night. I slowly digested all the information. Well, I don't frequent /trv/ to often because there's always weaboo threads talking about going to Japan and etc. Anyway I'm off to /g/
/g/uru out.

cellphone guy back (I gotta learn tripcodes). I finally got the cellphone for 300 but then I had to buy minutes for it. I got 100 kuai worth so my cellphone was basically 400 kuai. I rationalized it by reminding myself that I'm going to sell it to the next batch of students that gets here. I'm going to start posting here on the regular. I'm in Beijing for a year studying Mandarin at Beijing Normal University. If you see a waiguoren with a mowhawk just say hello. Here's a little motor bike taxi I took to the subway.
>>53782
Apparently your English is not too good either. May I suggest a 9mm preservative?

>>54154
WTF?! U mean to tell me there is a seat in that... that little tinfoil-box?!

for a tripcode

put a # with a password behind it

## for a secure tripcode!

Hey guys, when I was in China, I noticed that there are TONS of girls walking down the street arm in arm and practically hanging off each other. Are there loads of hot lesbians in China or is this just cultural differences?

>>54225

There are no lesbians in China, they just lick each other's pussies in private as a gesture of friendship. You Westerners always try to hypersexualize everything.

i was born in canada, my mainland-born mom grew up in taiwan, and my dad is taiwanese. i travel a lot in china and taiwan.

ime, the people from shanghai are the absolute worst

they don't just treat foreigners from other countries like crap.... if you're from another province and it shows you'll have a rough time of it

they're some of the most arrogant and proud people in china...

shanghai is a relatively young city, so it really is unfounded. most everyone that is "shanghai-ese" only immigrated there in the last generation or two.

one day, i asked for directions from 4 different people, from all different social strata (elementary school girl, well-to-do middle aged woman, old shopkeeper, etc.) and every single time they gave me the exact opposite direction to where i wanted to go. eg. turn right instead of turn left at the next intersection. what's really strange is that they would gesture with their hands in the correct direction, but they would speak the opposite.

i have no idea whether they just got their directions mixed up, it's some kind of massive joke hoisted on the unaware, or whatever. could somebody with more experience explain?

if you look out of place, people will whisper behind your back, sometimes stare and point. (especially on mass transit, where they have nothing better to do i guess)
i would use english a lot with friends that i was traveling with, and people would think that i didn't know mandarin/shanghai-ese, and say some really nasty shit about me. when i confront them, they just turn away and ignore me. i guess i don't have to mention haggling with vendors.

>>54225

you know how in asia, boys show a greater degree of skinship with each other?

well, it goes both ways

>>45506
>Obviously I don't need to tell you it's bullshit - no more than any other racial stereotyping. This all stems from China labeling them terrorists after the 2001 attacks.

Actually it's not, as you would know if you had actually been around any.

this is the best thread ever posted on /trv/

"Skinship" isn't a word

>>54204
lets hope this works....

>>54225
Cultural thing. It also goes for guys. It is not uncommon for friends to hold hands as they walk places

>>54160
oh yea! it's so much fun!

I'm dropping out and going to China. Wtf am I going to do?

>>54314

that girl in the background is whiter than any white girl I know.

>>54225

holding hands just seems to be a some cultural thing common to that part of the world. I have a taiwanese who is insistant that I hold her hand whenever walking around somewhere.

>>54225
Where do you live, Afghanistan? Girls do that all the time.

>>54242
That is one thing I forgot to mention, all the little kids pissing in the street. That and adults spitting all the god damn time. I'd hate to trip over on the side walk.

>>54326

Ever been to Beijing or Hong Kong? Pale fuckers are pale.

jyes, please archive, I could have used this review two months ago. I just moved to BJ

dood it's the '80's in Chiner!

They don't have fortune cookies in China, do they?

>>54343

Hong Kong is tropical. How would Hong Kongers be pale? Maybe they're inside all day?

>>54437

Exactly.

Plus the giant buildings hide all the sunshine.

>>54437

Skin cream and umbrellas everyday without fail.

>>54438

Wow. And only SOME of the buses have air conditioning. LOL. They advertise who has air conditioning and who doesn't.... hmmm

I remember riding a bus in rural parts of guangzhou

this mother changed her babies daipers, neatly tied up the mess, and tossed it out the window

>>54436
Thats entirely a western thing. Though I think it was invented by some japanese guys in the US, yeah i know LOL irony.

>>54482

Other things you won't find in China: General Tso's Chicken, chicken balls and ginger beef. These were all brought over to the West by Chinese immigrants.

Actually, ginger beef may be a phenomenon in Chinese restaurants in Canada only ...

>>54437
In China (maybe all of Asia?) pale is the desirable trait in a woman. Many women walk around with hats and umbrellas and long gloves to hide their skin from the sun. I'll try to get a picture today while on my way to my embassy.

For americans it is very new to see so many people on their way places. The only thing they really see from their suburbian house to school, work, or shopping is just other cars and the few people at the place they arrive. One really cool thing about Beijing is that it is such a huge city that there is a large variety of people walking around. So those goth/punk/indie/emo kids that you would normally not see walking around are everywhere with some outfits that you just make you stop and scratch your head. This is not to say that all Chinese dress this way (most don't) it's just that because of the huge number of people, even though the ratio of strangely-dressed to plain dressed is about the same, the number of strangely dressed is very high. I am starting to develop an interest in all these weird outfits so I'll post some more as I go. For now, I gotta jet.

>>54542
Its definitely interesting and I hope we dont get the streamlined conformity we get in other asian countries i.e. japan.

hi /trv.im abrit visiting amsterdam.anyone got any little gems or favroite places to visit?going off to brussels too,and have no idea what to do there!

>>54676
make a new thread, instead of posting in one that's about China...

>>54690

This thread is almost done for anyway. At 200 posts it'll stop bumping.

Here's a picture of Hong Kong in one of the less commonly photographed areas. I COULD JERK OFF TO THIS PICTURE.

>>54696
Wow.

>>54696
It's really annoying when every light in a picture does this.

>>54648
I can't speak completely for Japan because all I saw was Tokyo and I went to the district where all the teenagers hang out and it almost made me cry how fake it was. Nigerians selling FUBU and little japanese kids "thugged out" thinking it's some real shit that they bought it from a black guy. Here there haven't been any chains developed so you can find some extremely unique stuff in little clothe shops. The problem is that because of government censuring any underground music will not get radio play or anything like that. I am looking to get into the underground punk scene so hopefully I will have more to report on it once I see it.

>>54731

It's because the lens is dirty. Most likely a fingerprint.

awesome thread, too bad its almost dead ;_;

>>54542
What about for men? If I have pale skin, will women find it attractive or will they be just as weirded out as the women in America?

this thread must never die

>>55031
Haha, sorry I keep forgetting to ask. I'll get around to it eventually.