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Busy Bee posted:A few questions I have about my second visit to China: Take some money, but you can grab the majority right out of an ATM without a problem. Thus avoiding the bad rates at the airport. The N4 is unlocked so you'd be fine getting a Chinese SIM card, just depends how long you are gonna stay if it's worth the hassle for you. China Unicom has reasonably fast 3G and decent coverage in the cities.
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Jul 30, 2013 23:19
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SB35 posted:Take some money, but you can grab the majority right out of an ATM without a problem. Thus avoiding the bad rates at the airport. Thank you! I'll be staying in China for two weeks so I would like to get a SIM card for mainly data. Email, social networking etc. What do you mean if its worth the hassle? Would I have to sign a contract or something along the lines of that?
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Jul 30, 2013 23:56
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$60 for 300MB is a completely ludicrous rip off compared to Chinese prices. I'm not on China Unicom, but I pay like 45 or 50 RMB per month for a plan that includes 300MB of data.
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Jul 31, 2013 00:40
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Busy Bee posted:A few questions I have about my second visit to China: Just use ATMs to get money out. It's more or less the best rate you're going to get. Visa, MasterCard and any other major western cards are taken at pretty much any larger bank (Construction, Bank of China, ICBC, Agricultural...) so you can just get money out where ever you are. There's usually a small surcharge for using the machine and a 1% fee for the exchange. Since you have a Nexus, just go to any China Unicom and pick up a sim card. 300MB of data with a few hundred texts and a couple hours of talk is only 69RMB or so. I think they might charge like 50rmb for the sim card itself, but either way you're talking less than $30 combined. You will have to bring your passport to the place, but it's not a huge deal. You might also have to put down a few hundred RMB at first, but you can go back with your documents and get any unspent money back before you leave. I'd suggest going in the morning since after lunch those places get slightly more busy and slow as gently caress. Busy Bee posted:Thank you! I'll be staying in China for two weeks so I would like to get a SIM card for mainly data. Email, social networking etc. I hope you have a VPN for your phone cause cellular no longer bypasses the great firewall. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are all out. Ailumao fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jul 31, 2013 |
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Jul 31, 2013 00:47
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Dilber posted:They want 6.5, but no one is taking it. My landlandy said she wanted 6.5, but the agent said that average was around 5.5k when I left. I honestly can't put my finger on why I dislike Wangjing so much. I lived out in Haidian during my first year here next to the Golden Resources Mall so it's not necessarily a case of it being 'suburban'. Its got the vibe of a 'New Town' which in the UK means it's the pits. Pretty soulless and devoid of character - For examples see Basildon, Bracknell, Corby, Telford and Milton Keynes.
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Jul 31, 2013 02:14
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Busy Bee posted:Thank you! I'll be staying in China for two weeks so I would like to get a SIM card for mainly data. Email, social networking etc. What do you mean if its worth the hassle? Would I have to sign a contract or something along the lines of that? I hope you took a few min to read the OP. We tried to get all the important basics in there. As far as a hassle, yeah without any Chinese skillz it might take a little while but you can do it rather easily. In BJ/SH maybe someone at the Unicom shop speaks English.
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Jul 31, 2013 02:25
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Should I expect any trouble getting my X visa in Thailand as an American? I haven't seen any clear answers online and the consulate hasn't responded to me.
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Jul 31, 2013 10:55
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Probably not, the stuff you read online about China only issuing certain visas in your home country is old, just something they instituted for the 2008 Olympics and removed after the Shanghai Expo was over.
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Jul 31, 2013 12:26
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Wow, I've got four more interviews this week now. I guess this means they're definitely moving me forward, as I have to speak to people in all of the company's major offices around the world. I think Shanghai is on. Estimated move date will be end of September, which allows enough time for relocation and taking care of all the life admin over here. Really looking forward to it. It's going to be a big change and of course very daunting with plenty new things to have to take in. Part of the relocation package is 2 weeks accommodation while I find my own place, so if any goons are looking for a roommate or looking to find a place around late September/early to mid October, let me know...
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Jul 31, 2013 13:28
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Long shot, but is anyone here familiar with rural Hebei Provence? I'm going over for a trade conference between Iowa and the provence as the international correspondent for my (two person writing staff) weekly newspaper. My boss - the other writer - was originally going to go, but doesn't want to any more, so I'm off to China for a week to write about people talking about pork, soybeans, and corn. I don't have an itinerary yet, but if you wouldn't mind me bouncing some general questions off you, send me a PM, or let me know where I can email you!
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Jul 31, 2013 21:18
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Eat This Glob posted:Long shot, but is anyone here familiar with rural Hebei Provence? I'm going over for a trade conference between Iowa and the provence as the international correspondent for my (two person writing staff) weekly newspaper. My boss - the other writer - was originally going to go, but doesn't want to any more, so I'm off to China for a week to write about people talking about pork, soybeans, and corn. I don't have an itinerary yet, but if you wouldn't mind me bouncing some general questions off you, send me a PM, or let me know where I can email you! I don't think anyone here has lived in Hebei but some might have visited. I lived in Henan for a couple of years, which is south of Hebei, and it's probably not much different though other than being poorer. Most of your time will probably be in Shijiazhuang, the capital. The air quality there is supposed to be especially bad and it's always worse in the winter everywhere in China. Bring a good 3M mask. You'll probably be brought around to different places and treated to banquets. How are you at drinking because they'll probably want to drink baijiu with you at said dinners? You don't have to by the way, no matter how offended they are. Offering beer instead also works.
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Jul 31, 2013 21:44
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Eat This Glob posted:Long shot, but is anyone here familiar with rural Hebei Provence? I'm going over for a trade conference between Iowa and the provence as the international correspondent for my (two person writing staff) weekly newspaper. My boss - the other writer - was originally going to go, but doesn't want to any more, so I'm off to China for a week to write about people talking about pork, soybeans, and corn. I don't have an itinerary yet, but if you wouldn't mind me bouncing some general questions off you, send me a PM, or let me know where I can email you! I've road tripped to rural Hebei twice. There isn't much there (I assume you're going to be in the south where all the farms are). And yes, it's amazing how polluted that place is.
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Aug 1, 2013 02:52
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Eat This Glob posted:Long shot, but is anyone here familiar with rural Hebei Provence? I'm going over for a trade conference between Iowa and the provence as the international correspondent for my (two person writing staff) weekly newspaper. My boss - the other writer - was originally going to go, but doesn't want to any more, so I'm off to China for a week to write about people talking about pork, soybeans, and corn. I don't have an itinerary yet, but if you wouldn't mind me bouncing some general questions off you, send me a PM, or let me know where I can email you! White wine is not white wine, it's white liquor. If you are offered white wine, be aware that it is a translation error that has somehow become codified in the education system. It's mostly 100 proof and mostly terrible. No matter how much you drink they will pressure you to drink more. You cannot actually avoid refusing at some point. This will be important to you. What Rocknrollahayatollah said, offer to drink beer instead. Really the whole baijiu pressure drinking thing is the worst thing to try on newly arrived foreigners. It's like some Chinese guys were sitting around trying to think of how to provoke and offend Americans. "Let's get an American who has a much stronger sense of self-respect and fairness than the average Chinese, put him in a room, and pressure him to get drunk while making ever-more flimsy pretenses to excuse ourselves from drinking. This COULDN'T POSSIBLY BACKFIRE." I've been to a banquet where the petty bureaucrats were all pissy and disapproving afterwards because the Canadian they managed to get drunk became openly contemptuous of them, his hosts. I guess I was more acclimatized to the culture because I managed to only be quietly contemptuous of them to the people sitting next to me. There needs to be a bulletin for Chinese men who interact with foreigners that standard behavior at banquets is likely to cause an incident. Come to think of it, I don't get it even with Chinese people. The people sitting at the head of the table pressuring people to drink and openly laughing at their protests and drunken antics must have been in the other place before. They have to be aware on some level that nobody else is having fun. Maybe I've just been to the wrong banquets but the pressure to drink and the obvious abuse of power relationships makes what should be a nice evening turn into something I can't enjoy. I guess the solution is just to go eat with your friends and try to avoid any institutional banquets. Arglebargle III fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Aug 1, 2013 |
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Aug 1, 2013 04:51
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Arglebargle III posted:"Let's get an American who has a much stronger sense of self-respect and fairness than the average Chinese, put him in a room, and pressure him to get drunk while making ever-more flimsy pretenses to excuse ourselves from drinking. This COULDN'T POSSIBLY BACKFIRE." China can be blamed for a lot of things, but Americans not being able to handle their alcohol is pushing it a bit!
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Aug 1, 2013 05:18
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Arglebargle III posted:
This sort of behaviour goes on quite literally in every country and every culture in the world (except for Muslims and other non party people of course). It's not exactly China-centri to have alcohol based shennanigans to show you are 'one of the lads'. But you are of course right, if you are not a big drinker it is probably best to avoid these sort of situations. Though that said, I have never seen what you described happen before. Big Alf fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Aug 1, 2013 |
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Aug 1, 2013 05:23
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All of this is a false construction as nobody has ever had fun at a Chinese banquet before.
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Aug 1, 2013 05:40
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Big Alf posted:Though that said, I have never seen what you described happen before. Glad you felt qualified to comment then!  It's not Americans being unable to handle their alcohol, it's getting Americans drunk WHILE putting Americans in a difficult cross-cultural situation. The Chinese culturally acceptable thing is to roll over and take whatever unfair bullshit your host is putting you through. The American culturally acceptable thing is to call your host on the fact that he's pressuring you to drink and lying his rear end off (just one more, just a little bit, I'll have one too, these are all lies that Chinese people stop even noticing) and clearly not drinking when he said he would. This is a bad idea unless the Chinese host wants to leave grumpily muttering about how the Americans were "rude" i.e. failed to adapt to his culture's most offensive aspects to Americans... while drunk. Seriously turn the situation around, if you were hosting Chinese or Japanese guests would you put them in such a culturally difficult situation or insinuate that it's their fault for not reacting in a culturally appropriate way? Of course not. It's just a bad idea.
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Aug 1, 2013 06:16
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Arglebargle III posted:It's not Americans being unable to handle their alcohol, it's getting Americans drunk WHILE putting Americans in a difficult cross-cultural situation. The Chinese culturally acceptable thing is to roll over and take whatever unfair bullshit your host is putting you through. The American culturally acceptable thing is to call your host on the fact that he's pressuring you to drink and lying his rear end off (just one more, just a little bit, I'll have one too, these are all lies that Chinese people stop even noticing) and clearly not drinking when he said he would. This is a bad idea unless the Chinese host wants to leave grumpily muttering about how the Americans were "rude" i.e. failed to adapt to his culture's most offensive aspects to Americans... while drunk. Wait, what? I'm pretty sure that getting drunk and reaming out your hosts like it's a frat house beer pong tourney is pretty socially unacceptable pretty much anywhere. Did you work in the US at all before you came to China? I seriously can't believe you are so shocked by this sort of 'one of the lads' drinking culture.
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Aug 1, 2013 06:58
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Big Alf posted:Wait, what? I'm pretty sure that getting drunk and reaming out your hosts like it's a frat house beer pong tourney is pretty socially unacceptable pretty much anywhere. He isn't. He's saying it's bad form on the hosts part to feed someone drinks while not drinking themselves in order to 'Make white Monkey Dance'. 
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Aug 1, 2013 07:14
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kru posted:He isn't. He's saying it's bad form on the hosts part to feed someone drinks while not drinking themselves in order to 'Make white Monkey Dance'. That's fine, but again my point is this is not China-centric. Just because someone has only experienced this sort of behaviour in China does not mean it only occurs here, or is a cultural phenomenon. A type arseholes are A type arseholes the world over. It would be completely wrong to give the impression that all Chinese business dinners result in baijou face rape because that just isn't the case. Big Alf fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Aug 1, 2013 |
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Aug 1, 2013 07:19
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Big Alf posted:That's fine, but again my point is this is not China-centric. Just because someone has only experienced this sort of behaviour in China does not mean it only occurs here, or is a cultural phenomenon. And Baijiu is pretty awesome anyways to be honest
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Aug 1, 2013 07:47
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Arglebargle III posted:Glad you felt qualified to comment then! I think you have a bad boss.
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Aug 1, 2013 07:49
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When I taught English I had bosses that brought me to banquets to show off their new stock of laowai and did this crap, but now I don't teach English and I get treated like a real life human being so there's that.
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Aug 1, 2013 08:50
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:And Baijiu is pretty awesome anyways to be honest Guide to reading Pro-PRC Laowai posts: Factual statements are gold. Value judgements are poo poo.
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Aug 1, 2013 10:54
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Baijiu's not bad though. I don't know why it gets such a bad reputation.
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Aug 1, 2013 11:24
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Big Alf posted:That's fine, but again my point is this is not China-centric. Just because someone has only experienced this sort of behaviour in China does not mean it only occurs here, or is a cultural phenomenon. I dunno. I've never been to a work party where people use their company authority to force other people to drink while they watch. I guess it might happen but I've never seen it in the U.S. and I have in fact been to company parties where people drink. I have also been to company events where this doesn't happen in China. I feel like there's a magic number of assholedom; like if you have 2+ tables full of people this doesn't happen, and if you have a small gathering it doesn't happen, but if there's three or four high muckety-mucks at one side of a table of 8-14 people they suddenly get the idea to make everyone else drink because you don't say no to US. MeramJert posted:I think you have a bad boss. My boss's boss is a sleazy rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 1, 2013 13:00
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What's the percentage of allowable diesel in baiju? I kind of prefer baiju to soju sometimes because at least it's potent.
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Aug 1, 2013 13:05
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Arglebargle III posted:I dunno. I've never been to a work party where people use their company authority to force other people to drink while they watch. I guess it might happen but I've never seen it in the U.S. and I have in fact been to company parties where people drink. I have also been to company events where this doesn't happen in China.
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Aug 1, 2013 13:18
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Second interview down, third one is this evening... two more on Friday. These guys are serious... Obviously really hoping I get it. Super excited about the prospects of spending a few years based in Shanghai.
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Aug 1, 2013 13:26
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Baijiu is terrible unless you're dropping some major Maos on it. You can get decent imported 15 year whiskeys for less. I just don't get it. I don't get clear alcohols at all though so it's just my problem.
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Aug 1, 2013 14:01
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I think baijiu is pretty okay but I'm in the ghetto of Panzhihua and people keep walking in and GAMBEI and soon I will die. The toothpaste here is black and I slept in the old school hard sleeper without airco and with people opening windows (at night, are people here loving retarded or deaf?). Overall I quite like China ymmv
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Aug 1, 2013 14:05
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Baijiu should have instructions printed on the bottle about pouring it through a loaf of bread to strain it first.
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Aug 1, 2013 14:48
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Magna Kaser posted:Baijiu is terrible unless you're dropping some major Maos on it. You can get decent imported 15 year whiskeys for less. It takes time and a lot of really crappy baijiu to understand why the more expensive stuff tends to be worth every mao. The cheap stuff leaves a rather strong aftertaste the second it goes down, and it goes down harsh. Good stuff does not do this. It's smooth, it leaves no hangover, no real aftertaste. And it's just great stuff that hits your gullet all at once. It's not for sipping it's for shots.
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Aug 1, 2013 15:23
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My general rule is to not drink Baijiu if it's under 600 yuan per bottle. Therefore I don't drink baijiu. It's true the expensive stuff can be good, I have had expensive baijiu that goes down smooth and tastes fruity with an even chocolatey aftertaste. 20 kuai baijiu tastes like puke.
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Aug 1, 2013 15:45
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Jian lan qun is good baijiu without breaking the bank. Very smooth but you are suppose to drink micro shots of it.actually don't chug any baijiu at all.
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Aug 1, 2013 15:50
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:I don't think anyone here has lived in Hebei but some might have visited. I lived in Henan for a couple of years, which is south of Hebei, and it's probably not much different though other than being poorer. Yeah, the hosts are covering all the food and hotel and stuff. To you and all the others, I was warned about baijiu. Is there an analog state-side? Everclear? I can more than hold my own when it comes to liquor consumption, and luckily, I'm a happy drunk. Unfortunately, I also loooove to talk politics when I tie a few on. Gonna have to hold my tongue there! If I can get away from the hotel for a bit, I'd love to try some local food. I know the rule is "go where it's popular," but how much should I expect to spend for a piece of meat on a stick or a bowl of noodles from a street stall? I just want to make sure I have enough yuan on me when/if I'm able to go out for an hour. The pollution will be awful, that much I do know. I'm also a smoker, so my lungs and liver will no doubt be staging a coup about 4 hours into my arrival. Is smoking at business banquets acceptable behavior? Also, I saw from that "Top 10" cigarette list there's a huge discrepancy on what a pack of smokes cost. Is there any way I can get a 10 RMB pack easily, or should I just bring a carton with me? I can only say "Hello" "Goodbye" and "Thank you very much" in Mandarin, mind you, and not well. These are fairly specific questions when I don't even know exactly where I'll be in Hebei, I know, but any insight is appreciated!
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Aug 1, 2013 16:20
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You can eat like... a million pieces of meat on sticks at roadside BBQ things in rural China for less than $10USD. You have to wait until night time to see those, but they are pretty awesome. The way it usually works is that they give you a tray and you take the raw stuff on sticks and fill the tray. There will be some stuff that is not on a stick, but is still quite good. You then give the tray to the people and they grill it for you (and toss a bunch of MSG and poo poo on it to make it more delicious). After you're finished they will tell you how much it costs. If you don't speak Chinese, in rural Hebei I doubt they will be able to communicate with you unless they are quite young or you can find an educated person nearby. You pretty much should just eat whatever the gently caress you want and then let them tell you how much it costs. It shouldn't be more than 100RMB (~$16USD) no matter what, even if you had three or four beers, so don't let them rip you off. I have memories of paying kind of a lot (for China) on BBQ, but it's probably when I ate this massive plate and had a bunch of beers with it, but even then I don't think I ever exceeded 100 RMB. This was also in Chongqing, not rural Henan. Eating lots of crazy poo poo at BBQ is awesome, sometimes you will even find BBQ pig brain, which believe it or not is actually very good and doesn't even look very disgusting. I would avoid the seafood if you're not on the coast though, it's usually pretty awful at the BBQ stands. I'm sure the meat quality isn't really that great either, but it definitely tastes good. A bowl of noodles will be around 1-3 USD. Two or so full dishes at a non-fancy sit down restaurant will be less than 5 USD. Food is super cheap in China so you can basically eat whatever you want and not stress about money.
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Aug 1, 2013 16:43
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Eat This Glob posted:Yeah, the hosts are covering all the food and hotel and stuff. To you and all the others, I was warned about baijiu. Is there an analog state-side? Everclear? I can more than hold my own when it comes to liquor consumption, and luckily, I'm a happy drunk. Unfortunately, I also loooove to talk politics when I tie a few on. Gonna have to hold my tongue there! Baijiu equivalency: Treat it like moonshine. Politics: You're safe talking politics on like 99% of topics (don't insult China) Smoking: Smoking's all good, if you want cheap stuff, you can get cheap stuff. For personal smokes, I'd recommend 利群 or 娇子. 红河's pretty decent too, just get something made in the south, as everything from the north is dry and like smoking newspaper. Local food... just hit the street and get stuff where you see other people getting stuff. If you have the option, stick to your BBQ coming from places that are at least in front of a restaurant that says "清真", as you're much more likely to get actual lamb instead of mystery meat. For finding the meat on a stick, it's pretty easy, there'll be smoke everywhere from the grills and 串 characters everywhere (which literally looks like meat on a stick). Pro-PRC Laowai fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Aug 1, 2013 |
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Aug 1, 2013 17:04
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By the way, when Pro-PRC says mystery meat it's a euphemism for literal rat meat. Also baijiu kind of reminds me of really crappy yet drinkable whiskey.
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Aug 1, 2013 18:36
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MeramJert posted:By the way, when Pro-PRC says mystery meat it's a euphemism for literal rat meat. If it's just rat meat, you're probably pretty lucky. Might be whatever the stray catch of the day was, or some poisoned dead rats. I wouldn't trust anything under 2 RMB in Beijing for lamb (god I miss the days of sub-0.5). Lamb's just too expensive right now for anything cheap to be legit.
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Aug 1, 2013 18:59
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