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@BadAstronaut Arrived in Shanghai on sunday as planned and staying at Grand Gateway now, but had a bit of a rough flight and the humidity and 27°C hit like a truck when you come from 13°C Vienna, but I already get the vibe of this place and it's awesome. I forgot to import my adress book to my netbook, can you toss me a line again please ? Hammerstein fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Sep 30, 2013 |
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Sep 30, 2013 22:04
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Changsha Botanical Garden is pretty nice actually. Very little trash, nice lake, cheap tram to zoom around on, little amusement park with no one in it (at least during the week). B++ would take a toddler again. And I got this cool picture.
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Oct 1, 2013 03:30
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Shibawanko posted:I might have time for a quick getaway in China for this winter, flying from Tokyo. Is there any town you guys would recommend for winter? Basically I love cheap, good and interesting food and don't care about pandas and temples as much as just strolling around having a good time. Harbin in the winter is pretty cool. The ice festival is legitimately kind of fun and interesting, you can also skate and ski around there and its not that expensive. Harbin as a whole isn't too pricy. The food is good there, a good mix of styles. I happen to like dongbei food though so ymmv if you are partial to shanghai/guangdong/hk southern fare. Pollution in winter is kind of bad everywhere though, keep that in mind.
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Oct 1, 2013 06:25
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I don't get how dongbei food gets a bad name in the south. It's just stupid provincialism. Dongbei food is pretty great.
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Oct 1, 2013 06:56
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Hong Kong I will be in you from the 4th onwards for a few days. Beers anyone?
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Oct 1, 2013 10:40
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Really? I thought it's November? drat, we got a few Beijing goons coming in tonight leaving the 4th., and of course their flight is delayed. Oh well I'm still going to go pick them up. I suppose it's another round of goon tag team; some guys coming in when others are going out. Bottle of fancy Kaya and I will be very very grateful!
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Oct 1, 2013 11:54
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Yes, it's November sorry I'm pretty jet lagged 
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Oct 1, 2013 12:41
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Is 'If you are the one' popular in China? We get it in Australia and it is freaking hilarious. I never get why some guys are super popular and others are not. One thing I have learnt from this show, Chinese girls do not like guys who do anything nice or are organised. Never, ever, ever do charity work.
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Oct 2, 2013 09:32
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If that's 非誠勿擾 then yes it's extremely popular and has been going for 64 years now. I've watched a few times and gotten a kick out of it. They show it on Australian TV? With subtitles or dubbing? That's interesting.
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Oct 2, 2013 09:54
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The best part about 非诚勿扰 is that the girls intentionally never pick anyone because then they get off the show and lose all their fame!!!! I read in the last year (and it airs EVERY DAY) like 10 girls have chosen guys.
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Oct 2, 2013 10:48
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TV dating show not an accurate representation of what women want?!
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Oct 2, 2013 10:56
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Bloodnose posted:If that's 非誠勿擾 then yes it's extremely popular and has been going for 64 years now. I've watched a few times and gotten a kick out of it. They show it on Australian TV? With subtitles or dubbing? That's interesting. Yeah, it's on like 3-4 times a week now. Subtitled. I don't know how delayed we are, but I don't think too delayed. We saw an episode tonight where they had Chinese girls from Australia and the guys were all Chinese living in Australia. Magna Kaser posted:The best part about 非诚勿扰 is that the girls intentionally never pick anyone because then they get off the show and lose all their fame!!!! I read in the last year (and it airs EVERY DAY) like 10 girls have chosen guys. I've often thought that about the show. There is very little incentive to get off the show, all they get are some custom shoes and a lame date with a weird guy. Donating the cruise (or trip to Hawaii) is a great way to avoid spending time with the deadbeat they're stuck with.
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Oct 2, 2013 13:09
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edit: wrong forum, drat it. In other, more T/T news, anyone taken the train from Hangzhou to Shanghai recently? Fearcotton and I are thinking of trying to get into the city soon-ish and we're curious how accurate the trip duration is. Last time we went from Yuyao to Hangzhou it was only supposed to take 35 minutes and ended up being almost 2 hours, despite no problems of any kind. blinkyzero fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Oct 2, 2013 |
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Oct 2, 2013 17:55
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I took it like three months ago. It was pretty drat smooth and took as long as it said. There was the expected shoving within the station but there was way less seat haggling and dipshit behavior than I was used to going from Chongqing to Chengdu.
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Oct 2, 2013 20:44
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I'm usually a rather robust person, but Shanghai does weird things to my immunity system. Got home from some sight-seeing yesterday, immediately keeled over and slept for some hours and then had diarrhea for the rest of the night, despite being super careful with food and everything.
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Oct 3, 2013 01:08
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Your body is processing all the new and wonderful bacteria to be found here, and the less said about gutter oil the better. You literally can't avoid it if you're eating out.
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Oct 3, 2013 01:19
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Where did you eat? I've managed to avoid that for ten days so far, thankfully
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Oct 3, 2013 02:42
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BadAstronaut posted:Where did you eat? I've managed to avoid that for ten days so far, thankfully Had breakfast at a Lind bakery and was at a Southern Beauty branch the evening before, plus some snacks from a local supermarket, which looked squeaky clean though. Sorry about not making it to the goon meet, my condition went from fine to sick&tired within minutes.
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Oct 3, 2013 03:24
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BadAstronaut posted:Where did you eat? I've managed to avoid that for ten days so far, thankfully Ten days without eating? This is not the real China experience! ...or is it? systran posted:I took it like three months ago. It was pretty drat smooth and took as long as it said. There was the expected shoving within the station but there was way less seat haggling and dipshit behavior than I was used to going from Chongqing to Chengdu. Thanks, that's reassuring. Apparently we just have lovely luck when it comes to trains here. We've had several inexplicable delays on westbound trips here over the last year.
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Oct 3, 2013 12:51
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Hammerstein posted:Sorry about not making it to the goon meet, my condition went from fine to sick&tired within minutes. No worries. How much longer are you here for? Likely have CARLS JUNIOR AMERICAN HAMBURGERS on Saturday or Sunday if you are keen.
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Oct 3, 2013 13:19
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Hammerstein posted:I'm usually a rather robust person, but Shanghai does weird things to my immunity system. Got home from some sight-seeing yesterday, immediately keeled over and slept for some hours and then had diarrhea for the rest of the night, despite being super careful with food and everything. Every time I go to China this happens at least once. But it's usually tolerable and happen at night. It's more annoying than anything else but overall it has never stopped me from eating anything over there food-wise.
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Oct 3, 2013 14:41
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Just found this thread, four days from a flight to Beijing! I have a sister living there, who is going to be our Beijing host/tour guide, and we're taking two separate excursions to Xi'an and the Li River in the south with a tour company, 12 days total in country. Very excited!
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Oct 3, 2013 17:55
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BadAstronaut posted:No worries. How much longer are you here for? Likely have CARLS JUNIOR AMERICAN HAMBURGERS on Saturday or Sunday if you are keen. You forgot to mention Morton's and Awfully chocolate, come on China newbie  xenilk posted:Every time I go to China this happens at least once. But it's usually tolerable and happen at night. It's more annoying than anything else but overall it has never stopped me from eating anything over there food-wise. I got the food shits during my 1st week in corruption free Hong Kong after that my body seemed to adjust I Greyhound posted:Just found this thread, four days from a flight to Beijing! I have a sister living there, who is going to be our Beijing host/tour guide, and we're taking two separate excursions to Xi'an and the Li River in the south with a tour company, 12 days total in country. Very excited! Sounds awesome, right at the end of the national holidays! Are you guys going to Guang Xi Province? There's a fun Beijing goon crowd too, so see if you can them up.
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Oct 3, 2013 18:07
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xenilk posted:Every time I go to China this happens at least once. But it's usually tolerable and happen at night. It's more annoying than anything else but overall it has never stopped me from eating anything over there food-wise. I just stock our bathroom with long novels that I've been meaning to reread. There were a few places I loved to eat at in Beijing that, beyond having great food, also came with a guarantee of two to three chapters of Les Miserables later in the evening. Last year, during Spring Festival, I knocked out all of Lu Xun as a result of the boss's family's home cooking.
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Oct 3, 2013 21:06
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For better or for worse, EF has sent me a rejection notice. I'll keep plugging away at it, because honestly spending time in another country sounds fun, and teaching English in China has to be better than being a retail wage slave.
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Oct 4, 2013 00:21
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caberham posted:
Next week we're visiting Datong and Xi'an. If we survive the giant hornets (which are suddenly news on all the US news sites), we'll be back in Beijing for the weekend +1 or so days. The following week we're taking a tour of Longsheng, Guilin, and Yangshuo. e: Looks like we're flying into Guilin and leaving immediately. This second tour wasn't our first choice, but we had to get a plan that meshed with our trip to Xi'an and with my family's schedule in Beijing. I Greyhound fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Oct 4, 2013 |
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Oct 4, 2013 01:21
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Guilin is a shithole I'd skip there except connecting trains or whatever, but the other towns south of it near the river are awesome.
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Oct 4, 2013 01:33
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Arakan posted:Guilin is a shithole I'd skip there except connecting trains or whatever, but the other towns south of it near the river are awesome. Yeah, Yangshuo is a steaming slice of REAL CHINA. You'd think the McDonald's on the high street would make it appear touristy but the laowai vomiting into a leather stetson bamboo rafts for Y600 with genuine Chinese kung pao chicken can you say "nihao?"
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Oct 4, 2013 02:23
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YF19pilot posted:For better or for worse, EF has sent me a rejection notice. I'll keep plugging away at it, because honestly spending time in another country sounds fun, and teaching English in China has to be better than being a retail wage slave. It's probably for the best. Either you're a real sack of poo poo and no one wants you in China, or you just didn't sound sufficiently exploitable, and you don't want to work for them anyway.
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Oct 4, 2013 03:28
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Arakan posted:Guilin is a shithole I'd skip there except connecting trains or whatever, but the other towns south of it near the river are awesome. Xingping.
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Oct 4, 2013 03:38
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VideoTapir posted:It's probably for the best. Either you're a real sack of poo poo and no one wants you in China, or you just didn't sound sufficiently exploitable, and you don't want to work for them anyway. I don't think I've applied to enough places for the former, so I'll tell myself it's the latter.
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Oct 4, 2013 04:33
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I met a local student in Guilin who was studying at Guilin University of Technology, and he said he chose to study there because Guilin has a reputation for being a 'beautiful place'. Of course he was depressed as all hell because Guilin is actually a giant dirty concrete slum and the university is also pretty poo poo. Curse you and your widely promulgated tourist hyperbole, China!
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Oct 4, 2013 04:41
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Who the hell believes in the AAAAA travel ratings? But seconding Xingping, Yangshuo is getting over developed. They are all within close reach of each other, really easy to move around. Oh and with all this travelling across the country side, please don't get stung by any hornets. They are engineered by a secret Japanese spy program called "SENKAKU" caberham fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Oct 4, 2013 |
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Oct 4, 2013 04:45
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YF19pilot posted:I don't think I've applied to enough places for the former, so I'll tell myself it's the latter. Honestly you don't want to work for EF. When do you want to start? What experience do you have as a teacher? What is your race? If you are Asian, few schools will want to hire you.
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Oct 4, 2013 05:01
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BadAstronaut posted:No worries. How much longer are you here for? Likely have CARLS JUNIOR AMERICAN HAMBURGERS on Saturday or Sunday if you are keen. I´m departing monday night, so I would be up for goon activities this weekend. For a Euro it`s also a bit of a culture shock to come to Shanghai and then see more Starbucks branches and weird US burger joints than Chinese restaurants. Seems we get a tropical storm named Fitow sometime between So-Mo, so I might even be here an extra day if they close the airport.
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Oct 4, 2013 05:26
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Ugh... Guilin and the river south used to be incredibly beautiful. Amazing bike trip. Even the park across the river (7 Stars?) was amazing. Limestone domes, the tops always hidden in mist from the river at dawn. In the early morning there were chi gong practitioners who sounded like whales on different ledges of the domes in the park. After the sun was up there would be hundreds of bicycles bringing things from across the river to the markets. Bicycles with baskets made for carrying pigs. Bicycles with dozens of white ducks tied to them by the feet. (You don't wanna hear this do you?)
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Oct 4, 2013 06:10
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Sogol posted:Ugh... Guilin and the river south used to be incredibly beautiful. Amazing bike trip. Even the park across the river (7 Stars?) was amazing. Limestone domes, the tops always hidden in mist from the river at dawn. In the early morning there were chi gong practitioners who sounded like whales on different ledges of the domes in the park. After the sun was up there would be hundreds of bicycles bringing things from across the river to the markets. Bicycles with baskets made for carrying pigs. Bicycles with dozens of white ducks tied to them by the feet. It's like Lindsay Lohan circa Mean Girls versus now. It does seem like everyone I met that loves China has been there 15 years or more. poo poo got bad it seems.
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Oct 4, 2013 06:15
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I'm going on a trip from Los Angeles to Bangkok. I'm thinking of doing a two day stopover in Beijing, but am having trouble with visa information. I'm trying to get an understanding of the 72-hour transit visa exemption, as explained on this website. Specifically, this section:quote:Does this measure apply to a foreign national coming to Beijing or Shanghai from a certain country (region) with a confirmed air ticket for flying back to the same country (region) where he or she comes from within 72 hours with confirmed date of flight and seat? Now I am flying from LAX - Beijing - Bangkok - LAX. Does this mean I am indeed just passing through Beijing on my way to Bangkok, or that I am a roundtrip passenger and therefore would not be eligible? If I am eligible, the website states "A foreign national that meets the requirements may submit his/her request to the airline company that carries him/her to Beijing or Shanghai, which shall make the application to the border control authorities of the Beijing or Shanghai airports that shall grant a temporary entry of a passenger meeting the requirements for transit visa exemption upon verification." When I was on the phone with United, the booking agent did not seem to be familiar with this 72 hour exemption. And the flight is on Air China, meaning wouldn't it need to be Air China that submits the request, and if so how do I have them do it?
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Oct 4, 2013 08:23
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I had an interview with EF. It was possibly the worst interview I've ever given. I already had a job lined up and was trying to feel out some other options more than anything, and most of what I read in between scheduling the interview and going through it was negative, so I didn't really prepare for it at all. The interview itself was an hour and a half, with ridiculous word association games and poo poo like that. Skype was too slow, so we did it by phone, and even though my interviewer was a native speaker I had the hardest time hearing her. Given how miserable it was, and my doubts going into it, I'm still not sure why I didn't just end it partway through. I got an email shortly afterwards offering me the job (I ignored it, and got junk mail trying to get me to sign up for months afterwards). I don't know, man, if you're a reasonably attractive Caucasian without a criminal record I can only assume that they simply can't find a way to stretch your qualifications to match your city or something.
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Oct 4, 2013 08:39
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| # ? May 14, 2024 11:38 |
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You can stay in Beijing twice, as long as your final destination is not Beijing, you can stay visa free. So it doesn't matter what your ticket looks like as long as you are flying off to somewhere else in 3days. Goons have transited in China for a day or two and then back.
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Oct 4, 2013 08:46
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