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Magna Kaser posted:Tell me where you look for tickets cause I am a Grade A Moron. Right now the shortest flights I see are between 20 and 27 hours (Chengdu->Shanghai/Beijing->Somewhere in North America->Boston or Chengdu->Amsterdam->Dublin->Boston with layovers between each one) regardless of price. Even when I was in Shanghai I couldn't find much quicker than 18-19 hours. I'm looking on Kayak/Qunar/etc... Maybe Hong Kong is just That Much Better, but I'm getting a $1211 flight: Cathay Pacific Flight 806 (Hong Kong to Chicago) - 14h25m; layover of 2h05m; Cathay Pacific Flight 7512 (Chicago to Boston) - 2h15m. Total: 18h45m
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Feb 25, 2014 10:51
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Magna Kaser posted:Tell me where you look for tickets cause I am a Grade A Moron. Right now the shortest flights I see are between 20 and 27 hours (Chengdu->Shanghai/Beijing->Somewhere in North America->Boston or Chengdu->Amsterdam->Dublin->Boston with layovers between each one) regardless of price. Even when I was in Shanghai I couldn't find much quicker than 18-19 hours. I'm looking on Kayak/Qunar/etc... I see a couple right now on Delta alone that are 16-18 hours. Of course, I don't have to fly out of Chengdu -- that will definitely add a lot of time, not just for the flight itself but for the delay before the connector. We usually fly into Detroit and then go from there to Logan.
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Feb 25, 2014 10:53
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Magna I say just screw it and do a split fare. I flew from hkg to LAX, on Cathay then bought a separate ticket on American airlines to reno. Yeah paying extra 50 bucks for domestic baggage check sucks but it's still cheaper! Or Just fly to Hong Kong, hang around with us and then go to Boston through o hare. LAX is a horrible airport, we all know this.
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Feb 25, 2014 11:00
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I'm lucky enough to fly through Beijing so I just go Beijing to O'Hare and then O'Hare to PWM. Don't know how much it is, my company pays for it, but it usually takes about 16 hours and that's if I don't have much of a layover. All in all from door to door for me it is about 24 hours, give or take an hour or two.
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Feb 25, 2014 11:05
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blinkyzero posted:I see a couple right now on Delta alone that are 16-18 hours. Of course, I don't have to fly out of Chengdu -- that will definitely add a lot of time, not just for the flight itself but for the delay before the connector. Yeah, Chengdu adds a bit since I have to fly either through Europe and transfer there, or fly to HK/BJ/SH then head to the US then to Boston. Over I just went to Europe for a week before going to the US and it saved me like 500USD and I got to go to Europe. I think I might just do that again.
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Feb 25, 2014 11:09
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With all this talk about airlines, I hope you guys have a membership with the airlines you use the most. Flying back home to the US racks up the miles and you get a free ticket out of it pretty quick. I stick with American only because I used it a few times when I first came to China. You eventually get an upgraded status and you get perks like free baggage, "premium" seats, and priority boarding. These perks aren't game changers but every little bit helps! I'm Gold status btw cause I roll DEEP
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Feb 25, 2014 15:00
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Teleportation is taking opiates on long haul flights. There is no substitute. I scoff when my friends don't follow my advice and take sleeping pills instead. Had an injury or need some dental work done? Many dentists these days will give you a small amount of 10mg hydrocodone if you indicate that you've had pain issues in the past after a filling. Save these until your next flight. Make sure to save all the paperwork too, just in case you are asked for it. (I never have been) I stay up the night before a flight because I have no trouble sleeping on airplanes even when undrugged, and I arrive a little bit early and am usually the last to board. Recently I've had incredible luck with intercontinental flights giving me a whole row to myself. Wait an hour, maybe two, until boredom starts to set in. Pop two pills. Life is wonderful. Doze off. Wake up four hours later. Everything is excellent forever. Pop another pill. I am a skylord. Sleep more. Wake up four hours later, take one more pill, then sleep til landing. Deplaning and getting to my final destination is a breeze for me because of the warm, lovely afterglow permeating my being. Never not fly with opiates. If you can't get a scrip then kratom works too, but don't use it if you have a tendency to get airsick. You will definitely puke. NaanViolence fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Feb 25, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 15:44
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Longanimitas posted:Don't drink and drive; take drugs and fly
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Feb 25, 2014 15:50
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Flyin high while flyin high? Sign me up! No matter what I take I can't sleep for long because of the position I'm in. I need to be completely horizontal while I sleep. My lovely seat going back 30 degrees isn't enough!!!
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Feb 25, 2014 15:57
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So I'm planning to travel back to China later this year for a few weeks and am looking for some advice. I'm technically Chinese - I spent ~9 years of my childhood there and have a Chinese passport, which I unfortunately will have to surrender before going back since I've naturalized to be a US citizen. A slight consideration is that I'm not 100% ethnically Chinese (1/2, and actually only 1/4 Han), and people somehow pick that up really quickly. Doesn't help that I'm fairly tall and have brown-ish hair either. Also are there any interesting major cities that are not horrendously polluted? I was in Beijing and Wuhan in '07 and that was just barely tolerable, and I know it has gotten worse since then. I'm going with a few Asian and non-Asian friends, who will probably not deal with the typical Beijing air so well. We'll invest in some good masks and take the necessary precautions, but I figured it'll do good to spend at least some days in a relatively clean-ish environment.
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Feb 26, 2014 00:23
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Mister Volition posted:Also are there any interesting major cities that are not horrendously polluted? I was in Beijing and Wuhan in '07 and that was just barely tolerable, and I know it has gotten worse since then. I'm going with a few Asian and non-Asian friends, who will probably not deal with the typical Beijing air so well. We'll invest in some good masks and take the necessary precautions, but I figured it'll do good to spend at least some days in a relatively clean-ish environment. If you don't mind Southern China my girlfriend says Xiamen is a beautiful city and the air quality is pretty good (supposed to be around Chicago levels, and I don't think that's horribly bad by US standards either).
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Feb 26, 2014 01:44
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Mister Volition posted:Also are there any interesting major cities that are not horrendously polluted? I was in Beijing and Wuhan in '07 and that was just barely tolerable, and I know it has gotten worse since then. I'm going with a few Asian and non-Asian friends, who will probably not deal with the typical Beijing air so well. We'll invest in some good masks and take the necessary precautions, but I figured it'll do good to spend at least some days in a relatively clean-ish environment. I think all of the cities that are known for not being too polluted are way down south, like in Yunnan and Hainan. I think it will be really hot around that time, so that might be something to consider. And it really changes from week to week. This week in Tianjin it is bad, consistently in the 200s and 300s, and my app has read Beijing being in the 400s and 500s. But then some western wind will come and blow everything out away from the cities and it will be beautiful for a week or two. It is really hit or miss. Mister Volition posted:A slight consideration is that I'm not 100% ethnically Chinese (1/2, and actually only 1/4 Han), and people somehow pick that up really quickly. Doesn't help that I'm fairly tall and have brown-ish hair either. I can't talk about your specific experience because I don't know what that's like, being a Caucasian guy with blond hair and blue eyes. Obviously every person is going to experience things differently, but if you're worried about it I don't think telling people you are American but you were born in China is all that big of a deal. Again, I don't know what conversation people here in China have with other foreigners of Asian decent, and I am surprised that comes up that often to be honest. Speaking on the anti-Japanese sentiment, my girlfriend is Japanese and she and I went to dinner with my roommate to this awesome hot pot place around our apartment last weekend. My roommate is a BIG dude, he looks like a linebacker, he is 6'3 and lifts everyday. I mention this because after dinner we went to the convenience store and were buying snacks and beer and a really, really drunk guy came in, older guy. I was looking for the good beer so I wasn't there but he went up to them and asked my GF and my mate where they were from and he said USA. He said "good! USA is good" before saying "Better than Japanese motherfuckers". He hadn't asked my GF where she was from so I don't know if he knew or not, but she didn't really do anything and as I came to the register my roommate was telling this guy off and as the old guy walked out the door my roommate yelled "Japan is much better than China!" I came up and I was like "um  what", then they told me what he had said and I was like "oh man that guy  " and then I was like "omg my roommate  ". I think you can find ignorant people everywhere and you never know who is going to react in a certain way. I know at times the GF feels unsafe here in China and it is one of the reasons she doesn't want to stick around forever. If you're worried about it, you can just tell people it is none of their business, can't you? That seems to be my go to answer when people ask how much I make or if I want to marry a Chinese girl.I think if you are in a big city, or if you are dealing with younger people, most people seem to be open-minded and more culturally accepting. Most people, not all. I can really only speak about Tianjin as I haven't lived anywhere else in China and every place is different.
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Feb 26, 2014 02:13
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It kind of depends when you're coming. Right now Shanghai is pretty good, but early last month they were almost as bad as Beijing is now. It's pretty hard to predict how bad pollution will be somewhere. Tends to be once you get out of the northeast and the middle of China it gets better-ish. Yunnan is usually nice, Xiamen (as noted) has been OK as well. Shanghai is pretty good now, but like I said it was hitting 300 daily in late December and very early January so who knows what it'll be like in a couple months. Summer is generally better than winter, though, so there is that. My ex's grandfather was a kid in part of what became Manchukuo when Japanese rolled in. He really hated the Japanese. In fact, the only reason he first took a liking to me and became OK with the idea of his granddaughter dating a foreigner was because my grandfather had been in the Navy during WW2 and fought the Japanese himself. That said, he never made any outbursts like that and never said anything so outright (that I heard anyway). He had more of a seething hatred. He got really mad over who owned those rocks out in the ocean, though.
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Feb 26, 2014 03:05
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There's about the same anti Japanese sentiment in China as there is anti Muslim sentiment in America. The people who buy into their government's propaganda dislike them, and the people who can think for themselves are indifferent. It's not like you're going to miss out on any positive interactions by not telling them you are part Japanese though so best if you just don't bring it up
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Feb 26, 2014 03:11
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computer parts posted:If you don't mind Southern China my girlfriend says Xiamen is a beautiful city and the air quality is pretty good (supposed to be around Chicago levels, and I don't think that's horribly bad by US standards either). That's actually a great suggestion. One of my trip buddies' family is in Xiamen, which should make things fairly easy. We can probably squeeze it in between Shanghai and Guangzhou/HK. goldboilermark posted:Yunnan and Hainan Might be a bit too far south, but I've always wanted to see southern China. Hainan seems especially amazing. The weather volatility is something we've thought about in length, since we'd ideally have a reasonable itinerary before arriving, but I've lived long enough in China to expect the possibility of getting stuck in a hotel for days straight. goldboilermark posted:I can't talk about your specific experience because I don't know what that's like, being a Caucasian guy with blond hair and blue eyes. Obviously every person is going to experience things differently, but if you're worried about it I don't think telling people you are American but you were born in China is all that big of a deal. Again, I don't know what conversation people here in China have with other foreigners of Asian decent, and I am surprised that comes up that often to be honest. I was surprised too - I've only been back to China once since I left Asia in '97 as a kid, and I thought by '07 people wouldn't find foreign Asians so odd. Part of it is probably due to my weird Chinese. I learned a good amount of mandarin outside of China (mainly Japan), and while my pronunciation is fine my vocabulary/grammar is a bit atrocious and I sometimes mix up kanji/hanzi usage. Also I'm an unholy mix of han/hmong/japanese/korean, so I look a bit funny to all East Asians. When I last visited people often asked where I grew up and I'd say Asia, inevitably having to elaborate that it included China/Japan/a few assorted areas and receive the "oh I thought you weren't actually Chinese" comment. Although once a dude just straight up asked if I'm Chinese v  v I think those people think that since I'm a Chinese-speaking Asian they can get away with asking more personal questions than they would a white foreigner.Re: Japanese, I guess as long as I stick to the group it should be ok. I'm a 6ft tall dude and not slender, but some of stuff reported in the news during 2012-2013 were pretty scary. I'll keep it to myself then. Mister Volition fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 03:34
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For the comedy option just say that you are from Xinjiang  There's a lot less pollution during the summer because people stop burning coal to heat their homes then. Seconding Xiamen, it's a nice place. You can take a train from Xiamen to Guangzhou easily as well. Beijing will also have decent skies during National week in October. The army actually seeds the clouds with a lot of rain for weeks before the holidays in order to create a good impression  Where in China did you grow up? Are you from the North East?
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Feb 26, 2014 03:59
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caberham posted:For the comedy option just say that you are from Xinjiang Haha what do Chinese people think Xinjiang people/uyghur look like? A common guess I got in China for my, uh, "ethnicity" was Hong Kong. I think some (a lot?) of mainlanders think "mandarin with no regional accent" = HK or Taiwan. In the West I get Japanese/Korean, almost never Chinese  I spent most years in Wuhan/Hankou and surrounding areas within Hubei and then a couple years in Beijing. I moved between China and Japan depressingly often, including one time when I lived in Kyoto with my Chinese side of the family who immigrated to Japan, and then moved in with some Japanese relatives living in Beijing for job-related reasons. Had lots of fun getting treated like a brand new foreign transfer student every year or so. Wuhan was the best because Beijing people are too stuck up to be curious, whereas in Wuhan the whole school would gather up and demand every question answered ("Do Japanese people really eat rice like Chinese people? Did they beat you everyday because you're Chinese??? Why do you have brown curly hair ARE YOU SICK HERE DRINK SOME HOT GINSENG WATER??"  )
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Feb 26, 2014 04:40
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I've always read Dalian is the cleanest big city to the north, similar to the nice ones down south.
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Feb 26, 2014 05:36
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Dalian is full of angry Russians, though. It seemed like a nice enough city, but so many angry Russians.
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Feb 26, 2014 05:57
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http://aqicn.org/map/ Here's a map of the pollution you can check. Lanzhou was 999 when I checked. Poor Lanzhou.
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Feb 26, 2014 06:45
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Magna Kaser posted:Poor Lanzhou. I used to live there and it wasn't that bad. It has this reputation as terrible but I remember plenty of good days. Alot of people fly there though and that means they get off the plane and start wheezing straight away because not only is it a polluted city like every other but they've just gone from sea level to 1,600m up. Ha! Drill down on that map and you'll see that something is well bent. Take the Westernmost monitoring station as representative - that's a fair location and seems to be reporting realistic values. By "fair location" I mean that it is a mixed urban and industrial area, near a train station (albeit a tiny one) and about a kilometer or so from a coal power station. That's all pretty normal. The ones in the middle of town seem to be doing something really wierd. GuestBob fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 06:54
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Magna Kaser posted:http://aqicn.org/map/ Fantastic, now I can see my cancer growth rate in real time.
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Feb 26, 2014 07:52
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Every time I fly my wife has a suitcase full of fish oil, cigarettes, ginseng, and other voodoo magic that we have to give to Chinese relatives. Also this is the route I had to take: Two-hour drive from Gainesville to Jacksonville airport --> Atlanta/Chicago/whatever --> New Jersey --> Shanghai INTL --> Long and annoying bus ride to Shanghai Domestic --> Fly to random crappy city in Shandong --> 1.5 hour car ride to wife's hometown. Also keep in mind, each time you have a connection there is either a chance of missing it, or a chance that it's super long and you have to sit in the airport for 3-4 hours.
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Feb 26, 2014 16:44
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systran posted:Fly to random crappy city in Shandong At least you have plenty of options for this one.
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Feb 26, 2014 17:10
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My wife got pickpocketed getting off the train in Wuhu a few days ago. Dude took her (2 months old, goddammit) phone. Piecing together everything that happened, she's like 90 percent sure she didn't just lose it. Next phone we get for her I'm going to make sure we get a case that sticks to the inside of a pocket, like she had on her old phone. Anyhow, I guess it really DOES happen.
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Feb 27, 2014 17:58
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Never could figure out why Japanese people would ever go to China, there's pretty much nothing going on there for them. I feel like the ones that do end up there are a bunch of weird motherfuckers, based on my experiences in Beijing at least.
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Feb 27, 2014 22:28
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I had a Japanese coworker, she didn't seem to have any problems. A few years ago when people held anti-Japan protests outside the Ito Yokado on Chengdu's Walking Street, her students came to her place in the morning and left notes about how they liked her, etc. Then they came back and took her out to lunch and dinner, spending the whole day with her.
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Feb 28, 2014 00:22
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That's awesome... I wish more Chinese people could meet actual Japanese people and realize that they are all 人 (hito)
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Feb 28, 2014 01:15
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Tom Smykowski posted:I had a Japanese coworker, she didn't seem to have any problems. A few years ago when people held anti-Japan protests outside the Ito Yokado on Chengdu's Walking Street, her students came to her place in the morning and left notes about how they liked her, etc. Then they came back and took her out to lunch and dinner, spending the whole day with her. The students at my school a couple years ago loved the Japanese teacher. He was a little old dude who would just stop by a give me snacks every once in awhile. The students were very supportive of him and his wife while the protests and poo poo were going down.
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Feb 28, 2014 01:19
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Tom Smykowski posted:I had a Japanese coworker, she didn't seem to have any problems. A few years ago when people held anti-Japan protests outside the Ito Yokado on Chengdu's Walking Street, her students came to her place in the morning and left notes about how they liked her, etc. Then they came back and took her out to lunch and dinner, spending the whole day with her. Whereas in Xi'an, I regularly saw large signs outside restaurants declaring they wouldn't serve dogs or Japanese people. I just wish I'd taken photos.
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Feb 28, 2014 02:02
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I've seen those signs at hotels in the back corners of Lijiang's fake ancient town. And as bumper stickers on cars a few times. Once on a Toyota.
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Feb 28, 2014 05:43
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Tom Smykowski posted:I've seen those signs at hotels in the back corners of Lijiang's fake ancient town. And as bumper stickers on cars a few times. Once on a Toyota. Lijiang's fake ancient town is a little depressing, but I did get my awesome cat's paw keyring there!
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Feb 28, 2014 09:16
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The anti-Japanese demonstration in Pingdingshan was hilarious. A meander of about fifty people, absurdly over provided with banners and signs walking up and down the main street of the city looking confused and unenthusiastic whilst everyone else was shopping. There were some signs at bus stops which said things about fighting the Japanese though. Which is odd.
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Feb 28, 2014 09:42
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I wish I'd see an anti japanese demonstration. Man, their counterparts in Japan are dumb as hell, too.
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Feb 28, 2014 10:08
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Fearcotton and I were living in Beijing during the protests. The worst thing we experienced was the 7-11 in the TUS Park closing down for a few days (while the Japanese restaurant right next to it stayed open). I liked getting hot dogs from that 7-11. Then a couple days passed and I was able to get hot dogs again. 
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Feb 28, 2014 13:34
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blinkyzero posted:Fearcotton and I were living in Beijing during the protests. The worst thing we experienced was the 7-11 in the TUS Park closing down for a few days (while the Japanese restaurant right next to it stayed open). There was a restaurant in the same strip as Home Plate that had a "No Japanese" sign right next to the Japanese restaurant. I tore it down but the guy backed off when he realized I was just itching to punch someone in the face. I've still never been in a fight, but the protests in Beijing were the moment I went full-on "gently caress China"
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Mar 1, 2014 07:19
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About to head to the airport for my first trip to China (and first time overseas period)! Two months. Anyone in Suzhou who wants to hang out, holler back (and I'll most likely do a weekend in Shanghai and Beijing too if goon beds are available  ).
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Mar 1, 2014 12:11
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Cross-post from the LAN thread because some other people might find this useful someday. How to pay for something on TaoBao without AliPay and using your bank's payment portal:   Pro-tip: Use chrome to browse and check out products, then use IE to go through the payment process. Set Chrome to auto-translate any Chinese webpages. It's quite helpful. Woodsy Owl fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Mar 1, 2014 |
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Mar 1, 2014 12:19
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Woodsy Owl posted:Cross-post from the LAN thread because some other people might find this useful someday. Get this put in the OP!
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Mar 1, 2014 13:29
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I can understand why Chinese hate Japanese people so much. A lot of them still have relatives that were alive during the occupation or who were killed during it. There's still Chinese people that have died recently digging up the poo poo the Japanese buried and said didn't exist. Chinese hating Japanese people is pretty much the only case of racism I can understand.
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Mar 1, 2014 15:07
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