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Hong Kong afterward. I don't really want to laze around at the hotel necessarily, but do something cultural in the morning (e.g. palace tour) and then spend an hour at a pool to relax and cool off, then head to dinner and a bar to hang out. Personally, I don't really "get" the concept of sitting on a beach all day. My idea of a relaxing time is sitting at a bar or cafe in a nice location and drinking/eating cheaply. If that location happens to be a beach, so be it. I originally looked at the five star resorts in Sanya, but they all seem to be in Yalong Bay, 45 min from town, and probably charge a fortune for drinks and food. There is a couple nice resorts in Dadonghai where you can get into town reasonably, but from what you are telling me the town is not really a nice place to hang out.
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Aug 7, 2016 11:42
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The national and war museums in Seoul are top notch. Gyeongju is accessible by the bullet train and is the ancient capital, has old royal tomb mounds and stuff. Quiet little town.
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Aug 7, 2016 12:11
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Grand Fromage posted:The national and war museums in Seoul are top notch. Gyeongju is accessible by the bullet train and is the ancient capital, has old royal tomb mounds and stuff. Quiet little town. the dude is tired and burnt out I doubt a trip to gyeongju on a 3 day trip to Korea is a good idea. OP if it were me I'd spend the few extra days in Hong Kong and take it slow. Has awesome food and there's plenty to see and do (I know I wouldn't be happy with just 2 days). If you do decide to come to Korea, Seoul or Busan are good choices. Jeju is also good for beaches but then you'd have to rent a car and it's harder to just "walk around" and people watch because everything is spread apart.
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Aug 7, 2016 12:38
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I don't know what he wants, he asks about beach resorts then says he doesn't understand beaches and wants culture so I'm just giving ideas. Nowhere in Korea on the KTX lines is difficult to access. I would also just go to Hong Kong for the entire time.
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Aug 7, 2016 12:42
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I would vote for more Hong Kong. Stay in Sai Kung Town for gorgeous pristine white sand beaches. Hike over the mountains for completely deserted ones
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Aug 7, 2016 13:16
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Hong kong. I can't wait to get back there on way back to the states. You can catch the ferry to macao for a day trip if you really want to explore another city and get some more stamps in your passport. I'm sure its been remarked on before in this thread, but its funny how everyone seems to lose their minds ten seconds after crossing into shenzhen. All of a sudden people who before were calmly queued are now crawling over each other in a mad race to get their bags first into the luggage scanner. Quickly goes downhill from there. A mom tried to jam her stroller into a packed elevator down to the shenzhen subway, and threw up her hands as the doors closed on it (doors which don't re-open unless you put a surprising amount of muscle into 'em - they caught me hard). I guess she thought "oh well gently caress it". I dunno what causes a mom to not just pull the drat stroller out and wait. I yelled from the back of the elevator as a grandpa on one side viciously jabbed the "close door" button. He was narrowly overruled by a probable long-time HK resident on the other side who managed to hold down "open door" long enough for the mom to regrab the stroller and happily wedge herself and her baby in sideways. And all 20 of us jammed into that tiny elevator didn't say poo poo about poo poo.
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Aug 7, 2016 15:13
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I also considered more time in Hong Kong, but I also spent two weeks there last year for work. We are really only spending a couple of days there before we fly out so my girlfriend can see the basics as she has never been. Also, isn't the Pearl River taking a poo poo on Hong Kong right now? I read they are getting a (relatively) larger amount of garbage washing up on all the beaches. Anyway, I think the general consensus is that Sanya is really nothing special. I think we are going to try out Seoul as neither of us have been there. Thanks for all the help. quote:Hong kong. I can't wait to get back there on way back to the states. You can catch the ferry to macao for a day trip if you really want to explore another city and get some more stamps in your passport.  Also, your story is a great example of why I want to get out of mainland China sooner rather than later. Between the lack of queuing, general obliviousness of everyone I encounter, and ever present fear of being run down on the sidewalk/crosswalk it is just very taxing. I have been all over Asia, including India, but mainland China is just loving chaos all the time and seemingly everywhere. I don't know how those of you who live here deal with it, Cheesemaster200 fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Aug 7, 2016 |
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Aug 7, 2016 15:24
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Bullshit, anyone from Hong Kong would never press the Open Door button.
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Aug 7, 2016 15:30
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Cheesemaster200 posted:I also considered more time in Hong Kong, but I also spent two weeks there last year for work. We are really only spending a couple of days there before we fly out so my girlfriend can see the basics as she has never been. Also, isn't the Pearl River taking a poo poo on Hong Kong right now? I read they are getting a (relatively) larger amount of garbage washing up on all the beaches. Sai Kung is on the other side and does not get China garbage. Lantau and Lamma have that problem
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Aug 7, 2016 15:30
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Also, your story is a great example of why I want to get out of mainland China sooner rather than later. Between the lack of queuing, general obliviousness of everyone I encounter, and ever present fear of being run down on the sidewalk/crosswalk it is just very taxing. I have been all over Asia, including India, but mainland China is just loving chaos all the time and seemingly everywhere. I don't know how those of you who live here deal with it, It's pretty simple, we are individuals who can appreciate China's rise to global dominance and 5,000 years of rich culture and history lol just kidding I just work across the street so I have a 2 minute commute
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Aug 7, 2016 15:48
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Cheesemaster200 posted:
...I've got some bad news for you, friend
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Aug 7, 2016 17:45
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Yeah if you want to escape that stuff you need to go to Japan dude. Korea's better but only marginally.
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Aug 7, 2016 17:54
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I like seoul because I have Seoul goons there to meet and know where to go for food and restaurants but in terms of culture and history it's really lacking compared to its neighbors. If you haven't been I guess you can go. Korean looks like Japan but it still feels like China, like northern China bad. Korea is getting better but still not as clean as Japan. Grand Fromage posted:Yeah if you want to escape that stuff you need to go to Japan dude. Korea's better but only marginally. I think Japanese service is the best in the world for tourists. The only major gripe I have with Japan is the lack of salad and vegetables. And fruit is delicious but costs a fortune. Compared to the rest of east Asia Japan is expensive. And the yen right now is high due to brexit. I'm in the Tokyo oak wood premier suites with my family right now. Holy poo poo this is the best money spent on a serviced apartment style hotel in my life out of all the places I have travelled across the world. You get a decent kitchen, washer, dryer and living room studio with another bedroom. It's located right in the city center of Tokyo station. You can even preorder poo poo from Amazon Japan and deliver it here or have the concierge bulk mail your souvenirs and stuff to wherever. There's the imperial palace right next door which you can jog through the palace grounds every morning and if you are lucky enough reserve a free tour to see the imperial palace. Service here is great and the staff can accommodate toddlers, kids, and old people easily. And there's a bajillion places to go eat with decent bars from craft breweries serving root beer floats to Japanese cocktail bars.
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Aug 8, 2016 00:05
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Hong Kong is actually mostly designated parkland and there's a even a few amazing world class geographic parks and rock formations out in sai Kung You know what actually just stay I Hong Kong earlier for a few days and go hiking in the mountains of sai Kung and hit the beaches. Then go to macau and eat Portuguese food and walk through the cobbled streets and feel like you are in Europe in the smaller streets.
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Aug 8, 2016 00:08
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Hey when are you guys in Hong Kong let's do a mega hang out when I'm back you can come to my new home and eat pizza. And help me move some stuff
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Aug 8, 2016 00:18
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caberham posted:Hey when are you guys in Hong Kong let's do a mega hang out when I'm back you can come to my new home and eat pizza. And help me move some stuff yesssssss
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Aug 8, 2016 01:22
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caberham posted:Hey when are you guys in Hong Kong let's do a mega hang out when I'm back you can come to my new home and eat pizza. And help me move some stuff 什么时候？
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Aug 8, 2016 01:35
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Magna Kaser posted:什么时候？ 八月十號回來 Are you in Japan yet?
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Aug 8, 2016 01:53
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caberham posted:八月十號回來 No still passport-less for the time being. I've actually had it for the last week but as of today I'm back to the waiting game for my new expert cert or whatever the next thing up is. I'm moving up the laowai ranks.
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Aug 8, 2016 02:27
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I've had the same foreign expert certificate for like 7 years, the picture of me in it looks nothing like me now lol I actually have it with me in this hotel. It was given to me on December 10, 2009, and now I have two pages filled with "accompanying family members" ^.^
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Aug 8, 2016 03:38
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caberham posted:八月十號回來 Tenth not so good for me, will still be renovating. can it be after the 14th?
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Aug 8, 2016 03:53
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The Great Autismo! posted:I've had the same foreign expert certificate for like 7 years, the picture of me in it looks nothing like me now lol Yeah I had one when I was an english teacher in like 2009 but now I'm getting the non-ESL version and apparently they're more crazy about on the requirements with that one. I think the ESL one said you need 3 years working experience but I'd been graduated from university for like 3 months when I got it.
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Aug 8, 2016 04:31
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I'm actually stoked I've made it seven years at my company, because when I applied for a job at MSI in Chicago, they wanted to hire me and my one drawback was "I hadn't held a job longer than a year", which is true if you didn't count grad school, because I was just living out of my car and loving off. Now I've gone from simple employee to head of the international education department and I can show that when I leave China and be like "You don't think I can last one year in the USA in a job? I lasted seven...IN CHINA." which I feel like after typing it, I should get a parade. At least like a cuddle or Snickers or something. Seven years. Now I'm in southern Oregon at the outskirts of Winema National Forest. maybe i should just stay here lol
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Aug 8, 2016 04:35
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simplefish posted:Tenth not so good for me, will still be renovating. can it be after the 14th? Yeah I land on the tenth anyways
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Aug 8, 2016 05:11
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I can confirm Caberham will show you a good time. Go to Hong Kong. It is time never wasted.
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Aug 8, 2016 07:00
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I'd like to warn all China goons that traveling in Japan will be a shitstorm 8/11-16 for obon.
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Aug 8, 2016 14:32
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Whats the deal with having to provide government id now to get a simcard? It used to be so drat easy to just run into a phone shop and grab a phone and a card real quick. Yesterday i swear my wife spent like 2 hours trying to figure out a plan more complicated than the poo poo ATT is pushing these days. We did end up with an etrash smartphone (letelephone?) just for signing up for a china mobile monthly plan with a 200 rmb initial deposit, which didn't seem too bad a deal (if you just want something to run basic apps for a month).
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Aug 9, 2016 13:22
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Baddog posted:Whats the deal with having to provide government id now to get a simcard? Real name verification for services and online services is a real thing now. Been that way for at least a year. You can't even legally buy data only sim cards without ID. Alipay and WeChat need a lot of verification recently, and they're closing foreigner accounts that can't/won't jump all the hurdles. There's reports of police in some areas (Xinjiang) going to people's homes and outright telling then "we know you have this mobile number, you've been visiting the wrong websites, come down the station, sign an apology document and confession, and you get to keep the phone. Maybe"
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Aug 9, 2016 14:47
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Got a source on the police visits thing? Would be interested to know. I wonder if you get a Hong Kong sim or whatever can you skirt it?
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Aug 9, 2016 17:44
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I use a dual number and shared data plan across GREATER CHINA - Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and maybe singapore? Don't need any VPN to get around. I assume I'm just not part of the great fire wall list.
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Aug 9, 2016 21:49
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simplefish posted:Got a source on the police visits thing? Would be interested to know. From Nov. 2015, Mobile Data Cut for VPN, WhatsApp Users in Xinjiang. You'll need a VPN to read it.
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Aug 9, 2016 22:29
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caberham posted:I use a dual number and shared data plan across GREATER CHINA - Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and maybe singapore? All mobile roaming and HK based dual SIMs automatically have a VPN connection between you and the carrier's data centre outside of the Firewall.
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Aug 9, 2016 23:21
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Baddog posted:Whats the deal with having to provide government id now to get a simcard? It used to be so drat easy to just run into a phone shop and grab a phone and a card real quick. Yesterday i swear my wife spent like 2 hours trying to figure out a plan more complicated than the poo poo ATT is pushing these days. We did end up with an etrash smartphone (letelephone?) just for signing up for a china mobile monthly plan with a 200 rmb initial deposit, which didn't seem too bad a deal (if you just want something to run basic apps for a month). Technically it's always been this way and those shops you ran in to get a sim card for were illegal but no one cared. The issue then was those random cards were already on some random plan and changing them or upgrading the plan was a pain/impossible. In 2012 or something when I went to sign up at a real China Unicom office to get a better plan with 4G and stuff and they did the same stuff where you needed your passport, but overall I remember it being pretty painless if a little time consuming. They had a big grid with X data and Y whatever else for Z money and you just picked one and loaded up some money on your account. Given how many things are tied to a phone number now in China (wechat wallet, alipay, JD, taobao, bank account info, etc....) it makes sense they're way more strict on this stuff, and it ends up working out for people as well. If I lost my sim card or phone I'd be totally boned due to how much is tied to it at this point (and I know lots of Chinese people with way more capital floating around in that stuff), and since all my info is connected to it I just have to go to the Unicom office with my passport and get a new sim with my old number and everything's fixed. Trammel posted:Real name verification for services and online services is a real thing now. Been that way for at least a year. You can't even legally buy data only sim cards without ID. Alipay and WeChat need a lot of verification recently, and they're closing foreigner accounts that can't/won't jump all the hurdles. Those regulations are on everyone in the country, not just foreigners, and I had more than a few coworkers complaining when they started getting messages about adding more bank accounts and whatnot. A few said they'd just stop using Taobao none stopped using taobao The fact Alipay went through with it and Weixin is dragging their feet is weird though. Signing up for Weixin Zhifu is till super easy compared to Alipay, no idea how long tha'll last.
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Aug 10, 2016 03:29
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Alipay rules, you can even use alipay and pay in rmb when you are overseas. It's crazy convenient. All these internet services put you in this giant bubble. You can order temporary data SIM cards for traveling and the prices are even cheaper than local prices. Like I could get a 10 gb LTE T-Mobile sim for Canada USA Mexico for 30 days, for 420 RMB. While the actual price is 90 USD. Oh and you can hire drivers and rent cars through Tao bao
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Aug 10, 2016 11:19
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Ragingsheep posted:All mobile roaming and HK based dual SIMs automatically have a VPN connection between you and the carrier's data centre outside of the Firewall. This sounds like the nuts, we shoulda got one of those before we headed in. The government id thing and waiting around forever to get it tied to the sim sucked - but I guess I understand. We used her sisters id because I got weirded out by the whole deal, so I probably shouldn't put vpn on it and google up the T-word or anything. Changsha appears to be doing well. Everybody has a car now, even in the projects/ghetto where we are. Except my inlaws. The new subway lines are really good. And didi chuxing. Not many people stare at whitey anymore. The sky was actually blue today. There is actually water in the river. P much everyone is still an rear end in a top hat though. And its hot and wet as balls all the drat time, gently caress coming here in the summer, we never learn. They have a hai di lao in Changsha now too. Which was awesome, although I went to the bathroom there and found a turd the size of my forearm in the urinal, decorated with a tiny kleenex on top. I'm guessing here such an action is still probably due to ignorance instead of spite. I'm just really really amazed that someone was able to pump out a solid poo poo of that magnitude given the diet and water quality. I guess the fact that it was in the urinal instead of neatly coiled on the toilet seat is an improvement.
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Aug 10, 2016 12:17
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caberham posted:420 RMB
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Aug 11, 2016 14:19
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Come on over to HK sometime everyone. Caber's house warming of frozen pizza will happen soon
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Aug 11, 2016 14:20
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caberham posted:Come on over to HK sometime everyone. I hope you're importing Mama Celeste or at least Tostinos.
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Aug 11, 2016 19:19
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Trying to figure out what to do about a roaming data plan between now and Tuesday... Can you get by in China with ExpressVPN and Google Voice for texting and calling via WiFi? I assume public WiFi is pretty common in Shanghai and Chengdu?
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Aug 13, 2016 22:58
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I'm not so sure about nowadays but major airports and train stations still have these counters selling data plans But you still need a VPN. I just get a prepaid card in HK with China roaming
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Aug 14, 2016 00:34
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