The China Megathread III: It is not a happy everyday

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > The China Megathread III: It is not a happy everyday

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Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

simplefish posted:

English First I've heard some bad things about, but then again, nothing terrible. They're big and have a track record by now so I suppose they will have a lot of resources for lessons (both pre-made and for custom-making) and support ideas for teachers who struggle.

On this, EF has a huge amount of impressive online resources. The online videos are drat cheesy, but combined with voice recognition, multiple choice questions and short answer sections, it's really good. EF are also very particular with students turning up on time to lessons, signing them in, and students booking level appropriate lessons.

However, student advancement in EF seems to be purely a function of how long you've been paying, so there's no guarantee that if you're teaching an advanced class, all the students can understand you.

# ¿ May 23, 2017 04:14

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 11:37

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

TheReverend posted:

The PA said not to drink the water , get ice in drinks, or eat street food. I am going to Shanghai.

Does this sound like reasonable advice?

Don't drink tap water, but eat all the street food you can because it's cheap and delicious. You have 5,000 years of delicious food to sample.

I'd rule out ice for the simple reason that cold drinks are obviously bad for your body.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2017 02:21

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Cymbal Monkey posted:

I'm going to Beijing, Xian, Hong Kong and Shanghai in September and I'm wondering if anyone's got any advice for avoiding meat in these areas. It's a practical as much as ethical concern because I've been veggie my whole life and have learned the few times I have accidentally eaten meat that my digestive system is not equipped for that job at all, and as much as I love adventurous food I don't love it as much as I love not spending my vacation puking.

Xi'an is awesome, and has awesome food, but most of the famous dishes contain meat. If you stick to places with photo menus, and pick the inexpensive vegetable looking dishes, or green vegetable noodle dishes, you should avoid the majority of the meat. Also, when you're looking at the Chinese menus, anything with 肉 (r�u) in the name contains meat of some kind. You can point at a dish and ask the waitress "Yǒu m�iyǒu r�u ma？� Where "Yǒu m�iyǒu" means have/don't have. If the waitress responds �yǒu a�, it's got meat. You want to listen for "m�iyǒu", which means don't have.

You'll hear "m�iyǒu" everywhere, like when you ask for a cold beer, or cold water, or a doctor that can speak english, or bread that's not full of sugar, or a mask because the pollution in Xi'an has hit PM 2.5 of 150, 4 times in the last couple of weeks.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2017 02:01

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

TheReverend posted:

I'm basically going to teach a team of Chinese engineers how to write proper software. I think I should be bringing them a gift (thats not a clock, lol) but not sure what's a good gift.

Any ideas? I don't want to Kramer this up with oranges.

Lot's of snacks from wherever you're from. Avoid the larger, worldwide brands. Don't worry about allergies or any of that kind of poo poo, but super-sweet stuff generally doesn't get eaten very quickly.

My last suitcase (when traveling to China to work with a distributed agile delivery team), a mixture of gifts and stuff people had asked for.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2017 03:20

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

GrimGypsy posted:

My wife and I have a small but growing chance of moving to China in the next year or so. I don't know exactly where yet.

Technology

Take electronic copies of all your identity documents, bank cards, and other cards. Store copies of them them in KeePass or 1Password.
Use a password manager and turn on Two-Factor-Auth everywhere. You're going back in time to 2007, where Windows XP + toolbars + download managers + accelerators + screensavers are the norm.
Install WeChat and create a throw-away account, because you're going to want to create a new account when you arrive in China tied to your Chinese mobile phone. Signing up with a foreign phone number severely cripples WeChat.
Sign up to at least 1 VPN provider and install the software on your phone before you leave. Google Play (and associated services) are blocked in China, and Apple's App Store has removed VPNs from the Chinese App Store.

Job & Housing
Figure out where you're going & where you're working. Location makes a huge difference to quality of life, and because you're going to somewhere completely new, you have a lot of opportunity to pick the "perfect" location in terms of commute, and access to transport, shopping, gardens, etc.
Find out what typical rent costs are in your locality. http://www.fang.com/
Make sure the company is sorting you out with a work visa before you arrive, or you'll have to do a visa run to HK at a minimum, or more likely your home country, to get one later.

Before you leave
Find somebody you trust, and sign the documents so they can act as power of attorney. Also, they need to be willing to do random things like find documents, get stuff certified at embassies, and so on.
Set up mail redirection for them to handle all your crap while you're away, while also contacting anybody that sends you mail and get them to switch to email if possible.
Find a bank account in your home country that offers international fee-free withdrawals at ATMs. This is how you can get money in to China. If necessary, give a second linked ATM card to your power of attorney.

When you arrive
Get a local phone account with China Unicom. You'll need a Chinese speaking friend, and you'll need to bring your passport to a large-ish shop to do this; small sales outlets won't sign up foreigners. Everything is pre-paid, and you probably want to concentrate on getting a large data allowance. If you can, make sure they spell your name correctly.
Open up at least 3 bank accounts. They're all free, but with luck, two of them will manage to have spelt your name correctly, which will open up AliPay and WeChat pay for you.
If you need to get cash out of China, open another account and then mail the ATM card to your friend. You can withdraw I think $50,000 USD annually using this method.

Language and culture
You should be able to afford a tutor in China, so find one you like through a local expat magazine. Learn enough to go shopping, buy beer, and similar. Past that, it's not really worth it.
Try all the local food, and relegate what you're used to as "expensive luxuries"

# ¿ Sep 11, 2017 06:57

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

GrimGypsy posted:

My wife and I have a small but growing chance of moving to China

You and your wife maybe also want to think about what the non-working visa partner will do while the other is doing the 9-5 thing. I knew three couples that spent 6 months, or a year, in China, where one was working, and the other was basically left alone in their apartment, in a foreign country, where they couldn't easily meet people, make friends, etc. It worked out about as well as you could expect, with one half of the couple becoming increasingly insular, never leaving the apartment, spending all their time downloading TV and playing games, and increasingly avoiding contact with the locals. Writing a blog, or opinion pieces for the Global Times are also popular options.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2017 00:28

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

simplefish posted:

Don't forget that it is literally illegal for some local hotels to have you stay.

Try ctrip.com, check the search filter box that says Foreigner Hotels or whatever

Security keeps getting ratcheted up. Its standard in hotels now for locals to check in with their ID using a PSB provided dedicated machine that takes their photo at the same time.

You can still find places that'll ignore you if a mate with local ID does the whole check-in, and you stay there. This may not technically be legal.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2018 09:45

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Minus1Minus1 posted:

Coming into Chengdu for a few days next month. Never been to the city before, don�t know what�s there besides the pandas, and I�m kind of �eh, whatever� about the pandas. Anyone recommend any must-see, must-do Chengdu stuff?

Looking at a hotel near Wenshu temple. Looks like a place I would enjoy.

Fork over $200 USD as a donation, and hug a panda. It'll be illegal/impossible in a few years.

Also, Chengdu has HotPot.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2018 02:25

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Nam Taf posted:

Note I have absolutely no Chinese language skills and although I can ask my translator dude to take me to places on the weekend, I’d prefer to be a little more independent and not ruin his time off work.

Search online and find a Chinese tutor that'll do one-on-one sessions at a reasonable rate and do a few two hour sessions a week. Emphasize it's purely ora for expediency. You'll become a lot more independent, able to explore more and it's fun trying out your awful tones on unsuspecting innocent taxi drivers and passers by.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2018 22:17

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

caberham posted:

I think baidu maps is more than accurate than tencent maps but tencent maps is better at automatically translating English search terms into chinese results

And of course set up wechat or Alipay

Setup WeChat and Alipay using a Chinese phone number in China. You get separate features on WeChat at least, and better integration with Wallet functionality.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2018 13:07

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Guy Axlerod posted:

Is there any way to set up wechat /alipay without a chinese bank card?

Alipay requires two verified Chinese bank accounts for foreigners.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2018 22:53

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Fleta Mcgurn posted:

My name was too long for Alipay

Oh yeah, try to have a short name, and avoid having any middle names before you come to China.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2018 23:27

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

In Xi'an only locals with Chinese ID card numbers can use Alipay for metro, but we are allowed to use WeChat + Xiaomi NFC bands and recharge through WeChat.

In summary, China is a land of contra~~sts~~dictions.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2019 05:58

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

toadoftoadhall posted:

What jobs do most of yall do? Students? English teachers? Any goons employed as software/hardware engineers in the China-sphere?

I'm Agile™

# ¿ Jun 4, 2019 12:58

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

So, two videos of tanks on the move. Some say it's to Shenzhen (close to HK), some say maybe Xiamen (close to Taiwan)

https://twitter.com/ux5zTomkQjkF7N4/status/1136439546428633088
https://twitter.com/c338ki_selina/status/1136265963857297408

# ¿ Jun 6, 2019 07:24

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Mons Hubris posted:

Anybody have restaurant recommendations for Xi’an besides De Fa Chang and the one paomo place that’s on every travel website?

Not specific restaurants, just the usual advice to eat where it's full of locals.

Muslim street has a couple of famous dumpling restaurants. They've generally got posters of famous people eating there.

The paomo on Muslim street is meh.

Wild goose Pagoda has transformed into a huge tourist place, and is much more interesting at night than during the day. It's full of people, small stages with singers, lights, food, etc.

The metro makes it really cheap and easy to get there and elsewhere.

Skip the warriors and take the fast train to Hua Shan.

Also it depends where you're staying and for how long.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 02:32

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

tino posted:

Don't skip the warriors, what are you crazy. Hua Shan is okay.

They're a bunch of reconstructed statues (bar one, found intact) in two large pits, often crowded to the point you can't see anything. There's virtually no information in English, and in the three times I've been, the tour guides have given wildly contradictory accounts of the history.

You're guaranteed to be "lucky" enough to be there when one of the three farmers who fell into the hole is signing specially priced guidebooks, and the tourist shop sells exactly the same stuff as the fakes on Muslim street, at ten times the price.

Throw in an often compulsory trip to a jade factory and eating at the drivers favorite local restaurant.

Watch a decent documentary instead, or at least watch it before you go, so you know when you're being fed bullshit.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 07:40

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Grand Fromage posted:

In fairness to China, most ancient statues you've ever seen were re-assembled from the found pieces and tour guides at historical sites anywhere never know anything and should not be listened to. Any site I've been to where I knew the history beforehand and overheard guides talking, they were full of poo poo. If they just read the Wikipedia article to you off their phones it'd be a hundred times more accurate.

That's fair, but I think China's "re-assembled" has a different quality to elsewhere. I'm currently in 大荔，a small town near Xi'an. They've got a newly constructed bell tower, in the same style as the one in Xi'an. It's been there less than a year, but in a few years, it'll be the ancient bell tower of Dali.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 08:04

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Do a trip report and settle this once and for all

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 10:59

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

TheReverend posted:

Red envelope trick ?

Nah, now before you can accept the envelope it prompts you to verify your account.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2019 23:39

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

China lawyers explain, in a lot of detail, why taking a teaching job in China is a bad idea now

A real lawyer posted:

If you are thinking about taking a job teaching English in China, my strong advice to you is DON’T DO IT. Just don’t. Look for such a job in Vietnam or Thailand or Japan or Spain or the Czech Republic or really just about anywhere else in the world. I say this because teaching English in China has become that corrupt, that horrible, that exploitive, and that risky.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2019 23:28

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Doc Fission posted:

I have an Airbnb in Shanghai for sure for sure and am contemplating just doing a hostel in Beijing since I'm going on my own and am a pretty low-maintenance tourist.

Unless you know the owner of the Airbnb, it might be difficult to persuade them to give you copies of all the documents (proof of home ownership, copies of their ID etc.) so you can register with the PSB within the required 24 hours (although they're pretty forgiving on being late on the past). I know lots of people don't, my brother and family skipped it when they visited. Hotels sort that out for you behind the scenes.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2019 21:59

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Magna Kaser posted:

if you're in town for a couple days of a bigger trip it's p easy to get away with that afaik. if you come and leave with no trace they might ding you but it's pretty low risk (there is a risk tho).

Absolutely, 100% agree. Just I think it's worth pausing for thought, when deliberately planning to break a host country's laws while planning a tourist trip to that country.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2019 13:30

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

sincx posted:

How about something like Xiamen? I never been but heard good things about it. He can also take the ferry to Kinmen and visit the other China too.

Xiamen is nice, but when I was there 2015 the hotel receptionist took one look at the foreigner and said it was impossible for foreigners to stay there, even though we'd booked for the week beforehand. The same for the next 6 we tried.

Only the larger, expensive international chain hotels would take us.

It was possibly something about its proximity to Taiwan.

China might be more foreigner friendly in 2020.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2020 13:48

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Amergin posted:

Gonna be back in Kunming for a couple months this summer.

Are Expressveepeen and Nordveepeen the preferred Great Firewall combatants at this point? Last I checked it seemed like free tunnels were getting whack-a-mole'd pretty quick.

LetsVPN. Limited to three devices per subscription, but it works.

Was back in the 'guo two months back.

ExpressVPN worked occasionally. VyprVPN not at all. PureVPN not at all.

But if you're using a foreign SIM card all the traffic gets routed directly back to your home country's provider unmolested.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2023 13:47

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Last week was in Beijing. Weather was very good. Pollution was small. People were many. Cars were many. School Bar was really fun.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2023 02:46

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Atopian posted:

If anyone wants more terrible chinagoon posting / questionable advice, post your wechat ID and I'll invite you.
We are mostly crusty long-haulers / those who finally escaped, so it'd be interesting to hear a new visitor's perspective.

Dare you enter our magical realm?

Is this the capture fun sell happy group?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2023 22:35

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 11:37

Trammel: Dec 31, 2007; .

Aero737 posted:

Welp. About to travel to China for the first time in 8 years. Taking off on 11/4. I lost all WeChat pay capabilities when I converted from Weixin to Wechat several years back. How hosed am I if I just try and rely on cash?

It'll be inconvenient. Taxi driver happily accepted 100 kuai note, but could only give change on Weixin. Ordering in restaurants is all through WeChat mini apps. Didi rocks, but yeah, it needs Alipay or WeChat.

You need one or the other.

Also losing physical picture menus to WeChat mini apps sucks.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2023 11:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > The China Megathread III: It is not a happy everyday

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