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I drove all over western Mongolia. UB is a dirty, dangerous, boring shithole, and it's not even cheap. If you like getting in drunken brawls with guys built like powerlifters, then go right ahead. You'd have to drive nonstop several days to get to the gorgeous areas in the West, and you absolutely should not do it alone nor without someone qualified. I met some guys from UB in a nomad camp who were recovering after breaking down and getting stranded in the desert for a few days before someone came along and found them. That said, if you have the time and money to get out to the Altai region, then do it, because it's like visiting another planet. Also it's below freezing like 9 months of the year. And whoever mentioned swarms of flies was not exaggerating.
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Jul 19, 2013 04:34
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Plus once you get to Vietnam, it's about the cheapest place in the world to travel if that's a factor.
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Jul 19, 2013 06:08
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bad day posted:I dunno but every day I see poo poo that's pretty much just like blade runner. Or Sarajevo. What was the deal with all the fireworks last night? There were like six separate hour-long fireworks shows near the zz apartment i am staying in. All in different places but happening near-simultaneously. For what it's worth I was just in Sarajevo. It is a beautiful, clean, amazing city. 
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Jul 23, 2013 10:24
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Just got notice that I got a Chinese Gov't Scholarship to Sichuan University, so I'll be joining the other Chengoons in September. Of course, the admissions package is just 2 pages and doesn't give me any useful information about when to arrive or how to apply for a visa. 
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Jul 29, 2013 03:24
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Magna Kaser posted:Go to the International Student Office (on the second floor of the 留学生公寓，NOT 留学生宿舍) on whatever date it gives you in that packet. Mine said I needed to register between X and X date last year, so just come sometime in that period. Language classes start about a week after that period, other classes later. I had a solid 3 weeks before my first class. Language program for a year. I will likely be the greenest student they've ever had. I don't speak a word of Chinese. The packet doesn't have any specific dates. I emailed the international student office this morning, though.
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Jul 29, 2013 04:05
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I planned on living off campus from the start since I'm past college age and have the money to do so. I'll probably just get a hotel for a week or two while I apartment hunt.
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Jul 29, 2013 05:02
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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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ReindeerF posted:7 years on, my biggest realization on my last trip was, "Holy poo poo, there is a TV every 5 feet everywhere you go and no matter what activity people are engaged in, they're staring blankly at a TV." And about 2/3rds of what's on TV is some sort of consumption — cooking shows, eating shows, shopping shows, auction shows.
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Aug 7, 2013 09:50
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After 4 hours at the consulate in Bangkok I finally got my visa app submitted. I arrived 5 minutes after opening and was #148. Naturally when I got to the window I was told I was missing a document that isn't listed as required online or in the consulate. In a shocking display of kindness the visa officer accepted it anyway. I didn't even have to yell and scream and pound my chest. 
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Aug 14, 2013 03:08
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If Macau casinos are anything like every other casino I've been to in Asia, then expect the atmosphere of a funeral home. Having fun is grounds for ejection.
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Aug 14, 2013 15:14
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Just picked up my visa. It only has an enter-before date and lists the duration as 000 and single entry. Is this standard and I just change it once I register in Chengdu?
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Aug 16, 2013 04:09
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A friend of mine flew China Eastern from NYC to Beijing. Forgot to charge his iPad and didn't bring anything to read. No big deal since there's in-flight entertainment, right? He spent 16 hours looking at the back of the seat in front of him. No personal screen, communal screens only showed Chinese hitorical dramas with no subs.
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Aug 21, 2013 07:05
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Even budget carriers in Asia are more pleasant to fly with than any airline in the States. It's strange because American service is saccharine sweet in so many industries. I've had foreign friends complain that shop staff and waitresses are too nice. Meanwhile airport and airline staff default to raging rear end in a top hat mode even if you're being friendly and not requesting something that would inconvenience them, such as fulfilling one of their most basic job tasks.
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Aug 22, 2013 03:57
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So after a few days in HK meant to be preparing for my move to Chengdu, I find myself having done nothing and still completely unprepared. My flight might be canceled (no one can confirm/deny), but if it's not, I'll be arriving at about 2am. Any recommended hotels near SiDa that would be a good base for apartment hunting? e- From the looks of the posts above, there will be a gathering of the neckbeards in Chengdu later this week.
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Sep 2, 2013 06:21
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I've been fully booked with friends the whole time I've been in HK. I've barely had time to sleep much less recover from mounting hangovers.
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Sep 2, 2013 06:38
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I went ahead and booked a private room at the Flipflop Lounge. Magna, earlier in the thread you said you'd used agents in the past to find accommodations. Do you have one your could recommend? I imagine I'll get less screwed by an agent + fee than by trying to find a place on my own with no language skills.
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Sep 2, 2013 09:03
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A friend of mine works at a 5-star hotel in Bangkok, and she said that their biggest problem for the past few months has been Chinese tourists going to breakfast in their boxers. So far the most effective solution has been to pump the aircon and offer bath robes.
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Sep 2, 2013 10:19
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Magna Kaser posted:The Mix hostel is p much the best hostel in Chengdu. It's not terribly close, but with the subway its not wholly inconvenient. Near the uni itself isn't much besides weird crappy hotels with hourly rates and a few overpriced business hotels. Lazybones hostel is nearer to the uni but pricier (and nicer) than alot of the business hotels in town. I went ahead and booked Flip-flop for a week. It's clean and easy and was the closest to the university. Got in at 3am with no RMB and no ATMs working. In a shocking display of kindness a taxi accepted HKD at market rate. Then I saw multiple penises on the way in from the airport. Men here don't just urinate publicly. They do it proudly.
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Sep 3, 2013 05:27
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Heartbroken to see that the goon wechat group is full. 
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Sep 3, 2013 07:04
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You need actual hard copies, too, and it can be a pain in the rear end to find a willing and able printer when you need one.
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Sep 6, 2013 03:16
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Tom Smykowski posted:I let a Chinese friend use my computer for like 20 minutes now I have some weird Conduit search engine set as my default because of something he downloaded and I can't get rid of the drat thing. I can do either but would strongly prefer Friday.
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Oct 14, 2013 05:42
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CHENGDUGOONS
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You can, but it seems like an annoying bureaucratic process (more PSB time) and your legal limit is 8 hours per week. No sane company wants someone for just 8 hours a week. I think it's basically a way to get foreigners to do stuff for university departments.
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Oct 22, 2013 12:21
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I'm down for rabbit head on Friday night.
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Nov 5, 2013 14:20
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I think I mentioned that I might go to Chongqing, but I've decided not to. Consider me penned in for any eating of things on Friday night.
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Nov 5, 2013 16:18
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GuestBob posted:He should come to Henan instead. Gooncamp China is gonna be in Henan.
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Nov 20, 2013 06:47
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Almond Crunch posted:Also am I really the only KunmingGoon? Why on earth would someone go to notkunming China? I'm gonna be with Kunming for one night only with some friends. We're gonna go to Dwarf Empire in the day and are staying pretty centrally. Any recs for a boozy dinner feast? From there we're headed to Dali for three nights if you have any suggestions for there. We want to do some outdoor stuff. Then poor old me is back to Chengdu.
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Dec 3, 2013 13:44
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For comparison an airport smoking lounge is about 165.
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Dec 15, 2013 06:00
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All the clubs around Jiuyanqiao are just as awful as Jellyfish and the others in that complex. There just aren't any foreigners going to the Jiuyanqiao places. I live a stone's throw away from Muse and pass the place every morning. The whole block smells of baijiu puke. I think there are a lot of places with great potential, but you couldn't get an expat here to go outside his comfort zone if you put a gun to his head.
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Dec 21, 2013 14:37
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Magna Kaser posted:The number of non-Chinese people in a city like Chengdu is relatively small. I normally went weeks without seeing anyone non-Chinese who I didn't work with. IIRC, there are about 20,000 foreigners (including Koreans, Japanese, HKers, Taiwanese, and other overseas Chinese), so you're probably looking at less than 10,000 gringos in a city of 14 million people. Pretty much all of us live between the greater Jiuyanqiao area, Tongzilin, and the 'true expat' hoods south of the city. The fact you can go to a shopping area as crowded as Chunxi Lu and not see a single foreigner is pretty remarkable.
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Dec 22, 2013 10:43
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:Echoing my post above. Either you confirm their crazy bullshit or you threaten their retarded world perspective. There is no real middle-ground. Either you agree with them and USA#1, or you don't and you're a loving commie. Not everyone's like that, but enough are that you'll find yourself in a bubble pretty quick. I have never seen this USA #1 thing at all when I've gone back, and I'm from redneck-rear end Mississippi. In my experience, most people are pretty interested and aren't shy about admitting ignorance. The key is to limit how much you talk about it. Whenever I go back now I make a somewhat conscious effort to not talk about myself or my life abroad if no one asks about it. The problem with expats going back is that they never shut the gently caress up about being expats and living in Foreignlandia and doing all this sweet stuff and and and! This just annoys the gently caress out of everyone else back home. No one has been wondering what Mr. Expat was up to while he was gone, because they have jobs and lives and have been doing their own poo poo, which Mr. Expat never bothers to ask about and thus never gets caught up with everyone. Instead, Mr. Expat manages to always make a comparison to wherever he's been, talks about himself incessantly, and comes across as a narcissist.
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Dec 29, 2013 09:19
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Magna Kaser posted:I just complain about how drat hard it is to pay bills in the US vs China. Just gotta go to the 7/11 scan my card and bam. I have to actually set up bill pay online in america and JEEEEEZ. Meanwhile I have to march my rear end through the mustard gas over to Hongqi at 8am on Christmas morning to top up my electricity card. Then at 10pm on Christmas night two doofuses bang on my door for 15 minutes asking me to pay my water bill.  I don't think I know any two people who pay their bills the same way in China.
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Dec 29, 2013 10:57
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She was probably terrified that he had a knife.
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Jun 10, 2014 03:07
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Woodsy Owl posted:
You still might get it back early. I got mine back in less than 3 weeks, and one of the weeks in there was National Day week.
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Jun 10, 2014 14:52
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What's the reasoning behind it? What exactly are they doing with that extra time?
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Bloodnose posted:New slogan for Chengdu: "Do yaks." Not too different from the current slogan of "Do pandas."
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Jun 13, 2014 14:01
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caberham posted:Chengdu is dirt loving cheap. Magna is more like bragna, his rent is ridiculously low. Chengdu is so cheap that I lived by myself in a 2BR apartment inside the 1st ring. Good luck finding a place that isn't a crumbling shithole, though.
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Jul 17, 2014 02:54
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This NYT piece is full of China gems.quote:He smiled and patted his not insubstantial belly. “I like to eat.” quote:Chen, who is 72, never planned on being a dumpling mogul. quote:Even after he became vice president of the Second People’s Hospital in Zhengzhou, a provincial city about halfway between Shanghai and Beijing, Chen remained bored with his day job. “I didn’t have enough to keep me busy,” he said, blinking earnestly, hands steepled beneath his chin. “I would wander round inspecting the building, and I had meetings, but I felt as if I spent most of my time reading the newspaper and drinking tea.” He engaged in lots of Rube Goldberg-like tinkering: jury-rigging the hospital’s aging equipment, fixing his neighbors’ radios and even building Zhengzhou’s first washing machine. And he cooked. For decades, his lunar New Year gifts of homemade glutinous rice balls were legendary among friends and neighbors. quote:His investigations found that, on average, a Chinese person experiences some kind of digestive upset twice a week — a kind of low-level recurring food poisoning, much of which is probably caused by the kind of bacterial growth that could have been prevented by keeping food cold. “Bad bowels,” Moriarty said, “is just part of the drill for being a food consumer in China.”
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Jul 28, 2014 02:37
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computer parts posted:Aren't they semi-close to getting a mutual visa-free deal with Thailand? Yes, and all thanks to a retarded Chinese comedy movie that looks like it was shot on a first-generation Huawei.
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Aug 27, 2014 00:09
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