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I just ordered crap off taobao to make one.
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Aug 6, 2013 00:12
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VideoTapir posted:Unless this agent came recommended to you by someone you trust and have good reason to trust, they're probably looking to screw you. Agents are scum. I dunno, I've used Century 21/HomeLink/etc to look at apartments occasionally (even online, most listings are through these guys these days it seems  ). I don't think I've really been screwed outside of the fee which is part of the deal of using these guys, and seems pretty standard wherever you are.Also, to be honest, agencies and stuff are pretty useful if you're looking for something specific. Like in Chengdu, some places have 20M internet, some places 100M, some places more... but most places are stuck with crappy ADSL. Even online it only says 宽带 without any specifics. If you go to an agency and say "I want a place in this area with a at least a 100M internet connection" they can pretty much make a list and you're on your way. Of course you should negotiate the price of the place a bit, and you do get stuck with that fee, but I really don't think it's quite as bad as you're making it out. When I lived in Qingdao I was pretty busy from the second I moved there and an agent really helped me out as I gave them some vague criteria and they found a ton of decent places. I ended up negotiating the price of the place down 500/month (from 2200 to 1700), and the fee I paid the agent was only like 1000 or something. Seemed pretty fair. I'm apartment hunting too, and on all the big web portals listings from people renting places themselves are bleak as hell. What happened Chengdu????
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Aug 6, 2013 22:42
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Private Snowball posted:So after 2 years in China I returned home to the West for my summer holiday. This place is strange and everyone is fat. I did this too. I learned fat people also exist in continental Europe, which blew my mind as everyone always told me it was only English-speaking countries that are fat.
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Aug 7, 2013 02:50
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BadAstronaut posted:Do ISPs in China generally have uncapped or limited bandwidth? I've never seen capped. Something to keep in mind, though, is the speed. In most cities now "fiber" and 100M+ connections are easy to find, but those speeds are only within China. ie if you're connecting with anything located outside of China, it will go through the great firewall AKA bottleneck and speeds will be poo poo. I have a 20M connection and I can download poo poo from within China at that speed, but anything from outside of the country seems to be soft-capped at 250kbps or so. Also you tend to pay for internet by the year instead of monthly. Basically if you're gonna be doing most of your downloadin' from outside China, it might not be worth it to find a super fast 100M+ connection. pyr0maniac posted:I'm still a little confused about the visa stuff.When I came here I just got a F visa for 6 months study, no need a resident permit or medical check up etc. (under 6 months study F visa) Ask your school. They'll most likely get a call from the PSB when they're processing your visa. Within China that medical check isn't pricy at all. You go to a special hospital set up just for this kind of check, move through it in an assembly line fashion and it takes about 1-2 hours max depending on how busy the place is. I think it only costs like 120rmb. An X is a lot better an an F, so I'd go for that. Year long X's generally have unlimited entries/exits compared to the F's normal 0, and the upfront cost is the same + the health check. Also that health check is good for a few years should you decide to remain in China after the fact.
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Aug 7, 2013 10:07
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MeramJert posted:I can download stuff from the US at like 1500 kbps I've never hit that high When I was in the US I was downloadin at like 6kbps at the slowest and it was depressing me. Within China I get crazy speeds. I've been loading up hour+ Dota2 streams in like a minute while watching the international with my VPN off. Also to actually BUY anything off Steam, you pretty much need a VPN these days. It yells at me telling me I'm not located in the country my card is from lately. Downloading is way faster for me sans-VPN though (Close to 2-3mbps usually). The only game that's actually blocked in China is Dota 2, due to dumb licensing stuff, but I think I'm the only one here who gives a poo poo about it.
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Aug 7, 2013 12:08
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BadAstronaut posted:More importantly than all of Eat This Glob's questions, http://www.gog.com is not blocked there, right? Don't see why it would be... Something else you have to realize is that many of these sites, even if they load, will not let you buy things from China due to licensing issues.
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Aug 8, 2013 02:13
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BadAstronaut posted:I find 70,000rmb a month to be greater than lol. More like fantasy, possibly even sci fi. Jingan is one of the more expensive areas of Shanghai.
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Aug 8, 2013 15:57
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China actually has a decent number of domestic success stories for mobile, not to mention companies like Tencent which are absolutely gargantuan. I think software is the one place China has really already had a lot of success outside of making things for cheap. If China and the Chengdu government have their way Chengdu will become the next silicon valley. As I understand it, Chengdu is essentially a SEZ but for software and tech stuff specifically. It doesn't seem like a week goes by without some big firm opening an office here. Microsoft, Cisco, IBM and Ubisoft to name a few have non-trivial offices here now. The combination of a decent and well educated IT workforce combined with the ability to pay foreign workers a lot less than you would in the Bay area seems to be attracting more and more big players.
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Aug 8, 2013 17:30
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BadAstronaut posted:Working for a games company, but not as a developer. What are you finding so entertaining? Way to put words in my mouth! One of the "good" things about being at such a small studio is I do take part in all game design and concept stuff. I also do a lot of Chinese-speaking since most of the management staff isn't bilingual. ReindeerF posted:That much of the discussion for the last few posts is about pirated games. I don't find this controversial living in the region, just entertaining. IP is getting to be a weirder and weirder thing. You can see crap like CF (Began as a CS Source clone, now I think it's evolved into something totally different) as what seems to be the last of an era. There used to be so much of this stuff, even as recently as a few years ago you could see people playing weird not-quite War3/SC2 games and pretty blatant Diablo stuff. Since the rise of free to play, this market has sort of died off. Also, League of Legends is essentially a Chinese IP at this point as Tencent owns Riot. What I kind of miss is weird old single player RPGs hacked out of the Baldur's Gate II engine that used to be around, mainly coming out of Taiwan. I played through a few and they weren't really that bad. And don't forget the Chinese classic fighting game, Dong Dong Never Die.
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Aug 9, 2013 00:35
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Arglebargle III posted:I was aware of this but what I don't totally understand it. How are Chinese firms going to enter the domestic desktop software market when it's inundated with high quality pirated software? Have you seen an average Chinese person's computer? They install more weird crap than I have ever seen. Between your QQs, your 360s, your weird download manager, your dumb thing to put stuff on your Android phone, etc... That said, desktop software is sort of in a weird place all over the world now. Everything is shifting so much towards mobile it's kind of scary. Chinese firms are already huge on specialized corporate software/outsourcing, since the talent here isn't bad and the cost of everything else is so low. My company started out doing that long before I joined up.
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Aug 9, 2013 15:42
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Wet markets are good, they're places you can buy meat and veggies that tend to be cheaper and fresher than at supermarkets.
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Aug 12, 2013 13:50
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Yi loving owns. I know a girl here at ChuanDa who majored in "Minority Scripts" or whatever it's called and could speak and read Manchurian, Yi, Tibetan and a few others. Unfortunate name, but it's cool someone is at least studying that stuff.
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Aug 13, 2013 02:33
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Also make sure you got your CASHOLA to hand over. 800 big ones for Americans, presumably cheaper for countries China doesn't hate and Japan. And yeah, to pick it up you just bring your receipt and go to a window. In Chengdu and Qingdao where I've done it there's no huge for picking up, you generally just go to the window and it's pretty quick.
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Aug 13, 2013 10:48
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BadAstronaut posted:And this would work just roaming around on my 3G/LTE data? LTE don't exist here.
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Aug 13, 2013 15:07
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Anyone in Beijing taking part in the Color Run? Will they provide respirators as part of the registration fee?
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Aug 14, 2013 02:22
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BadAstronaut posted:I've been to Vegas twice, played some small poker tournaments, loved the hell out of it. A trip to Macau is definitely on the cards, as long as they don't only cater to high rollers (I was playing like $100 max), which I can't see being the case. There's no poker in macau. Hope you like baccarat!
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Aug 14, 2013 15:14
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I personally hate Baccarat cause it's basically a 100% chance game, though the odds are actually not bad at all. I think they're slightly more in your favor than roulette.
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Aug 15, 2013 00:08
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Tom Smykowski posted:Kunming's weather is 100x better than Chengdu's and the pollution is noticeably less. The western food is better, too. And they have limes. The traffic is somehow worse than Chengdu's, though. What the gently caress you can get limes here. I was actually amazed to find limes here cause in Hangzhou and Qingdao they don't exist. I've spent a good amount of time in Kunming, and I'd rather live in Chengdu. I don't exactly know why, but Kunming is one of those good to visit, not so great to live places where Chengdu is basically the opposite. I like living here but when people come to visit I have no idea what to show them that isn't a 4 hour drive away or the Panda Base or a giant Mao. Wages in Chengdu will be better compared to the cost of living I believe, too. I know most ESL teachers at buxibans in Chengdu make like 10k or so a month or more, which compared to the cost of living here is pretty drat good. ALSO WE HAVE BURGER KING NOW, WE CAN BURG WITH THE BEST! And Chengoons come yak it up with us. I may bring these new interns from my company since I promised I'd help them out buying some stuff tomorrow. They're all college kids majoring in video game design, though, so they're goony as gently caress and should fit in fine. Who knows, they may even already be goons~
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Aug 16, 2013 07:33
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CHENGDU-TIBETAN-FOOD-EATING-TIME
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I've seen them in a few Ito Yokados. Treat in Raffles city has them as well.
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Aug 16, 2013 14:11
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Tom Smykowski posted:It's open and Magna says 2 more are opening in the south. Because only the south gets nice things and they closed like all the goddamn 7-11s on the northside. Hey as of now they're all within first ring, hardly north or south!
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Aug 18, 2013 11:44
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What I learned： Tibetan food in Chengdu is better than Tibetan food in Tibetan areas. It was really bland and boring out there, but p drat good here.
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Aug 20, 2013 08:16
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BadAstronaut posted:Any of you got any comment on flying Hong Kong airlines or Cathay Pacific? They good? Cathay is 80 bazillion times better.
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Aug 20, 2013 09:43
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Uhh Cathay had like 2 seasons of Veep, a season of curb your enthusiasm and the entirety of the IT Crowd and Black Books on my flight from HK to Frankfurt. They also had a ton of movies and a ton of other shows, it was pretty drat good. Compared to DELTA which wanted $1.99USD per episode of non-Friends/Two and a Half Men/Big Bang Theory shows 
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Aug 21, 2013 10:05
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Eating pizza with chopsticks is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
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Aug 26, 2013 23:29
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Since people are talking about books, a friend of a professor who is an English teacher at a university asked me if I knew any decently contemporary books her uni kids could read. She said she's sick of the same 'ol stuff like Old Man and the Sea they read every year. Anyone know any? I only read bad books.
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Aug 29, 2013 15:15
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BadAstronaut posted:Neil Gaiman is really loving good. I really like Neil Gaiman but for some reason his stuff seems to fly over ESL learners. I recommended some of his books to a couple of Chinese friends who wanted new English books to read and have pretty drat good English, but they thought it was all too weird and hard. Maybe the graveyard book? But that's meant for like middle schoolers I think (Still a p good read tho). I know ASOFAI was a joke, but the show is picking up steam and I wonder how Abercrombie's The First Law books would do. The two series get compared a fair bit, but Abercrombie's books are a lot shorter, easier to read, less graphic (which might be better for China) and less dense. I have no idea what their level is, the teacher in question is a Chinese person with pretty decent English skills, though, if that changes anything.
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Aug 29, 2013 16:03
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There's some other goon coming to Chengdu next weekend as well, so something is gonna happen.
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Sep 1, 2013 13:13
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Jeoh posted:Indonesia is not Chinese territory, Caberham. Not since the Dutch stole it!!! Also lol to that story. 40rmb? Most people I know who have done that kind of stuff got upwards of 1k. What TV channel was it?
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Sep 3, 2013 01:09
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Smeef posted: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. 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. If you really want to be in that area, maybe one of the business hotels on the first ring is your best bet, though. Just walk in one theres like a thousand. You could also just stay in the free dorms (if you got a scholarship) for a few days until you find a flat and be an iron chicken like I was.
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Sep 3, 2013 01:20
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Smeef posted:I went ahead and booked Flip-flop for a week. It's clean and easy and was the closest to the university. Ah, it's owned by Mix. Must be a new one, I don't remember it! They're good so it should be fine.
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Sep 3, 2013 06:39
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When you register, don't forget to have a photocopy of: the page of your passport with all your info on it your visa the page of your passport with your most recent entrance stamp into China You'll also probably need some proof of your parents address, a photocopy of their lease will probably work. You also might need a copy of your parents' landlords ID card.
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Sep 5, 2013 00:46
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Goons coming to/ are in Chengdu! Hotpot tomorrow! PM me for details!
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Sep 5, 2013 14:34
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CHENGDU HOTPOT FRIDAY NIGHT LADUZI-GANZA!!!! OK guys, let's meet tonight at 7pm at the Shujiuxiang Hot Pot (蜀九香火锅）near Sichuan University at Jiuyanqiao. It might be packed, in which case we walk 10m in any direction to another hot pot place because we are in Chengdu and the streets are just alternating hot pot, 冒冒菜 places and sex shops. Address Here: 锦江区九眼桥太平南新街8号(近九眼桥十二中) Bus stops near it are: Jiuyanqiao South (九眼桥南站), Hong wan si (红丸寺) or even Mozi Qiao(磨子桥) Warning on Mozi QIao though, there are like 8 different ones and some are very far off. I'll be on Weixin and available by text/phone if you can't find it. My number is 一八六二八二七一四二0
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Sep 6, 2013 06:58
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Hotpot is pretty reasonable in Chengdu, probably because there are 80,000 of them here and they have to actually compete. Unless you go crazy with special organs and things like BEEF it's never too much.
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Sep 6, 2013 09:33
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There will be plenty of gyms in Suzhou, but monthly the gyms here tend to border on highway robbery. My gym (not in Suzhou but a city of comparable cost) offers a year for about the same as three months if paid at the per-month rate. Still, there could be some in Suzhou that don't fit this mold, so good luck. Chicken breasts are cheap here, as are eggs. But that comes with eating chicken from here which almost no one is doing due to health scares. Also fake eggs are common so you gotta be on the lookout for that. The beef here is a ton leaner than in the states but pretty expensive. Pork is really the go-to protein here. And there's always tofu as well! If you use any powders I'd bring some over since they're all imported from the US here and see a huge markup.
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Sep 7, 2013 18:31
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FearCotton posted:Be prepared to have to play with the weights a lot though, especially if you're a serious lifter; the typical thing at my Beijing gym seemed to be "guy lifts 15 pound weight six times, pauses for iphone, flexes in mirror, adjusts polo, resumes rep once, repeats." Let's be honest this is the typical thing at most gyms anywhere. My gym is full of swole as gently caress Chinese dudes and ladies. I actually see this kind of thing here way less than I did in Ohio or New England.
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Sep 8, 2013 03:12
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Monkey Fury posted:Are there are good gyms in Chengdu, either off a bus stop or subway line that aren't too expensive? Looking to pay like... 1800 a year tops. Need free weights and a squat rack, preferably not crazy crowded. I've heard good things about Megafit, and that's probably about my limit for traveling distance from where I am (right around the IKEA) I'll always tell people megafit is probably the best. A year is 1600ish RMB, and it's worth it. They take care of the equipment, it's good equipment, there's a sauna and a steam room. It's nice. It's literally a 2 minute walk from the Chunxi subway stop. The only issue is during peak time for Chinese working folks people it's crazy crowded. This tends to be any time between 5 and 8pm M-F. Weekends are pretty dead and anytime before 5 and after 8 it clears out a bit. On weekends it tends to be only hardcore Chinese swoleberts and a large number of laowai, but everyone is really nice. There is probably a decent-ish one closer to you though. Megafit has some sister franchise that just opened one in the high-tech zone, if I can find the name I'll let you know. Arglebargle III posted:Hey just wanted to say I had a good time at the goon meets the last few weeks, good job everyone! I asked a Chinese friend about Old Meat and he said it's just pork butt. I tried to take some friends to Mike's Pizza the other day but we were waylaid by a crafty pizza establishment that had cunningly situated itself much closer to our movie theater. Can anyone confirm or deny the rumors that Mike's uses slave labor and or/beats and tortures its employees? This is a bit of Chengdu laowai gossip, but there are numerous claims of him screaming and yelling and even beating his Chinese employees. Screaming and yelling don't really phase me cause I worked in a kitchen for years and screaming and yelling is pretty much how anything gets done in that kind of work, but supposedly he's an rear end in a top hat maybe?!?! I've heard him screaming while in his place, but honestly it seemed more like AHH GET THIS poo poo DONE DELIVER PIZZAS and less AHH gently caress CHINESE PEOPLE I AM A WHITE OVERLORD. I dunno, I also don't think his pizza is that great for the price. I'd rather have Papa John's or even Prince Pizza which tend to be a good deal cheaper and bigger. If you like his pizza, and a lot do, I think you can go for it guilt free. I also think the Spot is terrible overpriced and not that great too (honestly BK is a better burger and cheaper, and I can cook a better burger in my house for 1/3 the price of their burger) but most non-Chinese people think it's pretty much the bee's knees. My favorite expensive laowai food in Chengdu is: 1. Lazy Pug - Just reopened on Renmin Lu a bit south of the Tongzilin train station. It's pricy but legitimately a great restaurant. Run by two Americans from Chicago I think??? They do the only good "fusion" food I've ever had anywhere, and make poo poo like taro nachos with special spicy dip that is amazing. 2. Kaminarimon/雷门拉面 - I eat here way too much. Two locations of a Japanese ramen place run by a real Japanese guy who is nice as hell and loves making ramen more than anything in the world. One is at Jiuyanqiao right behind the 7/11 next to the Underground bar, the other is at Silver Square at Chunxi Lu on the 5th floor. The ramen is great and cheaper than Ajisen and other lovely places, but the other stuff like beef bowls is also good. 3. Cakey Butta - Also super pricy, but the most legit cheesecake you can get in town. It's in Tongzilin about 500m west of Mike's Pizza. They also import craft beers from overseas. It's run by two American girls I believe. 4. That bakery in Yulin - This is some bakery in Yulin that doesn't even have a name I think. It's hidden down a road by the Yulin Highschool. Run by a German woman, also has amazing Cheesecake and other stuff. 5. Rice Plus - Curry place also right next to Mike's Pizza that is run by a friendly Japanese fellow. He's really committed to making a quality product and not using low-grade poo poo. His stuff is amazingly priced, a large order is more than most people can handle and tends to be under 30rmb. When I lived in Tongzilin I had delivery from this place way too often. e:whoopsss Ailumao fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 12:04
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Rogue posted:I don't think it'll be a hotel, probably some kind of temporary apartment type thing. That would be cool if there was a fitness center in the complex but I don't know how common that is, I don't feel like it's all that common over here. I am a pretty serious lifter but for 2 months I'll settle for just being able to at least do some basic things and not lose too much - I'll check out what's in my area the first few days I'm there. This is going to be in January/February so I'm guessing it would be too cold outside to use park gym equipment. I'll definitely eat lots of pork and tofu though, maybe bring a 5lb jug of whey, and hopefully I can find a place that sells real eggs. I dunno, bro. Those two things don't really go together. The Pleco OCR is really good though, from what I hear. I know people who live here and basically survive off of it. I think it is the worst thing ever if you're actually trying to learn the language, but for people just traveling it is a godsend.
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Sep 9, 2013 02:17
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Atlas Hugged posted:Oh god I'm going to have to learn barbaric simplified aren't I? pfft like the "traditional" characters Taiwan uses are themselves barbaric, simplified and lacking all the feel of true characters.  Ah, true and unadulterated. Only thing better would be if it was on some sort of bone. Ailumao fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Sep 11, 2013 |
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Sep 11, 2013 10:16
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caberham posted:Tacky cheesy names make me sick My complex is named 国嘉新视界 which just annoys the gently caress out of me when I tell people the name and have to tell them the jia and shi aren't the jia and shi they'd assume 
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Sep 12, 2013 14:11
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Especially when you have names like Beijing Beverly Hills or something stupid.