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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Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Not everyone does. I never had any real issue adjusting to Korea, and poo poo that bothers me like never planning or the medieval medicine isn't culture shock, it's just dumb.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2013 03:53

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 07:22

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I'm looking to return to China finally, hooray! I'm definitely going to Xian for five or six days, and Shanghai for two or three (depending on flights for partial days). Trying to figure out my budget and I've forgotten how much money I brought on my previous China trip. I did Tokyo on $100 a day and that was enough to be semi-extravagant, so I'm thinking $50 a day would be plenty. I know Shanghai will be more expensive than Xian but I'm basically going to museums, looking at old poo poo, sleeping in hostels, and eating street/local food. Probably hit a couple markets but not like any high class shopping.

So like $500 for a trip of maximum nine days. Plus flight to Shanghai from Busan, and I've heard I can get really cheap internal China flights if I use a Chinese website. Any flaws in this plan?

# ¿ Jul 30, 2013 06:33

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

Yeah, it's a pretty common thing throughout the world. At least regular businesses don't shut down in China like they do in Spain.

This napping goes on while you're supposed to be teaching a class and stuff, though.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2013 07:51

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Magna Kaser posted:

Eating pizza with chopsticks is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Once we got little wrapped individual slices of pizza at school for school lunch. There was some murmuring about how to eat this among the Koreans, then one put it on his rice bowl, chopped the pizza up with his spoon and mixed it together. All the other Koreans followed suit, while me and the other two western teachers were watching in stunned awe and eating ours with our hands.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2013 01:49

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

So white people. I'd like to learn some characters for a baseline if I move to somewhere that uses them. I'm not sure where though. China, HK, or Japan are all possible. So is it easier to learn traditional and figure out simplified or vice versa? I know the answer is learn the one for where you are going but I don't know. Also, I can learn hanja while I keep up with Korean studies here, those are traditional characters. I'm leaning that way since I need to keep working on Korean and that was I can do both, but looking for input from people who actually know things.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2013 06:40

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Basically my idea was I can keep working on Korean vocab since I live here and it is thus useful, but if I learn hanja too then I can at least understand in writing and have a leg up if I move elsewhere. So I suppose I will stick to that plan.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2013 11:21

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I was hoping it'd help me remember, I don't have a lot of trouble with Korean grammar but the words still all sound like the same long string of vowels to me even though I'm getting on three years here. I have a hell of a time remembering vocabulary. My kingdom for a consonant.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2013 13:41

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Moving to China is a realistic possibility, so I won't really have a choice. For now just written is all I'm going to work on. Chinese is also more interesting/useful than Korean so I'd be more motivated.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2013 15:03

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Mutianyu is good if you don't want to make it a two day thing. There was barely anyone there when I went and nobody was watching, so you could get out to the less bullshit parts of the wall.

Really as long as you don't go to Badaling you're making a good decision.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2013 03:01

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

ReindeerF posted:

I dunno if you guys have the phenomenon, but her, basically, Bangkok is a world unto itself where people only know their way around 2-3 neighborhoods and are completely perplexed by every single thing outside of those areas.

We have that in Korea! I know my city better than most of my friends who were born here. They know their neighborhood quite well, but beyond that? "Too far" starts at about a kilometer from home, so they've never been there.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2013 03:35

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

In my experience Asian zoos are the most depressing places on Earth.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2013 14:55

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Yea, the four ultra-hards they list are Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean. Japanese usually wins as the hardest for English speakers because it has all the oddities of Korean plus you have to learn kanji to read.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2013 05:14

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Man if you were looking to intentionally infest your place with centipedes the roaches must be a real problem. They are both terrible things that should never be indoors.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2013 04:25

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Magna Kaser posted:

The issue is they look like they crawled out of a portal from hell.

Yes.

If I had centipedes in the walls killing roaches I'm cool with that, as long as I never see one ever. The problem is that they wander out into the world of man and then they must die.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2013 04:54

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Can you get those 15K+ jobs in Wuhan or is that Shanghai/Beijing only kind of pay? There's a small possibility of moving there specifically, but I need to be making 15K minimum because I have a student loan to pay.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2013 03:29

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

VideoTapir posted:

Jayzus that's one fucker of a loan.

That it is. It's not like it'd take the entire 15K but that's roughly what I make a month in Korea now, and it's just barely enough to cover loan plus my life.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2013 03:37

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

That whole post is pretty much asia.txt.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2013 12:25

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Aero737 posted:

Otherwise, I recommend the Military Museum. A ton of old cool communist stuff and a room dedicated to shot down American stuff from Korea.

And the national museum. Best collection I've seen in Asia so far.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2013 01:25

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Thanks for posting that, it is interesting and not too E/N. I am also curious how their CCP love came, I've literally never met anyone from China who likes the government. MY GIRLFRIEND claims the only Chinese people who like the Communist Party are Communist Party members who use it in order to steal everything, which seems like an accurate assessment.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2013 15:56

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

One country two standards.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2013 02:58

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Ceciltron posted:

a distinct impression that ESL teaching here is kind of a big old joke played on everyone by nobody.

Welcome to Asia.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2013 01:29

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

In Korea it's only three days off work and things are only really closed on the day of Seollal itself. It's not a big thing.

E: And in 2014 it's on a Friday so only two days off. God drat it. THANKS FOR RUINING MY DAY BLOODNOSE

Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Nov 17, 2013

# ¿ Nov 17, 2013 15:27

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

How often do most of you guys sport the masks? Moving to China is a possibility for me down the line but I'm not really looking forward to the idea of living in an apocalyptic wasteland where you need a breathing apparatus to go outside.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2013 04:28

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Hong Kong is definitely top of my list, despite the poo poo weather. But there aren't any sorts of real plans at the moment, just thinking about the future. Chengdu seems nice too, and Qingdao. Shanghai was always attractive but all I hear about the food sucking is off-putting with my love of Chinese food.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2013 04:59

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I'd have four years full time in Korea plus a year and a half part time at my university by the time I'd be looking to move. What kind of experience did the HK recruiters want?

# ¿ Nov 28, 2013 05:14

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Tom Smykowski posted:

unnecessarily impressed

This is a great little phrase for so many things in Asia.

MeramJert posted:

They say it's bad and gross and too sweet. Mind you, this is only the local Shanghainese food. They're not talking about how you can probably find most any food you want in Shanghai.

Yeah, it's the Shanghainese food. I've always assumed you can get anything you want in Shanghai, but I also always hear from everyone who goes to Shanghai that the food sucks (exception: soup dumplings) and I've never been there so it's not like I have any idea.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2013 13:56

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I wonder if it's always better when you don't have it. I loved every bit of food I ate in China but lovely food is absolutely one of the top things I hate in Korea. I mean obviously there's great stuff but most restaurants are a pile of corn syrup and gross.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2013 00:49

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

If 55 is cold I can't imagine you surviving in Russia. I mean I know not all of Russia is a frozen wasteland even in winter but there can't possibly be anywhere even close to that warm.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 14:49

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I get you. Where I am in Korea is warmer than what I'm used to, but the persistence of the cold is a different experience. There's no respite, either places are unheated or are loving 30C and I want to kill myself.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 15:31

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

17 here right now in lovely South Korea. :smug:

# ¿ Dec 15, 2013 03:08

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

VideoTapir posted:

I don't think they measure soot, that's why.

No, it's usually quite clear where I live. Maybe once every month or two it gets hazy, it's not gross regularly like up in Seoul. When the Chinese soot and arsenic cloud rolled in last week it was on the AQI thing.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2013 05:40

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

VideoTapir posted:

The soot isn't Chinese, it's from Korean diesel trucks and tractors and everything. Touch anything outside in Seoul or half of Gyeonggi-do and your hand comes away black. That doesn't happen in China. edit:　It doesn't happen in Beijing, at least, which has some of the worst air in China. I haven't been to anywhere worse recently.

Huh. I've never seen that anywhere here. Seoul is noticeably hazy whenever I go up to visit, the air where I live is about the same as back in the US. Most of the time.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2013 06:54

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

DontAskKant posted:

Don't listen to GrandFromage I'd much rather have a 150aqi day in China than Korea.

Well, you live in Seoul. Ulsan is the cleanest major city in Korea. :smug:

Ten years ago it used to be one of the dirtiest. And think about the US in like the 70s. It is a fixable problem if anyone bothers to put the effort into it.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2013 05:15

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

caberham posted:

I wouldn't know anything about Ulsan because I have been to Korea twice, and still haven't met Grand Fromage

Come a day that isn't literally the only day the entire year where I absolutely couldn't cancel my plans. :argh:

# ¿ Dec 19, 2013 05:26

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Hey guys this is drifting perilously close to offsite drama, can we reel it in so I don't have to probate anybody I hate punishment

# ¿ Dec 21, 2013 00:37

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

The Hanging Temple is in Datong and the pointy spires are the karst formations in Guilin. I think the ridiculously dangerous wood plank climb is different than the Hanging Temple though, I'm not sure.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2013 00:40

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

goldboilermark posted:

My apologies, I started all of this and I won't mention it again.

Don't worry about it. I know it's related, we have our Kakao chat in Korea too.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2013 01:16

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Tom Smykowski posted:

One of my co-workers spent like a decade in America and constantly complains about China. He finds me to complain in English. About everything. Every single thing. He hates chopsticks.

I have this too, every Korean I know who lived in the west for any serious length of time loving hates Korea and complains to me about it. It's hilarious.

One day we had a typhoon and had to go to school, because the city is run by morons. It was too dangerous for kids to come but you're teachers so gently caress you. So we're standing in the empty classroom watching the typhoon, and a tree gets ripped out of the ground and goes flying past the window. My co-teacher says "I hate Koreans, I wish I stayed in Australia."

Then when the eye of the typhoon arrived, the principal decided the storm was over and sent us all home. Ten minutes later I'm being slammed into walls on my walk home since hey, turns out the eye isn't the end of a typhoon :buddy:

and everyone is confused why I come in bruised up and limping the next day.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2013 05:08

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

What's a good list of Chinese New Year traditions and stuff? Like what sorts of food, what do you do, the types of decorations and stuff. I want to make a mini New Year for someone who is away from home for it.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2014 14:03

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 07:22

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Yeah but they do all the New Year stuff. Integrated Hui. She is from around Wuhan, forgot that it's surely regional.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2014 16:35

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

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