balgajo
Member
You went to Hong Kong and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.?
lol
It was a business travel. Guys took us to have dinner there....XD
Though I didn't know about this restaurant until then.
You went to Hong Kong and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.?
I mean the poster pretty clearly stated that that was the case ? Why do you need to be reaffirmed that they ate at bubba gumps ?You went to Hong Kong and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.?
Sounds like you're a victim of those guided tours lol. They probably wasted all your time at those tourist traps around confusian temple/sun yet sen mausoleum.
Xinjiekou is the only place you should visit if you're only spending a short period of time in Nanjing
I'm interested in what the average Chinese citizen is doing in 2017. I'd want to see China's biggest cities. Biggest skylines. Biggest shopping districts.
I hear China has some massive cities that would rival Chicago
"Would you ever travel to China for vacation?"
No, but I wouldn't go to the US either so my criteria for vacation is probably more specific than most. I'm not interested in going to countries where they oppress their people, pollute the environment so heavily, etc.
I've already experienced enough of these kinds of places so now I want to visit places which know how to run a nation properly like Sweden for example.
lol
It was a business travel. Guys took us to have dinner there....XD
Though I didn't know about this restaurant until then.
I mean the poster pretty clearly stated that that was the case ? Why do you need to be reaffirmed that they ate at bubba gumps ?
That's exactly why I'm not an asshole, because I'm not supporting the economies of oppressive regimes(and you are a racist if you think only European Nations can be free of oppression) . I'm rewarding countries which treat their citizens with dignity and acceptable standards of life.Ah, so you're only going to show respect for Aryan White nations. How progressive of you.
The average American isn't Donald Trump. The average Chinese isn't Xi Jinping.
Don't be an asshole.
Yeah, but it's just something they put around construction sites to make it look better than some ugly ass fence. It's not meant to trick people into thinking there's no construction or anything; people, even chinese, are not birds you know.
The people taking that picture are most likely doing it ironically. Unless they're tourists from some deep deep chinese fly-over country. There are people there who are still impressed by color printing.
My close friend is the opposite of me. He wants to go to some shrine. Smell some traditional burning incense. Wear traditional garments and robes. I don't care at all about "ancient culture", traditional customs, or any of that stuff. I'm not interested in what the Chinese were doing in 117 BC or 1017 AD. I'm interested in what the average Chinese citizen is doing in 2017. I'd want to see China's biggest cities. Biggest skylines. Biggest shopping districts. Biggest entertainment districts. Best places to grab food. See a music festival if they have one.
I hear China has some massive cities that would rival Chicago that I've never heard of. I want to go there and see those cities. What sports are they watching. What are their cinemas like. What's their version of fast food? Who's playing on their pop radio. What are their gyms, spas, and bathhouses like? I'm interested in modern contemporary culture.
In the city, being white wasn't a novelty, although I was treated somewhat differently. Out by the mountains and rural areas, I was like a zoo animal. The local communist leaders invited me to dinner and told me I was so big and strong I should be a knight in a hollywood movie (Im 5 7 and 160 lbs). Little kids would point and their jaws would drop. One teenager on the trains was fascinated with my arm hair and kept pulling it.
On a similar note, Greece is a fantastic country to visit, but Athens is terrible. Stop by quickly for the ruins, then leave to visit the superior rest of the country.
I don't think not visiting China is helping their citizenry either, long or short term. Though of course, this is your money, you can decide how to spent it.That's exactly why I'm not an asshole, because I'm not supporting the economies of oppressive regimes(and you are a racist if you think only European Nations can be free of oppression) . I'm rewarding countries which treat their citizens with dignity and acceptable standards of life.
Feeding into meagre wages and poor human rights isn't helping the citizenry in the long term.
Lots of bold statements from someone giving zero details on where they will, in fact travel. Let's hear the approved list.That's exactly why I'm not an asshole, because I'm not supporting the economies of oppressive regimes(and you are a racist if you think only European Nations can be free of oppression) . I'm rewarding countries which treat their citizens with dignity and acceptable standards of life.
Feeding into meagre wages and poor human rights isn't helping the citizenry in the long term.
WTF? HK is the arrogant dickbag capital of the world.
Lots of bold statements from someone giving zero details on where they will, in fact travel. Let's hear the approved list.
rambling of an old man said:While there were plenty of times where my obvious western-ness and clumsy usage of the Chinese language resulted in jacked prices and extended taxi trips, in general people were friendly (if crafty) and both nature and culture (what's left of it) were really awesome. Well, if you discount the rivers and seas all being green with algae. Smelled kinda awful on hot days. Then again, soon after we got monsoon like downpours that cleansed away much of the filth. Well, much of it anyway. Littering was a major problem.
Climbing a local holy mountain (Tài Shān) and on the down trip coming across naturally growing weed led to some hilarious outcomes. Could have ended very differently if authorities had gotten involved, but we managed to keep it on the down low, thankfully. Sadly, it wasn't really good stuff. Still, better than nothing, and a huge payoff for scrambling up that blasted piece of rock and getting up at ungodly hours to watch a cloudy sunrise.
Markets were absolutely amazing. Anything from live scorpions to traditional Chinese medicine, imported Taiwanese comics hidden under the counter and handled like contraband, touristy stuff, massage stalls, old farts sitting around with their bird cages or doing tai chi... even practising Chinese opera. I could soak in that atmosphere all day long. We were mercilessly exploited though. Do not let your guard down.
And then you turn a corner and find a music store selling cassette tapes of local and international bands, hidden behind a tiny door plastered in posters. Most of the cassettes were even the genuine articles, not pirated! Probably. It was right next to a bar that had an open mic night where some of the local bands played. It was great to listen to Chinese rock, metal and whatever else modern was en vogue. Then a minute later you'd have some old guys singing some traditional karaoke style tag along songs... Really unique, sometimes grating on the uncultured ears of a non-Chinese, but always blissful. Some great talent. Hope they managed to make it big.
Of course, whenever we got stranded somewhere and our Chinese didn't suffice to solve whatever problem we found ourselves in, we were proper fucked and could only beg someone to call our teacher. No way to try and gesture and pidgin-English your way out of that, Chinese or bust, and even then, pronunciation and dialects often remained a major barrier.
Plus, some of the locals got a kick out of pretending not to understand the strange utterings of us big nosed aliens. One yoghurt drink vendor genuinely enjoyed letting me practice proper pronunciation on him every freaking morning on the way to our lessons. I spent so much time at his stall always buying the same thing - but his yoghurt was so good, and his crinkly smile was so infectious, I could not get mad at him no matter how often he tripped me up. The loveable bastard.
Trains were unexpectedly great. On time, speedy, cheap. I was surprised, really. Taxis were ... cheap. Everyone drove like madmen on a mission to rack up roadkill for the food stalls, but you got used to the chaos. Red ones were with air condition, yellow ones without, and then there were others that were even cheaper, but a genuine Russian lottery.
The food. The food! So much great stuff. So many questionable experiments. Plan for one or two days of spontaneous digestive system discharge syndrome at the beginning of the trip if you want to enjoy the variety of food stalls and local restaurants, which I hereby ardently promote. Be aware that you may be eating unidentified meat off a metal spike made from bicycle wheel spokes or happily order a "daily special" meal at a restaurant and then get one huge-ass sweet-and-sour carp per person that smells and tastes like moss. Or half a chicken, feet, bisected head and all, jutting out of a soup pot. You also may spontaneously receive the full attention of the manager of an "Italian" restaurant chain while walking past and get a whole hour long presentation and solicitation on the spot ... odd experience. Free "Italian" meal, though. For the most part: Do not try to eat western food in China (unless you are seriously confident in its quality) no matter how much you crave it. The trip to a Bavarian Biergarten was hilarious for me, being a native of German Texas.
It was nearby that I ate my one and only grilled honeyed cicada pupa. What can I say, I was hungry and a dare is a dare. Wasn't bad, really. Deep fried scorpions are way tastier though. Don't eat dog meat, it tastes like crap. Snake is good though. Just discard all your stupid ideas about what one should eat, and just enjoy the taste. Or not. Honestly, they love offal, and often you will end to be determined to push past a questionable presentation or smell. But, no pain, no gain, and the payout is ridiculously tasty. Just browse YouTube for all those food stall videos. There's a Canadian (I think) that I personally detest from the bottom of my heart. He gets to eat all that yummy food and gets paid for it, to top to off. Why wasn't that a thing when I was a youngster, dammit. So envious.
The farewell meal with our teachers was hilarious. Like, we were a dozen people, but they ordered enough food and alcohol to last fifty. We were hellbent on finishing off everything - we had been advised that leaving too much or too little would make our hosts lose face, so this was serious business. Then the businessmen at the table next to us succumbed to alcohol poisoning and barfed all over their table before passing out. Nearly set fire to their stuff as well, since they had some hot pot thing going. That was our salvation, since we otherwise would have died to ruptured stomachs and alcohol poisoning. Feigning feeling sick due to those neighbours got us out of that pickle.
Their tolerance for alcohol and milk is interesting. Due to Chine being such a huge ass country you can't really generalise things, but I was amazed that I could finally drink someone under the table. Wasn't much of a victory, but hey. I'll take what I can get. His girlfriend probably was all liver inside, though. She could drink even the most disgusting paint thinner and just walk it off.
Minorities were a sad sight to behold. Fenced in and abandoned by the government, left to dwindle away. That's all I'm gonna say on that. They have hopefully cleaned up their act on that front since tourism needs such local flavours.
Also, getting outright abducted into a classroom and surrounded by forty-odd polite but determined students hellbent on getting to the bottom of your thoughts on Hitler, or seeing your own dumb face on pretty much all local news stations getting interviewed about your stay in China (and Nazis) ... Yeah. Probably won't happen anymore, at least in the more westernised parts, but I bet rural China still has plenty of places where westerners are still something newsworthy. So if you plan to stay at one place for a while, account for that. Treat it as Zoo animal cosplay. Minus getting treats and doing tricks.
Going out on a limb there, but you will probably also still receive a good chunk of odd stares. Some of them even hostile or belittling. There are xenophobes, there are racists, and you will encounter them. At least back then, that was a problem. I believe it still is. So keep a stiff upper lip.
Also, not related, but don't even think about getting into fisticuffs. They can outswear and outbrawl you. Plus, your instincts will probably fool you. Our Gōngfū teacher was half as tall as me, thin like a weed, but somehow still all muscle and could have bent all of us into a pretzel with both hands tied behind his back. Some northern tribe people will look down at you from a height of two-plus meters. You will never know whether someone won't turn out to be some secret undercover street fighter. Seriously.
In case of annoyance, call your lifeline and get out. Chances are, there's already a bunch of operatives on standby to remove the unsightly drunkards. Just allow them to take care of the problem out of your sight. That was a scary evening, and not due to the drunkards. Those guys came out of nowhere way before the police should have realistically been able to show up. Or maybe I'm retroactively paranoid.