China

[Straef]

So I'm off to China for halfa year in september (woo-fucking-hoo, I probably won't be able to remember the FH url by the time I get back, so you'll be rid of me), and I've been looking up info about etiquette and general information and prices and what not.

Now, I was wondering whether any of you lot had any experience in China, as you might be able to tell me something new or at least give me something to read when bored shitless at work. My main concern, if I should call it that, are the prices in China (or Shanghai, to be more precise), as I won't be able to work once I get to China, so it'd be good to have somewhat of an estimate as to what I'd be spending when going out for some drinks or whatever, so I don't go there expecting to pay 10 cents for a drink and paying twenty times as much, or whatever.

Anyway, any random information would be appreciated, be it about the climate, prices for drinks/food/clothing, or whatever. And don't stop yourself from throwing in the ocasional 'Woo, good fucking riddance' or such comments :d

Oh, and I'll probably keep up some blog or some such once I get there, if anyone's interested. Might be nice if you're planning on a trip there yourself, or whatever.

 

[Ucallme]

Chinese girls are fit

Well for me anything with a skirt <drools>

Amphrax/Arauddry

 

[necromania]

I got a few IRL China Friends. i COULD Ask them for General info/advice.. but as its you?.......hmm....not really..

GL in china, i bet most people there will love u, as they Wont
understand a word of all the shit that comes out of your mouth.


/Freggy

 

[Straef]

I got a few IRL China Friends. i COULD Ask them for General info/advice.. but as its you?.......hmm....not really..

GL in china, i bet most people there will love u, as they Wont
understand a word of all the shit that comes out of your mouth.


/Freggy

Thanks for the feedback, but I can't picture your friend's information to be all that useful, as they've got to be pretty daft to be hanging out with you.

Anyway, I've had pretty much every question that came up so far answered by friends/acquaintances, but I'm still unsure about how much I'd spend on a night out. So, basicly, I'd like to know how much you'd pay for a coke/beer/spirit in a pub/club. And I realise prices will vary depending on whether I go to some local pub in some alley, or to some major club, so either would be good to know, as I plan on going to all kinds of places. It'd be nice to have an idea of the price range, or even a minimum/maximum of what I might end up spending for a drink in some fancy place, as I've got no idea at the moment, and I can't be arsed spending twenty times the regular price on a drink just for being a foreigner, nor do I plan on going broke in my first month there. And it'll be hard not to go broke if drinks end up being ten times the price I expect them to be, as my budget is tight enough as it is

And I'd love to read about your personal experiences in China, be they from Beijing or Shanghai or wherever. And a nice reminder; if not for me, they might be useful to someone else, as I'm sure I won't be the only one flying over to China in the near future. So don't let your disliking me stop you from entertaining/informing other readers. Just be sure to include a good, subtle 'I couldn't give two shits less if Straef died in a planecrash' sidenote, or some such.

 

[Megarevs]

ive just been to Beijing, i think we paid £2 per person for dinner with lots of beer. If you order any thing in a restaurant you allways get lots of food.

£1 ~ 33 Yuan iirc

 

[Straef]

ive just been to Beijing, i think we paid £2 per person for dinner with lots of beer. If you order any thing in a restaurant you allways get lots of food.

£1 ~ 33 Yuan iirc

Hah, those costs sound lovely, though I'm not sure about the currency. I think it was about 10 yuan per euro, so that'd be a bit over 30 yuan for those two pounds. Even I'll manage to survive with such prices
So that was two pounds for the food and the drinks altogether? Sounds really cheap

 

[kerosene]

Typical night out for me in Kaiping (near Guangzhou)

6pm - phone goes. Just making sure I'm going to be around if anything kicks off
7pm - phone goes. It'll be my only foreign friend saying we're off out tonight
8pm - I'll get something to eat
9pm - We'll go mess around for a while shopping, playing pool, whatever
10:30pm - We'll start hitting the local bar. Order maybe 6 bottles of beer. We'll start drinking them between us and invariably the barmaids and a few randoms will come along too to play dice and drink our beer that we paid for. The randoms will play 'Get the foreigners drunk!', fail miserably and just end up buying more beer. Free beer for us. Woo!
12am - We'll move on to the next bar. Repeat.
1am - We'll head to the nightclub. Women will be shitfaced and very approachable. Most people will be dancing, very few sat down drinking so make sure you're up for dancing and you'll pull.
2:30am - We'll ditch whatever hanger-ons we've picked up, exchange phone numbers with the nice girls and go grab some late dinner.
3:30am - We'll finish late dinner and I'll go home. Generally my friend will go get a prostitute. Get used to that btw. It's a very common activity for a lot of the people you'll meet. Just politely refuse and go home.

That's a 3-times-a-week occurance for me. Costs are generally...

10-30RMB - Early dinner. Usually something hefty. I generally order chow feng which is a guangdong dish. I might go for some curried meat with rice. Never drink beer at the meal. Too expensive. Accept the water and be prepared to pay a 2-5RMB service charge if you use the tissues that are provided in packets. One person pays for everything. You don't go dutch. If someone pays say 'I'll pay next time'. Make sure you insist next time and actually pay. It's quite a struggle to pay the Man before your friend.

6RMB - 1 large bottle of canoe-sex (fucking close to water) beer. Chinese people get hammered on it quite quickly. You'll want to make sure you buy the stronger stuff tbh or you'll just be peeing all the time and not getting merry. You buy rounds much like the UK. A round is generally 3 bottles at a time so 18-25RMB. Expect to pay upwards of 50RMB in a nightclub. The host (the person who invited you out) pays for the first round.

I hope this helps.

 

[Straef]

Typical night out for me in Kaiping (near Guangzhou)

6pm - phone goes. Just making sure I'm going to be around if anything kicks off
7pm - phone goes. It'll be my only foreign friend saying we're off out tonight
8pm - I'll get something to eat
9pm - We'll go mess around for a while shopping, playing pool, whatever
10:30pm - We'll start hitting the local bar. Order maybe 6 bottles of beer. We'll start drinking them between us and invariably the barmaids and a few randoms will come along too to play dice and drink our beer that we paid for. The randoms will play 'Get the foreigners drunk!', fail miserably and just end up buying more beer. Free beer for us. Woo!
12am - We'll move on to the next bar. Repeat.
1am - We'll head to the nightclub. Women will be shitfaced and very approachable. Most people will be dancing, very few sat down drinking so make sure you're up for dancing and you'll pull.
2:30am - We'll ditch whatever hanger-ons we've picked up, exchange phone numbers with the nice girls and go grab some late dinner.
3:30am - We'll finish late dinner and I'll go home. Generally my friend will go get a prostitute. Get used to that btw. It's a very common activity for a lot of the people you'll meet. Just politely refuse and go home.

That's a 3-times-a-week occurance for me. Costs are generally...

10-30RMB - Early dinner. Usually something hefty. I generally order chow feng which is a guangdong dish. I might go for some curried meat with rice. Never drink beer at the meal. Too expensive. Accept the water and be prepared to pay a 2-5RMB service charge if you use the tissues that are provided in packets. One person pays for everything. You don't go dutch. If someone pays say 'I'll pay next time'. Make sure you insist next time and actually pay. It's quite a struggle to pay the Man before your friend.

6RMB - 1 large bottle of canoe-sex (fucking close to water) beer. Chinese people get hammered on it quite quickly. You'll want to make sure you buy the stronger stuff tbh or you'll just be peeing all the time and not getting merry. You buy rounds much like the UK. A round is generally 3 bottles at a time so 18-25RMB. Expect to pay upwards of 50RMB in a nightclub. The host (the person who invited you out) pays for the first round.

I hope this helps.

Cheers, it does help. The weak beer doesn't sound too tempting, so I guess I'll be going for the spirits or some such. Surely they've got some local spirits, which shouldn't be too expensive, then? And yeah, I went out drinking with a mix of Asian students before, and they got tipsy a hell of a lot faster than I did, which actually annoyed me as it's boring to be sober sat in the middle of a bunch of drunk people

Nice to have the bit of etiquette in your post, too, though it's fairly straightforward, I suppose. The only thing that doesn't sound all too tempting is the whole prostitute thing, as I can imagine having a hard time telling the difference between a girl who's after the money and one who's there to have a good time, all the more so when drunk :|

And you got me wondering about the pool tables. I love to play a game of pool when out, and even though pool tables aren't all too common in Dutch bars, there's the ocasional pool hall and such, so you can always find a place to have a game that isn't too remote. What are your experiences with games of pool, and finding a place to play? Are pool tables common in pubs, and are local random people up for joining in on a game, judging your experiences?

 

[Nate]

Chinese girls are fit

Well for me anything with a skirt <drools>

Amphrax/Arauddry

You'll like Scottish blokes then too!

 

[Stallion]

having been to shanghai twice in the past 12 years, and spent more then 2 months in china overall.. something I found useful to find good prices is not to take on the first best store / bar / restaurant. Most people dont walk further then the main shopping / bar / restaurant streets. Basicly you can live very cheep or very expensive, the cheep way is to find out where the chinese eat, shop and drink! Although prices have more then trippled in shanghai between my two visits (10 years of distance in time), the best way to find for instance breakfast is to walk to some sidestreet where locals live and buy abit of local food for a few Yen. You can get around very cheepely but you have to want to explore abit outside of the tourist traps. Prices and location go hand in hand, a top located store @ main shopping street of shanghai will cost alot more then the hidden substreet 100 meters away.

And do not be afraid to ask the chinese for tips, eventhough many will only return a smile, almost all of the best stuff aint availible directly, but must be found.. for instance, wanna go see the jade buddah? well dont take the tourist bus, take the local bus! that will for instance cut your travel cost upto 10 times if not more. Tourists pay! Locals dont, live like the locals and your budget might even hold out for another half year!

 

[Andrilyn]

Try and stay away from ze birds!

 

[Nate]

Just found this article, do be careful with what you eat.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Losing the taste for China's delicacies

 

[CorNokZ]

You'll like Scottish blokes then too!

He's fit.. You gotta give him that! And the rusty saw and the cheeky smile just makes my pants sit tighter

 

[Straef]

Just found this article, do be careful with what you eat.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Losing the taste for China's delicacies

Heh, I can't say I'm looking forward to finding out that what I'd just finished eating were donkey balls or wasps or whatever, but at least that's just disgusting rather than dangerous. The pollution bit in that article worries me, as I can't be arsed with cancer-causing chemicals and whatever other stuff he mentioned when trying to have a healthy meal over there :x

But although the former head of the Chinese Food and Drug Administration has been executed for taking bribes, many local officials still disregard rules on environmental protection, and Beijing itself is said to have tried to cover up a World Bank report revealing that more than 700,000 people die every year in China because of air and water pollution.

And that doesn't sound any healthier than the food part

 

[Megarevs]

Just buy bottled water or boil it, even though its a big factor in pollution (bottled water)

and as Staj said, go down the side streets thats where you get the best food.
If you want i can send you a chineese menu converted into english (if i can find it), as most places they dont speak english or have english menus.

 

[Straef]

Just buy bottled water or boil it, even though its a big factor in pollution (bottled water)

and as Staj said, go down the side streets thats where you get the best food.
If you want i can send you a chineese menu converted into english (if i can find it), as most places they dont speak english or have english menus.

Yeah, that'd be cool, though I can't imagine there being such a thing as a standard menu or something, with different places selling different foods.
And from what I've read so far, I'd better ask for the Chinese menu, regardless of whether I'll understand it or not, just because the English version has ridiculous prices on there in order to rip tourists off

 

[Cloudz]

have fun

would love to do that myself some time.

are you going alone? Will you just be staying in hostels? take it your not working out there?

tell me?!

 

[Straef]

have fun

would love to do that myself some time.

are you going alone? Will you just be staying in hostels? take it your not working out there?

tell me?!

Heh thanks I'll be going there with a mate of mine, as I'd probably get fed up eventually if I were stuck in China without anyone able to speak English, and having the only people speaking English be Americans...

I'll be staying on some university campus, as I'll be attending some sort of language course there, though it's not a university level thing, as there's no way I'd ever be allowed in in that case

I wouldn't mind working over there, and I will be having a look around for jobs and such, as I might aswell when I'm there for such a long time, but I can't really picture that working out. But hey, if it works and I find something that pays alright and doesn't get me killed within the first months, that'd be cool.
Now I'm just hoping I don't get hit by some bus on my first day there, as the traffic in Shanghai seems well nasty :|

 

[Megarevs]

Yeah, that'd be cool, though I can't imagine there being such a thing as a standard menu or something, with different places selling different foods.
And from what I've read so far, I'd better ask for the Chinese menu, regardless of whether I'll understand it or not, just because the English version has ridiculous prices on there in order to rip tourists off

they rip you off even with the chineese menus

and they will just choose whats closest to the menu, i can't find it tho :/

 

[Straef]

they rip you off even with the chineese menus

and they will just choose whats closest to the menu, i can't find it tho :/

Heh Seems I won't really need a menu if they just overcharge me whilst fetching me a random dish. Right?
I'll have the $400 Donkey Balls, please!

 

[Hawkwind]

Good Luck with the trip straef. Spent over a year in China some time back. Mainly in Guangzhou and Shanghai. Food is generally cheap but luxuries like beer can be expensive, depends where you go.

One tip, try and get to know some of the local embassy crowd, the parties are great and drink is very cheap in the embassy bars. American and Canadian Embassies in Shanghai both had cracking bars that were very cheap.

As mentioned local beers like Tsing Tao are quite bland and weak but easily improved with a depth charge of Jack's or Johnny Walker

Shanghai has more to offer than most cities in China and you should have a pretty good time there. Polution is pretty bad, in the winter the smog can get very thick, like not being able to see the other side of a street! Most of it is generated by the burning of soft coal and it is really nasty. Blow your nose and it comes out black!

 

[Straef]

Good Luck with the trip straef. Spent over a year in China some time back. Mainly in Guangzhou and Shanghai. Food is generally cheap but luxuries like beer can be expensive, depends where you go.

One tip, try and get to know some of the local embassy crowd, the parties are great and drink is very cheap in the embassy bars. American and Canadian Embassies in Shanghai both had cracking bars that were very cheap.

As mentioned local beers like Tsing Tao are quite bland and weak but easily improved with a depth charge of Jack's or Johnny Walker

Shanghai has more to offer than most cities in China and you should have a pretty good time there. Polution is pretty bad, in the winter the smog can get very thick, like not being able to see the other side of a street! Most of it is generated by the burning of soft coal and it is really nasty. Blow your nose and it comes out black!

Goody But what about embassy parties, I've never heard of such a thing. You mean there are bars there related to specific embassies, or that the embassies there organise parties, or..?

 

[Hawkwind]

Goody But what about embassy parties, I've never heard of such a thing. You mean there are bars there related to specific embassies, or that the embassies there organise parties, or..?

Each Embassy has a bar/social club. In most major cities around the world there is a kind of party scene. For instance in Dehli it was Canadian embassy Thursday night, Australian Friday and American on Saturday. Been to some great parties in embassies all over the world. Even been marched out of a Toga Party at the American Embassy by Marines, as the young lady I had signed in Iranian.

Register with the Bristish Embassy when you get to Shanghai. They usually invite you over for a drinks evening as a welcome. Once there you can then do a bit of networking and find out what the scene is like and get to know where to go etc.

 

[Straef]

Each Embassy has a bar/social club. In most major cities around the world there is a kind of party scene. For instance in Dehli it was Canadian embassy Thursday night, Australian Friday and American on Saturday. Been to some great parties in embassies all over the world. Even been marched out of a Toga Party at the American Embassy by Marines, as the young lady I had signed in Iranian.

Register with the Bristish Embassy when you get to Shanghai. They usually invite you over for a drinks evening as a welcome. Once there you can then do a bit of networking and find out what the scene is like and get to know where to go etc.

Cheers, I'll give that a shot. I guess I aught to get my English passport sometime, as I've only got a Dutch one at the moment and I'm fairly sure I'm entitled to an English one aswell, with my father being English and all.
I'll just use that passport as a discount card to get cheap drinks

 

[tierk]

Even been marched out of a Toga Party at the American Embassy by Marines, as the young lady I had signed in Iranian.

Hahahahah what were you thinking!!

I met a American lady in Kensington Gardens, in London, who thought i was from Panama. After a few dates and the truth coming out that i was actually Iranian, she broke things off with me as she worked at the Embassy and would have to report to her bosses that she was dating a security risk

 

[Straef]

Hahahahah what were you thinking!!

I met a American lady in Kensington Gardens, in London, who thought i was from Panama. After a few dates and the truth coming out that i was actually Iranian, she broke things off with me as she worked at the Embassy and would have to report to her bosses that she was dating a security risk

Heh, that's sad :| I had to go to the American consulate a couple of months ago and got kicked out for mentioning a samurai sword after the security guy asked my mom whether she had anything worth mentioning in her bag.
I suppose the fact that a four foot sword would be somewhat hard to fit in a purse wasn't obvious enough, so I had to wait outside for another thirty minutes or so, after which I had to go through the security bullshit again and I got questioned about my motives for coming to the consulate and why I made the remark, and so on.

On a side note, I didn't have to go through a single metal detector or any security bullshit while visiting the Chinese embassy, while it would've taken me about fourty minutes to get into the US consulate even without the remark, so I guess they're somewhat on edge.