Leaving for China

tontod

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
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In the likes of the person who posted a few threads below, I'll be leaving for China on Friday. I'll only have time to go to Beijing. Besides the obvious - Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace, can anyone recommend anything else? Should I look into buying electronics at all? I know its 240V there, so that makes it tough using electronics bought there over here (though computer power supplies do have provisions for 240/115).
 

ThaGrandCow

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
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While you're there can you stop by Okinawa and visit with Haturi Hanzo? Nanyangview needs a REAL Japanese katana that he can use as his spiritual guide while he goes through those rough ollege years.
 

UglyCasanova

Lifer
Mar 25, 2001
19,275
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Hong Kong!!! Went there over the summer and I've decided that I want to learn Cantonese and move there. Such an amazing city, although really out of the way for you.
 

tontod

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
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I flew back this past Sunday. I had a lot of fun. Beijing is quite the modern city, multiple expressways, good roads, lots of restaurants. I'll post a link to the pics when I get them online.
 

DaWhim

Lifer
Feb 3, 2003
12,985
1
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Originally posted by: UglyCassanova
Hong Kong!!! Went there over the summer and I've decided that I want to learn Cantonese and move there. Such an amazing city, although really out of the way for you.

hell yea!!! HONG KONG!!!!!! need help learning cantonese?
 

LongCoolMother

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2001
5,675
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yay!!! cant wait for pics! the last time i went to china was over a year ago already!! geez, time passes so fast. unfortunate that you had to go at this time of year, its freezing cold!! but i bet it was great nonetheless. if you go during the spring, its awesome. especially the great wall. what a magnificent beauty in the spring.

btw. which hotel did you stay at in beijing? there are a couple of hotels scattered around central beijing that are extremely luxurious. next time you go, head for shanghai for a stop!!! then HK.

the cool thing about beijing is the rate at which its changing. the first time i went, many public restrooms didnt have flushing toilets. next time i went only a year or two later, the exact same area had been modernized, and the entire city seemed to be shedding off old skin.
 

Dacalo

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2000
8,780
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I went to China a couple of years ago.

The Great Wall of China is a huge disappointment.
 

Amorphus

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2003
5,561
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Originally posted by: tontod
I flew back this past Sunday. I had a lot of fun. Beijing is quite the modern city, multiple expressways, good roads, lots of restaurants. I'll post a link to the pics when I get them online.

apparently it's being billed as the "green city" now, what with environmentally friendly practices and such...

in downtown areas and such that I went to, it was quite clean.

did you have any native guides? ;)
 

joinT

Lifer
Jan 19, 2001
11,172
0
0
I need help learning Cantonese!

Other things you can do in Beijing.

- take in an acrobat's show. truly astounding.
- there are pharmaceutical type "outlets" - some offer crazy demonstrations - like they'll BURN their hand to show you the healing properties of Bao Fu Ling.
- from something like 6pm to 9pm, there is usually a market that is setup in the "downtown" area of the city, lots of food vendors all in a row and tons of little booths with all kinds of crazy stuff.
- may want to check out the Forbidden City.
- there's also a REALLY gorgeous garden (forget the name) one of the emperor's hung himself from a tree there (tree is still there). If you climb up to the top of the hill, you can see the whole Forbidden City.

sorry that's all i can remember at the moment.

we took over 200 pics at the great wall alone.
 

Imdmn04

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2002
2,566
6
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Watch out, 9/10 chicks that dresses westernized and appears hot by the western standard are really hookers.
 

LongCoolMother

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2001
5,675
0
0
Originally posted by: joinT
I need help learning Cantonese!

Other things you can do in Beijing.

- take in an acrobat's show. truly astounding.
- there are pharmaceutical type "outlets" - some offer crazy demonstrations - like they'll BURN their hand to show you the healing properties of Bao Fu Ling.
- from something like 6pm to 9pm, there is usually a market that is setup in the "downtown" area of the city, lots of food vendors all in a row and tons of little booths with all kinds of crazy stuff.
- may want to check out the Forbidden City.
- there's also a REALLY gorgeous garden (forget the name) one of the emperor's hung himself from a tree there (tree is still there). If you climb up to the top of the hill, you can see the whole Forbidden City.

sorry that's all i can remember at the moment.

we took over 200 pics at the great wall alone.

ooH! i remember those people burning their hands to sell you stuff. it was awesome. these people got this metal chain and put it inside this oven, and took it out when the chain was so hot it was glowing bright red/orange. Then theyd rub their bare hands on it probably causing extremely severe burns. Right after, in pain, they put on the medicine and say it feels good. man, it was cool. be careful at the downtown area. we went there last time, and even though i am of chinese decent the locals can entirely tell im not a local. (from the way i was dressed and my spiked hair etc, and broken mandarin). so man, that prick ripped me off!!! i wasnt too clear about the renmenbi money so the guy took 2 dollars instead of 2 cents or something. and all his friends laughed at me too!! who cares, they always rip off tourists. i bought a drink for like triple the price the guy sold it to a local person too. when i asked him why, he just said i looked richer. -_-

dammit im mad now. i wanted to kick that guy's a$$. but its not such a good idea messing around in a foreign country.

if anyone goes to beijing. keep an eye out for those english speaking chinese girls ;).
 

joinT

Lifer
Jan 19, 2001
11,172
0
0
be careful of cabbies there too. they'll drive around in circles. when we went, there was a blind man on the tour. after going out shopping, etc. we took a cab back. when he got out, he said the guy ripped us off because he turned right too many times or something. i never would've been able to tell, because the streets are a little confusing - but he could cuz he doesn't rely on sight.
 

joinT

Lifer
Jan 19, 2001
11,172
0
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oh yea.. be careful of the women there. one time a friend of my gf's was in beijing on business. he met this girl at a bar and they started chatting, i guess she thought he looked well off or something. when he went to the bathroom, she called her cell phone from his to get his number. She didn't stop calling him for weeks.
 

fyleow

Platinum Member
Jan 18, 2002
2,915
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Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow
While you're there can you stop by Okinawa and visit with Haturi Hanzo? Nanyangview needs a REAL Japanese katana that he can use as his spiritual guide while he goes through those rough ollege years.

He said he was going to China...am I missing something here?
 

tontod

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
3,244
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71
Originally posted by: Amorphus
Originally posted by: tontod
I flew back this past Sunday. I had a lot of fun. Beijing is quite the modern city, multiple expressways, good roads, lots of restaurants. I'll post a link to the pics when I get them online.

apparently it's being billed as the "green city" now, what with environmentally friendly practices and such...

in downtown areas and such that I went to, it was quite clean.

did you have any native guides? ;)

Actually I stayed with family so that helped a lot. I didnt have time to go to the acrobatic show, but I did check out some of their restaurants. I ate at a restaurant that served Beijing Duck, that was good. Shopping is cheap if you know to go the right places.

 

tontod

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
3,244
0
71
DVD's are pretty cheap there. ;)

You can buy them for either $1.25 or $2.50 depending upon the quality and packaging. The quality is pretty decent.