China General

>>1220929
FYI, there's a big government meeting at the moment and they fuck with the internet during those times so regular China posters will have more trouble responding than usual.

>>1220929
FWIW: Chengdu has pandas (pay extra to 'volunteer' to wash the cubs, it's the only way you will ever touch a panda irl)

I've spent a few days there, it's a flatland so cycling is pretty cool there, buy a cheap bike when you arrive (and bring a really good lock from home). It has ring roads that are quite close in so you can circle the CBD really, really quickly. I loved how easy it was to get around the city on a bike.

I haven't done any clubbing there but the foreigners I know that have lived there say that the nightlife is really good, bettter than elsewhere in China. Less expensive and pretentious than Shanghai but still kind of international. I know at least one guy who moved back there *explicitly* for the girls.

It's pretty warm too and there's jungle/rainforest not far outside the city.

It has a little Tibetan community which is interesting but once you've eaten Tibetan food once, you won't want it again. Their butter tea is ok though.

Chengdu has these skewer shops where you buy a bunch of skewers with everything from vegetables to dumplings and then they stir-fry everything in chilli and serve it with rice, I loved chilli stir-fried dumplings, never got them anywhere else.

It also has the usual Sichuan dishes and especially hotpot, they argue about whether Chengdu or Chongqing has the best hotpot.

>>1221193
Ah ok thank you, not looking forward to having to mess around with a VPN every day just to use the internet

>>1221195
What a great response, printscreened for future reference

Are there any old traditional neighbourhoods in Shenzhen? I heard there is one in Shekou but I'm unsure.

>>1220929
Can anyone recommend some interesting places in the southeast of the country? I'm planning on starting in HK, heading to Shenzhen and eventually flying out from Shanghai, so ideally somewhere that's somewhat between those two places. Last time I was in the country I generally enjoyed the countryside more than the cities, but I also enjoy weird memetic shit like dead malls etc.

I know enough of the language to visit places without English tourism infrastructure, if that counts for anything.

>>1221624
>Are there any old traditional neighbourhoods in Shenzhen? I heard there is one in Shekou but I'm unsure.

Just north of Shekou, like two or three blocks from Seaworld, there's a kind of 'normal' Chinese suburb. Little markets to buy vegetables in, that sort of thing. That shit is actually a bit rare in Shenzhen which I guess is what you're getting at.

Away from the factory/tech/finance areas, Shenzhen has more or less normal Chinese suburbs but foreigners don't usually wander into them.

There's an old farming village near Window of the World which got turned into a little suburb, I guess that also counts and is somewhat famous at least among urban planners, called Baishizhou/Báishízhōu/白石洲. It has a metro station if you want to visit it, also some good bars. Foreigners sometimes end up there on Friday/Saturday nights either early before going to other bars or late for the bbq street.

These little villages are places that got steamrolled by the expansion of the big city, all their farmland was turned into shopping malls etc but the village itself doesn't get touched because the officials don't want to have to build new apartment buildings to house all the residents (or they did and the apartment buildings became the slums). So you end up with random little slums inside big commercial districts.

>>1221954
>Can anyone recommend some interesting places in the southeast of the country?
Personally, I love Foshan. It's a satellite city of Guangzhou, their metro system is connected to GZ so getting there is easy. You can get a bus/train from Shenzhen too and then take metro to GZ and fly to Shanghai. It's close enough for a two/three hour bus ride from Shenzhen and the bus stations are more convenient in Foshan than the train stations. Foshan has quite a few cool things, there's a mountain with a giant buddha on it, amongst other stuff. Fantastic yumcha everywhere too, it's an old-style Cantonese city but Mandarin is still common.

>>1221954
>heading to Shenzhen and eventually flying out from Shanghai, so ideally somewhere that's somewhat between those two places. Last time I was in the country I generally enjoyed the countryside more than the cities, but I also enjoy weird memetic shit like dead malls etc.
>I know enough of the language to visit places without English tourism infrastructure, if that counts for anything.
There's a fuck load of places between Shenzhen and Shanghai. A lot of them are off the beaten path.

* The famous round houses/clan compounds in Fuzhou province
* The mountain walled city of Wenzhou and its wetlands (also Fuzhou)
* Hiking in Lishan and some old American/European colonial buildings that became KMT/Communist HQ for a while (Mao and Chiang Kaishek were roomies in one house while plotting their revolution), also Mao's mansion from later on
* Wuyishan - see endless tea fields and raft down a gorge surrounded by lush rain forest, also hiking up Karst mountains if you want
* the canal and garden city of Suzhou
* Ningbo is my vote for most livable city in China, maybe after Kunming, not that much to see though
* Putuoshan, a buddhist island with fuckloads of temples etc, near Ningbo

Wherever you go, if you like countryside, I suggest ending up near Ningbo, going to Putuoshan (ferry if you can, bus if not) and then taking a ferry, train or bus from Ningbo/Putuoshan to Shanghai. Putuoshan is the island but the main island city next to it is Shenjiamen and has transport links to everywhere.

>>1222019
Nanjing is on the way too and that has a mountain with Sun Yetsen's tomb and some hiking around other tombs and stuff. Also a kind of depressing but impressive museum to the Rape of Nanjing.

>>1222021
Used to live there, it was actually really fun. Granted I met some of the coolest people in my life to enjoy it with.

>>1220929
Unconventional question, but has anyone with a criminal record been able to successfully obtain a tourist visa? Caught a felony for possession of marijuana but I really want to see my friends when I get out.

>>1222012
It's >>1221624 replying.
Thank you very much mate, you really gave me some pointers. I will definitely be visiting a couple of those places.

>>1222070
>anyone with a criminal record been able to successfully obtain a tourist visa?

I don't think they check that. The only reason I say this is because when you apply for a working visa (Z visa) they will specifically ask for a police record. This is not asked for the tourist visa.

>>1221195
>once you've eaten Tibetan food once, you won't want it again
so fucking true, i'm crying

>>1221954
i don't have anything concrete, cause i've only been west-ish, but i also heard those round hakka houses you shouldn't miss, the architecture is pretty awesome. >>1222019


>>1221300
desu mobile web seemed very reliable...just let go of fb and co. like i wanted to throw my phone to the trashcan when i got to nyc after chinese big cities, it cannot compete...

Those of you thinking of working in China,

The govt is going to roll out even harsher and stricter laws for getting a work visa next month. China seems to be actively discouraging foreigners from coming to China now. It's no longer a good country to work or live in. Everyone I know who lives there is disillusioned with it now and wants to leave.

Don't bother going. The golden days and the boom is over.

>>1222070
>Used to live there, it was actually really fun
Nanjing is definitely very livable. I often describe it as a quieter, greener version of Shanghai and people usually agree.

Blue Sky pub is the cool place to hang out btw.

>>1222070
>has anyone with a criminal record been able to successfully obtain a tourist visa
Just don't tell them, it's not like they'll check. Background checks for a Z visa might be different but it sure won't matter for tourist visas.

>>1223176
>The govt is going to roll out even harsher and stricter laws for getting a work visa next month. China seems to be actively discouraging foreigners from coming to China now.
Only the illegals, they're cleaning up the industry a bit. Fuck knows it needs it.

>It's no longer a good country to work or live in.
It's fine for legal teachers and the money is going to get better because the over-supply of Russians "from London" and Africans "from NYC" will go down. Actual legit teachers are likely to be paid more after this. Up to a point anyway, I bet lots of fake degrees will appear but at least it will be native speakers with the fake degrees.

>Everyone I know who lives there is disillusioned with it now and wants to leave.
That's because they're illegal teachers with no qualifications etc. The legit teachers are fine. They won't even have to do the paperwork themselves, the schools and universities will take care of that, it's not even a problem for any of them that I know.

>>1223553
>white girl meets a white guy while living in Asia
hard pass

Has anyone studied Chinese for a semester at Peking University or similar? I'm thinking about applying if I don't score an internship in Beijing.
Or how are other places where I can study Chinese. I'm on a Hsk3-4 level.

>>1223624
>Has anyone studied Chinese for a semester at Peking University or similar?
I had a classmate who did, studying Chinese at university, everyone in the class had either studied in China for a while or had Chinese parents.

She said she had a good time.

Practically any large university in China will have programs to teach Chinese to foreigners for sweet cash money.

Okay, why are entrance fees in China SO fucking expensive?

I'm from Denmark in Scandinavia, a place that's considered one of the more expensive worldwide, and yet when I check out entrance fees for Chinese sights they're way above what an average Dane would be able to pay more than a few times during a holiday.

Like Mt. Huashan is almost 400 yuan if you want to get in and take cable cars?! The Pearl in Shanghai is apparently 180 yuan just for the entrance, and to get in and see the Terracotta Warriors is more than 100 yuan?!

How come these prices are so ridiculously high?

Should i g
Het a chinese visa before or after i het my tickets?

>>1224008
>phoneposting
Should i get my visa before or after i get my tickets?

>>1224008
>>1224009
Nvm solved it

What is the easiest way of crossing the border to Shenzhen from Hong Kong?

Should I apply for a China visa beforehand or get one on the border (I am Aussie)?

Thanks!

>>1224194
get your visa sooner rather than later, from hong kong all you have to do is use the MTR to get to Shenzen, and from there you can make your way to the Chinese Subway in Shenzen, pretty easy senpai.

>>1224194
to be more specific you just take the blue line up to Lo Wu to get to Shenzen, the area is a hong kong administrative zone. http://www.mtr.com.hk/archive/en/services/routemap.pdf

>>1224006
>to get in and see the Terracotta Warriors is more than 100 yuan
That's $20, not expensive for a world famous tourist attraction.

Some tourist sights are expensive and are overpriced for what they are, it varies. Huashan has a lot of infrastructure that is expensive to maintain, all their supplies are schlepped up the side of the mountain on foot, on paths that require constant maintenance. There are miles of paths all over the mountain that need regular inspection in case some tourist falls down the mountain. Cleaners walk those paths all day picking up litter. Cable cars are expensive. Hotels and shit get built up there and you know how they get the concrete up there?

All of that said, there's a few reasons why tourist sites can be expensive in China and the central government has noticed and cracked down on it a bit. Some of them are due to corruption but others are just side effects of bureaucracy.

Basically, provincial governors are rated on the GDP of their province. This means that big projects make them look more successful which increases the chances of promotion to the central government and more powerful positions. There's also intense competition between provinces as the governors compete to be/appear to be more successful administrators.

So governors like to do big projects to inflate their economic stats. They also like big projects because there's lots of money floating around that can be diverted into their aunt's construction company or contracts to be given to their friends in exchange for company shares or free apartments or future favours.
...

>>1224247
>...
Those big projects then need to be paid for with ticket price increases but they also *justify* the ticket price increases which means that after the project is paid for, the site still charges more and more money comes into both the government coffers and the official's pockets. The site will contract various businesses to do shit and you know who owns those companies and how fat the contracts are...

All of this meant that many, many tourist sites got renovated and their ticket prices tripled over a few years. The Chinese public was outraged by it, it was a big scandal because it was happening everywhere. The central government stepped in and mandated some maximum price increases and put brakes on some big projects, I think tourist sites need to apply for their upgrades now, something like that. Prices at some sites were reduced in response to public pressure.

China is a funny place, public pressure either has more effect than in the west or it's one of certain topics, then it has no effect at all. The central government takes the idea of social harmony very seriously and if that means cracking down on provincial officials (at least a bit) then they'll do it.

>>1224194
>Should I apply for a China visa beforehand or get one on the border (I am Aussie)?

A lot depends on how you're traveling. If you were on a package tour or something, it wouldn't be an issue, if you're backpacking then it's a headache.

The problem is that Chinese tourist visas have absurd requirements, booked flights in and out, hotel bookings for every day, a daily itinerary.

You can fake it ok but it's a hassle. If you want to fake it and apply in Australia then we can tell you how to do the paperwork semi-legit.

If not...this is what you do and what I personally recommend.

Go to HK without any visas, HK is 90days visa free for aussies.
Go to a travel agent and ask them to get you a Chinese tourist visa, tell them that you're backpacking and don't have any bookings. They'll get you a visa in a day or two, no problems, no paperwork. It won't cost much more than Australia, it might even be cheaper. I recommend the agent on the 4th floor, directly opposite the iSquare main entrance in Tsim Sha Shui, I've used them before.

Once you have the visa, you go to China.

Like >>1224225 said, just take the metro to the border and walk across. MTR stations on both sides are built into the border crossing, you don't even have to go outside. There are several border crossings depending on what you want to do. Lo Wu/Luo Hu is the main one but Lok Ma Chau/Futian is also ok, sometimes it's faster than Lo Wu but it depends on the time of the day, it's arguably smaller and maybe has nearly as many people. Lo Wu is more for tourists I guess, mostly people from HK coming over to go shopping/get massages.

You can also take a ferry which is my favourite, just go to the Shang

>>1224255
>You can also take a ferry which is my favourite, just go to the Shang

derp

I meant the Sheung Wan ferry terminal, it's about 1km west of the other ferry terminals on Hong Kong island, you can walk there from central station, also has a MTR station itself. That's where most of the ferries leave from for Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Macau etc. The ferry goes to Shekou in Shenzhen which is kind of a foreigner suburb, it's a bit far from the rest of Shenzhen though so maybe not ideal but there's a shuttle bus from the ferry terminal which goes to the MTR station so you can get anywhere from it.

No matter which transport option you take, they'll dump you at immigration where you get stamped, then they push you through to the next MTR station or whatever.

>>1224255
I think I will just apply for the visa beforehand at the China visa centre in Sydney.

I appreciate your help though! :)

>>1224281
>I think I will just apply for the visa beforehand at the China visa centre in Sydney.
Good luck.
You will probably need flights booked into and out of mainland China (NOT Hong Kong). At least out of.

Hotel bookings for every day of the trip, an itinerary with activities for every day of the trip.

I'm returning to China from Southeast Asia after a long vacation. Will I need to show a return ticket?

Last month I was in Thailand and returned to China on a way one ticket and didn't need one, but I'd like to make sure

>>1224284
The form didn't ask for flights and I did say I'm only doing a day trip to Shenzhen from Hong Kong. I posted the application a few hours ago and will find out in the next few days if it is going to be processed, so I will let keep you guys updated in this thread as to what happens.

File: The_Shelter-3a.jpg (296KB, 800x600px) Image search: [Google]

296KB, 800x600px

Interesting article here:
>http://shanghaiist.com/2017/03/14/are_shanghai_expats_arrogant.php

Basically it's a survey of whether or not expats in shanghai are more arrogant or not. It found that they weren't particularly, BUT, that

>At the end of the article, the Global Times discovers the real divide that exists between expats in China:
>"It is English teacher versus everyone else. >Shanghai unites fairly or unfairly in its disdain for English teachers.
>They are the untouchable caste," says one Canadian English teacher living in Shanghai.

I actually found this when I was a student there, there's kind of a weird expat hierarchy there, it goes something like:
>Big dicks, like CEOs, senior managers
>Regular managers from foreign companies
>Normal workers
>Students
>English teachers

Weirdly, students rank higher than engrish teachers, as they have the potential to become something else later on and may have gone to the same universities as the expats, so they tend to be nicer to them.

As a rule, big dicks and high-up managers drink in certain bars (e.g. what was the Blarney Stone in SH, it was nice but fucking expensive), normal people drink kind of anywhere (e.g. the Camel, Boxing Cat, etc.), and engrish teachers/ students drink in places like Windows or Helens (i.e. cheap as shit)

The Camel was a place that everyone drank, pretty much the meeting spot for any expats on Puxi.

Anyone find the same thing with SH or other cities?

Pic related, Shelter full to the brim with howaitos (pretty good tunes there though)

>>1223176
They've been cleaning up the visa shit for years now tbf. I was living there like 5 years ago, and I remember getting knocks on the door from police asking to see visas.

I think I was there roughly at the end of the major boom, seems to have settled a bit now (or, more accurately, the Chinese have got their shit together enough to not need to hire in howaitos to run their businesses for them)

Also, in fairness, all expats in China get disillusioned after a year or two, it's a pretty intense place to live

>>1224565
>English teaching expats are bottom of the ladder and frowned upon

Not going to China, but i have a tentative plan to teach English in an Asian country abroad for 1-2 years.

Is there anything I should know about being an expat? Social problems etc. haven't heard many good things about general expat treatment, but from what I understand it was the result of degens with no qualifications running amuck

>>1224574
Nah it's all good. You'll get ripped off if you don't have good mandarin, but in general the locals will treat you like a friendly alien dropped in from outer space, same as any other foreigner

Engrish teachers don't have the best reputation there for the exact reason you mentioned, but the vast majority are good people, just looking for a cheap way to have some interesting life experiences.

Do it m8, I wish I did it just after university, but at the time I was impatient to get my career underway. Probably would have benefitted me more to just fuck off to China and teach until I figured out what I actually wanted to do

>>1224565
Meh, there are rich people hierarchies pretty much everywhere in the world in regards to New Money vs Old Money so whatever. Students and Dancing Monkey language teachers drink because they want to. Big dicks and wage slaves drink because they have to in order not to kill themselves from stress. Most of them burn money as fast as they make it and will kill themselves if they find themselves out of a job and become forced to take a "lower" job. I'll take the poorer, looked-down-upon, "he must be a loser back home", less stressful option personally.

File: dfsafdsa.jpg (183KB, 1024x560px) Image search: [Google]

183KB, 1024x560px

>>1224577
Funny you mentioned wanting to do it just after university, you must have sensed that's where I was coming from.

If you don't mind me asking, why did you decide against it? I worry about my career as well, but I'm hoping learning the language will off-set this 1-2 year gap.

My best laid plans have me going to South Korea. Out of all the Asian countries I know the least about its culture and i've heard the nature is gorgeous.

Kinda a douche-expat question here, but what are your opinions of dating/hooking up with locals? My family always jokes with me that I'm going to end up marrying an asian, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to do it seeing how the white race is taking a nose-dive (/pol/ opinion i know)

Appreciate the reply homie

Best places in Jinan and Hangzhou? Going to be looking around those two cities for two weeks in April.

I have no experience and no TEFL how are my chances of finding employment?
Also what are common things to watch out for from you guys' experience?

>>1220929
I hope you're familiar with squat toilets, you might be using them a lot if you can't handle the spice!

>>1224006
It's so ridiculously cheap other than those sights... Let them have some money. Like food, transportation, accomodation all so cheap you want to cry, just ignore the entrance fees.

Are there any fish markets in Hong Kong that are similiar to the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo?

>>1220929
In Chengdu go to Wangjianglou Park on an off day. Theres usually a lot of people but there's also an inner part you can get into for pretty cheap that had almost no people when I was there that's really beautiful. If you're into the culture at all then all the poetry stuff is an added plus with some temples you can go inside.

That area is close to the big local uni and has a lot of good places nearby. In particular hit up Guojiaqiao S Street on your way there or back, it has a bunch of little interesting snack and smoothie shops.

If anyone has any good spots in Hangzhou let me know. I'm going there soon.

>>1225056
>If anyone has any good spots in Hangzhou let me know. I'm going there soon.
The old town is worth a look and full of hostels so that's probably where you'll stay anyway. There's a hill above it with a temple that overlooks the city.

The Vineyard is the expat hangout.

The lake is overrated but go see it once anyway.

>>1224870

you won't get hired without a TEFL. all the schools want it these days, and I think it's required for a work visa

How easy is it to get weed in Dali, Yunnan? A lot of different info on the internet

File: 1480862074408.jpg (173KB, 1920x1200px) Image search: [Google]

173KB, 1920x1200px

Info on Guilin plz

I'll be there for 14 weeks this summer, coming from the USofA

Any info useful

Stayed in Shanghai for around a month. The club scene is incredible. When you first go out, ask around in the club entrances for a "Promoter", they will get you into clubs for free and provide free alcohol. Be careful of the booze, lots of the alcohol comes in grey goose bottles or other recognizable brands but is generally homemade. Some clubs practically poison people.

What does it mean fellow chinese folks?

yīn wei yě yǒu nǐ zài a

I've been hitchhiking through the country
(from Mongolia to the center to Kyrgyzstan)
AMA

>>1225629
But what is it that makes the club scene incredible, when the free alcohol is shitty homebrewed stuff?

The girls, the music, the lights?

>>1225591
The Yangdi/Xingping 'bamboo' boat trip is pricy af (compared to Chinese prices, otherwise cheap), so you might want to ask around if someone knows any better tours on the Li River... But do go on some boat trip on the Li River, and do as much hiking as you can. The bamboo forests falling off of the edge of hills and mountains are beautiful.
There are some nice villages with dong architecture Northeast from Guilin, so you might want to hop on a bus over a weekend to hang out there.

http://images.chinahighlights.com/2013/06/015dcd9fea9c441cb83897e2.jpg

Longji rice fields! There are supposed to be guesthouses high up, I didn't end up staying there, hope someone else has something concrete to say re Longji.
Guilin has its Guilin noodles, which I'm desperately trying to find in Europe, with no success (don't even get me started on the Vietamese rice noodles they sell as Guilin noodles in Asian shops here)...
It's somewhere between pho and udon, rice noodles as thick as spaghetti, topped with some veggies, nuts and meat (the type is your choice, I think I had it with beef many times, but who knows). You can also add some more pickles and hot sauces, stir it all together, heavenly. And for them it's like just some random small meal, so it's cheap.
The best internet/gaming cafe I've seen in my whole life close to the corner of Lijiang Road and Shijiayuan Rd... The neighborhood is otherwise mehh, nothing to see, but one of the many places in Guilin where there are nice small shops and restaurants, and the market is open till late.
Idk if the bus prices ever change in China...
But it was 1 yuan for non-A/C buses, 2 for the ones with A/C within the city.
There are high speed trains to a few destinations, but that station is up North within Guilin, so allow a lot of time to get there if you're coming from the centre.

The sun/moon pagoda lake wasn't all that special, but the neighborhood again is good for food (albeit probably the most touristy out of whole Guilin).

>>1225591
>>1225827
It's pretty south, the climate can get quite humid, brace yourself.
English was a liiitle bit more widely spoken than the average I encountered in the nearby big cities, but still pretty nonexistent.
I do remember that it was the first town I saw where the government also translated propaganda into English, so they're trying to be international.
It was easier to act like a nice tourist when I didn't understand the propaganda, we had to work on our straight faces with my friends when reading some of the stuff in Guilin.

A lot of the scooters are electric! Even if you don't hear it, they're there, careful of the scooters. Idk how much you travelled outside of the USA, but the only similarity in traffic is that pedestrians are lowest class.

Have fun!

So im not sure should I start a new thread or post it in this China related one, but its a very general type question so Ill just post it here:

Any Hong Kong fags out here, or people in HK? Im a foreigner residing in HK for some time until I get a Chinese mainland visa, the plan is to go there and get married with my girlfriend. But before i finish up with all the birocracy and shit I am going to stay here. The citiy / country is amazing and seems to have many opportunities but I am completely unfamililar with it would need some help. Any cool places to go out to or visit? Where to meet locals? How to make money? Shit like this is what I'm most interested right now. That's all, cheers.

>>1222070
dis nigga

>>1225630
means "because also have you"

>>1225797
>when the free alcohol is shitty homebrewed stuff?
It's worse than that, it's an industrial fake using whatever ethanol related compound they can get. Not all clubs do it, maybe not even most. People generally know which clubs do though. The club doesn't even necessarily do it deliberately, they may think they're buying legit alcohol and the supplier sells them fakes or even works in the supply chain switch them out.

>>1225827
>Guilin
It's a super touristy city, the tourist stuff is the only real reason why it gets so many visitors and that means that there's a whole industry preying on tourists. Quite a lot of scams and even low-key robberies and shit. Like any city that's only big due to tourism, you have to be on your guard because there's a lot of sharks around.

>>1226176
>means "because also have you"
Not disagreeing but I got the impression that it was locational, i.e. "Also because you are here".

>>1225828
>A lot of the scooters are electric!
Those are everywhere in China.

>>1225832
>Any Hong Kong fags out here, or people in HK?
I go there a lot. Just got back recently.

>Any cool places to go out to or visit?
Maybe go to Lan Tau Island and hike up to see the buddha and eat the food in the vegetarian restaurant at the temple. It's a sort-of unique cuisine developed by buddhist vegetarians instead of just being the usual vegetarian versions of meat dishes.

>Where to meet locals?
Depends on how you want to meet them. Social clubs exist, so do night clubs. It's kind of hard to meet locals but it's possible. Try Lan Kwai Fong and look for people who actually live there?

>How to make money?
lol, teach maybe, you need a work visa for that anyway

Anybody going to be in HK early July? I'll spend 2 days and a night there on my way back from 2/3 days in Fuzhou, I never managed to arrang a /trv/ meet up there but it seems there are more HK travelers lately

>>1226865
Can you recommend anywhere else than Guilin in the same region?

Any good leads on a passable fake degree?

I have no problems getting a TEFL this summer, you need both for any kind of work visa correct?

>>1226943
>Can you recommend anywhere else than Guilin in the same region?
Depends on what you consider the same region.

Kunming is great, it's considered the coziest city in China by most expats. It's definitely not as western as Beijing or Shanghai but it has a little of the stuff that expats like to have when they want it.

I don't think there's a high speed rail between Kunming and Guilin yet, it's being built. You take the slow train from somewhere like Chengdu, Guiyang to get there.

>>1227009
Goto college degenerate

>>1226176
>>1226865
Because you're also here/there. The place can be anywhere and in the future too.

>>1227166
Thanks, Kunming is already on my mental list. Is it worth it going further West near the Burmese border?

I'm planning on going through Laos and on to Cambodida from the Yunnan province.

>>1227260
>Thanks, Kunming is already on my mental list. Is it worth it going further West near the Burmese border?
Depends on what you're interested in, there's a buddhist community down south-west of Kunming called Xīshuāngbǎnnà which is composed mostly of Dai minority and some others. Dai are more or less ethnically Thai people. It's considered to be a kind of mini-Thailand in China. Popular with hippy backpackers and definitely a Real-Traveler approved place. Yunnan province has shitloads of ethnic minorities, you'll see all sorts of colourful costumes even in the capital.

As far as I know, you can't cross into Burma there, only Burmese and Chinese are allowed, it might change though.

The bigger attractions in Yunnan province are Dali and Lijiang up near the Tibetan border and to a lesser degree, a town that they renamed Shangri-la for tourists, that has a tibetan monestary and used to have an impressive old town until it burned down a few years back. There's some overnight hiking at Tiger Leaping Gorge too.

>I'm planning on going through Laos and on to Cambodida from the Yunnan province.
I've done that twice, once from Laos and once from Vietnam, the reverse will be fine. The border-guards will be suspicious as hell because foreigners are rare but if your paperwork is in order then you'll be fine, just know that your bags will be thoroughly searched. I was coming from China so maybe exiting won't be as big a deal but still, don't have anything in your bag that will cause a problem (LP is best as an ebook in China).

You take a bus from Kunming to somewhere like MengLa and then another bus to the border town. At the border, you hitch a ride in a pickup between the crossings. On the Laos side, you'll need to get a lift with a local to the bus station and go from there.

It's >>1224194 updating you all on my visa process.

>>1224284
They ended up asking me for my flight info and accommodation which was in and out of Hong Kong, but it was fine. I got my Passport back today with a visa :)

Pt 1/?
This might be a longwinded post, and maybe it needs it's own thread, but I'll try it here first.

Basically I want to live in China (preferably Shanghai) for a couple of years after college. I'm looking at 3 options here, with little knowledge of how difficult or practical each one might be, so I'm hoping someone here has a little bit of experience with it:

>Normal Job

I'm a Finance major at a mid-level American university, I know a little bit of Chinese but I wouldn't claim working proficiency and I haven't taken any HSK exams. I'd really like to get a "normal" (non-teaching) job in China related to my major. How difficult would this be, and what do I need to do to make it happen? I have quite a few Chinese contacts but the ones in my field are my age or just not in a position with a lot of pull, and the older ones are mostly academics. I recently connected with the guy who founded Blue Frog Bar & Grill, only to find out he's sold his way out of it and living in Seattle now. Still could be someone to talk to though. Should I try to get an internship there before graduating? Anyone have experience with a good program? Should I goto grad school before even having a shot at a real job in SH?

>School

I've thought about using grad school in China as an in for living there a few years, perhaps as a way to help me find a job, and just as furthering my education. Pros of this are, as I said, if nothing else, it buys me a couple of years there, it could aid my job search, and I have a couple of connections to Tongji University, which is one of the better schools in SH from my understanding. The major cons are that it's more money to be spent, some people I've talked to said they're not sure if the english MBA programs at Chinese Uni's are really as quality as the chinese programs, and even if they are, I would be spending my time at a less prestigious school than I could goto in the US.

>>1227539
Pt 2/?

>School cont'd

Does anyone have experience with a non-chinese language program through a Chinese Uni? With the schools, specifically Tongji, how tough is it to get in as a foreigner? Would knowing some alumni, including a couple of faculty members, help in any way?

>Teaching English

Basically my plan Z, not because of the stigma of english teachers (although I admit it is a little emasculating at times) but I just don't want to be doing that for very long. I got kind of roped in when I was 19 to teaching for a small "education company" in Tianjin for 3 months. And while it was a lot of fun, good experience, and pretty good pay for a 19 year old, I was just one of those guys who had no credentials and didn't know wtf I was doing 90% of the time and I was only like 3 years older than my students whose parents were paying a lot for them to be there. As I said, I was sort of roped into it and pretty naive about it all, but I still feel a little embarrassed about being that dude who literally gets invited to work because I was white and had no accent. I legit try not to tell people too much about it because I hate saying I was an english teacher when really I was just a dude who speaks english. Since then I've gotten a TEFL cert and if I had to do it, I wouldn't hate it. Like I said, it was a good time, and I think the people who are actually doing a good job shouldn't be ashamed at all. ANYWAY, I just would rather be involved in something related to the thing I've spent time and money on studying. I feel like if I spent 2 or 3 years of my life teaching english when I could be doing something far more lucrative in America, I'd be a little anxious about it. All that being said, anyone have experience with being a teacher, specifically in SH? Is it worse in SH than in other cities socially? How about the pay compared to living costs? Could I even get a proper teaching job in SH with a TEFL Cert from an online course?

>>1227456
Sounds like an interesting place. With regards to the Burmese border, I think I rather just wondered whether the border region itself would be worth seeing - kinda like the border to North Korea is a fascinating place, although I realize the huge difference between these two countries.

>Lijiang
I got the impression that this city is filled to the brim with (especially Chinese) tourists and really doesn't feel very authentic because of it. Do you agree - and how did you like Dali? I'll probably go through Lijiang anyway, as I'm planning on hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

>(LP is best as an ebook in China)
Why don't they like Lonely Planet?

>You take a bus from Kunming to somewhere like MengLa and then another bus to the border town. At the border, you hitch a ride in a pickup between the crossings. On the Laos side, you'll need to get a lift with a local to the bus station and go from there.

Thanks, it seems like it is possible to just take a bus that stops for the border check, though.

If you have some places you'd recommend, especially if you have some lesser known gems, in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi or Laos and Cambodia generally, I'd love to hear about them!

>>1227525
>They ended up asking me for my flight info and accommodation which was in and out of Hong Kong, but it was fine
That's useful to know. Flights in and out of Hong Kong didn't count in the past.

>>1227539
>Basically I want to live in China (preferably Shanghai) for a couple of years after college
If you're a US citizen, you can get a 10 year tourist or business visa, so that's fine even without a formal job. 90 day stay which is no big deal, just pop over to Taiwan or Hong Kong for a weekend every few months.

>With the schools, specifically Tongji, how tough is it to get in as a foreigner
I'm pretty sure you just need cash to pay the tuition & accomodation and you're set.

I've never needed to know about getting professional jobs in China, sorry


>>1227591
>I think I rather just wondered whether the border region itself would be worth seeing
If it's anything like the Laos border, it's just a small town with not much reason to exist except fleecing travelers and being a bus stop for border crossers. The actual border is probably just a fence and a gateway with offices.

>I got the impression that this city is filled to the brim with (especially Chinese) tourists and really doesn't feel very authentic because of it.
Eh, it's alright. It's a smallish city around an old town full of tourist businesses. Has a scenic lake too. The hostels are good for organising other trips around the area such as the hiking. I didn't go to Dali, most people think Dali is a bit better.

They don't like LP because the map shows Taiwan as a separate country, and LP are generally lefties that comment about repression of Tibetans and Xinjiang and stuff like that.

>Thanks, it seems like it is possible to just take a bus that stops for the border check, though.
Is it? Didn't exist when I went the other way but if you say so. Definitely an easier way to do it if it's possible.

I don't really have any secret knowledge of your other places. I've been to all of them but not really anywhere secret or unknown, mostly just things you can get out of LP or the wiki. I've explored Chengdu and Chongqing pretty well on a bike but I can't say that I found anywhere worth remembering.

>>1227599
Thanks a lot man, it was very helpful. Wasn't aware of political bias of LP.

Do you know anything about how easy it is to get doube-entry 90 day visas to China? And should I get a visa here in Denmark or get it in Hong Kong?

>>1227597
>That's useful to know. Flights in and out of Hong Kong didn't count in the past.
Which past? I've started and/or ended all my China trips in HK and never had a problem for my visa applications. Since 2004.

How easy (cheap, manageable) is it to travel around Asia from China?

Me and the gf are going to be working TEFL jobs in Beijing come fall. She's spent a summer in China before but didn't travel out of country while she was there and doesn't know much about it.

I'd also appreciate tips about living in Beijing and China more generally. My gf has experience but I've never left Canada before.

>>1220929
best food you will ever eat
stay away from the tibetan scum

>>1227622
Not same person, but also from the EU, and got a double-entry visa last time.

The only additional thing they asked compared to single-entry was 'proof' of me leaving the country. I did not have any proof upon application, cause I had to clue when exactly I want to leave, etc. But the Chinese visa girl told me I needed 'proof'. Turns out they're happy if you just randomly print out a booking.com confirmation page of any random hotel booking outside of China, I just printed it for her then and there (they had printers and all), cancelled it the moment I left. lol

Got the double-entry visa, also they don't give a fuck if you change your dates (within the 3+3 months you get for entering for the 1st and 2nd time).

Also check if the year visa is the same price now for you as well, it just changed in some Euro countries.

What's the easiest way to get RMB in Hong Kong or Shenzhen border? Can I just use my debit/credit card?

>>1227806
In Shenzhen at every ATM, in HK at every exchange office, check the rates beforehand. In my case I try to withdraw enough cash so I don't need to hit the ATM too often, a one time ATM commission is often better than the exchange rate.

>>1227813
Do all mainland China ATMS take international cards?

>>1227819
>Do all mainland China ATM's take international cards?
Yes, Visa, MasterCard, Maestro were surely accepted at every single ATM (also UnionPay) I do not remember AmEx and the more obscure ones, sorry, but wouldn't be surprised if it worked, it was always a long list of logos
>Do all of them work?
No. I mean also in the West you bump into ATM's out of service regularly.... In China they have many ATM's next to each other normally, so you just try one, see if it works or not, and potentially move onto the next one, till one of them turns out fine.
They were also all bilingual Chinese/English.


At POS terminals they did not take international Visa/MasterCard/Maestro mostly, but shop assistants were happy to try and fail.

>>1227768
Thanks, that's perfect.

However, I'm still not sure whether I should apply at the Chinese embassy in Copenhagen or if I should just get one in Hong Kong, which is where I'm planning on flying to and spending some days. Maybe you could say a bit about that as a fellow EU-citizen?

>>1227874
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I came across ATMs in Japan that wouldn't take cards issued in other countries and assumed China would be the same, if not worse.

>>1228171
China has some international banking corporations, it depends more on the bank than the individual ATMs...you should be able to withdraw at any HSBC, ICBC or Bank of China. Don't even try in an Agricultural Bank or similar unless you have a union pay logo on your card

File: th.jpg (7KB, 300x200px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 300x200px

>>1227622
>Wasn't aware of political bias of LP.
It's not exactly bias, more that LP has a casual, subjective style. The writers write from their own viewpoint and that includes thinking that human rights are a thing and that if you're going to Tibet, you should have open eyes about what's going on there. Stuff like that. So, I suppose that individual bias but all subjective writing has that, it's part of what makes them more useful than a list of phone numbers and addresses.

>Do you know anything about how easy it is to get doube-entry 90 day visas to China? And should I get a visa here in Denmark or get it in Hong Kong?

I had some hassle, I get mine through a visa agent. (visaofchina.net)

>>1227635
>Which past? I've started and/or ended all my China trips in HK and never had a problem for my visa applications. Since 2004
I had one rejected on that basis in 2008 I think. The rule came in just before the Beijing Olympics and I got rejected just after the Olympics.

>>1227661
>How easy (cheap, manageable) is it to travel around Asia from China?
I guess it's reasonably cheap and you have land borders to Laos, Vietnam and Mongolia.

>I'd also appreciate tips about living in Beijing and China more generally
Beijing is mostly easy to live in because it's international and you can get anything you want. Try to live near Sanlitun if possible, that's the most international part of it.

My strongest advice is to get an air purifier, Xiaomi makes some good cheap ones. Pic related is great and costs about $150. Once you're settled in, buy it on JD. It will improve your quality of life a lot but you won't actually notice because it's just about not getting a super bad cough that expats all get after a while.

>>1227806
>What's the easiest way to get RMB in Hong Kong
ATMs have RMB options and there are money changers in places like Chunking Towers. Those indian money changers are usually the best value in Hong Kong.

>or Shenzhen border?
There are ATMs in the metro stations at the border and fucking everywhere in China cities. You know how banks closed shit loads of branches in the west? Not in China where people are the cheapest expense for a company. There are branches every block or two.

>Can I just use my debit/credit card?
Yes, at almost any actual ATM. Not all 'ATMs' are actually ATMs though, some are CRSs which are for deposits and others are self-service banking shit like loan repayments and tax and other banking. In general, if it's got logos for cards then it's an actual ATM.

Is it still possible to buy phone sim cards without a passport or anything else at the newstands or wherever?

Also, I broke my sim card trying to cut it so it'd fit into my Western phone. If I go to a chinese phone company, will they be able to transfer my old number to a new sim card or am I fucked?

>>1228961
I'd also like to know the answer to this, or is there anyway to get internet access for a couple day's stay in China?

Also, whats the easiest way to get unrestricted internet access for my phone and possibly laptop?

What is the best GPS app for iPhone since Google and Apple maps won't work? I don't mind paying for the app.

Where can I get a good view of Shenzhen from?

How do you find more detailed information about the interesting each city? Like not just Shanghai dumplings but which restaurants are good? There are so few English blogs compared to those for Japan, SEA, etc and LP/wikitravel only talks about the major attractions. It seems like that knowledge is mostly on chinese forums or from friends.

Are tour guides and official/popular attractions really the only way to explore China for the short term?

>>1228961
>Is it still possible to buy phone sim cards without a passport or anything else at the newstands or wherever?
It's probably possible with some companies, or the newstand guy will activate it off his id card (or a random one maybe) or something. It's not actually supposed to happen though.

>>1228961
>If I go to a chinese phone company, will they be able to transfer my old number to a new sim card or am I fucked?
You can probably get a replacement sim if you have the contract details or something. You'd need to prove that it was your number.

>>1228965
>I'd also like to know the answer to this, or is there anyway to get internet access for a couple day's stay in China?
A sim is a decent way to get net while you're there, not sure it's worth it for just a couple of days though. Wifi is everywhere, most cafes/restaurants offer wifi, just ask a waitress to put in the password.

>Also, whats the easiest way to get unrestricted internet access for my phone and possibly laptop?
You mean you want a vpn? Easiest way is to get a vpn, there are lots, they're cheap. It will cost less than the sim. Most will allow at least two devices.

>What is the best GPS app for iPhone since Google and Apple maps won't work? I don't mind paying for the app.
Google maps works ok but the best map app is Baidu. It's in Chinese which is actually good because most addresses you want to look up are also in Chinese. Baidu maps does recognise a lto of English names though, it just returns the Chinese entry for it.

>>1229012
>Where can I get a good view of Shenzhen from?
Here's some details on a Sky Bar
http://www.shenzhenparty.com/place/bars/sky-lounge-bar

Shenzhenparty.com is also a decent place for bar reviews and shit. A lot of clubs advertise there.

`

>>1229017
>How do you find more detailed information about the interesting each city?
Lonelyplanet or wikivioyage. Both can be a bit out of date but that's where you start. Best to call ahead to see if they're still open.

>Are tour guides and official/popular attractions really the only way to explore China for the short term?
No but they're the most efficient and least fun way to see many things quickly. If you're doing shit yourself without a bus taking you directly to places and having to queue everywhere for tickets and buses and shit, it all takes much longer to do anything.

When I travelled with a somewhat rich Chinese girl, she used a 'taxi' app to arrange private drivers in luxury cars to and from everywhere. It was a bit expensive compared to public buses but it saved shitloads of time and always having an airconditioned car and being handed bottles of water meant that we got everywhere refreshed and chill instead of tired and sweating like a pig.

>>1227961
I won't be able to answer that for you. Me and my friends love to sort stuff out in advance as much as possible, so we never left it for Hong Kong. I see people in this thread who had no problems sorting out the visa in HK, but I personally don't understand why you would leave it for HK...? Like there are no fixed dates in your visa, you can just sort it out before travel, and then forget about paperwork while there. Again, I have no experience with visa in HK.

I do know however that the price varies within Europe, too! (You can check it in the schedule of fees on their site.) In HK it may or may not be significantly cheaper, I would not know, sorry.

They do say in their rules that you have to sort it out in your country of residence, so I'm always like ?? when people leave it for HK, but I guess the rules just mean you shouldn't show up st the border without a visa.

>>1228965
For a couple of days ... why bother with VPN.

Idk why others above made it seem it was hard to get a SIM. You only need passport for a monthly subscription, which you wouldn't want anyway.

For pre-paid SIM no one cares about your identity. Just ask for a China Unicom SIM at any random small shop. They even installed it for me, cut it in the right shape, checked if it was working, all under a minute.

>>1229070
It's >>1228965, if I were to buy a Chinese SIM, what GPS apps can I used without a VPN?

>>1221195

chengdu sucks. i lived there for a while. I rarely saw white guys or other foreigners with chinese chicks, let alone hot ones. they already act pretentious and holier than thou, mostly because the russians and europeans that teach english illegally there brought down the foreigner image.

also if you're a native english speaker looking for teaching work there don't bother. the schools there prefer fucking russians and africans so they can pay them pennies/slave wage.

>>1229086
Hey everybody, it's that guy that loves The Hump hostel in Kunming!

I guess he got turned down by Chinese girls, can't imagine why. It wouldn't be his toxic personality and hate-filled outlook in life.

>>1229039
You don't remember the name of the taxi app? But I might not be able to use it, if it's in CHinese, anyways

>>1229150
what's particular about the hump hostel? i just googled it and it's the most popular hostel in kumning, but why would you say that the guy who hates chengdu loves it?

>>1229214

he's trying to take the attention off himself that he is, in reality, the infamous kunming hostel cuck

>>1229202
>You don't remember the name of the taxi app? But I might not be able to use it, if it's in CHinese, anyways
No, I'm afraid I don't though I could find out. It was a Chinese version of Uber.

Speaking of which, Uber exists but I think the English version was canceled after Uber's Chinese operation was sold to a Chinese company.

There's also Didi which is another taxi app (also the company that bought Uber) but it's in Chinese. It's built into Wechat though which means that most people have it even if they don't use it.

>>1229214
>what's particular about the hump hostel? i just googled it and it's the most popular hostel in kumning
For good reason though the only particularly amazing thing about it is its location, it's right in the middle of the city, just a few blocks from everywhere important, like the train station. Most other hostels are a bit outside the CBD and you need buses to get places. The Hump isn't quite a party hostel but there's usually a bit of partying every night, it has a good bar and good food, nice chill-out spaces, the outdoors area is nice.

I've found other hostels that are better in some specific way but none that have such a high average across the board.

>but why would you say that the guy who hates chengdu loves it?
Because he's incredibly, absurdly salty about it and basically everything else about China; for no good reason that I can see.

I think he went to China expecting to be a white god and worshiped by Chinese qt3.14s and showered with money but was just another guy and the same loser as back home, most likely teaching illegally without a degree and consequently dealing with dodgy schools that ripped him off or just preferred cheaper illegal teachers. Consequently, you see him shitting up every thread with pol/r9k memes.

His words really speak for themselves, he's just always X sucks, foreigners suck, chinks suck, bitches suck, everything sucks, cuck, liberal, beta, small dicked loser....it's kind of hilarious how nonsensical and content-free his strung together memes are.

I suppose Culture Shock is pretty likely too though in the past he's denied it and claims to hate China for perfectly objective reasons (it sucks).

>>1229383

well hello thar, half-Asian British libtard cuck from HK who squanders and wastes his life traveling from shithole to shithole in china, living in budget hotels while struggling to make ends meet as a 'digital nomad' working remotely in IT. how are you these days?

still starting china generals and obsessively trying to keep them alive I see. also, you seem to have mistaken me for a few other people. i've never been to kunming, nor do I stay in hostels. I just like making fun of your scrubby ass for staying in them and shitty budget hotels, and how you were trying to shill them out in the general last year or the year before. kek

>>1229081
bump on this

>>1229428
Sounds like he is doing better than you.

I'm gonna be staying in Shanghai around the Yu Garden area for 2 weeks, anyone know some must do's and must eat's?

>>1229479
>I'm gonna be staying in Shanghai around the Yu Garden area for 2 weeks, anyone know some must do's and must eat's?
The meme foods are various forms of Xiaolong bao. There's an 'ancient temple' market a few blocks south-west of the Bund which has a food hall with all the Shanghai meme foods, that will let you tick any boxes you want in one go. The giant crab soup bao are pretty good and I haven't seen them elsewhere, Xiaolong bao are always good but not necessarily any better than the Shanghai versions everywhere else.

Shanghai is so westernised that it's kind of hard to give you much advice on tourism other than to stay the fuck away from any Chinese that talk to you on The Bund or other big tourist areas. They try to lure you to some back-alley shop/brothel.bar with promises of massages/sex/tea ceremonies/whatever, it's a trap. If they can't get you to pay some inflated bill, they'll just get some big gangster friends to block your exit and try to intimidate/rob you, it's happened to shitloads of tourists and they're always after fresh meat.

Check your guidebook or wikivoyage for actual sites to see. You can get a good view from some of the sky bars, that's worth doing once.

>>1229428
I won't say that I'm what you think I am because you're grasping at straws given that you know almost nothing about me but I'm at least *who* you think I am, this time, you've been wrong before.. I'm not confusing you with other people though, just recognising your poor punctuation and /pol/tard personality, I don't actually think you like The Hump, just that you're seriously salty about it for some reason. Keep going with those memes!

Also, not the OP but you've been wrong about that so many times it's kind of sad. If I was the OP, it would have much more info.

>squanders and wastes his life traveling from shithole to shithole
If you think that's a bad thing, you might be on the wrong board.

So I was wondering, what is your actual problem? You seem to hate everything about China, you think it's full of shitholes and a waste of time to visit, one of the favourite cities of every expat I know, Chengdu, apparently sucks in your opinion. Why do you visit the China general? Isn't it just triggering your dating PTSD or something?

What actually made you this way? It seems like a classic case of culture shock where you just fall into a rut of "everything sucks, I've got to get out of this place" but you've said that it wasn't so in the past.

I live near Taiyuan and have a five day break coming up. I would like to travel by train, 3-5 hours max, to somewhere worth going to. I've lived here for a while now and don't really care for the culture or the people. I just want someplace I can relax, spend all day reading without having one of my senses offended as is invariably the case where I live. If you know of a place where I won't have to look at or smell the smog; a place where I won't have to hear their odious slurping or hawking, please tell me and that is where I will go. I realize that I'm probably hoping for too much considering where I am, but what else can I do while I serve out my sentence?

>>1229523
You want a place in China that doesn't have Chinese people?

I've got suggestions based on how much you really want to avoid Chinese and how far you want to go.

If you're super keen on just chilling and want a place to yourself, pack a folding bike and take a train to Anchang in Hebei (probably via Zhengzhou) and a bus to Linzhou, then a taxi/bike ride to the Red Flag Canal Hostel which is way out of town at the base of the mountains. It's an almost deserted hostel with shitloads of rooms and barely anyone staying in them. I had the place almost to myself for a week when I was there, decent internet too.

The best thing is that there are nearby air schools so you can also do some paragliding, hanggliding or even helicopter lessoons, if you have the money. I went tandem paragliding which was shitloads of fun.

If you bring a bike (have to be folding to go on the train) then you can ride up into the mountains and over into the valley in the middle of them which is cool. There are some hiking trails and walks up in the mountains as well.

There's a few places nearer to you but you could day trip them from Taiyuan and they're not free of culture or people really.

The Chang Family Compound in Dongyang is just a train and bus from Taiyuan, you can get there in about two-three hours. Hawkers though, just around the entrances.

The Zhangbi underground town, you take two buses from Dongyang to get there. Mostly just a big bunch of dusty dirt tunnels under the town to hide from bandits. A lot of them though, people have gotten lost down there. You probably know all about Pingyao already and it's crowded and noisy so you don't care, even if their old-town hostels are cool.

I really can't recommend Linzhou highly enough, the city is nothing but the mountains are gorgeous and it's really, really quiet. They built shitloads of tourist hotels but no tourists came so they're all closed or half-empty. No hawkers, no noise. The hostel staff are barely there.

>>1229555
>You want a place in China that doesn't have Chinese people?
It sounds ridiculous, but I just want a break from them.

I really can't thank you enough for your recommendation. The least I can do for the time you put into it is go. It's still too early to say for certain where I'll be going for this break, but I will definitely visit Linzhou before I leave China and it is because of you, thank you.

I don't have a folding bike but I love biking. Can one be rented there? Also do you remember the prices for some of the things you mentioned? It would be nice to set a budget ahead of time and not be surprised or disappointed on arrival. It's probably obvious, but I don't speak any of their language. This has never stopped me from finding places in the past, but it would be nice to know if you wrote your recommendation assuming that I could communicate with them.

It really is people like you who make this board my favorite. Thanks again.

>>1220929


been working in HK for 4 years now as HR (German, mid-twenties), and I want to re-locate to China. What do you anons suggest do use for job hunting?

So far Ive used LinkedIn and had contact with some headhunters.

File: 20150917_160025.jpg (2MB, 3264x1836px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3264x1836px

>>1229563
>It sounds ridiculous, but I just want a break from them.
It's cool, culture shock is a real thing and getting swamped by sensory overload is something that happens. There's worse things than to take a break and chill out.

By the way, do you hang out at the expat bars in Taiyuan? That's a good way to manage culture shock, just maintain a day a week or so for chilling with expats. Waldens old and Waldens new are in the south of Taiyuan, one was closed for renovations but should have reopened by now, those are where the teachers drink for cheap beer/whiskey&coke and pool. Slightly further south, UK Impressions is more upmarket but has great cocktails and western food.

>I don't have a folding bike but I love biking. Can one be rented there?
I don't think they have any official bike rental but they might be able to come up with something if you ask.
I don't know what your budget is but a decent folding bike is only like RMB2000 or so. You can get cheaper ones too.

If you really love biking, get your arse down to Jinzhou, it's technically a city but basically a suburb south of Taiyuan, you can take a public bus or even just a taxi. A Chinese mate of mine runs the Giant bike shop down there, his mates take their mountain bikes out and ride around the dirt canyons and shit, probably something fun for you to do and if you ask nicely, I expect he'll be able to find you a loaner. He speaks Australian accented English due to mostly living in the west. Anyway, get in touch with him regardless because he can hook you up with biking activities around Taiyuan and he's kind of from Linzhou so can fill you on that too.

pic related is some random track through the farmland behind the hostel

>>1229905
Is it culture shock? I really don't know. I have always loathed filth and a lack of propriety, it just seems to me that I've been more sensitive lately. When I first came here I could tolerate and even ignore the sounds they make while eating, but now it nauseates me; I once could watch a man shamelessly let out of his mouth something unspeakable without my disgust manifesting itself in some inappropriate mutter. If these are symptoms of culture shock, then I guess I now know what's happening.

I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I know all about the expat scene in Taiyuan and even though it's only a 15-20 minute cab ride away, I just can't bring myself to check out the bars. It would be glorious to meet others where I'm at, but no one is here. Prolonged isolation is probably not healthy but it can't be any worse than the effects of the pollution.

Thanks again for the information you gave here. Once the weather improves maybe I'll look for your Chinese friend and see about joining on a few rides. It's only a few months left and time is going by unbelievably fast considering the circumstances. I haven't decided yet because I want to ask my students for recommendations also, but if they don't give me anything useful, I'll be going to Linzhou. You gave me something to look forward to, thank you.

>>1229898
>I want to re-locate to China
Why would you want to do this? Go back to your beautiful, cultured, and clean country. Why would you choose this and leave behind some of the most attractive women in the world? If that weren't enough, your home offers chances to be exposed to the greatest art and music ever created, why come here where there is nothing but cheap imitations? I traveled in Germany between semesters and I am almost resolved on pursuing a master's there just so I can live in your country.

I am really interested to know why you chose China over Germany, even if it's just meant to be short term.

File: 20150919_144521.jpg (2MB, 3264x1836px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3264x1836px

>>1229905
>pic related is some random track through the farmland behind the hostel
Wait no, it's the canal at the base of the mountains.

Here's the hostel details
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/henan/hotels/linzhou-red-flag-canal-international-youth-hostel/
It says you can hire a bike, obviously I didn't ask about that.

When I was there, I had a 12 bed dorm to myself, there were a few Chinese music students in another dorm and an Australian/Polish paraglider couple staying in a private room. The hostel has hundreds of beds, it's fucking huge.

The mountains and the canyon form the border with Shanxi province, so it's just over the border from where you are, looks like you can get a direct train from Taiyuan south to Anyang and take the bus from there, just 2 1/2 hours. Get the early train so that you can catch the bus and don't have to spend a night in Anyang. First class is only RMB254 each way. The bus from Anyang is fuck all, maybe RMB30 or something.

https://english.ctrip.com/trains/list?DepartDate=03-31-2017&DepartureStation=%E5%A4%AA%E5%8E%9F&ArrivalStation=%E5%AE%89%E9%98%B3&DepartureCity=Taiyuan%20(%E5%A4%AA%E5%8E%9F),%20Shanxi&ArrivalCity=Anyang%20(%E5%AE%89%E9%98%B3),%20Henan&TrainNo=&searchboxArg=t#ctm_ref=hp_sb_tn

I also fucked up, it's Henan province, not Hebei and the nearby city with the train station is Anyang, not Anchang.

For cost...dorm bunks are under RMB100/night, depends on whether you have a YHA membership. There's not actual meals at the hostel but you can buy food nearby in the little shops and cook it in the big hostel kitchen. That food will be dirt cheap because you're just buying local ingredients (or bring some if you want). The hostel sells wine and stuff but that's a bit expensive. Beer from the local store will be cheap though.

Stuff like paragliding will be more expensive, that's going to be RMB500 or something.

>>1229933
>I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I know all about the expat scene in Taiyuan and even though it's only a 15-20 minute cab ride away, I just can't bring myself to check out the bars. It would be glorious to meet others where I'm at, but no one is here. Prolonged isolation is probably not healthy but it can't be any worse than the effects of the pollution.

You need to get out and meet people, it's definitely not healthy. Treat it like going to the gym, you go out for a few hours on a Friday night just to be social and stay mentally healthy.

The pollution is a whole separate issue though Taiyuan isn't too bad. The most it does for a short-timer like yourself is give you a cough or something and you could always get an air purifier if you want. I just changed the filters on a little RMB200 kit I bought off JD, they were pretty filthy after running all winter.

>>1229948
You're an angel. I couldn't have even hoped for so much detail. I promise you I'll go before I leave this country, it looks exactly like what I need. If you give me any more information I'll feel bad that I have no way to reciprocate your kindness. I don't have a card to buy the ticket so I hope I can find one at the station Saturday morning, otherwise I'll probably end up taking a train somewhere else. But it wouldn't surprise me if they advertise low ticket availability to secure purchases. The excitement of traveling with uncertainty is enough for me to be content regardless of whether I find a ticket or not.

If you're still around Taiyuan, maybe you can give me your wechat id. I would love to buy you dinner sometime for showing me this great option. I was all but resigned to seeing nothing but gray for the rest of my stay here.

>>1229956
I'm not in Taiyuan anymore, I visited it a couple of times for a few days here and there but I didn't stay long.

It's cool, talking about the places we've been is kind of what the board is for.

You don't buy the tickets on ctrip, just check the times etc. You've probably got baidu maps so put "火车票" into it and you'll get the location of nearby ticket offices. There are usually heaps around, you don't have to go to the station for it. If you have wechat wallet, you can also buy them in the app there but it's a hassle if you can't read any Chinese.

If the tickets are low availability then definitely buy ahead of time, ctrip has real-time ticket availability but scalpers (and train staff) will often buy some and hand them back at the last minute but you can't count on it.

Looking to move to a city in China with hardly any foreigners and no competition for jobs, but not a total wasteland.

Any recommendations? A friend of mine went to Zhengzhou and said the people there hated foreigners, he couldn't get any girls and it was like a dusty dystopian wasteland. I'm not concerned with girls though, just keeping a stable, laid back job like teaching in a high school or university.

>>1230216
I can't name particular cities, but I can only really think of rural areas.

>>1230216
>Looking to move to a city in China with hardly any foreigners and no competition for jobs, but not a total wasteland.

If you want 'hardly any foreigners' but 'not a total wasteland' then you're probably out of luck. That said, you can always avoid foreigners easily enough, except for the ones you work with because you're an English teacher and you'll work along side other foreign English teachers obviously.

I guess I know a few teachers who work only with Chinese, those guys teach in highschools or universities and are kind of on their own, often employed directly by the school. They tend to be well qualified though.

If you don't have a degree, I can't help you, you'd have to work illegally for a shit English mill and you'd be with lots of other foreigners and there's always competition for the illegal jobs. It's kind of like loser-chan said here: >>1229086 though not quite as bad as they think.

> Any recommendations? A friend of mine went to Zhengzhou and said the people there hated foreigners, he couldn't get any girls and it was like a dusty dystopian wasteland. I'm not concerned with girls though, just keeping a stable, laid back job like teaching in a high school or university.

I had a good time in Zhengzhou, it doesn't have hundreds of foreigners but they're around, mostly in the two expat bars. I'm sure you could pick up a local girl if you're just a nice guy but I wasn't trying there. Your friend is definitely right about the dusty wasteland though. I'm not sure about dystopian but Zhengzhou is seriously dusty from the plains and also has shitloads of construction which throw up even more dust, the air is terrible.

Anyway, my vote is for Taiyuan like the other guy just above is at. You don't have to hang out with foreigners if you don't want and it's got all the modern stuff if you feel like going to get it.

Any tier 2 city will have lower competition (and pay) and if you're a good speaker/teacher then you can get jobs.

File: IMG_20160906_063441105.jpg (6MB, 4008x5344px) Image search: [Google]

6MB, 4008x5344px

>>1228965
>>1228961
yyou can buy a week long data only sim card at the airport for $40usd, download a vip before you leave or you wont get internet
> google ban

>>1230666
>vpn

File: IMG_0762.jpg (2MB, 4032x3024px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 4032x3024px

I'm going to Beijing for 10 days at the beginning of June- does anyone have recommendations for things to do, see, and eat? I'm interested in immersing myself in un-western experiences, tasty food, and local music/subculture venues.

Hot off the presses, just in today...
https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2017/04/01/beijing-introduce-visa-free-status-english-teachers

Hi guys. I normally lurk, but I finally got the opportunity to travel and I have some questions.
(If it matters, I'll be in Shanghai. I'm going as a student).

Does anyone have some advice on how to "fit in" culturally?
What mistakes do foreigners usually make that make them stand out?

>>1232441
>What mistakes do foreigners usually make that make them stand out?
Foreigners stand out regardless, no avoiding it.

In Shanghai, it doesn't matter. Lots of foreigners around, people are used to it.

Don't go anywhere with anyone that you meet at a tourist area. Ever.

>>1232445

Is the tea house scam that popular? Anything else I should watch out for that's specific to China? I've lived in cities before so I have a general idea of how to keep my shit together, but all advice is welcome.

File: hong-kong-countryside-sunset-rice-field-and-modern-office-buildings-E992DH.jpg (301KB, 1300x956px) Image search: [Google]

301KB, 1300x956px

Whereabouts in Hong Kong was this photo taken?

It's >>1232603. I ended up figuring it out on Google Maps, it's Ma Tso Lung Police Post.

>>1232448
>Is the tea house scam that popular?
It's still super popular though if you're a single guy, you'll get a lot of sex-related scams that work almost the same way. And it's not always a tea-house anymore but it's always something basically similar.

>come with me for cultural experience/massage/sex
>pay huge bill/compensation for bullshit
>big guy *blocks your path* until you pay

Some of them are straight-up robberies but usually they pretend that you're paying compensation because 'your friend' stole something or broke something or the bill is just really that high because of rare teas/wine/whatever.

Plenty of Chinese from the sticks will want a photo with foreigners and strike up conversation and stuff but the criminals will too, working the same way. It's not foolproof but you can try working out whether someone is a tourist staying in town or a local. If they know Shanghai well or they live there then it's more likely to be a scam, if they're from the sticks and staying in a hotel and don't really know the city (and especially don't know any special restaurants that you should visit) then it's more likely to be legit. A legit person won't care what place you go to, a scam/robbery needs you to go to a specific place.

>>1232620
>Ma Tso Lung Police Post
I wouldn't have figured that out. If it's Ma Tso Lung, that's probably a restricted area that foreigners can't go (even locals can't go without invitations from people resident there). Reason being is that that probably isn't Hong Kong in the background, it's Shenzhen and you're looking over the border which is that swampy canal at the urban edge.

Also, fuck that saturation, it's a green area but that photo is so manipulated that it's kind of stupid.

File: MaTsoLung.png (545KB, 1572x1078px) Image search: [Google]

545KB, 1572x1078px

>>1232636
>If it's Ma Tso Lung, that's probably a restricted area that foreigners can't go
Aaand I'm wrong. I think by Police Post, you meant a Macintosh Fort and it turns out that Ma Tso Lung and one other are actually publicly accessible, at least the outside.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacIntosh_Forts

If you hired a bike and took the MTR to somewhere nearby (you can take bikes on the MTR, just have to remove the front wheel and carry it) then you could ride out to there easily enough. A lot of the northern part of Hong Kong is really pretty, I loved riding around that area, also the lakes area is nice too.

>>1229479
the "smart shanghai" app is a good English app for food and a lot of the top tourist spots, I found it pretty helpful when i was traveling solo in Shanghai.

>>1229479
You should get wechat and add me: oneloaf. I live in shanghai.

Are there any good gaming arcades in Hong Kong?

>gonna do exchange studies in renmin business school, beijing, this september
what the fuck is there to do in beijing & china bros?

>>1233102
>what the fuck is there to do in beijing & china bros?
The usual really. Beijing has some cool party areas. It's an international city, you can kind of do anything you want.

My favourite bar in Beijing is German, there's a rooftop area that is somehow never crowded (maybe because it's open air).

>>1233103
im 180cm tall, pretty fit, >outgoing & blond

will i be swimming in pussy as i imagine?

>>1233104
>whitegod syndrome - the post
>will i be swimming in pussy as i imagine?
Are you actually a nice person?
Interested in a girl for her own sake or just looking for sex?

Beijing is full of foreigners, especially students and just-graduated teachers, you're not that special. They're probably open to actually dating a foreigner but most don't want to just hook up. Still, there are night clubs, some girls like that and your chances of meeting girls DTF are higher in big cities like Beijing than elsewhere though, I've definitely seen it happen. If you're dating though, sex is fine but some girls are going to have rules that seem old-fashioned, like waiting one month or something. Chinese girls don't mind fucking their boyfriends but they hope that they're not going to have a string of boyfriends before finding one that they marry and settle down with. The saying is: "I want my first time to be with the last man I sleep with". Or at least not too high a number of men.

What loser-chan said here: >>1229086 about Chengdu, goes double for Beijing. It's not as bad as he says but he obviously went there with your attitude and the girls laughed at him or something.
>chengdu sucks. i lived there for a while. I rarely saw white guys or other foreigners with chinese chicks, let alone hot ones. they already act pretentious and holier than thou, mostly because the russians and europeans that teach english illegally there brought down the foreigner image.

>>1233112
so beijing is that different from seoul then?

got a friend in korea rite now having a good time

>>1233184
>got a friend in korea rite now having a good time
The rules about sex are different between Korea and China. Isn't Korea a matter of asking at least there times or something?

Beijing is about the second or third most western/international city in China (after Shenzhen I think, maybe the same as Shanghai). Doesn't mean that Chinese girls are going to just hook up though, their peers wouldn't let them live it down if they knew and Chinese tend to go out clubbing with friends.

Some do though, like I said, I've seen it happen but it's rarer than in the west, where most girls in a club will be happy to go home with the right guy.

File: TB270iMjYtlpuFjSspfXXXLUpXa_!!3080894951.jpg (322KB, 790x1447px) Image search: [Google]

322KB, 790x1447px

Anyone bought an oven here?

I can't stand the food around here, it all taste like oil and pigfodder. Happens to be I can cook but prefer to use western type of equipment.

Would a sub 1000 kuai oven deliver anything close to what my sturdy piece of shit back in home could or do I need to IKEA my whole kitchen for a fortune?

>>1233112
>but most don't want to just hook up.
there's a lot. but just like in west, the free ones are all trailer trash.

>>1229086
>they already act pretentious and holier than thou, mostly because the russians and europeans that teach english illegally there brought down the foreigner image.
Yeah there's barely any american sexpat teachers who behaves worse than the yurotrash and acts pretentious as shit. For sure not a single one in this thread.

>>1233248
>Anyone bought an oven here?
I bought a used toaster oven off a teacher who went home, for RMB100. It's a bit smaller than your pic, I'd never fit two trays of muffins in it.

It does cakes, bread and roast chickens fine though, also grilled cheese and tomato on toast. Only problem with muffins is that I have to do them six at a time but they work too.

>>1233252
>Yeah there's barely any american sexpat teachers who behaves worse than
kek
My favourites are the ones that have come to hate China but can't leave because they're afraid to go to any country with an extradition treaty with USA because they're wanted on charges for something or other. I've met several teachers who were lying low to wait for drug charges to expire (I believe it was rape in one case).

>>1233104
You'll be swimming in as much pussy as you don't right now

What is the best VPN I can get for my iPhone?

>>1233249
>there's a lot. but just like in west, the free ones are all trailer trash.
To be fair, so are the teachers trying to pick them up.

>>1227591
Guangxi has some nice Dong architecture for sure, the drum towers/bridges in some northeastern villages look fucking awesome. Probably nothing you cannot find in Yunnan, but still nice. I cannot recommend just one Dong building, just saying that if you do end up in Guizhou/Guangxi, remember to look up Dong stuff along the way, take a slow bus between two places once.
The HSR between Guiyang and Guilin (and Guangdong) has one of the best views I've ever seen on a train.

>>1229081
I've only used HERE maps, bing maps (these are in English) and Amap (Chinese with loads of icons)...

The only thing to note is never to use Google maps. Do not trust Google for China at all. This includes embedded maps on sites like booking.com. They are off. Just search for eg. hotel name on amap or bing to get something more realistic.

>>1233521
Thank you :)

>>1233521
Just downloaded Here maps and nothing comes up for China, what gives?

>>1233540
Oh crap, I guess I only have the China map, cause I haven't refreshed the app since years...
I only have amap in mind, then, sorry.

>>1233542
All g, thanks for your help anyways

>>1233519
>The HSR between Guiyang and Guilin (and Guangdong) has one of the best views I've ever seen on a train.
The HSR tracks in Guiyang and even it's highways are pretty cool, they're up high in big mountain passes looking down on the valley.

>>1233521
>Do not trust Google for China at all
They're right a lot of time though there's this weird gps error that happens a lot and puts you 100m off or something. The big problem with them is that they usually don't know Chinese addresses, only English versions.

>>1233567
If it was just that 100m, it would be okay-ish. I fixed like a dozen marks that were totally off on Google Maps in the first Chinese city I visited, then I gave up... They also have no info on most hotels, restaurants, etc. Amap just beats Gmaps, even though I understand nothing but the icons and numbers.

>>1233576
We mostly use Baidu maps anyway, it will usually recognise English names for things and anyway, most names are Chinese so that's what we use.

I need to stay in Beijing for 3 months but i think the pollution will kill me.

I've live in an English village for most of my life with incredibly clean air, I get blocked and itchy just from going to London.

Is it worth investing in a high tech pollution mask or is it a waste of time and il look ridiculous? Are masks common and how bad is the pollution, my girlfriend who is there now says it's quite bad and constantly irritates her.

>>1233399
>I bought a used toaster oven off a teacher who went home, for RMB100. It's a bit smaller than your pic, I'd never fit two trays of muffins in it.
Ill assume its one of the flimsy ones just like the picture.

I am thinking that roasting potatoes, or any other task closing in on an hour, would overheat a thing like this. Or possibly turn into an extra completely unnecessary heater for Guangdong weather. Or even become a fire hazard for a tiny apartment... what would you say?

>>1233608
>il look ridiculous
Yep

However if you let Chinese judge you onfashion you're way fucking lost already.

File: smart-air-purifier-720x478.jpg (68KB, 720x478px) Image search: [Google]

68KB, 720x478px

>>1233612
>I am thinking that roasting potatoes, or any other task closing in on an hour, would overheat a thing like this. Or possibly turn into an extra completely unnecessary heater for Guangdong weather. Or even become a fire hazard for a tiny apartment... what would you say?

Nah, potatoes and stuff are fine, I've done a chicken and full roast vegetables and it was fine. Squashed but fine.

I don't envy the kitcken in Guangdong with an oven going for a few hours but you should have AC and it shouldn't heat the room *too much*.

>>1233608
>I need to stay in Beijing for 3 months but i think the pollution will kill me.
> I've live in an English village for most of my life with incredibly clean air, I get blocked and itchy just from going to London.
Get pic related. Run it for three months. That's about when you'd need to change the filter anyway.
That will keep your apartment clean, maybe another in your office if you have one. They're only 200RMB on jindong or taobao. It's literally just a fan, filter and strap but it's all you need, I use one in my office and it works really, really well.

You can get a mask for outside, any 3M 2.5pm mask will do fine, they're not that expensive.
As bad as Beijing is, it's not actually bad all the time, it depends on weather and season and if anything important is going on. Sometimes it's quite good for days at a time, so you might not need the mask every day. Get an app for your phone to check air quality and treat it like checking for rain.

>>1233620
Thanks, is there a particular name for it, a serial code? I'll be there this summer.

How much Chinese will i need to function on the street, i know the first 150 words of the HSK thing by memory but im not sure it's enough to buy food and arrange a gym membership which is the sort of stuff I will be doing.

We'll probably have a layover of 11 hours in Xiamen when we travel to Taiwan, so I have some questions:

>I read in some places there is a travel transit visa of 72 hours in China, is that true?
>What are the things we absolutely need to do and see in Xiamen?
>What should we eat when we are in Xiamen, I'm looking for something really unique.

>>1233633
>i know the first 150 words of the HSK thing by memory
That's more than most foreigners and gyms in Beijing will probably have some English speaking staff anyway. You technically don't need any Chinese in supermarkets because you just point at things in the deli and maybe hold up some fingers. Put things in a basket, hand to checkout chick, pay the amount on the register...you wouldn't need to talk once if you didn't want to. By the way, April Gourmet in Sanlitun is the best supermarket for foreign goods in Beijing, Jenny Lu's has more branches but usually a somewhat smaller range and some foreigners have had very bad experiences in there, they're still ok though.

The critical phrases are just things like 'how much', 'I want one of this', 'I want to go here'. Those should all be covered.

>Thanks, is there a particular name for it, a serial code?
https://smartair.taobao.com/

But it doesn't matter, because it's so simple, there are lots of other versions of it and they're just the same so it's not important. The story to this kit is that some albright scholar was concerned that air purifiers were so expensive and decided to see if reducing it to the essential components would remain as effective. It does, it actually works better than about 80% of the purifiers on the market and nearly as good as the other 20%. It just doesn't have some of the extra features like quiet modes, inbuilt air quality sensors, humidifiers...stuff like that.

When they put it on sale, it was quite popular because it's so cheap (200RMB vs 10000RMB) and so lots of taobao merchants made their own kits which they sell at similar prices.

The albright scholar started a company to sell it but their real mission was to make clean air affordable so being ripped-off by competitors isn't a big deal from that perspective.

>>1233706
>transit visa of 72 hours in China
Only in some cities and not that it matters for you but you're not allowed to leave the city.
>What are the things we absolutely need to do and see in Xiamen?
Probably to go see the little island with the old colonial village and stuff.
You could also see a Fuzhou opera and eat some stuffed fishball soup and a temple on a mountain but you have so little time that it's hard to say.

Assuming an hour of fucking around in the airport and needing to be back two hours before departure and an hour each way to get to the island, you really only have six hours. If you're quick and pay attention to time and know exactly how to get there, you could dump luggage at left luggage in the airport (if you have any) and then head to the main Island, head to the right ferry terminal (find out which in advance, there are three and tourists have to use a certain one) and then take a ferry to the old town on the little island. Then you have about four hours to look around there before retracing your steps.

I'm an Australian hoping to travel home to the UK for a few months next year, lads. The cheapest flight I've found has a 16 hour layover in Guangzhou, so I've a few questions.

Do you need a visa for layovers and transit flights? A lot of the Asian countries I've travelled through have required some form of visa even for transit.

What is there to do in Guangzhou? The flight I'm looking at gets in about 5pm local time and departs at 9:30am the next day, would I be better off just getting a hotel room and relaxing?

Is English common among airport staff or on signs? I'd be travelling alone and am chronic about getting lost in airports.

>>1232956
bump on this one

File: 20150218_142309.jpg (2MB, 3264x1836px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3264x1836px

>>1233945
>Do you need a visa for layovers and transit flights? A lot of the Asian countries I've travelled through have required some form of visa even for transit.
See >>1233915. You can get a 72 hour transit visa at the airport which will let you go into town but not out of the city.

>Is English common among airport staff or on signs? I'd be travelling alone and am chronic about getting lost in airports.
You'll be fine, all signs will be bilingual, most announcements will be bilingual (or maybe trilingual Cantonese).


>What is there to do in Guangzhou? The flight I'm looking at gets in about 5pm local time and departs at 9:30am the next day, would I be better off just getting a hotel room and relaxing?

Guangzhou doesn't really have any MUST SEE and anyway you get in after most tourist shit shuts and get out before it opens, so all you can really do is go get a drink or meal or something.

If you live in Melbourne/Sydney/London then you've had good Chinese food anyway so there's not much left to do. I guess, more for the sake of it than anything else, go get some world-class Yumcha in the city where it was invented. It will be way cheaper than the same kind of stuff in the west and should be a bit better.

Pic related is possibly the best Yumcha restaurant in the fucking world.

Story time; a while back I picked up a Chinese chick who was a corporate executive with expensive tastes. She took me to pic related which she and her Cantonese friends/family consider to have the best yumcha in the city, which probably makes it the best in the world since Yumcha is THE Guangzhou cuisine. It was breddy good. And it didn't actually cost any more than yumcha in Sydney would have so that was cool too.

It's name is 美心翠园 (Jade Garden), it's in Tianhe I think.
http://www.dianping.com/shop/11547361

If you showed that webpage to a taxi driver, he could get you there.

>>1233976
As a bonus, Tianhe is next to Zhujiang Newtown where the bars are, so go hang out in the bars full of expats and chat about Guangzhou for a bit before you head to your hotel. You can book a local pay-on-arrival hotel in ctrip.com, expect it to be about $30-40.

The airport is on the metro so it's easy to get in and out of town.

>>1233945
You're mixing two things here...
Layovers and transit are one thing, leaving the airport during a long layover is another.
If you just want to do nothing and just stay at the airport, you do not require a visa or any paperwork.
If you want to leave the airport:
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/visa/free-72hour/
You need a special stamp in your passport that you get really easily. While still at your home airport, you have to tell your airline that you'll want the 72hr visa free thing in China.
Then in Guangzhou you look for the 72hr visa free stay desk, get your paperwork done, off you go.
Remember to be back early, Chinese traffic can be crazy etc etc.

I transferred there many times, unfortunately never had the time to leave the airport, I know I would love to check out the architecture next time, or maybestay two more days, and go crazy in Shenzhen (Guangzhou is one of the few places that allow you to travel the whole province with that visa).

Someone else is gonna fill you in on the sights.

I had to get stuff done at the airport, like rebooking flights and all. Airline staff all spoke great English (great for China anyway), other workers did not seem to speak much English, but were awesome at pointing me to where I needed to go. (They looked at my boarding card, and knew what was up instantly.)

>>1233945
The signs are all bilingual, though, whenever they exist.

>>1233978
>If you just want to do nothing and just stay at the airport, you do not require a visa or any paperwork.
You do in some countries, sometimes transits need a local visa, even if it's visa on arrival. The USA makes everyone go through immigration even if they're not leaving the airport.

I agree that it's not normal.

>Chinese traffic can be crazy etc etc.
Fortunately, the airport is on the metro which is pretty good in GZ.

>>1233976
Noting most of the stuff down for myself for my next trip, awesome.
Do note that in places like Shanghai, Changsha, Guangzhou, you CAN leave the city. You can visit whole Guangdong with the transfer visa. (Not like OP could do it with that time frame, just saying for later reference.) There are even places where you don't have to leave from the same airport! So the rule varies a lot.

>>1233945
Assuming you're going with China Southern, you get a free hotel stay: https://www.csair.com/en/tourguide/transit_flow/transfers_hub/free_accommodations/

>>1233980
This is a China general, though, and we were talking about Guangzhou...?
Obviously you need visa in a lot of other places.
But okay...

>>1233987
>This is a China general, though, and we were talking about Guangzhou...?
Anon didn't know that. And they would need a transit visa to get out of the secure part which might not even have a hotel in it anyway, they're usually outside security.

Guy anyone know how to reach Dixia Cheng?

>>1233990
It's closed to tourists, has been for nearly ten years.

There might be places that you could be taken down by a local to look around but they wouldn't be advertised. There are a lot of private entrances to it though so it's not impossible.

Speaking of Guanzhou, I'm going there soon and I know a few basic phrases in Mandarin which I've picked up from trips to Shanghai..
Am I better of just using English (+pointing at things i want to buy) or broken Mandarin in Guanzhou?

>>1233945
If i were you I would book a hotel so you can relax/sleep and take a shower before the next leg of the flight.. just go for a walk and get some food, I wouldn't try and fit in any sightseeing at those hours.
Airports will have all basic signage/gates etc in English and there are always plenty of English speaking staff, major chain hotels will be the same.
Get the hotel staff to arrange your taxi to the airport in the morning and time how long it takes to get from the airport to the hotel so you have a rough idea how long it might take on the way back.

>>1234007
>Am I better of just using English (+pointing at things i want to buy) or broken Mandarin in Guanzhou?
Whichever. There aren't many people in GZ who don't understand Mandarin. Your Mandarin is probably better than their English unless they're kids.

>>1234007
>Get the hotel staff to arrange your taxi to the airport in the morning and time how long it takes to get from the airport to the hotel so you have a rough idea how long it might take on the way back.
If he stays near a metro station, he can just take the metro back, not worth a taxi fare. And he'll know from the night before how long it takes. It's a fairly direct route from the airport to anywhere downtown like Tianhe or Zhujiang New Town

>>1234008
Good info on both points, thanks.

I might just stick to English and hopefully try and just learn hello and thank you etc in Cantonese, I'm just always worried I say things horribly wrong but Chinese are pretty forgiving with foreigners thankfully.

>>1234013
>hopefully try and just learn hello and thank you etc in Cantonese
Don't bother, if you know Mandarin, just use that.

Hello is just 'le ho' and thank you is just 'mm goy' if you want to learn them and I guess most migrant Chinese will have picked up a little too but still, Mandarin is the national language and all anyone expects to use with foreigners or any Chinese that they don't know.

Cantonese is pretty much just in the family and schoolyard (but not in the classroom).

>>1234007
>>1233985
>>1233979
>>1233978
>>1233976
Thanks guys, I'll probably just book a hotel close to the airport so I can chill out overnight.

>>1227690
whats wrong with Tibetans? ive met a lot of them in Nepal and india and they seemed alright..

>>1234048
>whats wrong with Tibetans? ive met a lot of them in Nepal and india and they seemed alright..
Hard to say what anon's problem is but they're going to be somewhat poor so there's increased chance of crime and most people, especially 1st worlders, look down on poor people generally.

>>1233915
Thanks for the advice! I can be pretty punctual when I need to be, this would be a good option, we'd need to research the most ideal route then, but it's very possible with internet of course.

i'm interested in TEFL; just graduated with a bachelor's in business from a university in the US

i'm interested in employers that provide housing and a decent salary; what are my options?

>>1234046
>I'll probably just book a hotel close to the airport
Anything close to a metro is close to the airport, so you have a lot of choices.

Use ctrip to book a pay-on-arrival hotel, they have a good range of hotels.

>>1234232
>i'm interested in TEFL; just graduated with a bachelor's in business from a university in the US
> i'm interested in employers that provide housing and a decent salary; what are my options?
Pretty good, that's not an uncommon kind of contract and with a degree, you're actually eligible for those contracts with reputable employers.

You really need to think about what kind of cities you want to teach in.

>>1234268

I've been to gongzhou and didn't appreciate the pollution there

which cities in china have breathable air?

>>1234393
>I've been to gongzhou and didn't appreciate the pollution there
I was going to say that If you thought Guangzhou was polluted, I have some bad news for you....but then I went and checked and it's mid-range and seems like it's bad on some days. I had thought that Guangzhou is actually pretty good by Chinese standards but maybe I was just there in the right season.

http://aqicn.org/city/guangzhou

There's lots of nicer places. Kunming is kind of famous for being incredibly pleasant and most coastal cities are going to be pretty good. Browse around the embedded map in the above site and find somewhere with a lot of green or at most yellow.

>>1220929
Have any US citizens picked up their Chinese Visa in Hong Kong? Currently in Taipei and it's really expensive here. Chinese visa is good for 10 years now as well, correct? Also, any hidden gems in Hong Kong? I've been to Hong Kong twice before and have done the more touristy stuff. Looking to find something new this time around. I'm also interested in affordable places to eat there.

>>1234782
>Chinese visa is good for 10 years now as well, correct
Only the 10 year ones are good for 10 years, you apply for the different length visas differently.

The hidden gems are hidden. Been to Stanley Market? Lantau Island? LKF?

Most places are affordable, food isn't that expensive in Hong Kong, just hotels and rent.

>>1234789
For U.S. citizens it seems like 6 months or ten year visas cost the same. What kind of processing time would I need in hong Kong? Haven't heard of those places, I'll check them out thanks

>>1234792
>For U.S. citizens it seems like 6 months or ten year visas cost the same. What kind of processing time would I need in hong Kong?
You probably can't get the 10 year visa outside of USA, without help anyway.

Check the HK embassy for their rules.
Processing time for the visas that you can get are about 3-4 days, you can pay for faster.

>>1234792
Forever Bright is an agency in HK that can supply 10 year visas for Burgers. Cost (last year) was 2000 Hkd.

>>1234881
visaofchina.net is Shenzhen/HK and do it too.

>>1234881
Thanks!

>>1233914
Thanks dude should help a lot

I'll be living with my chinese girlfriend whose gone back for the year, she's expecting me to go out and buy food and such since il be doing fuck all in the day on a tourist visa, so i want to be able to get around alone.

>>1234979
You could probably get an illegal teaching job and after you hook up with other expats there, you'll probably be offered one though Beijing is a pit of vipers when it comes to those things. Three months isn't long enough anyway though.

Beijing isn't hard to deal with, only speaking English. If you know 150 characters already then you'll be fine. All the foreigner stuff is in Sanlitun, so just make sure you work out where that is and how to get there (People's Stadium).

File: Xiaomi-Mi-Air-Purifier-21.jpg (97KB, 800x540px) Image search: [Google]

97KB, 800x540px

>>1234979
If your girlfriend is there a year, she should consider getting a better airfilter with sleep modes and stuff. pic related is good, I use one of these in the bedroom and it's really quiet.

Only 900RMB on JD, it has an app that tells you the current air quality in the room and you can program it to sleep/wake for when people are home.

Anyone in China atm that can tell me what VPNs are working? Cheers

Any advice at all for someone looking for a non-teaching job in shanghai? Also not really looking to be a digital nomad. Finance major fwiw.

Although my experience is exceptionally limited (which I'm sure someone will point out anyway) here's my two cents:
Spent just under 24 hours in Beijing, on my way to Japan, and I hated it. Chinese people on the flight were incredibly rude, and shabby. The guy sat in front of me put his chair back so much I was practically breathing in his excessive dandruff. Everyone still using phones despite being told to turn them off during takeover. One guy literally watching porn on his phone, sat in the centre aisle.
I was never so relieved to get off a plane.

Flying over Beijing, the whole city is devoid of any beauty. The building are ugly and identical. And the airport is filled with outdated tech.
I know people shit on teachers here, and like i said, i spent virtually no time at all their, but i am incredibly relieved i taught in japan over china.
Having said all this, the longest relationship in my life was with a half chinese/english girl who had a beautiful personality and very pretty face/body. Her mum was quite the opposite.

>>1235392
What an interesting experience tho

>>1235350
>Anyone in China atm that can tell me what VPNs are working?
Nice try People's Ministry of Information.

>>1235392
>And the airport is filled with outdated tech
Beijing airport seems fine to me, what were you expecting?

>>1235392
My experience with phones on chinese airlines is the exact opposite. I'm used to american flights where you can use your phone whenever the fuck you want and connect to wifi. Every China domestic flight I've been on, you have to shut them off and people are fucking hawkeyes about it.

>>1235392
>The guy sat in front of me put his chair back so much I was practically breathing in his excessive dandruff.
Because this is totally unique to Chinese people

>>1235436
i'm not talking light chance of snow dandruff, im talking full on 1cm diameter blizzard.

>>1235457
>dandruff
All the same, neither dandruff nor people reclining their seats are exclusively Chinese phenomenon.

>>1235350
bump, going to China in a couple of days and need to get my VPN sorted

>>1235398
kek

>>1235752
>going to China in a couple of days and need to get my VPN sorted
One of the reasons that you're not getting any answers is that it's really hard to give you an accurate answer. Different cities, ISPs, phone companies all handle their blocking differently and it changes over time. You can be fine one moment, go to the otherside of town and then it doesn't work. Shit like that happens all the time. Whatever anyone tells you, someone else is going to be like "I tried that and it's not working".

Also, if someone's VPN is working, they also don't want to jinx it, the popular ones are sometimes targeted in crackdowns.

FWIW (which is almost nothing): I find that VPN Ninja works ok if I use the HK server. That's for PPTP, their 'secret' protocol might work on other servers but they don't offer that on phones.

I currently use a home-made socks proxy for most browsing and you tube but sometimes I fire up an actual VPN using PPTP/OpenVPN/Stunneled-OpenVPN

>>1235764
Thanks for the information and your help.