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5673 Posts
I've been meaning to go to China for more than two years. Finally, this month, I'll be there for two weeks, and would just like some opinions on what I should do. Although I've been to Hong Kong before, that was for a sporting event, and I didn't have enough time to walk around after it was over.
I will be based in Tianjin, but will be able to visit Beijing pretty often.
Things I will be doing
- Seeing The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace
- Walking around Tianjin (anything in particular I should check out?)
- Sampling as many different varieties of Chinese cuisine as possible (seafood and duck from different parts of China for sure)
Things I would like to do
- Put together a computer
- Attend any LANs and/or eSports tournaments
- Meet up with (and perhaps grabbing a game or two with) any TL denizens who are in or around the cities I'll be visiting
The Great Firewall
How bad is it? Should I download any tunelling programmes before I go? Which popular sites are blocked? Any info at all on this would be great.
Buying a computer
I live in Sri Lanka, where PC parts are expensive thanks to ridiculous import taxes (think 100% and up). I'm thinking of putting together a SC2 enabled rig while in China. My question is - what are the dos and donts of this? Where should I buy from, where shouldn't I buy from, and where can I get the best prices? I'm looking at a midrange c2d, 2gig, 4850 machine. I've checked out newegg.com.cn and ZOL. Any other sites I should be looking at?
Also, as I asked before, in general what should and shouldn't I do? Your wisdom and expertise is appreciated, kind TLers. I do plan to read up a lot more about the country before I leave next week, so any pointers on to what to focus on would be cool as well.
P.S - Thanks tuna for the advice so far. 
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konadora
Singapore66163 Posts
Will you be going with someone? It's very important to learn to etiquette there beforehand, wouldn't want to get into any trouble
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5673 Posts
On June 02 2009 22:46 konadora wrote:Will you be going with someone? It's very important to learn to etiquette there beforehand, wouldn't want to get into any trouble
Yes, I have family there who have lived there for a while. They're well versed in what's polite and impolite.
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5673 Posts
Will add that to my itinerary. Any other requests?
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
come to hk in late july so we can meet up just cuz its cool to meet online ppl in RL
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You should also check out the Temple of Heaven while you're in Beijing if you can. It's one of the big tourist places that everyone goes to, but it's definitely something that you should see at least once. The Silk Street Market is also a pretty cool place to check out in Beijing. If you like bargaining a lot, you'll have a good time there and may find some pretty cool stuff.
They say eating Peking Duck is a pretty big deal if you come to Beijing too, and while I do think it's good, I've never been a big fan of duck personally. But if you haven't had it before, it's definitely something to consider if you have some money to kill.
As far as Tianjin goes though, I'm afraid I'm not much help.
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16987 Posts
Yeah most people don't really visit Tianjin...
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@great wall
DO NOT GO TO BA DA LINGsection
it's the worst imo
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On June 03 2009 06:48 Orlandu wrote:
You should also check out the Temple of Heaven while you're in Beijing if you can. It's one of the big tourist places that everyone goes to, but it's definitely something that you should see at least once. The Silk Street Market is also a pretty cool place to check out in Beijing. If you like bargaining a lot, you'll have a good time there and may find some pretty cool stuff.
As far as Tianjin goes though, I'm afraid I'm not much help.
Dude, thank you so much! I've been looking for the place where there were those bargains in China, thank you! Do they have fake Nike and Jordans?
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Dude, thank you so much! I've been looking for the place where there were those bargains in China, thank you! Do they have fake Nike and Jordans?
Lol of course there are fake Nikes, you will see shoe salesman on the street with nothing but 1 pair of shoes and claiming its a genuine Nike. Also lots of shoe brands with Nike symbol but will be called something like Mike, Eike ^.^
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w3 is big there.
go to hong kongggg!
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Hmm I just read that there are inspections going around at the Silk Market to prevent fake brands. That sucks.
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I have never "permanently lived" in Beijing before but I visited seven times, for a variety of reasons. So here are some advices.
Be aware of the Great Wall. It's really boring, since all the segments look the same, you might get bored after about 10 minutes (and the trip takes a few hours going there and getting back, considering it's outside of the city of Beijing). While I am not saying you shouldn't go there, just don't get your expectation up too high.
Forbidden City and Temple of Heavens, as someone mentioned, are interestingly enough, though.
Go to the shopping districts and get whatever you feel you can spend money on - be it food or anything else. I am sure your friends in your home country will hate to see you coming back empty handed for them :D.
Try the zoo. It's not bad.
As for the firewall thing, I doubt it'll impact you that much. I haven't heard any of my friends that went back to China complaining about it. Maybe predownload all of your porns? :D
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Don't buy computer stuff in China unless you have some one who knows the good local shops.
Not sure how you are going to bring the rig into the airport tho.
last time i checked, you pay export tax on computer parts in Chinese airports.
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learn how to eat like an asian.
pick up your bowl and scoop the rice.
:D
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Donate sperm at those hospitals where the nurses whack you off.
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD
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lmao, I immediately checked this thread when I saw rek was the last to respond.
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On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD
that can be said for the average person in any country.
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On June 03 2009 16:11 xJacky wrote:
learn how to eat like an asian.
pick up your bowl and scoop the rice.
:D
yes, there is a saying. "dogs put their face to the bowl. men bring the bowl to their face"
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country.
no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck
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On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck
its just that chinese share one brain. so if some are using it for really heavy tasks, then the others suffer and just run around in circles bumping into stuff
i sum this up with the phrase:
[bannable-chinese-ethnic-slur]saresame.
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I live in Beijing. If you need help while here feel free to contact me(PM me for my phone number). I at least know the city really well and can tell you how to get to places. Unfortunately, I can't bargain worth a damn so I probably can't help you get cheap deals on computers.
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to the OP. you can PM if you wanna chill in beijing. im white but speak like a local. maybe you wanna hangout with more "authentic" chinese but otherwise I can help you out and take you to some cool places that arent in your guide book.
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i'll be in shanghai over the summer and definitely go to shanghai if you want to
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5673 Posts
Thanks for all the advice. I've PMed some of you. Bumped for more responses.
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3 Lions
United States3705 Posts
On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck
teeheehee
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On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck
spoken like a true hill billy
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China3334 Posts
Learn how to use proxy before you come if you want to visit Youtube, Blogspot, Flickr, Twitter, etc.
Good luck. Beijing has been like 38 centigrade thse days.
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Lucky you man, I have to wait a year to go there, damn scholarships. ^_^
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damn I wanna travel to asia
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he shen's mansion is pretty awesome, though if you can't understand the tour guides it's a little less awesome.
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On June 04 2009 07:33 Cali wrote:
Tiananmen Square massacre or incident(if you live in china) 20 year anniversary is today right? June 4th in china.
yes
and for this reason more sites(like flickr twitter ect.) get blocked these days.
youtube was blocked since month ago due to Tiananmen Square videos and Tibet videos.
some proxy may works.
for example, the gladder plugin for firefox.
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5673 Posts
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if you want to buy computer stuff
www.360buy.com may help you
the prices on this site are always up2date and you can buy what you want online
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On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck
Yea you're right. I have no sense of direction, no awareness of my surroundings at all and I'm also retarded as fuck.
Oh btw so is alffla, hotbid, zulu, evan, F91 and a whole lot of other people =D
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
On June 04 2009 08:54 pyrogenetix wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck Yea you're right. I have no sense of direction, no awareness of my surroundings at all and I'm also retarded as fuck. Oh btw so is alffla, hotbid, zulu, evan, F91 and a whole lot of other people =D
haha and like another 1.6 billion other ppl lol.
but i bet rekrul secretly loves chinese ppl maybe he just got owned in macau or sth and he's bitter lolz.
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yea dude we're all communist, retarded, dog and rat eating, dirty, rude, loud, unaware of censorship, nationalistic, greasy food eating, haggling, bargaining idiots.
will edit and add more when more history of china PHD professors here on the internet make more posts.
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On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck
The Chinese are the best poker players in the world. They have guarded their ancient card secrets for centuries. Rekrul can't win at an average Chinese table no matter how many fake tells and bluffs he tries to pull so he blames them for being 'lucky' and 'unaware'
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mahjong is much more popular than poker in china.
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<3 china
mad yet?
at least they don't have this thing called the "holy war"
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seriously rek, trolling the chinese?
thats like throwing rocks at a retarded kid
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ooo... be careful buying hardware in china.
It is so easy to get ripped off on the most mundane things.
Anyways, definitely try and get as much food into you as humanly possible. It's a rare opportunity i guess visiting any country, to reap their delicacies.
o and take care in traffic. it was pretty brutal in guangzhou.
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Wow, this thread got derailed really fast. Maybe too many people reading this thread?
Seriously. Just don't respond to trolls and just post what you think is relevant to the topic. Responding to trolls derail a thread faster than the trolls themselves.
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5673 Posts
It was only a matter of time.
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On June 04 2009 09:10 pyrogenetix wrote:
yea dude we're all communist, retarded, dog and rat eating, dirty, rude, loud, unaware of censorship, nationalistic, greasy food eating, haggling, bargaining idiots.
will edit and add more when more history of china PHD professors here on the internet make more posts.
Greasy food eating? Not nearly as greasy as western food..
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On June 04 2009 08:54 pyrogenetix wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck Yea you're right. I have no sense of direction, no awareness of my surroundings at all and I'm also retarded as fuck. Oh btw so is alffla, hotbid, zulu, evan, F91 and a whole lot of other people =D
Hotbid is chinese!? I thought he was white.
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If you're in Beijing, check out the twisted, burnt-out hulk of the CCTV building.
Silk Street is really fun, but expect to get outbargained. Look out for a signboard that lists the top ten things for stallholders not to say to customers (if I remember correctly, includes insulting their mothers and manhoods).
Da Dong Kao Ya Dian has nice Peking duck, expect to wait for a seat though. Quan Ju De is another famous one with outlets everywhere, though I find the duck fat, oily and not very nice at all. However, the decor is so tacky and the front desk staff's uniforms so pseudo 1850s you simply must see it.
There are some nice legit massage places there as well. Free flow snacks and drinks and cable TV while teenagers from the countryside slave over your feet. Decadence for a pittance.
As for the Great Wall, there are lots of sections open, from super crowded ones to "wild" sections where only the adventurous with strong legs go.
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I would suggest going to a lesser used section of the great wall. There are some areas where you can hike on decrepit portions of it through beautiful countryside unhindered by domestic and international tourists.
Have a wonderful time.
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Go eat as many dumplings as you can. Beijing is famous for them. For a cheap snack in the morning, try the onion pancakes. They should go for 5 rmb or so. Don't get dumplings at a cheap stall though, they'll taste like ass. Trust me, it won't be an "authentic" experience. It'll just be some retard vendor using horribly cheap ingredients and making terrible food with it. Go to a proper sit down and eat place. (Not a sit down place where you have to share your table with strangers).
If you're going to the Great Wall, walk from Jinshanling to Simatai. Repeat, start at JINSHANLING and end at SIMATAI. That's the best route to avoid traffic.
Despite what someone else on here said, the different sections of the wall are NOT alike. Simatai is a pretty rough hike because it's the unrepaired part of the wall. AKA a lot of the steps are worn or broken up and you have to climb up and down big rock chunks and there are usually no crowds. When I was on the wall, I think I saw only 50 people total, and that was walking a stretch of maybe 15 - 20 km.
Also, be careful on the wall. There are annoying old women wearing backpacks that will offer to "help" you in your hike along the wall. They try to guilt trip you and sell you crappy souvenirs at extortionist prices. Just say "BU YAO" and keep walking. Don't feel bad about being a little gruff. They can be very pushy and invasive. But god, the views... Some of the views on Simatai are just breathtaking. It's incredible looking down at the terrain and imagining what it would be like as some Mongol horse archer trying to get over the wall. (Would not be fun). They said the Great Wall was only a token resistance, kind of like an advance warning system, but it's still an impressive fortification. It would not have been an easy feat to get over the wall.
And for shopping, personally I like Wangfujing market and shopping plaza a lot better. If you're a student of Chinese culture at all, you should definitely check out the MASSIVE like 4 story bookstore called Wangfujing Xinhua bookstore.
If you want to check out a modern Chinese food court, take yourself to the Oriental Plaza Mall which is right around Wangfujing and go to the bottom floor. It's a little pricier than typical Chinese joints but they're more commercialized and English friendly. Warning, on really hot days it can start to feel stuffy. That mall doesn't seem to turn on their A/C -_-. But there's some cool little chain restaurants like Chamate (an upscale teahouse originally from Taiwan), a bakery called Bread Talk, which has some funkier breads than the typical Chinese bakery where everything is covered in red bean or pork floss, and a smattering of other different Chinese/Japanese cuisines.
HF with your trip! I could probably help you out more if food is what you're interested in. I'm guessing you can already look up the basic shit like Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, etc. If not, I could drop a post about those as well...
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Silk Street is GREAT if you can bargain well. General rule of thumb, don't buy anything unless the seller looks pissed off. This should equate to about 10-15% of their original asking price. Flirt with cute salespeople if you can, I've found that technique to work okay.
Make sure you don't buy fake computer stuff though, they have fake shit everywhere.
Clothes are relatively cheap in China, but if you live in Sri Lanka, they might be even cheaper so I dunno.
Food there is great too, check out that one side street of like "xiao chi" (lit "small eats", like snacks). There's this like side street off of Wangfujing I think where they sell lamb-kabobs for like 1 RMB each amongst other things like scorpians and zhajiangmian. Also, try one of my favorite Chinese dishes, shuizhuyu, (lit. "water-cooked fish", it's really tender, spicy, and delicious). For breakfast, there's jianbingguozi, it's basically a savory crepe for like 15 RMB with crunchy stuff and sauce inside.
The Beijing Zoo is pretty fun and they have lots of pandas :3
Internet cafes are hella cheap, like 10 RMB/hour or less I think. Some of them might ask for you to prove that you're 18 but just say you're a foreigner and they'll let you in. Or bring your passport.
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On June 04 2009 09:10 pyrogenetix wrote:
yea dude we're all communist, retarded, dog and rat eating, dirty, rude, loud, unaware of censorship, nationalistic, greasy food eating, haggling, bargaining idiots.
will edit and add more when more history of china PHD professors here on the internet make more posts.
AND WE ALL HATE YOUR PHREEDUMZ >=0!!! AND WNAT TO BOMB IT. or more likely HAX it with our 1337 PLA army zergrush skillz and then make poorly pirated and flawed copies of it and then sell it back to you for ur treasury bondz.
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On June 03 2009 12:16 Polyphasic wrote:
buy some cheap whores
+1
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whats the date u'll be going there? im going to beijing for couple of days end of June =D
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Kentor
United States5784 Posts
On June 03 2009 12:16 Polyphasic wrote:
buy some cheap whores
they're called chickens
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On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD
The one post wonder troll in action.
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On June 04 2009 15:59 Kentor wrote:they're called chickens
they're not called chickens but the word 妓 ji4 sounds similar to word 鸡 ji1 which means chicken.
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Kentor
United States5784 Posts
riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight male whores are called ducks
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5673 Posts
This thread goes back and forth so quickly between one line trolls and well thought out informative replies that it is actually beginning to defy Internet logic. Someone please restore order.
Edit: Thanks for the long posts, btw. Still reading a lot of what was said.
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On June 03 2009 17:03 Rekrul wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2009 17:01 omninmo wrote:On June 03 2009 16:33 Rekrul wrote:
god damn all i can say is the avg chinese person walking around in the street is a fucking RETARD that can be said for the average person in any country. no, chinese have no sense of direction, no awareness of their surroundings at all they are retarded as fuck
LOL?
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EPT
