China Travel Posts

Oct072011

Posted By
Becky

Prostitutes and Full Immersion Learning

The best thing about learning the language of a country you are living in is full immersion learning. Everyone is a potential teacher, and everything around you is your learning materials.

I really learned this lesson during a recent trip to Beijing. It was a weekend, and all the hostels were sold out so we were stuck staying at a low-end business hotel. You know, a sketchy place with smoke scented rugs; scuffed, cheap wood side tables; and a pile of prostitute cards at the door. Yes, that’s right, prostitute cards.

Oct032011

21Comments

Posted By
Becky

Review: The New Lonely Planet China. Is it Worth it?

If you’re planning a trip, or living in China, chances are you own a Lonely Planet guidebook. In the past, using LP showed the world you were young and crazy, and would rather stick toothpicks in your eyes than hit up the main tourists spots with all the other blue-hairs. (Or as others saw you: stoner punks who trashed obscure tropical beaches looking for the best banana pancakes.)

But nowadays it is just as common to see an old couple, or a family of six, holding a Lonely Planet guidebook as it is to see a young backpacker. In my years of traveling around China I’ve seen people clutching it in their sweaty hands at the top of mountains, and primed polished fingernails searching through the hundreds of pages to find the certain little write-up to share with their tour group. (Here’s a hint people: Just tear the pages you need out and leave the book back at the hostel. No sense adding 100 pounds to your day unnecessarily.)

Sep142011

3Comments

Posted By
Nicki

How I ended up standing on a mass grave on the tenth anniversary of 9/11

We had a three day weekend and an invitation from a friend to visit his hometown of 黄流 in 乐东 County. By the time I’d finished teaching at five, hastily thrown a few things in a bag, forgotten my cell phone (loaded with books, podcasts, and games) on the table, and caught a cab in the rain to the bus station though; all the buses to Ledong County had left. No problem, we decided, and proceeded to play bus roulette. Have you played it? It goes like this: You show up at the bus station and take the next available bus to anywhere it happens to be going. We cheated a little by taking the next available bus that was going at least in the general direction of Ledong. Try it sometime, the results are always entertaining.

Tickets to 八所 (a town I’d never heard of) in hand, we decided to buy a map of 海南 and see where we were going. It was on the coast! Excellent. There seemed to be some tourist attractions nearby as well. A hot springs, which I nixed as I had an ear infection, was forbidden to swim, and had not brought a bathing suit. There was also this place called 万人坑. Ten-thousand person…check dictionary…hole? with no idea what that meant, it was close to the ocean and we’d see if we could find it!

Jun272011

18Comments

Posted By
Ryan

Canuck expat loses it at train ticket office

Some Gems:
“Chinese people need to learn brains.”
“It’s 2011. Chairman Mao is dead.”

And the kicker:
“See, I’m Canadian, I don’t have to shut up. Chinese people have to shut up. Canada people [sic] don’t have to shut up.”

May242011

8Comments

Posted By
Ryan

Review: Last Train Home

There’s an undeniable disconnect between being a foreigner in China and being a Chinese in China. Yeah, I know, thank you Captain Obvious. As self-evident as that statement is, it’s sometimes easy to neglect the truth in it and ignore the consequences of what it is to be Chinese in China.

Maybe this is only true for me, but when I first arrived in China I was fascinated with everything. I sucked it all in like a sponge. Every discarded baijiu bottle, weathered shoe repair person, steamy baozi vendor… it was all so noticeable. But after a time these things, and the millions of others of still frames that blur together to form a tapestry of modern China, began to blend into the background as I just got on with living. I shifted from being a curious tourist to a preoccupied resident.

Which is why I’m grateful for having caught Last Train Home, a documentary by Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Fan Lixin, as it re-humanized the mass of strangers just off the edge of my doorstep.

Apr292011

2Comments

Posted By
Jalal

Taoism in modern times

In October of 2010, I was invited to take a welcome break from my life on the hamster wheel that is Shanghai, and visit Jinhua’s famous Taoist temple and caves. I was very excited by this invitation, partly because of my interest in Taoism and its place in Chinese culture, and partly because I had been invited by my new friend Kathy; a US-educated professor of Biochemistry, Taoist, and my guide to the considerable development of Taoist activity in and around Jinhua.

Sep232010

7Comments

Posted By
Glen

7 More Slightly Off the Beaten Path Locations in China

Want to travel this October, but can’t afford to go to Thailand? Don’t want to visit Guilin or Hong Kong again? Well then this post is for you!

A little over a year ago I wrote a post detailing Pingyao, Xiahe, Tongren, Macau, Louyang, Emei Shan, Chongqing, Kashgar, Turpan, and Xishuangbanna as ten places to go to escape the Laowai tourist trail. Today, I’m going to add seven more locations to that list.

May312010

7Comments

Posted By
Glen

Fact or Fiction VI: Xinjiang, The Final Frontier

Welcome back one and all to the May edition of Fact or Fiction. Those of you who read either of the last three will know, every edition I will have a guest and we will discuss a few of the big issues in China of the day. Every answer will have a “Fact” or a “Fiction” and some justification to go along with it.

Today my guest is Josh Summers, a writer with a passion for the province of Xinjiang. He and his wife arrived in Xinjiang in August of 2006 and for reasons unknown to them stayed for almost four years. Their experiences in the province have been featured on sites such as the BBC, MSNBC and China Daily, but Josh takes most pride in the writings he publishes on his own site, Xinjiang: Far West China.

Although he moved back to Texas in March of 2010, he continues to focus on his adopted home back in China. In May he released a Turpan travel guide and is almost finished completing two more guides for Urumqi and Kashgar. The perks of life in America have already worn off after two months and he’s hoping to return again to Xinjiang in the future.

Today Josh and I are going to be discussing a variety of issues in the Westernmost region in the Middle Kingdom. So join us for Fact or Fiction 6: Xinjiang, the Final Frontier…

Apr242010

42Comments

Posted By
Ryan

Hilarious Shanghai Expo Trial Run Email Meme + Photos

Steven (of LLW and Sinobytes renown) sent me an e-mail yesterday that has been make its way from Chinese inbox to Chinese inbox in an expedient fashion. I thought it was hilarious, and a some what rare opportunity to get a peek at the Chinese taking the piss at their own expense. Below is not the complete e-mail with photos, but the majority of it — organized into slightly more coherent groupings.

By far my favourite is the photo captioned “上海资源丰富，请随便享用” — the first image in the “Water Fountains” section. Let it never be said that the Chinese are devoid of sarcasm.

主题: 对不起,我们丢脸了 / Subject: Sorry, we’ve lost face.

See the images, with explanations, after the jump.

Apr202010

14Comments

Posted By
Glen

Fact or Fiction V: The Glenpire Strikes Back

Welcome back one and all to the April edition of Fact or Fiction. Those of you who read either of the last three will know, every edition I will have a guest and we will discuss a few of the big issues in China of the day. Every answer will have a “Fact” or a “Fiction” and some justification to go along with it.

Today my guest is Rebekah Pothaar, the former editor of Ctrip and Chinatravel.net and former Shanghaiist and CNNGo contributor. She always dreamed of being a travel writer until she discovered through experience that writing is one of the most badly paid “glam” jobs on earth. So in 2009, she tossed her old dreams out the window and chose a life of corporate advertising in Shanghai. Since then she has what they call “career prospects” but rarely has time to write. Lonely Planet and The Telegraph phone her from time to time asking for her work, but she disdainfully asks them to show her the money. So far, they haven’t coughed up anything worth rolling out of bed for. She dreams that one day writers will be paid enough so she can leave the advertising business and return to writing again. In her spare time, she still enjoys traveling in China and lists camping on the Great Wall and running the Great Wall Marathon as her most unique China experiences. With the May Holiday coming up, Rebekah and I will be discussing several travel issues in this crazy country of ours.

So join us for Fact or Fiction 5: The Glenpire Strikes Back!! (…I’ve seriously been waiting four issues of this to use that title)