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Martin B

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Everything posted by Martin B

  1. Martin B
    Whatever happens, he can't say he wasn't warned. Ultimately I can't stand Gweilo60 but I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him. Oddly enough my wife also wonders why he and the other YouTubers so riled up and constantly bashing the west. Despite living in China for so many years, he doesn't seemed to have learned the golden rule: keep a low profile and keep your mouth shut. Things can change overnight and you don't want to find yourself on the wrong side of of the party line. At least Gweilo60 is retired and financially set, so he doesn't have much to lose if things go wrong, but some of the younger guys with Chinese wives and kids who are Chinese citizens (JaYoe, Jason Living in China, etc.).... what the honk are they thinking?!
  2. Martin B
    Congrats man! You went through quite a lot over the past few years, glad it's all over now. Good luck and enjoy the time with the family 😀
  3. Martin B
    Looks like our favorite YouTubers Barrett and Jason Lightfoot (Living in China) got the full treatment by BBC and The Times: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57780023 Very interesting articles. The younger shills should beware - if/when they head back to England, that article will follow them around for life. Dangerous games they're playing.
  4. Martin B
    I can understand the Chinese approach for the most part given their history, but closing off entry to immediate relatives (spouses/children) of Chinese nationals is really, really harsh. Especially since they recoup the costs of testing/quarantine by charging people who return. But it's not shocking, given how few rights spouses of Chinese nationals have while living in China. They are given what's essentially a multi-year tourist visa, and permanent residence is incredibly tough to get. And then you get people wondering why so many mixed couples end up leaving. SMH 🙁
  5. Martin B
    Wonder if this means there will be limited international travel available soon. The quarantine is still a dealbreaker unless you are returning to China for a long stay: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3138852/chinese-city-guangzhou-build-giant-covid-19-quarantine-facility-5000
  6. Martin B
    Yes... prior to 2012, even 2017/2018ish, I always assumed the mainland would just let HK "do their thing" in perpetuity and leave them alone as long as they weren't causing too much trouble. Given the economic rise of Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and a dozen other T2 cities like Wuhan, Chengdu, etc... the economic relevance of HK was already waning. But now the writing is on the wall. HK will be lucky to make it to 2027 let alone 2047. Heartbreaking to see. Makes me wonder what's in store for Taiwan down the road.
  7. Martin B

    From Yulin

    Martin B replied to Randy W's topic in Expats

    Best way to get around re-boot issues.... is to never reboot. I don't think I've restarted my laptop in 2 months 🤣
  8. Martin B
    RIP to the Hong Kong the entire world knew and loved. It was an absolutely wonderful place - a high degree of liberty and freedom, safe, cultured/educated - almost like the best of the Eastern and Western worlds in one place. It's now nearly unrecognizable from its glory days. I really feel for those in their 20s and 30s who are caught in this 'shift' at the worst possible time in their lives.
  9. Martin B
    If you think his YouTube videos are bad, do not, I repeat, DO NOT check out his Twitter. I really don't know what this guy's issues are (mental health maybe?) but the amount of vitriol that he spews is unbelievable. He's just such an angry, malicious, spiteful person. And he does all this as a business/property owner with Chinese national kids and a Chinese wife... why jeopardize your entire livelihood? Is the YouTube money really so great? (spoiler alert: probably not). At some point China is going to realize that they are better off without idiots like Gweilo, Daniel Dumbrill, Jerry Goode running their mouths, "defending" China, and speaking on behalf of the Chinese people. Oddly enough, my wife loves China (though she loves living in the US as well), is well-educated, has lived around the world... to say she abhors Gweilo and his wife would be the understatement of the century. I agree that Matt JaYoe is probably the most level headed of them. He seems like a genuinely good person deep down. It does look like he gotten swept into the "pro China" group, but whatever, it's hard to be totally independent nowadays so you might as well take some extra money.
  10. Martin B
    I don't ever recall filling out any form prior to travelling to China. When did you get your Q2 visa? If it was before the pandemic I'm not sure you're allowed in.
  11. Martin B
    My wife just showed me that all flights from the US into Guangzhou are cancelled on Chinese carriers until August at the earliest. Only a few flights to Shanghai on United or Delta... It would really suck if there was a full-blown outbreak in Guangzhou.
  12. Martin B
    I think fiancées were/are not included in the immediately relative category, hence the pause and long delay on K1s. IIRC there is a lawsuit going on with regards to that.
  13. Martin B

    Vaccination Blues

    Martin B replied to danb's topic in Stateside

    I had my second shot of Pfizer on Thursday evening. Woke up a bit sore at 4am Friday, fell back asleep. Friday was pretty rough - my body ached, I had a moderate headache, and minor chills. Woke up Saturday 98% recovered. Should hopefully be good to start running again tomorrow (Sunday).
  14. Martin B
    I saw this article get a lot of attention on another forum: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/china-bars-foreign-curriculums-ownership-in-some-private-schools-14825598 It seems like the vise is slowly but surely tightening... and their reasoning for this (i.e. to increase the birth rate) was... interesting.
  15. Martin B
    Awesome photos, although I do wish they were in color. Love the random Chicago Bulls shirt that guy was sporting in 1994...
  16. Martin B
    This is a good point. I really do wonder what China's end game is and if they will ever truly open up in the next 1-3 years. If we go by the official word, then very few people in China have any immunity to COVID. The vaccine rollout has been slow, and at least one of the Chinese vaccine's efficacy has been called into question. This means that even a few cracks in the Great Seal could cause another major outbreak. The biggest issue IMO will be the quarantine. I just don't see it going away anytime soon, even for vaccinated travelers. Right now it's 14 days upon arrival + 7 days at the final destination?? For anyone but citizens or permanent residents, it makes traveling to China a total non-starter.
  17. Martin B
    Definitely not, although it's a roll of the dice - whoever has the highest total weight gets ALL the packages. When we went to pick up my wife's package, the poor older lady's garage was stuffed to the brim with boxes, and she had to coordinate/arrange 17 pick ups with the other recipients. My wife's 40lbs box was the 3rd lightest of the 17... it's really, really cheap, but somewhat risky. I put the kibosh on this going forward.
  18. Martin B
    Most major metro areas in the US should also have WeChat group(s) for shipping. My wife had an enormous 40lbs package shipped to the US a few months ago for $50. The way it works is a bunch of people from the area order stuff, send it to an agent/forwarder in China, and the agent will ship it via boat to US once the total weight reaches 100kg. It's ridiculously cheap, somewhat fast (<1 month usually). The caveat is that the entire shipment is sent to the house of the person with the biggest order. We had to drive 25 minutes to pick up the package at some lady's duplex...
  19. Martin B
    Congrats on the quick processing! Most airlines will give you a small carry on luggage (30lbs) and two checked bags @50lbs each. See how much each additional bag costs. If it's something reasonable ($50-150), use as much of that as you can.
  20. Martin B
    Yes, you can avoid the $680 fee. Removal of conditions can also be incredibly slow. If you enter on a CR1 visa, you'll have a mandatory ROC interview. It can take 2+ years nowadays. In normal circumstances I'd be very tempted to bite the bullet and wait a few weeks. On the other hand, with the uncertainty about COVID and being away from my wife/kid for so long, I'd also be tempted to have them haul ass to US ASAP. Either way - good luck and glad it all worked out for you.
  21. Martin B
    I also wonder if some of the outrage was manufactured. Since the "outrage", my wife, who still is very fond of China, has ordered from H&M (the absolute best "cheap" clothes in her opinion), GAP, and bought an iconic New York Yankees hat. Literally no ordinary Chinese person I know gave a s*it about this. China has always had a major brand/image problem. Politics aside, it is viewed as an extremely "uncool" country in Asia. Japan is viewed fondly because of Anime/Manga, Nintendo, Sony, and excellent autos from Toyota, Honda and their derivatives. Korea has KPOP which is a worldwide phenomenon, and Samsung is a global powerhouse and a very respected brand. Thailand is the peaceful Buddhist country that has amazing food, beaches, is very welcoming to foreigners, and is a great affordable overseas retirement location. All three of these examples are very safe countries with a high degree of liberty (e.g. Google, Facebook are not blocked). China doesn't have any of this (sorry, Huawei is incredibly uncool), and has an incredibly unpopular government (from a foreign perspective) to boot. The solution IS NOT to astroturf and pay losers ("English teachers, bar owners, and alcoholics" in Laowhy's words) to go around making cheesy pro-China videos. Anyone with half a brain will immediately recognize these guys as paid phonies, hence why their audiences are mostly bots, wumaos, and Chinese. In fact, Gweilo's old videos were very authentic, his fondness for China was real, and the videos showed China as an interesting place. Those are the types of videos IMO that are more impactful over the long-term.
  22. Martin B
    What a group of losers. I agree @Randy W . What's worse is that they are going on government-sponsored trips and definitively claiming the "camps" in Xinjiang don't exists. They are literally taking money from the government to say this. What an awful, awful decision. Maybe the camps don't exist, were made up by the west - and then these guys will got brownie points and pats on the back. If it turns out they do exist, how is that going to look for these guys? Why put yourself on the record? And now I just saw Gweilo put out a video that Laowhy86 is in danger of being extradited to China the second he sets foot into a country that has an extradition agreement with China LMAO. I didn't know that a repo-man was so well-versed in international relations (not). He continues to inflame the whole pro-China/anti-China youtuber wars with these stupid, uninformed videos. And 99% of the comments are along the lines of "gweilo u r real chinese u know ur stuff ur so smart"...
  23. Martin B

    Vaccination Blues

    Martin B replied to danb's topic in Stateside

    Same thing here - my wife had a sore arm for a day and now shes back to normal. 2nd shot is three weeks from now. I've got my first shot next Monday. We staggered our shots a week apart in case one of us has a bad reaction.
  24. Martin B
    Good to hear the report @eseum, how is Chinatown in Vegas doing? we were thinking of taking a quick trip there this summer after both of us are vaccinated. My wife is scheduled to get her first dose of Pfizer next Monday. A week or two after she gets her second dose, I'll get my first dose. We're staggering the schedule in case one of us has an adverse reaction...
  25. Martin B
    I have no idea what (if?) they were thinking with that policy. Anyways, it's still a non-starter for us as the two-week quarantine would still be required. Plus it's a huge hassle to get the go-ahead stateside to travel to China, requiring two COVID tests, as well as a trip to the consulate. I still don't know what China's end game is. AFAIK their vaccination rollout has been fairly slow and my guess is very few people have any immunity to COVID due to having had the disease. It seems like China is happy to just wall-off the country indefinitely and make it very difficult for anyone to enter (including Chinese citizens).
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