Don Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I miss the instant coffee from 7-11 over there- NOT Actually, next time I come over here I'm bringing my own coffee, a French press and a hundred or so Splenda. Then I just need to score some 1/2 and 1/2. Maybe if I am really lucky I can find some unhomogenized whole milk and skim off the cream (yum!). Ni has an office meeting to go to tonight at 6:00 pm so I am going to go down and ask the front desk to help me order some noodles with chicken and veggies from the place next door. Something else that struck me when I went to the Starbucks was seeing about 30 skinny guys with outlandish hair lined up in 3 rows infront of a hair salon with a manager reading to them from a piece of paper. I didn't have my camera out, I just hope I see it again tomorrow. One other thing that impresses me are the old people here. There are more of them out and about, and they are quite beautiful in a way I don't notice in the USA, having immense dignity, but on the other hand you see a spark of humor too. I see a lot of female laborers. This morning I snapped a pic of some women shoveling concrete, and I see the occasional woman porter as well. I think in the last 2 decades I've seen exactly one woman working construction in the US, and she was a skilled worker swinging a hammer. Sichuan is a big area for undocumented childern, many of the woman. They can not get many kinds of work, so construction is an option that many choose. A great western food shop (near one of the downtown universities) is Grandma Kitchen. It is written up in many guide books and the potato salad was very good. My wife really loved it also. She brought some of her family there after we had went and they loved it also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jin979 Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 i took Rob for a massage in SZ with me, 2 very nice boys give us great massage together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george lee Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I miss the instant coffee from 7-11 over there- NOT Actually, next time I come over here I'm bringing my own coffee, a French press and a hundred or so Splenda. Then I just need to score some 1/2 and 1/2. Maybe if I am really lucky I can find some unhomogenized whole milk and skim off the cream (yum!). Ni has an office meeting to go to tonight at 6:00 pm so I am going to go down and ask the front desk to help me order some noodles with chicken and veggies from the place next door. Something else that struck me when I went to the Starbucks was seeing about 30 skinny guys with outlandish hair lined up in 3 rows infront of a hair salon with a manager reading to them from a piece of paper. I didn't have my camera out, I just hope I see it again tomorrow. One other thing that impresses me are the old people here. There are more of them out and about, and they are quite beautiful in a way I don't notice in the USA, having immense dignity, but on the other hand you see a spark of humor too. I see a lot of female laborers. This morning I snapped a pic of some women shoveling concrete, and I see the occasional woman porter as well. I think in the last 2 decades I've seen exactly one woman working construction in the US, and she was a skilled worker swinging a hammer. 30 skinny guys with outlandish hair lined up in 3 rows is having a meeting before the shift. it is very popular among the new management in china. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amanda1969 Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 (edited) I miss the instant coffee from 7-11 over there- NOT When my husband was in China, he missed American breakfast and coffee, but not instant coffee.I should take him to a massage when he returns China again. Edited May 18, 2009 by amanda1969 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmaniac Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Yeah I have always noticed that the guys cutting hair are usually on "the cutting edge" of fashion. If my hair wasn't so thick, I'd do the same thing. Of course some hair salons are fronts for something else . . . be careful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 I made a mistake in a previous post. I said we had gone to the Jinsha Site museum, when we had actually gone to the Sanxingdui ruins. Today I am going to the Jinsha Site museum on my own. Ni has to work today, and has to work late since she has been transfered to the Nissan dealership in hopes of a promotion. Last nights dinner was the best so far. Ni admitted that the vegan restaurant was a mistake, but she made up for it last night. She told the waitress no spice, but the food was still hot enough to drain my sinuses. I am getting pretty damn good with chopsticks, though still not up to a level of a four-year-old here. I have figured out how to hold them so my fingers don't get tired. The big problem now is that the food at theend of the chopsticks is twice as far from my fingers as with Western utensils, so droplets of sauce tend to fly off every which way.As we say in my family, "you can't take me anywhere". Also, I posted a bunch of pics in CFL travelogs, enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ShaQuaNew Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 I made a mistake in a previous post. I said we had gone to the Jinsha Site museum, when we had actually gone to the Sanxingdui ruins. Today I am going to the Jinsha Site museum on my own. Ni has to work today, and has to work late since she has been transfered to the Nissan dealership in hopes of a promotion. Last nights dinner was the best so far. Ni admitted that the vegan restaurant was a mistake, but she made up for it last night. She told the waitress no spice, but the food was still hot enough to drain my sinuses. I am getting pretty damn good with chopsticks, though still not up to a level of a four-year-old here. I have figured out how to hold them so my fingers don't get tired. The big problem now is that the food at theend of the chopsticks is twice as far from my fingers as with Western utensils, so droplets of sauce tend to fly off every which way.As we say in my family, "you can't take me anywhere". Also, I posted a bunch of pics in CFL travelogs, enjoy! Great photos Christopher! I don't know what it is about little Chinese girls, but I just find them so cute! I ask my wife all the time whether she was ever a cute little Chinese girl. Love this pic of yours: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...si&img=4748 Well, there you are in Sichuan province, the land of FIRE food. I just love that stuff. You gotta keep a cloth towel with ha just to mop the sweat away. Keep the updates and photos coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pommey Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 GREAT PHOTOS LOVED THEM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelloWorld08 Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 nice pics!!! i will be there in 2 weeks, can't wait!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitty Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 (edited) Great pics! Make sure you take a bunch of the both of you! There is a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Seattle that is by the Space Needle, and it's great! I don't think it's vegan so that may be major difference... Edited May 19, 2009 by Smitty (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whome? Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 I made a mistake in a previous post. I said we had gone to the Jinsha Site museum, when we had actually gone to the Sanxingdui ruins. Today I am going to the Jinsha Site museum on my own. Ni has to work today, and has to work late since she has been transfered to the Nissan dealership in hopes of a promotion. Last nights dinner was the best so far. Ni admitted that the vegan restaurant was a mistake, but she made up for it last night. She told the waitress no spice, but the food was still hot enough to drain my sinuses. I am getting pretty damn good with chopsticks, though still not up to a level of a four-year-old here. I have figured out how to hold them so my fingers don't get tired. The big problem now is that the food at theend of the chopsticks is twice as far from my fingers as with Western utensils, so droplets of sauce tend to fly off every which way.As we say in my family, "you can't take me anywhere". Also, I posted a bunch of pics in CFL travelogs, enjoy! I am jealous. I am in Shangdong known for seafood and salt. It is good but I love spicy food. I miss being in Sichuan. Keep up the practice with the chop sticks. After some time you will wonder how you ever used a fork..... Great to see your first impressions and to see that you are liking it. Have a great time and keep on posting your updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 (edited) Ni gave me notes to hand to the taxi drivers, and so I went to the Jinsha Site Museum. She was really firm with me and wanted me to make sure the taxi drivers didn't try and screw me. She said if the taxi cost more than 23 yuan I was to take the ticket and she would get my money back. Well, the taxi there cost 16 yuan, so I am a bit amused, since the same ride in the US would have been more like 20 dollars, with those gas guzzling Crown Vickys they have. Heck, what's a dollar more or less to me at that rate. At Jinsha, yhey have taken the entire archaeological dig and put it under a climate controlled glass roof, and then constructed a separate building about 100 meters away to show the artifacts. The rotten shame of the matter is that for what they are putting on display, the buildings are about 5 times too large. But they are very nice buildings, and the only problem I had with the presentation is that there wasn't nearly enough light to take pictures without a flash, which was also a problem because everything was behind glass. At Sanxingdui, there was mostly enough light to take decent pics at ISO 400, which is where my camera reaches its limits. But I did get some nice pictures: stone sculptures, jade daggers and a gold mask. While I was there I met a sweet kid on holiday from some university in Shanghai who is the first person in Chengdu to actually engage me in conversation. Her English speaking skills are excellent, and she already has a job lined up with the Starwood hotel group in Shanghai. We talked about a lot of things, politics in the US vs. China, the financial crisis and so on. I took her photo, wished her good luck, and went on my way. Heck, I didn't even ask for her email address. I must be getting old. Afterwards I went to a restaurant called Asijen Ramen, and had some twice cooked pork over rice. Now I am at the hotel, writing this post and waiting for Ni to come over from work, and then we will 5 days to play in the city. Tomorrow, we has pandas! Edited May 19, 2009 by Christopher (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whome? Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Ni gave me notes to hand to the taxi drivers, and so I went to the Jinsha Site Museum. She was really firm with me and wanted me to make sure the taxi drivers didn't try and screw me. She said if the taxi cost more than 23 yuan I was to take the ticket and she would get my money back. Well, the taxi there cost 16 yuan, so I am a bit amused, since the same ride in the US would have been more like 20 dollars, with those gas guzzling Crown Vickys they have. Heck, what's a dollar more or less to me at that rate. At Jinsha, yhey have taken the entire archaeological dig and put it under a climate controlled glass roof, and then constructed a separate building about 100 meters away to show the artifacts. The rotten shame of the matter is that for what they are putting on display, the buildings are about 5 times too large. But they are very nice buildings, and the only problem I had with the presentation is that there wasn't nearly enough light to take pictures without a flash, which was also a problem because everything was behind glass. At Sanxingdui, there was mostly enough light to take decent pics at ISO 400, which is where my camera reaches its limits. But I did get some nice pictures: stone sculptures, jade daggers and a gold mask. While I was there I met a sweet kid on holiday from some university in Shanghai who is the first person in Chengdu to actually engage me in conversation. Her English speaking skills are excellent, and she already has a job lined up with the Starwood hotel group in Shanghai. We talked about a lot of things, politics in the US vs. China, the financial crisis and so on. I took her photo, wished her good luck, and went on my way. Heck, I didn't even ask for her email address. I must be getting old. Afterwards I went to a restaurant called Asijen Ramen, and had some twice cooked pork over rice. Now I am at the hotel, writing this post and waiting for Ni to come over from work, and then we will 5 days to play in the city. Tomorrow, we has pandas! Just a word of caution from my experience ... do not try to justify spending extra money because it is "cheap" to your USA standard. The concern to save money and the culture of price negotiation/bargin is deeply ingrained and it is offensive/stupid to not try to get the best price. Just a piece of advice. I learned this the hard way from my wife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ShaQuaNew Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 (edited) Ni gave me notes to hand to the taxi drivers, and so I went to the Jinsha Site Museum. She was really firm with me and wanted me to make sure the taxi drivers didn't try and screw me. She said if the taxi cost more than 23 yuan I was to take the ticket and she would get my money back. Well, the taxi there cost 16 yuan, so I am a bit amused, since the same ride in the US would have been more like 20 dollars, with those gas guzzling Crown Vickys they have. Heck, what's a dollar more or less to me at that rate. At Jinsha, yhey have taken the entire archaeological dig and put it under a climate controlled glass roof, and then constructed a separate building about 100 meters away to show the artifacts. The rotten shame of the matter is that for what they are putting on display, the buildings are about 5 times too large. But they are very nice buildings, and the only problem I had with the presentation is that there wasn't nearly enough light to take pictures without a flash, which was also a problem because everything was behind glass. At Sanxingdui, there was mostly enough light to take decent pics at ISO 400, which is where my camera reaches its limits. But I did get some nice pictures: stone sculptures, jade daggers and a gold mask. While I was there I met a sweet kid on holiday from some university in Shanghai who is the first person in Chengdu to actually engage me in conversation. Her English speaking skills are excellent, and she already has a job lined up with the Starwood hotel group in Shanghai. We talked about a lot of things, politics in the US vs. China, the financial crisis and so on. I took her photo, wished her good luck, and went on my way. Heck, I didn't even ask for her email address. I must be getting old. Afterwards I went to a restaurant called Asijen Ramen, and had some twice cooked pork over rice. Now I am at the hotel, writing this post and waiting for Ni to come over from work, and then we will 5 days to play in the city. Tomorrow, we has pandas! Just a word of caution from my experience ... do not try to justify spending extra money because it is "cheap" to your USA standard. The concern to save money and the culture of price negotiation/bargin is deeply ingrained and it is offensive/stupid to not try to get the best price. Just a piece of advice. I learned this the hard way from my wife. I will echo these sentiments. This is probably part of the reason they do it to begin with, is because most lao wai don't object to getting overcharged. My wife is adamant about extra charges or extra miles. She knows exactly how much it costs by taxi to get from one place to another, and if a driver tries to take a short cut, or deviate from the normal route, she's right on them. I was quite uncomfortable with the bickering at first, but I have to say that I'm starting to catch on. Save your money if you can, you can spend it on her for something nice. Enjoy the Pandas. I'm jealous... Edited May 19, 2009 by ShaQuaNew (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsa23 Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Ni gave me notes to hand to the taxi drivers, and so I went to the Jinsha Site Museum. She was really firm with me and wanted me to make sure the taxi drivers didn't try and screw me. She said if the taxi cost more than 23 yuan I was to take the ticket and she would get my money back. Well, the taxi there cost 16 yuan, so I am a bit amused, since the same ride in the US would have been more like 20 dollars, with those gas guzzling Crown Vickys they have. Heck, what's a dollar more or less to me at that rate. At Jinsha, yhey have taken the entire archaeological dig and put it under a climate controlled glass roof, and then constructed a separate building about 100 meters away to show the artifacts. The rotten shame of the matter is that for what they are putting on display, the buildings are about 5 times too large. But they are very nice buildings, and the only problem I had with the presentation is that there wasn't nearly enough light to take pictures without a flash, which was also a problem because everything was behind glass. At Sanxingdui, there was mostly enough light to take decent pics at ISO 400, which is where my camera reaches its limits. But I did get some nice pictures: stone sculptures, jade daggers and a gold mask. While I was there I met a sweet kid on holiday from some university in Shanghai who is the first person in Chengdu to actually engage me in conversation. Her English speaking skills are excellent, and she already has a job lined up with the Starwood hotel group in Shanghai. We talked about a lot of things, politics in the US vs. China, the financial crisis and so on. I took her photo, wished her good luck, and went on my way. Heck, I didn't even ask for her email address. I must be getting old. Afterwards I went to a restaurant called Asijen Ramen, and had some twice cooked pork over rice. Now I am at the hotel, writing this post and waiting for Ni to come over from work, and then we will 5 days to play in the city. Tomorrow, we has pandas! Just a word of caution from my experience ... do not try to justify spending extra money because it is "cheap" to your USA standard. The concern to save money and the culture of price negotiation/bargin is deeply ingrained and it is offensive/stupid to not try to get the best price. Just a piece of advice. I learned this the hard way from my wife. I think most/all of us learned this the hard way at some point. The only variable here is how hard the "hard way" was for each of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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