Going on a study trip.

[Jackson1]

Hehe... China will be quite the experience.

 

[Mad Mantis]

Well, I’m back and I must say it was fantastic. The people are amazing. Friendly bunch of folks and helpful. I understood almost nobody there, but they always tried to help us and we always worked it out.
The nature is also amazing. Vast parks even in the middle of the city with all kinds of temples. Ideal for drinking some tea and beer on a hot afternoon after another visit. Not something I was used too and something I will miss.
Ancient architecture was a blast to visit. I’ve seen a lot of temples, palaces and pagodas and they never cease to bore. Modern architecture was even more fun. You’d see enormous multimillion dollar buildings on one side of the road and the slums on the other side. It illustrated the condition of current China very well.

China's an amazing place. I loved it when I visited last year. Be warned... the public toilets are not for the faint of heart.

The only toilets for the faint of heart are those in the high price hotels. In all other places be prepared to have to deal with very smelly holes in the ground.

my gf went to shanghai on a business trip...the toilet on the train was just a hole in the floor :shocked: ...lol...you could actaully see the tracks flly by...lol...*whew* nasty....

Yep, that was an unique challenge. I had to take the night train two times (From Shanghai to Xi'an and from Xi'an to Beijing) and I can't tell you how relieved I was to finally check in to my hotel.

I hope MM doesn't give up beer during his stint in China.

They have wonderful beer in China and it comes in huge bottles at almost no costs. I personally drank a large hole in their beer supply.

 

[Necrochild313]

They have wonderful beer in China and it comes in huge bottles at almost no costs. I personally drank a large hole in their beer supply.

You shouldn't feel too bad about that. Now they have a new place to store their...er...fiber supply.

I'm glad you had a good time. SPANKY kept the forum in tip-top shape while you were gone. He only had to eviscerate about 112 noobs.

 

[garion]

lol...omg...holes in the trains weren't an exaggeration huh!?!...yike *pray i NEVER tip over*

she also mentioned it was super cheap to eat out and the food is great (like 30 different kind of dumplings...*drool*....) i think she mentioned that she got a bowl of noodles for only 30 cents....and it was strange since she saw people everywhere carrying ramen with them =P

So MM how was the food? good? anything new that you tried?

Any places you persoanlly recommend? (i think my gf has been to shanghai...and HK but thats pretty modern)...i figure the villages are probably a pretty good expereience...

How do you deal with the language barrier?

 

[Mad Mantis]

SPANKY kept the forum in tip-top shape while you were gone. He only had to eviscerate about 112 noobs.

So, who's spanky?

So MM how was the food? good? anything new that you tried?

The food was great. Lots of meat in all kinds of sauces with varying amounts of spicy. Haven't got a clue what I ate since almost all the menus were in Chinese. I did try some scorpion and I knew that it was scorpion since they fried the entire thing. I liked it.

Any places you persoanlly recommend?

We went to Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing and I can recommend all those places. I liked Shanghai the most. It has a nice busy urban atmosphere around it and the people were very friendly. Xi'an felt more rural and friendly and Beijing was more stately and business like. Haven't been to the very small villages. There are still so many more places to see. I'd need a few more trips to see most of them.

How do you deal with the language barrier?

Well there are some Chinese who speak English, but pointing usually works. You point at what you want and they grab a calculator and type in what it costs. The hotel can write down the address you want to go to in Chinese and then you show it to a cab driver. Pointing can lead to interesting results at restaurants.

 

[garion]

"Pointing can lead to interesting results at restaurants." lol...
how do you order your food though? just point at other peoples food?

how was scorpion? i mean what do you eat? the meat (like crabs/lobster?) or is it like soft shell crab where you can eat everything....i guess its a stigma when i think of scorpiions..that and i don't normally consider it a food item...but than again...chinese people will pretty much eat anything =P (this i know since my dad is chinese lol....and he told me there are no stray animals in china...lol *ouch*)

 

[Necrochild313]

So, who's spanky?

The legendary forum Demon. He causes the mysterious crashes that happen every now and then, and ultimately was responsible for the forum reset back in June of '03. It is only because of his great mercy that we were allowed to reincarnate into our present forms. And by the way, it's SPANKY, not spanky, last time someone showed him the inconsideration of using lower case ASCII to the extent that it awoke him from his slumber, he deleted the contents of all of the threads, permenantly ridding this forum of the Iron Golem Guide.

 

[Mad Mantis]

"Pointing can lead to interesting results at restaurants." lol...
how do you order your food though? just point at other peoples food?

'

Point at other peoples food and randomly point at something on the menu. Loads of fun and you never eat the same dish twice.

how was scorpion? i mean what do you eat? the meat (like crabs/lobster?) or is it like soft shell crab where you can eat everything....i guess its a stigma when i think of scorpiions..that and i don't normally consider it a food item...but than again...chinese people will pretty much eat anything =P (this i know since my dad is chinese lol....and he told me there are no stray animals in china...lol *ouch*)

You eat the whole scorpion. Just fry it and put it in your mouth. It tasted a bit like fried chicken skin, but with more taste.

The legendary forum Demon. He causes the mysterious crashes that happen every now and then, and ultimately was responsible for the forum reset back in June of '03. It is only because of his great mercy that we were allowed to reincarnate into our present forms. And by the way, it's SPANKY, not spanky, last time someone showed him the inconsideration of using lower case ASCII to the extent that it awoke him from his slumber, he deleted the contents of all of the threads, permenantly ridding this forum of the Iron Golem Guide.

We all remember SPANKY! Although causing great inconvenience it was good that we sacrificed the IG guide to appease the demon SPANKY.

 

[FrostBurn]

The food was great. Lots of meat in all kinds of sauces with varying amounts of spicy. Haven't got a clue what I ate since almost all the menus were in Chinese. I did try some scorpion and I knew that it was scorpion since they fried the entire thing. I liked it.

The meat dishes were interesting and very different from Westernised Chinese fare. My own trip was to Sichuan, so the food was local Sichuanese. It was rather difficult to tell what type of meat it was as they cut it up quite small, maybe about the size of a little finger.

We never tried fried scorpions though. I guess there aren't too many scorpions in Sichuan. We did try yak tea! It was a bit like peanut butter tea, very smooth and buttery.

 

[Patsy]

Yay, MM's back and has had some Chinese beer! Huge bottles you say? Like what? 1L? 2L? Dare I guess... THREE!?! :shocked:

Any brands we see in the west like Tsingtau? (speaking from a West Coast US perspective)

Anyway, glad you're back, now all you have to do is to watch out for symptoms of avian flu else they'll pour gasoline (petrol) on you and set you on fire ala 'Mad TV'.

-Patsy
"Insula Gilliganis."

 

[Mad Mantis]

The meat dishes were interesting and very different from Westernised Chinese fare. My own trip was to Sichuan, so the food was local Sichuanese. It was rather difficult to tell what type of meat it was as they cut it up quite small, maybe about the size of a little finger.

It can be hard to tell. Especially if they cover it in batter. But it was good nonetheless and better than what we can get over here.

We did try yak tea! It was a bit like peanut butter tea, very smooth and buttery.

They'll make tea out of anything. As long as they can pour hot water over it the Chinese will drink it.

Yay, MM's back and has had some Chinese beer! Huge bottles you say? Like what? 1L? 2L? Dare I guess... THREE!?! :shocked:

Any brands we see in the west like Tsingtau? (speaking from a West Coast US perspective)

The standard size is 640 ml, around a pint IIRC, but there are bigger bottles of around 2L. Brands such as Tsingtao are very common. Also Hans beer and Yanjing beer can be found easily. Those are at the least the brands that I can write down. haven't got a clue how to make the proper characters for the other beers.

 

[Patsy]

The standard size is 640 ml, around a pint IIRC, but there are bigger bottles of around 2L. Brands such as Tsingtao are very common. Also Hans beer and Yanjing beer can be found easily. Those are at the least the brands that I can write down. haven't got a clue how to make the proper characters for the other beers.

Dare I say it? Yes! I shall take that dare!

\/\/ (O) (O) T !! TWO LITERS!! Uh oh... but was it good? :evil:

-Patsy, The Stinky
"Re vera, potas bene."

 

[garion]

'

Point at other peoples food and randomly point at something on the menu. Loads of fun and you never eat the same dish twice. it was good that we sacrificed the IG guide to appease the demon SPANKY.

lol...omg...well variety is the spice of life :grin:

You eat the whole scorpion. Just fry it and put it in your mouth. It tasted a bit like fried chicken skin, but with more taste.

...*more* taste? good taste?....is it like soft shell crab (japanese), thats what im imagining...not fried chicken ...lol

They'll make tea out of anything. As long as they can pour hot water over it the Chinese will drink it.

lol...my dad (chinese)...told me joke...you'll never see any stray dogs/cats (and i assume all pets in general) in china :wink3: *cough cough* FOOD lol

but there are bigger bottles of around 2L

good lord..is this inteaded for 1 person?...holy cow that is HUGE compared to 40ozs here in the US (which is the ghetto beer..ie king cobra...pacifico =P...and very very filling)

 

[garion]

The meat dishes were interesting and very different from Westernised Chinese fare. My own trip was to Sichuan, so the food was local Sichuanese. It was rather difficult to tell what type of meat it was as they cut it up quite small, maybe about the size of a little finger.

We never tried fried scorpions though. I guess there aren't too many scorpions in Sichuan. We did try yak tea! It was a bit like peanut butter tea, very smooth and buttery.

wait yak tea? made from...yaks? the buffalo~ish creatures?

whats peanut butter tea?...what ethnic group has this? i want to try :laugh:

 

[Mad Mantis]

\/\/ (O) (O) T !! TWO LITERS!! Uh oh... but was it good? :evil:

It was good. I still prefer some Dutch beers, but I wouldn’t mind having a few cases of the stuff stored in my house.

...*more* taste? good taste?....is it like soft shell crab (japanese), thats what im imagining...not fried chicken ...lol

Never had that crab so I can’t compare it.

lol...my dad (chinese)...told me joke...you'll never see any stray dogs/cats (and i assume all pets in general) in china :wink3: *cough cough* FOOD lol

Very few animals indeed. I believe the Cantonese eat everything but the other kitchens are a bit more normal.

good lord..is this inteaded for 1 person?...holy cow that is HUGE compared to 40ozs here in the US (which is the ghetto beer..ie king cobra...pacifico =P...and very very filling)

Don’t know if it was intended, but we did take one each. Makes it easier than having to constantly get up and get a new beer.

 

[FrostBurn]

wait yak tea? made from...yaks? the buffalo~ish creatures?

whats peanut butter tea?...what ethnic group has this? i want to try :laugh:

Yeah, yaks. Those big, shaggy, horny buffalo-type beasts that live in the Himalayan plateau. The Tibetans use every single bit of their bodies for stuff. They use their milk to make yak tea. The yak tea had a peanut butter taste to it (similar taste) but very smooth, rich and thick.