In the past 48 hours I have eaten at McDonalds, Burger King and KFC. Last night it caught up with me. The day before yesterday I had a McDonalds for lunch because I was visiting my apartment to hand over deposits and such, then I was in a strange new place and hungover. You can't blame me! I had a 'Big and Beefy' burger which was basically a Quarter Pounder with Cheese but with cucumber in it. How does it compare to back home? Surprisingly good. I've never been a fan of McDonalds burgers, they are completely rubbish. Poor quality meat, not enough meat and they're just not big enough. This burger was of ample size, the meat wasn't good quality but there was enough... plus the cucumber was pretty good! Before I left the UK I had a 'Miami Melt', a limited edition burger that was actually a pretty high standard for fast food. Big 'n' Beefy wasn't as good as that, but it was ok. Definitely worth 15RMB (about £1.40)
That evening I really fancied some dumplings, but that obviously isn't a big enough dinner. So I thought I might as well compare BK to Maccy Ds so I can report back on the blog! Did it all for you guys! One thing about BK is that it SUCKS compared to its UK counterpart. The selection is rubbish, you get no Angus burgers (the 3-pepper Angus is one of mankind's greatest creations), no Bacon Double Cheeses either. Since the Big and Beefy was the biggest burger on McD's menu, I felt I should get the biggest burger on the BK menu to make the test fair. I got the Whopper with Bacon and Cheese. Sounds pretty standard right? I guess it might be. I never have Whoppers back home, I always prefer the Bacon Double Cheese or Angus burgers. It was pretty tasty. Much better than McDonalds, but that was to be expected... because BK shits on McD back home too. I inadvertantly got 8 dumplings instead of the 6 I was going for too, my bowels were starting to get pissed.
Last night I really wanted a Thai curry. I looked up some places in Shanghai and chose one on a road called Fulu Lu. I got completely lost. It sucked, I was walking around for an hour trying to find a Thai place but the problem with Shanghai is that if you're looking for something specific you're NEVER going to find it without help. I should have asked some white people (I was around Plaza 66 aka. New York in Shangers) but I couldn't be arsed. You never know if the white people you meet are staying or visiting, so you could end up asking someone as clueless as yourself. Furthermore I thought I could find something! I'm in the bloody Orient and I can't find a Thai restaurant?! There are more in the UK :(
So I got a KFC. Since I wanted to spend a decent amount on dinner I ended up splashing out on this Mega Bucket thing for 69RMB. The good thing about KFC here is that it still comes in a bucket! When buckets were forsaken in the UK it was a sad day. I got a medley of heart clogging poultry. I got 3x Original chicken, 3x Hot wings, 4x BBQ wings, 3x Fish Finger things, a box of Popcorn Chicken and a 1.5lt bottle of Pepsi. Now BBQ wings and the Fish Finger things are alien to the UK (if I recall correctly), they're pretty good.. give a nice break from all the southern fried flavour. KFC over here has a much better selection regarding plain old eat-with-your-fingers battered animal. Last year I saw this absolutely appalling looking burger in the window. My friend Nick dared me to get it. It looked like a chicken fillet burger, which was cross sectioned... with prawns inside the chicken. Prawns in chicken?! I was intrigued, disgusted and worried that this stage of evolution would disprove natural selection... unless the prawns gave the chicken the ability to breathe underwater I highly doubt it was a 'strongest survive' move by the chicken. Fortunately it wasn't prawns in chicken, but prawns in a seafood patty thing. It was good, but I kinda wanted to sample the freak of nature that lured me inside.
After finishing all but half the Pepsi, 2 of the fish fingers and a hot wing... I went to bed. I was bloated and had killer indigestion. Woke up 3 times during the night because I felt so rubbish. It wasn't pleasant. It's a shame that my last night in Le Tour was so rough! After this experience I am banning myself from fast food. Not sure how long yet, hopefully for my entire stay in China. Once I move into my flat I'm gonna join the gym and make use of all this free time (while I search for work).
See you tomorrow, from my new home
Monday 27 July 2009
Friday 24 July 2009
All about the Maos
So I got my first good sleep since I arrived last night. I've been napping a lot, might be the heat or really long jetlag but I've felt the need to have a few hours in the middle of the day. Then I wake up at 6am the next day and the cycle repeats. Indeed, last night I went to bed at 9:30pm because I'd been running around town looking for apartments. 6 hours and I found one I kinda liked, but it only had 3 bedrooms (and therefore only 2 people). Fortunately I was waiting on a response from a 6 bedroom flat I saw the other day and I got the greenlight to move in! So that's cool, gonna be out of this hostel in 3 days. That's just a little update on the housing situation. Now onto the main subject of this blog.
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The amount stuff costs in Shanghai is really warped compared to the UK. I was speaking to an estate agent yesterday and she said that everything is quite affordable, except housing. I think it's the complete opposite. For example, in Manchester my 3 bedroom student flat in a decent location was £480 a month (around 4900RMB). In Shanghai my maximum budget (which I'm hitting) is around £240 a month (2500RMB). That is hella cheap if you've ever rented property in the UK. If I actually had a real job, I could live somewhere absolutely incredible... maybe something for the future ;)
After deciding to go out for lunch (as in, spend more than 4RMB on street food) I was in the main shopping area of Shanghai (well one of them anyway); Nanjing Xi Lu. This area has so many designer brands and podgy white people that you would think you were in New York if it wasn't for the humidity. Since I'm here on my own, and haven't got anyone to hang around with, I've just been leisurely exploring malls and seeing what there is. My primary goal is to find an arcade with a Drummania game, so I can get my percussion fix.. but alas I've come up short every time. Secondly I've been trying to work out what sort of stuff I can afford over here. In Shanghai I can get a very decent sized meal for about 50RMB (£5 now, £3.50 back then). On the other hand, if I wanted to get a Chocolate Sundae at some American chain it would cost about the same. So you can have a banquet or an ice-cream for the same price. Weird huh?
Things are a lot different now than they used to be. As a result of Gordon Brown dumping my UK-Chinese savings onto a slab and cutting a fat third off of the amount, things are expensive over here. Despite the fact that the majority of the higher end brands are made in China, it's often more expensive to buy clothes here than in the UK! Take Lacoste for example, in the UK a Lacoste polo shirt is likely to cost about £65ish? I think.. I don't actually own one but that price rings a bell when I was looking pre-departure. In Shanghai a Lacoste polo shirt costs around 900RMB (£85)... and that's a cheap one. Before the credit crunch 900RMB was only about £65, but now it's £20 more. In another shop I saw a Lacoste shirt (I think, it had the same logo) for 1100RMB reduced from 3300RMB.... reduced from 6600RMB!!! That's like £640 for a polo shirt. Even before the credit crunch that is absolutely ridiculous. If you compare that to my rent, I could get a house for 2.5 months (6250RMB) or I could get a polo shirt (6600RMB). Drinks are also way too pricey. Now £10 is only 100RMB, those bottles of beer for 50RMB are not so appealing anymore. £5 for a bottle of beer... you really do not realize how expensive things are until you convert them and think of where in England would you pay £5 for a bottle of beer.
What does the typical Chinese executive earn these days? It's absolutely ludicrous how high these things are priced. No-one can afford it! The mall (Plaza 66) is rather empty, at least all the shops inside, so it's obvious that these stores are just there to keep up appearances. Even if I earnt a decent salary, the price of even the lower range of luxury brands are unaffordable (affordability of course includes value for money, even if I could buy it I wouldn't). So I just browsed... from outside the stores. Some of it was the shame of walking into a place that expensive wearing messy Vans with shorts and a t-shirt that has seen better days. There are other problems with Chinese shops that I gotsta tell you about but that can be saved for later.
After a thoroughly depressing afternoon, realizing that my idea of coming to China and living like a pimp, I went to a more regular store; the Puma store near Nanjing Xi Lu Subway. I found a pair of trainers that I really liked, for 419RMB with 30% off. That's what I'm talking about! But they didn't have my size. Seriously, anyone who says that the 'All Asian men have small penises' theory is a myth needs to try and get a pair of shoes in Shanghai. They didn't have US11? Come on! I might go back and ask them to order in a pair, if they can.
My worries were confirmed when I left the subway heading back to the hostel. I walked off the train and saw a white guy, about 24ish, wearing a t-shirt with a huge hole over the left sleeve. Got a feeling that's going to be me by the time I leave Shanghai.
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The amount stuff costs in Shanghai is really warped compared to the UK. I was speaking to an estate agent yesterday and she said that everything is quite affordable, except housing. I think it's the complete opposite. For example, in Manchester my 3 bedroom student flat in a decent location was £480 a month (around 4900RMB). In Shanghai my maximum budget (which I'm hitting) is around £240 a month (2500RMB). That is hella cheap if you've ever rented property in the UK. If I actually had a real job, I could live somewhere absolutely incredible... maybe something for the future ;)
After deciding to go out for lunch (as in, spend more than 4RMB on street food) I was in the main shopping area of Shanghai (well one of them anyway); Nanjing Xi Lu. This area has so many designer brands and podgy white people that you would think you were in New York if it wasn't for the humidity. Since I'm here on my own, and haven't got anyone to hang around with, I've just been leisurely exploring malls and seeing what there is. My primary goal is to find an arcade with a Drummania game, so I can get my percussion fix.. but alas I've come up short every time. Secondly I've been trying to work out what sort of stuff I can afford over here. In Shanghai I can get a very decent sized meal for about 50RMB (£5 now, £3.50 back then). On the other hand, if I wanted to get a Chocolate Sundae at some American chain it would cost about the same. So you can have a banquet or an ice-cream for the same price. Weird huh?
Things are a lot different now than they used to be. As a result of Gordon Brown dumping my UK-Chinese savings onto a slab and cutting a fat third off of the amount, things are expensive over here. Despite the fact that the majority of the higher end brands are made in China, it's often more expensive to buy clothes here than in the UK! Take Lacoste for example, in the UK a Lacoste polo shirt is likely to cost about £65ish? I think.. I don't actually own one but that price rings a bell when I was looking pre-departure. In Shanghai a Lacoste polo shirt costs around 900RMB (£85)... and that's a cheap one. Before the credit crunch 900RMB was only about £65, but now it's £20 more. In another shop I saw a Lacoste shirt (I think, it had the same logo) for 1100RMB reduced from 3300RMB.... reduced from 6600RMB!!! That's like £640 for a polo shirt. Even before the credit crunch that is absolutely ridiculous. If you compare that to my rent, I could get a house for 2.5 months (6250RMB) or I could get a polo shirt (6600RMB). Drinks are also way too pricey. Now £10 is only 100RMB, those bottles of beer for 50RMB are not so appealing anymore. £5 for a bottle of beer... you really do not realize how expensive things are until you convert them and think of where in England would you pay £5 for a bottle of beer.
What does the typical Chinese executive earn these days? It's absolutely ludicrous how high these things are priced. No-one can afford it! The mall (Plaza 66) is rather empty, at least all the shops inside, so it's obvious that these stores are just there to keep up appearances. Even if I earnt a decent salary, the price of even the lower range of luxury brands are unaffordable (affordability of course includes value for money, even if I could buy it I wouldn't). So I just browsed... from outside the stores. Some of it was the shame of walking into a place that expensive wearing messy Vans with shorts and a t-shirt that has seen better days. There are other problems with Chinese shops that I gotsta tell you about but that can be saved for later.
After a thoroughly depressing afternoon, realizing that my idea of coming to China and living like a pimp, I went to a more regular store; the Puma store near Nanjing Xi Lu Subway. I found a pair of trainers that I really liked, for 419RMB with 30% off. That's what I'm talking about! But they didn't have my size. Seriously, anyone who says that the 'All Asian men have small penises' theory is a myth needs to try and get a pair of shoes in Shanghai. They didn't have US11? Come on! I might go back and ask them to order in a pair, if they can.
My worries were confirmed when I left the subway heading back to the hostel. I walked off the train and saw a white guy, about 24ish, wearing a t-shirt with a huge hole over the left sleeve. Got a feeling that's going to be me by the time I leave Shanghai.
Monday 20 July 2009
The Plan
It's the fifth day I've been here and I'm starting to feel like I should probably have some sort of plan. I mean, I'm currently staying in a youth hostel, eating out every night (although I'm not sure if this will change) with about £50 left in my wallet. Not exactly an ideal situation for someone who intends to make Shanghai his new home. I've also got really lazy and boring! Yesterday I had breakfast with a friend I met on Friday night in the Bund area. I checked out the stores and walked about for a few hours then I came back to the hostel and just crashed. I woke up at 5pm and just sat around on my laptop until about 12:30. I know I'm living here for a long time, but I do feel a bit embarrassed sitting around all day. It looks like I'm just the worst tourist ever.
So here's the plan:
1. Find an apartment
Definitely the first thing I've got to do. I'm a big fan of Le Tour (my hostel) but I should really get my own place, my own housemates (this is the main reason) and make this city my own. I've been emailing enquiries about rooms all morning, but it is only 8am so I'm not expecting replies for a while.
I'd like to live in the Jing'an area I think. It's a great location for entertainment and work, so I'm setting my sights on there. The great thing about Shanghai is that taxis are really cheap, so is the subway.. so no matter where I am it's not a big deal getting to work.
2. Get my money
This probably could take precedence over the apartment hunt due to a rubbish catch 22 situation. I need money to pay the apartment deposit and first month's rent. I can't get my money until I have a bank account. I don't think I can get a bank account without a residence permit.
My solution is to take out as much as I can from ATM machines. I think I get charged about £2 for every £200 I take out. I guess I'll withdraw enough for a deposit and month of rent, then I'll wire over the rest of my money when I receive it in England (people owe me a shit load). That should work.
3. Set up a bank account
Apparently it's quite easy. I need to choose a bank though. I like the sound of the China Construction Bank because it's a badass name, but I'll probably just go with the Bank of China because it's the biggest. Once I set that up, hopefully I can transfer all my savings to Shangers.
4. Find an internship
It's what I came here for. As I said in a previous post, I didn't get the uberjob I was hoping for. However I've just sent a CV in to a software development company for a position in 'Marketing & Business Development'. I've heard they need 6 trainees for 3 positions, so they're pretty good odds. My CV isn't as rubbish as it looks (I did get to the interview phase for uberjob) so hopefully I'll hear back within the next couple of days. I'll get paid about 4000RMB a month I think, which pays for rent and I'll still have spending money. It's a relief, because money worries were kinda getting to me.
5. Have the best 18 months of my life
OK I've probably jinxed it now, but I really do need to make the most of this. I think the next blog post I do, I'll come up with a list of all the ideas and opportunities I will look into while I'm here. After that, and an update on the items on this list... that's it! I'll be settled and will have to come up with something more imaginative that what is effectively my diary... online.
So here's the plan:
1. Find an apartment
Definitely the first thing I've got to do. I'm a big fan of Le Tour (my hostel) but I should really get my own place, my own housemates (this is the main reason) and make this city my own. I've been emailing enquiries about rooms all morning, but it is only 8am so I'm not expecting replies for a while.
I'd like to live in the Jing'an area I think. It's a great location for entertainment and work, so I'm setting my sights on there. The great thing about Shanghai is that taxis are really cheap, so is the subway.. so no matter where I am it's not a big deal getting to work.
2. Get my money
This probably could take precedence over the apartment hunt due to a rubbish catch 22 situation. I need money to pay the apartment deposit and first month's rent. I can't get my money until I have a bank account. I don't think I can get a bank account without a residence permit.
My solution is to take out as much as I can from ATM machines. I think I get charged about £2 for every £200 I take out. I guess I'll withdraw enough for a deposit and month of rent, then I'll wire over the rest of my money when I receive it in England (people owe me a shit load). That should work.
3. Set up a bank account
Apparently it's quite easy. I need to choose a bank though. I like the sound of the China Construction Bank because it's a badass name, but I'll probably just go with the Bank of China because it's the biggest. Once I set that up, hopefully I can transfer all my savings to Shangers.
4. Find an internship
It's what I came here for. As I said in a previous post, I didn't get the uberjob I was hoping for. However I've just sent a CV in to a software development company for a position in 'Marketing & Business Development'. I've heard they need 6 trainees for 3 positions, so they're pretty good odds. My CV isn't as rubbish as it looks (I did get to the interview phase for uberjob) so hopefully I'll hear back within the next couple of days. I'll get paid about 4000RMB a month I think, which pays for rent and I'll still have spending money. It's a relief, because money worries were kinda getting to me.
5. Have the best 18 months of my life
OK I've probably jinxed it now, but I really do need to make the most of this. I think the next blog post I do, I'll come up with a list of all the ideas and opportunities I will look into while I'm here. After that, and an update on the items on this list... that's it! I'll be settled and will have to come up with something more imaginative that what is effectively my diary... online.
Sunday 19 July 2009
New in town
While I didn't have someone to take me out last night, I still went anyway!
My first night out in Shanghai since this time last year and my third night out solo. Going out on your own is usually absolutely rubbish when you're someone like me. I'm not really that outgoing, talkative or even interested in meeting new people (sound like such a grouchy old man), so when I go out alone it usually ends up with me drinking alone at the bar for an hour, walking circuits around the facilities a few times, finding some seating and then going home early. It started a bit like that.
I went to The Shelter to the 'micro 4th Birthday', a minimal techno night featuring a few European DJs and a guy called B6. This guy I knew, well knew of. He is one half of the Shanghainese Synthpop/Electro band IGO and I'm a massive fan. Check out a tune here
Since I have done next to nothing whilst in Shanghai thus far, I thought I'd at least go and see what it was like... treating it more like a gig than a night out. I got to The Shelter at about 11:45ish and paid the 40RMB to get in (about £4). You're greeted with a very claustrophobic but totally awesome tunnel into the main club area. As you could probably guess from the name, The Shelter used to be a bomb shelter. This gives it a pretty unique look and it's underground styling and decor make it one of the most badass clubs I've ever been to. Loved everything about it. Drinks were pretty cheap too, bottles of Tiger Beer were only 15RMB so I stuck to them... it would have been pretty expensive if I went for spirits. So I spent the first hour standing around near the bar, sipping my Tiger and people watching.
It wasn't that busy. I was kinda just standing against a pillar for a while, watching this bald DJ guy play some pretty dull techno. I don't really like techno, it's too samey and there is a severe lack of imagination (well the stuff I've heard anyway). I went to the bar to get another drink and then started talking to this guy standing next to me. It turned out he ran the night! So that was cool, had a word with him and said that I came mainly to see B6. I asked him when he was playing and he pointed him out to me, this B6 guy was standing like a metre from me. He was obviously not as big of a star as I thought, he was just chilling with the crowd. I got the host to introduce me and I just went all fan-like and said how much I loved his work. I'd had a few Tigers by then so I decided I'd give him some marketing advice!
If you've listened to the song above you might pick up the sort of 80s synth vibe. Since Le Roux is doing so well in the UK charts right now, I thought I'd tell B6 that he should think about exporting his music to the west. He told me that in China the scene wasn't very big and that it was difficult to gain a lot of success in Shanghai. Maybe that's why he seemed like such an ordinary guy. He was described by someone ages ago as one of the pioneers of the alternative Shanghai music scene, so it really shows how small the scene is when he's so normal.
After that I had a few more beers and bumped into a guy I recognized from the hostel. We had a chat about shit, home, work, interests.. the usual. I was really feeling the alcohol at this time and when he went to get a drink I moved to the edge of the dance floor and waited for things to kick off. I don't remember how it happened but I got chatting with this photographer for SmartShanghai. He was wicked, he introduced me to loads of people nearby (whose names I forgot the second they told me, remember I was pretty lashed). He took some pictures and I joked around with him a bit, then B6 came on and the party got started. Had a dance which was fun, he was pretty awesome. Had a trumpeteer with him, overlaying some brass melodies. It was sweet.
I had lost complete track of time by now, the club didn't have a closing time so it kinda went on and on. I don't remember how I got home, I think I might have walked.. wasn't too far. When I got back to the hostel I saw a Chinese girl in the TV room and thought I'd say hello. I tried to talk my appalling Mandarin and she was very accommodating. I think I kept saying "Cao ni!" which means "fuck you", and trying to work out how to say things were shit. I shouted the merits of the Beijing dialect and she taught me lots of stuff (which I've already forgotten). After a couple of hours it was 7am! I told her to be my tutor but I can't remember if she accepted, I got an email address but I can't read it! So that's a bit annoying.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening which started from nothing. So glad I went. It's definitely improved my mood here, I've been very worried about having things to do and making friends but last night really helped me settle down. Haven't had so much fun for a long time!
My first night out in Shanghai since this time last year and my third night out solo. Going out on your own is usually absolutely rubbish when you're someone like me. I'm not really that outgoing, talkative or even interested in meeting new people (sound like such a grouchy old man), so when I go out alone it usually ends up with me drinking alone at the bar for an hour, walking circuits around the facilities a few times, finding some seating and then going home early. It started a bit like that.
I went to The Shelter to the 'micro 4th Birthday', a minimal techno night featuring a few European DJs and a guy called B6. This guy I knew, well knew of. He is one half of the Shanghainese Synthpop/Electro band IGO and I'm a massive fan. Check out a tune here
Since I have done next to nothing whilst in Shanghai thus far, I thought I'd at least go and see what it was like... treating it more like a gig than a night out. I got to The Shelter at about 11:45ish and paid the 40RMB to get in (about £4). You're greeted with a very claustrophobic but totally awesome tunnel into the main club area. As you could probably guess from the name, The Shelter used to be a bomb shelter. This gives it a pretty unique look and it's underground styling and decor make it one of the most badass clubs I've ever been to. Loved everything about it. Drinks were pretty cheap too, bottles of Tiger Beer were only 15RMB so I stuck to them... it would have been pretty expensive if I went for spirits. So I spent the first hour standing around near the bar, sipping my Tiger and people watching.
It wasn't that busy. I was kinda just standing against a pillar for a while, watching this bald DJ guy play some pretty dull techno. I don't really like techno, it's too samey and there is a severe lack of imagination (well the stuff I've heard anyway). I went to the bar to get another drink and then started talking to this guy standing next to me. It turned out he ran the night! So that was cool, had a word with him and said that I came mainly to see B6. I asked him when he was playing and he pointed him out to me, this B6 guy was standing like a metre from me. He was obviously not as big of a star as I thought, he was just chilling with the crowd. I got the host to introduce me and I just went all fan-like and said how much I loved his work. I'd had a few Tigers by then so I decided I'd give him some marketing advice!
If you've listened to the song above you might pick up the sort of 80s synth vibe. Since Le Roux is doing so well in the UK charts right now, I thought I'd tell B6 that he should think about exporting his music to the west. He told me that in China the scene wasn't very big and that it was difficult to gain a lot of success in Shanghai. Maybe that's why he seemed like such an ordinary guy. He was described by someone ages ago as one of the pioneers of the alternative Shanghai music scene, so it really shows how small the scene is when he's so normal.
After that I had a few more beers and bumped into a guy I recognized from the hostel. We had a chat about shit, home, work, interests.. the usual. I was really feeling the alcohol at this time and when he went to get a drink I moved to the edge of the dance floor and waited for things to kick off. I don't remember how it happened but I got chatting with this photographer for SmartShanghai. He was wicked, he introduced me to loads of people nearby (whose names I forgot the second they told me, remember I was pretty lashed). He took some pictures and I joked around with him a bit, then B6 came on and the party got started. Had a dance which was fun, he was pretty awesome. Had a trumpeteer with him, overlaying some brass melodies. It was sweet.
I had lost complete track of time by now, the club didn't have a closing time so it kinda went on and on. I don't remember how I got home, I think I might have walked.. wasn't too far. When I got back to the hostel I saw a Chinese girl in the TV room and thought I'd say hello. I tried to talk my appalling Mandarin and she was very accommodating. I think I kept saying "Cao ni!" which means "fuck you", and trying to work out how to say things were shit. I shouted the merits of the Beijing dialect and she taught me lots of stuff (which I've already forgotten). After a couple of hours it was 7am! I told her to be my tutor but I can't remember if she accepted, I got an email address but I can't read it! So that's a bit annoying.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening which started from nothing. So glad I went. It's definitely improved my mood here, I've been very worried about having things to do and making friends but last night really helped me settle down. Haven't had so much fun for a long time!
Friday 17 July 2009
Getting settled
After I landed in Shanghai and the bus arrived at Longyang Lu (Lu = Road) I jumped into a taxi and made my way to Captain Hostel, a nautically themed youth lodgings in the Bund area of town. When I learn more about the city I'm living in then I'll probably take you through a geography lesson. I use Hostelworld for my hostelling needs, it's a quality site that has tons of reviews for hostels all over the place and you can book through there instead of just showing up and praying they have space. I'd booked a good week or so in advance so all was meant to be good...
Once I lugged my suitcase out of the back of the taxi, the handle snapped. This bad boy had 2 handles, one on the top for holding vertically and one on the side for horizontal. Back in 2008 during my second trip to China, the vertical handle was busted as me and Nick (my bud from Manchester) rampaged through Beijing West Train Station attempting to catch a train that was obviously long gone. And now in 2009, the horizontal one has gone. To be honest, it probably couldn't have gone at a better time. It lasted the plane journey and I was 10 metres from the hostel door so I guess it was good that it went then and not when I was dragging it through the metro.
I got into the Captain Hostel and I'd heard from a number of reviews on Hostelworld that the staff were rude. Now I didn't really get that impression. They were terrible at English and they seemed to be the most unenthusiastic workers I'd ever met. If a lack of enthusiasm = rudeness then I must be really rude! I'm not gonna bust their balls on that. However, the overall stay was just pfft...
pfffffffffffft
That's all I can say about it, it was utter guff (ok that's something else... it was also shite). The room at first seemed alright, it was an 8 bed dormitory with comfortable mattresses and a nice little seating area in the middle. The room was full of stuff, but there wasn't anyone there. The main reason I chose the Captain Hostel over more positively reviewed hostels is that it apparently had an awesome rooftop bar. Now one thing was awesome, this view....
It's pretty baller. It's like having a bar on the riverside of Hong Kong (although HK's view is far superior to Shanghai's). I was pleasantly surprised as to how nice it actually was. I ordered a beer and a pepperoni pizza which came to 90RMB. Now that is like £9. Stupidly I ordered the beer without checking the price, and pizzas are always pretty expensive. Now my pizza was 45RMB, understandable. But how on earth a pint of Tsingtao (a shitty Chinese beer) costs 45RMB is a question only God could answer. That's like £4.50 for a pint of shit beer. And I thought Sweden was expensive...
So I ate my pizza, an atrocity that cause any Italian to probably keel over and die. It was rubbish, like a freezer pizza but not even the same sort of quality as a Ristourante. Thankfully I'm only a quarter Italian so I just died a little inside, a quarter of the amount of a real Italian I'm sure. The bar wasn't really that good to be honest. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was expecting like a proper bustling pub/club style affair. It had the potential but it wasn't very busy. It was reputedly extremely cheap too. Pfft.
With the bar being a bit of an anti-climax I head to my room to have a little read and then go to sleep. That was when I noticed the Air Con wasn't working. What was a nice chilled room before was now pretty hot. Imagine when the 7 other people returned home. Furthermore, there was what appeared to be a closed window onto the street. It was closed...ish. That means a ton of mosquitos were flooding in and eating me alive. I must have got about 10 bites in an hour. In addition to that, the room was on the street level next to the road. You could hear EVERYTHING. Every car, every pedestrian... everything. And Chinese drivers looooove to use their horn.
I lasted an hour. As I tried to sleep, I was sweating from rage, desperation and heat. I arrived in a new country, for the rest of my life and I felt like I was sleeping on the street. It was probably worse as it was so freakin hot.
I went to reception to talk to the softly spoken dude who checked me in. He probably wasn't naturally softly spoken, he was just so unenthusiastic that he probably didn't want to waste the effort of putting some volume into his voice. I asked if they had any other beds in any other rooms. He said "no". That's it. Of course I take his lack of English into account but there was no "sorry" and no sympathy whatsoever. I can see why no-one ever showed up in the room, because they wanted to get away from it. It was exactly like when I was in Hong Kong with Nick (but that's a story for another day). So I thought fuck it, and left.
I found another hostel on Hostelworld, one with a nice 90% approval and remembered how to say the name. It was the Le Tour Traveller's Rest Hostel. If the taxi driver didn't know where it was then I'd have been screwed, also if they had no room. Thankfully the taxi driver was pretty awesome and took me right to the doorstep, just had to keep repeating the name of the street and number. Doubly good was that they had room.. and the hostel is just awesome. Here's the front:
Doesn't look like much but the air conditioning works, they have free WiFi (Captain charged 20RMB an hour!), they have a table tennis table, they have a pool table, they have 24 hour DVD and TV rooms. And the staff were friendly! I usually don't care but after flying for so long, dealing with the shit in the other hostel and getting a taxi in the middle of the night. It helped. This place was like heaven after what I'd experienced in the nautical farce 20 minutes ago. So at around 1am, an hour after I left Captain's I dropped off to sleep in a silent, air-conditioned room.
.....
That was two nights ago.
Since then I've done pretty much nothing. For the first time ever I've started to experience jetlag. The tiredness at silly hours, the general apathy to anything at all times. I was hoping when I arrived at the Captain's to get a bit tipsy that night and talk to some people in a buzzing bar environment. I can't be arsed to talk to anyone! I must look like the weirdest traveller ever right now. I've just been sitting around reading, surfing the net and watching Wire in the Blood (awesome show). Of course they don't know I'm here for a year and a half. There is no urgency for me to do anything. In fact, it's probably better I just sit around waiting for jetlag to wear off and then I'll have stuff to do when I'm lively and eager for shit to happen.
I think I'm going to set out my plan tomorrow. I didn't get the uber-job I applied for, which was very disheartening. I had a plan for when this happens, but it involves waiting for lots of stuff to happen. I hate being in this limbo. Going to work out everything that's got to get done tomorrow. For tonight, I might go out to some techno night. This DJ is playing that I slightly know, so I'll prob have a few drinks and maybe have a chat with some people.
See you tomorrow, if I get home that is.
Once I lugged my suitcase out of the back of the taxi, the handle snapped. This bad boy had 2 handles, one on the top for holding vertically and one on the side for horizontal. Back in 2008 during my second trip to China, the vertical handle was busted as me and Nick (my bud from Manchester) rampaged through Beijing West Train Station attempting to catch a train that was obviously long gone. And now in 2009, the horizontal one has gone. To be honest, it probably couldn't have gone at a better time. It lasted the plane journey and I was 10 metres from the hostel door so I guess it was good that it went then and not when I was dragging it through the metro.
I got into the Captain Hostel and I'd heard from a number of reviews on Hostelworld that the staff were rude. Now I didn't really get that impression. They were terrible at English and they seemed to be the most unenthusiastic workers I'd ever met. If a lack of enthusiasm = rudeness then I must be really rude! I'm not gonna bust their balls on that. However, the overall stay was just pfft...
pfffffffffffft
That's all I can say about it, it was utter guff (ok that's something else... it was also shite). The room at first seemed alright, it was an 8 bed dormitory with comfortable mattresses and a nice little seating area in the middle. The room was full of stuff, but there wasn't anyone there. The main reason I chose the Captain Hostel over more positively reviewed hostels is that it apparently had an awesome rooftop bar. Now one thing was awesome, this view....
It's pretty baller. It's like having a bar on the riverside of Hong Kong (although HK's view is far superior to Shanghai's). I was pleasantly surprised as to how nice it actually was. I ordered a beer and a pepperoni pizza which came to 90RMB. Now that is like £9. Stupidly I ordered the beer without checking the price, and pizzas are always pretty expensive. Now my pizza was 45RMB, understandable. But how on earth a pint of Tsingtao (a shitty Chinese beer) costs 45RMB is a question only God could answer. That's like £4.50 for a pint of shit beer. And I thought Sweden was expensive...
So I ate my pizza, an atrocity that cause any Italian to probably keel over and die. It was rubbish, like a freezer pizza but not even the same sort of quality as a Ristourante. Thankfully I'm only a quarter Italian so I just died a little inside, a quarter of the amount of a real Italian I'm sure. The bar wasn't really that good to be honest. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was expecting like a proper bustling pub/club style affair. It had the potential but it wasn't very busy. It was reputedly extremely cheap too. Pfft.
With the bar being a bit of an anti-climax I head to my room to have a little read and then go to sleep. That was when I noticed the Air Con wasn't working. What was a nice chilled room before was now pretty hot. Imagine when the 7 other people returned home. Furthermore, there was what appeared to be a closed window onto the street. It was closed...ish. That means a ton of mosquitos were flooding in and eating me alive. I must have got about 10 bites in an hour. In addition to that, the room was on the street level next to the road. You could hear EVERYTHING. Every car, every pedestrian... everything. And Chinese drivers looooove to use their horn.
I lasted an hour. As I tried to sleep, I was sweating from rage, desperation and heat. I arrived in a new country, for the rest of my life and I felt like I was sleeping on the street. It was probably worse as it was so freakin hot.
I went to reception to talk to the softly spoken dude who checked me in. He probably wasn't naturally softly spoken, he was just so unenthusiastic that he probably didn't want to waste the effort of putting some volume into his voice. I asked if they had any other beds in any other rooms. He said "no". That's it. Of course I take his lack of English into account but there was no "sorry" and no sympathy whatsoever. I can see why no-one ever showed up in the room, because they wanted to get away from it. It was exactly like when I was in Hong Kong with Nick (but that's a story for another day). So I thought fuck it, and left.
I found another hostel on Hostelworld, one with a nice 90% approval and remembered how to say the name. It was the Le Tour Traveller's Rest Hostel. If the taxi driver didn't know where it was then I'd have been screwed, also if they had no room. Thankfully the taxi driver was pretty awesome and took me right to the doorstep, just had to keep repeating the name of the street and number. Doubly good was that they had room.. and the hostel is just awesome. Here's the front:
Doesn't look like much but the air conditioning works, they have free WiFi (Captain charged 20RMB an hour!), they have a table tennis table, they have a pool table, they have 24 hour DVD and TV rooms. And the staff were friendly! I usually don't care but after flying for so long, dealing with the shit in the other hostel and getting a taxi in the middle of the night. It helped. This place was like heaven after what I'd experienced in the nautical farce 20 minutes ago. So at around 1am, an hour after I left Captain's I dropped off to sleep in a silent, air-conditioned room.
.....
That was two nights ago.
Since then I've done pretty much nothing. For the first time ever I've started to experience jetlag. The tiredness at silly hours, the general apathy to anything at all times. I was hoping when I arrived at the Captain's to get a bit tipsy that night and talk to some people in a buzzing bar environment. I can't be arsed to talk to anyone! I must look like the weirdest traveller ever right now. I've just been sitting around reading, surfing the net and watching Wire in the Blood (awesome show). Of course they don't know I'm here for a year and a half. There is no urgency for me to do anything. In fact, it's probably better I just sit around waiting for jetlag to wear off and then I'll have stuff to do when I'm lively and eager for shit to happen.
I think I'm going to set out my plan tomorrow. I didn't get the uber-job I applied for, which was very disheartening. I had a plan for when this happens, but it involves waiting for lots of stuff to happen. I hate being in this limbo. Going to work out everything that's got to get done tomorrow. For tonight, I might go out to some techno night. This DJ is playing that I slightly know, so I'll prob have a few drinks and maybe have a chat with some people.
See you tomorrow, if I get home that is.
Thursday 16 July 2009
Entering the Dragon
I've arrived in Shanghai, got here yesterday afternoon after a reasonable but at the same time ridiculous journey. The flight was alright I guess, 10 hours after Frankfurt so I just read for a couple, ate my 'Beef Goulash' and slept for 7 hours. But some things pissed me off about Lufthansa and because I love holding a grudge I'm never going to fly with them again.
So I was over the baggage limit... yeah yeah I know we're all allocated a certain amount so the plane doesn't fall out of the sky but come on! I was 5KG over... now 5KG isn't much when you pick it up, you could probably pick up a 5KG weight with your little finger/tongue/penis/whatever body part that's meant to be too weak to pick things up. Had to pay excess baggage... I was predicting it, I mean I've got to live out here for 18 months so I knew I was gonna go over. I'd put all my Xbox stuff, Laptop, Hard drives.. anything heavy that could fit was in my hand luggage (probably weighed about 15KG itself). Thought I could take the hit, how much could it possibly be?!
£140
Yes you read that right
£140
£25.70 per kilo.
Of course I had no choice and had to pay, putting my reasonable £449 flight up to £589. For Lufthansa.
Apparently it's the biggest airline in the world, I can see why. It's kinda cheap (although with my baggage it was more than Emirates) and it doesn't do stuff too badly. The meal was shite, but all plane meals are (except this one I had with Air France once). But they counterbalanced that by giving you a Toblerone with it, and everyone knows that Toblerone is the best sweet out there. The attendants were alright, they seemed pretty pissed off most of the time but I guess they did shit if you asked.
What bugged me was that I was in a seat without a seat in front of me, so no TV in the back of the seat. I had a shared TV with a lovely woman from the Phillipines (she was going to Shanghai to live with her expat husband for 4 years). We couldn't change the channel, those with shared TVs just had to watch the plane slowly crawl across the map towards our destination. Now I slept most of the journey and didn't even feel the need to watch TV, but since I'd paid £140 extra for fucking baggage I felt I should at least get the same service as everyone else.
Oh yeah and what's that about? That everyone gets the same baggage capacity despite the fact I weigh under 11 stone and they let on a bunch of porkers. If I'd been wearing a harness I could have strapped 5 kilos to my stomach and said I was fat. That's an idea for next time.
In the end, I arrived in Shanghai on time. Went to the Airport shuttle buses so I could get into town and find a taxi and that's when it hit me... I'm really rusty at Chinese. Now I thought I was just a bit off my old heyday, thought maybe I'd just forgotten a few words. But when you're faced with a Chinese bus lady determined to get moving ASAP and you don't even pick out "Where are you going?" (which was like the first thing I learnt) then you know you're doomed. Fortunately there was a Chinese dude who spoke decent English who explained, but I still felt like a douchebag.
Got on the bus, which was pretty packed.. people sitting on double seats alone with bags on the other seat. I was the only white guy on there and remember, I had that 15KG of hand luggage on my back. I found a spot with a guy sitting in the aisle seat, a free spot near the window which was nice. So I said "excuse me" (I remembered that in Chinese) and he kinda just turned his legs into the aisle so I could squeeze past. Oh and he gave me a death glare too. I realized that I wasn't gonna be able to get by with this bag on, so I had to kinda launch my bag over him because he wouldn't accommodate a lady in obvious distress. Then I had to sort of climb over him, then pick my bag up so I could get in the seat, and then half decapitate him when I swung it round to my front (it wouldn't fit under the seat). You'd think this whole thing would have been much easier if he'd have just fucking stood up. Wanker.
So as I said to the Filipino woman on the plane when she asked "So what are the Chinese people like?";
"They're nice if you're paying them. Hospitality in hotels and restaurants is second to none, they seem like they actually enjoy helping you. But when you're not paying them, they're rude, inconsiderate and haven't heard of courtesy."
I'd was hoping I'd be wrong, and I was in some way. The bus lady was patient with me (but I'd paid her), the English speaking guy was nice. I was typing this up in a sort of rage thinking about that prick on the bus, but I guess out of the 2 people I'd met (and not paid) one was good and one was not.
Now I'm in Shanghai, without a job and alone for at least 6 weeks. I'll talk about hostel shit tomorrow or something, need to spread out my fun through the days.. at least until I make some friends.
Until tomorrow
PS: Facebook is blocked in China for now, probably related to the riots in the north west and wanker hippies making "Unite and protest the Chinese Government" groups on it. Keeping in contact is gonna be much harder than I thought. My blog is also blocked, so I've got to post to it through email... so if it looks naff then I apologize
So I was over the baggage limit... yeah yeah I know we're all allocated a certain amount so the plane doesn't fall out of the sky but come on! I was 5KG over... now 5KG isn't much when you pick it up, you could probably pick up a 5KG weight with your little finger/tongue/penis/whatever body part that's meant to be too weak to pick things up. Had to pay excess baggage... I was predicting it, I mean I've got to live out here for 18 months so I knew I was gonna go over. I'd put all my Xbox stuff, Laptop, Hard drives.. anything heavy that could fit was in my hand luggage (probably weighed about 15KG itself). Thought I could take the hit, how much could it possibly be?!
£140
Yes you read that right
£140
£25.70 per kilo.
Of course I had no choice and had to pay, putting my reasonable £449 flight up to £589. For Lufthansa.
Apparently it's the biggest airline in the world, I can see why. It's kinda cheap (although with my baggage it was more than Emirates) and it doesn't do stuff too badly. The meal was shite, but all plane meals are (except this one I had with Air France once). But they counterbalanced that by giving you a Toblerone with it, and everyone knows that Toblerone is the best sweet out there. The attendants were alright, they seemed pretty pissed off most of the time but I guess they did shit if you asked.
What bugged me was that I was in a seat without a seat in front of me, so no TV in the back of the seat. I had a shared TV with a lovely woman from the Phillipines (she was going to Shanghai to live with her expat husband for 4 years). We couldn't change the channel, those with shared TVs just had to watch the plane slowly crawl across the map towards our destination. Now I slept most of the journey and didn't even feel the need to watch TV, but since I'd paid £140 extra for fucking baggage I felt I should at least get the same service as everyone else.
Oh yeah and what's that about? That everyone gets the same baggage capacity despite the fact I weigh under 11 stone and they let on a bunch of porkers. If I'd been wearing a harness I could have strapped 5 kilos to my stomach and said I was fat. That's an idea for next time.
In the end, I arrived in Shanghai on time. Went to the Airport shuttle buses so I could get into town and find a taxi and that's when it hit me... I'm really rusty at Chinese. Now I thought I was just a bit off my old heyday, thought maybe I'd just forgotten a few words. But when you're faced with a Chinese bus lady determined to get moving ASAP and you don't even pick out "Where are you going?" (which was like the first thing I learnt) then you know you're doomed. Fortunately there was a Chinese dude who spoke decent English who explained, but I still felt like a douchebag.
Got on the bus, which was pretty packed.. people sitting on double seats alone with bags on the other seat. I was the only white guy on there and remember, I had that 15KG of hand luggage on my back. I found a spot with a guy sitting in the aisle seat, a free spot near the window which was nice. So I said "excuse me" (I remembered that in Chinese) and he kinda just turned his legs into the aisle so I could squeeze past. Oh and he gave me a death glare too. I realized that I wasn't gonna be able to get by with this bag on, so I had to kinda launch my bag over him because he wouldn't accommodate a lady in obvious distress. Then I had to sort of climb over him, then pick my bag up so I could get in the seat, and then half decapitate him when I swung it round to my front (it wouldn't fit under the seat). You'd think this whole thing would have been much easier if he'd have just fucking stood up. Wanker.
So as I said to the Filipino woman on the plane when she asked "So what are the Chinese people like?";
"They're nice if you're paying them. Hospitality in hotels and restaurants is second to none, they seem like they actually enjoy helping you. But when you're not paying them, they're rude, inconsiderate and haven't heard of courtesy."
I'd was hoping I'd be wrong, and I was in some way. The bus lady was patient with me (but I'd paid her), the English speaking guy was nice. I was typing this up in a sort of rage thinking about that prick on the bus, but I guess out of the 2 people I'd met (and not paid) one was good and one was not.
Now I'm in Shanghai, without a job and alone for at least 6 weeks. I'll talk about hostel shit tomorrow or something, need to spread out my fun through the days.. at least until I make some friends.
Until tomorrow
PS: Facebook is blocked in China for now, probably related to the riots in the north west and wanker hippies making "Unite and protest the Chinese Government" groups on it. Keeping in contact is gonna be much harder than I thought. My blog is also blocked, so I've got to post to it through email... so if it looks naff then I apologize
Tuesday 14 July 2009
See you on the other side
Just a quick one today because I've got lots of shit to get did.
1. Collect my visa... the day I fly
2. Get a haircut - They usually screw it up when you speak their language so I'm just minimizing risk
3. Watch Bruno
4. Get supplies
5. Get money
So once I've done all that I'm heading to Heathrow and flying out. I think Blogger might be banned in China so I won't be able to read my own blog, but I can post to it through this email-post thing so it's all good really.
Speak to you from Shanghai!
1. Collect my visa... the day I fly
2. Get a haircut - They usually screw it up when you speak their language so I'm just minimizing risk
3. Watch Bruno
4. Get supplies
5. Get money
So once I've done all that I'm heading to Heathrow and flying out. I think Blogger might be banned in China so I won't be able to read my own blog, but I can post to it through this email-post thing so it's all good really.
Speak to you from Shanghai!
Monday 13 July 2009
Today you will feel great sadness...
Well I thought it would be super awesome to start this post with what some astrologist predicted and have it relevant to what I feel tonight... but astrology is bullshit and it didn't work. So while I do feel a bit down, the title of this post isn't related to what some crackpot sensed when they looked at the sky last night.
But it is relevant! The title of my blog is TigerFishGoat and I thought I should explain it for anyone who doesn't get what I'm going with...
I was born on the 8th January 1987, which makes me born in the Chinese Year of the Tiger. My astrological star sign is Capricorn (a fishy goat). So that explains the Tiger,the Fish and the Goat. Why it's the name of a blog about my exploits in the East? Well I combined the Chinese (Tiger) with the Western (FishGoat) to create a half Tiger, half Fish, half Goat (or should I say half Tiger, half FishGoat?).
In summary it attempts to explain my ultimate goal for these 18 months; to be a whiteboy who can speak Chinese and understand how shit gets done over there. A TigerFishGoat...
.
.
.
...Or I just thought making a blog called "Sam's Shanghai Blog" would be hella dull.
But it is relevant! The title of my blog is TigerFishGoat and I thought I should explain it for anyone who doesn't get what I'm going with...
I was born on the 8th January 1987, which makes me born in the Chinese Year of the Tiger. My astrological star sign is Capricorn (a fishy goat). So that explains the Tiger,the Fish and the Goat. Why it's the name of a blog about my exploits in the East? Well I combined the Chinese (Tiger) with the Western (FishGoat) to create a half Tiger, half Fish, half Goat (or should I say half Tiger, half FishGoat?).
In summary it attempts to explain my ultimate goal for these 18 months; to be a whiteboy who can speak Chinese and understand how shit gets done over there. A TigerFishGoat...
.
.
.
...Or I just thought making a blog called "Sam's Shanghai Blog" would be hella dull.
......
So I was talking to a matey of mine who shared their opinion that my first post was utterly pointless. Of course she is completely wrong but the conversation did highlight another thing I've gotsta talk about before I leave.
I'm gonna miss a lot of people.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not exactly a bubbly, outgoing, bundle of joy who makes a ton of friends all over the place. But I have kinda realized that I do care about a lot of dudes (and dudettes) and I'm not sure if I'll be able to stay all cold hearted and anti-social this time. It's pretty depressing knowing that it's unlikely that I'm going to see anyone I've met in the past 22 years over the next year and a half. And of course, when you don't see someone for that long a time it's pretty difficult to keep relations intact. Out of sight, out of mind...
But I'm gonna try. Through this blog (if anyone reads it), Facebook, email and Skype I will attempt to stay in contact with the outside world. I'm not sure how regularly I'll be posting, depends on whether I have a job or not. I'm not sure what sort of things I'll talk about, although I'd like to have some sort of features so that this blog is more than just a page of rants. However, I am sure that anyone who is in the area, the region or the continent can and should visit or get in touch. If anyone wants somewhere to stay in Shanghai within the next 18 months then my place is open to y'all.
And on that note I will now sleep in the bed I have commandeered from my grandparents before I fly out.
I'm gonna miss a lot of people.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not exactly a bubbly, outgoing, bundle of joy who makes a ton of friends all over the place. But I have kinda realized that I do care about a lot of dudes (and dudettes) and I'm not sure if I'll be able to stay all cold hearted and anti-social this time. It's pretty depressing knowing that it's unlikely that I'm going to see anyone I've met in the past 22 years over the next year and a half. And of course, when you don't see someone for that long a time it's pretty difficult to keep relations intact. Out of sight, out of mind...
But I'm gonna try. Through this blog (if anyone reads it), Facebook, email and Skype I will attempt to stay in contact with the outside world. I'm not sure how regularly I'll be posting, depends on whether I have a job or not. I'm not sure what sort of things I'll talk about, although I'd like to have some sort of features so that this blog is more than just a page of rants. However, I am sure that anyone who is in the area, the region or the continent can and should visit or get in touch. If anyone wants somewhere to stay in Shanghai within the next 18 months then my place is open to y'all.
And on that note I will now sleep in the bed I have commandeered from my grandparents before I fly out.
Saturday 11 July 2009
Huan ying guang lin!
Welcome!
That's what the title means in English. Above is the Mandarin Chinese way to welcome you to my blog, although the proper characters are 欢迎光临. As you can probably guess, I just typed the pinyin (a sort of romanized phonetic alphabet for Westerners) into Google and quickly found someone who could write/type proper Chinese. Then it was just a case of CTRL+C and CTRL+V.
I thought for my first post I should explain who I am and what I hope to do with this blog over the next couple of years. The first thing you'll realize is that my Chinese sucks. I'm in Shanghai for the next 18 months and while I can speak enough to get by (e.g. Being able to fulfil my basic human rights) I can't read or write. My vocabulary is rather limited also. So this is most probably not going to be an educational blog in regards to learning the Chinese language. However I might talk about it every now and again as it's the secondary reason I'm in China.
The primary reason is that I need work experience! I just graduated in International Management and didn't really fancy entering the real job market back home due to the current recession. I've never really done anything exciting in my spare time. I never did summer placements or internships, never did Camp America or anything like that. Therefore I have no real experience and nothing I can really offer employers other than enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. So my plan for when I get to Shanghai is to find an internship, learn lots of new things and then hopefully regurgitate my experiences to a graduate employer 18 months from now!
Why China? Well I was initially thinking of calling this blog 'Shanghaied'. The obvious link to Shanghai put aside, it's apparently some old school navel term for when sailors are forced (through drugs or physical influences) to join someone's ship against their will. These people have been commandeered by a ship's crewman and then spend months sailing across the seven seas! Lovely!
How this links to me? Well, while I'm not really forced to get on a ship (well a plane) and spend a year and a half in a faraway land, the current situation for UK graduates in the job market is rather dire. Every year there are more and more graduates and less and less jobs. Due to aformentioned laziness, I can't distinguish myself from other grads and due to the aformentioned recession there is a very high probability that I'd be unemployed for a year. Or stuck in a dead end job. So not only have I decided to do an internship (aka. Get paid slave wages so someone decent will employ you), but I have decided to do it in China. Why?
1. I want to learn Chinese
2. It's cheap, so I can get paid £500/month and actually survive
3. It's a fuckin awesome country
4. Look at that....
Badass.
I've been before, twice, and I absolutely love the place. The food, the entertainment, the culture, the standard of living, the cheap booze... it's all good in Zhong guo (China). Plus doing an internship in a country as weird and distant as China sure as hell looks better than doing one in England.
This post has gone on long enough. Next post I'll probably explain the actual name of my blog and then say farewell to England!
So.. until Monday, have a good one.
That's what the title means in English. Above is the Mandarin Chinese way to welcome you to my blog, although the proper characters are 欢迎光临. As you can probably guess, I just typed the pinyin (a sort of romanized phonetic alphabet for Westerners) into Google and quickly found someone who could write/type proper Chinese. Then it was just a case of CTRL+C and CTRL+V.
I thought for my first post I should explain who I am and what I hope to do with this blog over the next couple of years. The first thing you'll realize is that my Chinese sucks. I'm in Shanghai for the next 18 months and while I can speak enough to get by (e.g. Being able to fulfil my basic human rights) I can't read or write. My vocabulary is rather limited also. So this is most probably not going to be an educational blog in regards to learning the Chinese language. However I might talk about it every now and again as it's the secondary reason I'm in China.
The primary reason is that I need work experience! I just graduated in International Management and didn't really fancy entering the real job market back home due to the current recession. I've never really done anything exciting in my spare time. I never did summer placements or internships, never did Camp America or anything like that. Therefore I have no real experience and nothing I can really offer employers other than enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. So my plan for when I get to Shanghai is to find an internship, learn lots of new things and then hopefully regurgitate my experiences to a graduate employer 18 months from now!
Why China? Well I was initially thinking of calling this blog 'Shanghaied'. The obvious link to Shanghai put aside, it's apparently some old school navel term for when sailors are forced (through drugs or physical influences) to join someone's ship against their will. These people have been commandeered by a ship's crewman and then spend months sailing across the seven seas! Lovely!
How this links to me? Well, while I'm not really forced to get on a ship (well a plane) and spend a year and a half in a faraway land, the current situation for UK graduates in the job market is rather dire. Every year there are more and more graduates and less and less jobs. Due to aformentioned laziness, I can't distinguish myself from other grads and due to the aformentioned recession there is a very high probability that I'd be unemployed for a year. Or stuck in a dead end job. So not only have I decided to do an internship (aka. Get paid slave wages so someone decent will employ you), but I have decided to do it in China. Why?
1. I want to learn Chinese
2. It's cheap, so I can get paid £500/month and actually survive
3. It's a fuckin awesome country
4. Look at that....
Badass.
I've been before, twice, and I absolutely love the place. The food, the entertainment, the culture, the standard of living, the cheap booze... it's all good in Zhong guo (China). Plus doing an internship in a country as weird and distant as China sure as hell looks better than doing one in England.
This post has gone on long enough. Next post I'll probably explain the actual name of my blog and then say farewell to England!
So.. until Monday, have a good one.
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