Job Discussion Forums

[onegirl]

Hey,
If you've read any of my previous posts you'll know that I am new to this forum and looking to get lots of information etc. So far this forum has proved to be very useful...tons of great info!

I have a pretty generic question...which I understand the answer will depend on individual experiences...but I'm open to hearing all types of commens/experiences and I will take them with a grain of salt

I think I've narrowed the locations down to China, Hong Kong or Japan but don't know how to narrow it down further as there are so many different places within these countries that I could go to...

I'm not into outdoor activites too much (hiking, or what have you). I really enjoy historical sights & cultural activities etc., I'm not much into clubs either...I enjoy theatre and things like that. I'm in my early 20's and would like to be where there are other foreigners but not too tourist heavy...I would also like the option of travelling to other places fairly (a)cheaply or (b) quickly..for long weekends etc. Despite wanting to immerse myself in the local culture I also want to be able to go to malls and go see movies (in english)...Its also important that the country/city be open to other ethnicities/looks than "blonde hair blue eyes" becuase I definetly do NOT fall into that category (I'm also interested in perhaps taking wushu classes but this isn't a big deal..I could take any type of martial arts really.)

Any suggestions...even a country would be helpful..then I could continue my research...

[PKB]

I've been to HK and Japan, but never to China.

Both HK and Japan have plenty of shopping. While Japan has nice department stores, it's heavily regulated economy means everything is much more expensive than you would pay back home. But if you like to browse expensive name brand products it is great, just don't buy too much.

HK is all about finding bargains. The browsing experience probably isn't as nice as in Japan, but you can still find plenty of good stuff and much cheaper than in Japan - better for buying than for browsing.

Japan has plenty of American movies in English (and I'm sure HK does, too), but again Japan is expensive and it will set you back $15 or more just for the ticket.

There isn't that much travelling you can do in HK, so your traveling would probably involve going into China or hopping on a plane to see other parts of asia, so you'll see a lot of different countries, but you'll have to do it primarily by plane.

However, if you are in Japan most of your travel will be to other parts of Japan and maybe a plane hop to Korea. But again Japan is never cheap, just hopping on the bullet train for a couple of hours can set you back several hundred dollars, as much as a domestic airplane ticket. If you want to drive, you'll hit multiple tolls on the expressway that routinely cost $12 or more and gas costs several times as much as it does in the U.S.
Local buses often have fare tickers displayed at the front and you can wacth your fare go from a couple of bucks to $10 or more during a 30 minute local bus ride.

Japan is much cleaner than HK. HK has tons of street level restaurants that I doubt a westerner would want to go in and the smell of these restaurants stinks up most of the city at street level.

HK has a very beautiful setting though as it is on the water and a mountain rises out of the city on HK island and it has some nifty modern architecture. Pretty cool.

While some people extol rural life in Japan, I hate it - boring. I'd say the choice is between a moderately big city or a huge city in Japan.

Despite the expenses in Japan, I enjoy Japan more than I enjoy HK.

[hesterprynne]

many cities here are generic, being redeveloped to the detriment of anything that gave the place class or flavor
china in general is overcrowded- so you may as well go somewhere interesting even if it may be touristy
find a comfy place to live and a job that pays you enough to travel and gives you time to do it
if you end up in china, "real" china will find you during your travels
but you don't want to live in it

[Glenski]

How have you narrowed it down to those countries? I noticed you haven't mentioned a thing about working conditions. Forgive me for not reading your past posts.