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senor boogie woogie

Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Posts: 676 Location: Beautiful Hangzhou China
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 11:34 am Post subject: Back from Shanghai, no problem! |
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Hola!
I returned from my weekend in Shanghai. No problem at all. I did not see any military, roadblocks or fear. What I did see was some good vigilence.
I left Hangzhou Friday afternnon. I had to fill out a form (in English!) with the usual silly information, my name, my phone number yadayadayada. When I arrived in Shanghai, there was NO SARS CHECKPOINT. None. This was very surprising to me. I think the train station utilizes a heat sensing camera device for tempurature.
My friend lives in a villa style neighborhood in Puxi. He was too chicken dung to go out with me to any clubs, because he was recently ill and his Chinese wife would not allow it. He had cable in his house. We actually saw Cheers on TV
Badlands Mexican restaurant was good, the place would not last a week in Texas, but it was a cut above Taco Bell and I have not had any Mexican food in two years. the bars we went to were a rip-off. 30-40 RMB for a short beer. Hu Jintao couldn't afford those prices. Same street as TGI Fridays.
Im back in Hangzhou. Nice to be in the "big city" for the weekend, but Hangzhou is still my home so its good to be back. Not to mention, going to my pub tonight and paying 15 RMB for a tall cold Becks.
SENOR
JOKE: Q: What do you call a place in China with a million people?
A: A village. |
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gerard

Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 581 Location: Internet Cafe
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 11:51 am Post subject: |
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That is happy news. I did see a roadblock this weekend though. A Chinese friend took me on a little adventure ---a few hours on the highway. Don;t ask wher I cant say it let alone type the Pinyon. So coming off the highway where you pay the toll were some officials-with masks- trying to wave us over. OH no I thought . My friend just gunned the engine and did this swerve to the left and flew out onto the next highway. Not making this up. I asked him if it was about sars and he just grunted and passed me a cigarette. It wasnt any big military thing it might even have just been a survey. |
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struelle
Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 4:00 am Post subject: Re: Back from Shanghai, no problem! |
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Quote: |
I returned from my weekend in Shanghai. No problem at all. I did not see any military, roadblocks or fear. What I did see was some good vigilence. |
Sounds good. This region of China is handling the situation quite well, especially the Shanghai and Zhejiang governments. They take good vigilance, but they don't over-react.
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I left Hangzhou Friday afternnon. I had to fill out a form (in English!) with the usual silly information, my name, my phone number yadayadayada. When I arrived in Shanghai, there was NO SARS CHECKPOINT. None. |
This is surprising. Then again, if you take the train, your temperature is checked before you board, right? Still, I'd expect more controls on trains now, as the latest Shanghai SARS case was imported from a train porter coming from Guangzhou.
Taking the bus seems like the best bet for quick hops between regions. If anyone does it, give me a heads up on what it's like. Last time I came back from Zhejiang on the bus, they had temperature checks at the border, and health forms to fill out in CHINESE. It pays to learn a few characters for forms, as they come in mighty handy The driver and attendant didn't give a second wink that a white guy was on the bus speaking Mandarin and filling in forms. That doesn't happen often. By contrast, a Singapore friend of mine who speaks but doesn't read or write Chinese arrived at the airport last week. The officials gave her dirty looks and said something like, "Whatsa matter?! You can't even fill out a simple form?"
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Badlands Mexican restaurant was good, the place would not last a week in Texas, but it was a cut above Taco Bell and I have not had any Mexican food in two years. the bars we went to were a rip-off. |
Ouch. You can buy tall beers for less than 5RMB at the street stalls. Get a bunch of Qingdao or Santory's, then bring them to a house party instead of the bars That's the TEFL way to party.
Steve |
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