Job Discussion Forums

[myesl]

I am saying it is legal. I am also saying that the original comment I made about not be able to call a taxi and say "I'm at XYZ. Come pick me up." was told to me by Chinese. I can't vouch for it personally.

Illegal taxis are another matter, but they don't have signs on them that say 'taxi', nor do they have a meter. That kind of taxi you can of course call, if you know their number. Is that the kind you meant? In that case it would seem the Chinese persons who told me regular taxis can't be called may well be right.

In any case, it is unfortunate that you wasted people's time by beginning this thread asking about Wuxi. You have refused repeated requests for help, even very specific replies I have made to you. This kind of behavior really brings the board down.

[marcus111]

Hey there,

I recently returned home from 2 months in Wuxi. I have to say that to put things in perspective, having lived in Wuxi for months thinking it was pretty sucky, then travelling around a big chunk of China(well not that big a chunk...China is a biiig place), I have to say that compared to a bunch of other cities, Wuxi is actually pretty good.

I think if I had to return to China, I'd only choose to live in Shanghai(as I basically love that city) - or possibly Beijing - but second to Shanghai, Wuxi itself once you get to know your way around is a good little city - if you can call 4.3 milllion little.

I lived around 25 minutes out from the CBD by bus in a little district called Dongting or Xishan - was never 100% on which was the correct name - a common trait in China(being uncertain that is). Myself and my girlfriend were literally the only two white foreigners in the whole district and as a result were stared at 100% for practically the entire 8 months. It gets on your nerves after a while, when it's just you on a street with hundreds of people staring at you like you've just landed from Mars.

Anyhow citywise, Wuxi is pretty well stocked on western comforts. We found TGI Fridays was probably the best place to grab a pretty cost effective western meal - and definitely a favourite of ours for cocktails when we just needed to 'deal' with things - particularly the weather and mosquitoes. Funny thing with TGI's is back home in Australia we consider that restaurant somewhat of a dump - but in China, well Wuxi(and Suzhou), was pretty much a little western oasis.

There's KFC's on practically every corner, and I found the new CBD Papa Johns a better dining experience than the Pizza hut in the city - which tends to get monster queues to get in - where the pizza on offer is kinda bleh.


We did go to the cinema once to watch an english version of Iron Man, and while the cinema complex was quite modern(in a shopping mall I forget the name of just outside the CBD - Peninsula perhaps), the movie was edited in parts(some edits just didnt make sense) and the 10-20 chinese movie goers spoke at full volume and dicked around with their mobile phones through the whole thing - so yeah, go to that if you dare.

There's a great expat bar, Blue Bar, where the beers while fairly standard for western style bars, it has a pretty cool environment, not bad food(good selection really) and resident bar kitties!

Also, if you live in Wuxi - and possibly every other chinese city, a DVD player purchase is a must. The Chinese TV is horrible - particularly CCTV9, the english language channel. Worst channel EVER i think i can safely say. There's a couple of really cool DVD stores in Wuxi, one right near Blue Bar, and one sort of a few blocks over past TGI's. They're cheap and the quality of what you're buying is mostly perfect. When we found these and bought a cheap DVD player from carefour, we found things a lot more enjoyable.

The air quality in Wuxi can be pretty bad, but from what ive seen of other cities, it's actually better than other places. A friend reckons a lot of the misty air also comes from it being low lying and lots of water around. I personally think its mostly just outright pollution as it does neighbour highly industrial areas.

All up, i found it a good place to live but a bit lacking in things to do. You can go hang out at the Nanchang temple market - great to show visitors around. Xinhui park is a good day visit also - as well as a stroll down to the grand canal to take some photos and watch the barges cruise by. There's the huge Tai Hu lake nearby but strangely enough we only spent 30 minutes there for the entire 8 months we lived there. It was nice enough, just a bit of a pain to get to(or morelike we were just too lazy to work out which busses got there.)

The taxi situation is fine - there's tons of them driving around, never had issues getting them, never had one try and rip us off. They were all mostly very friendly, but some despite being friendly drove like freakin MANIACS - but this isnt just Wuxi, this was China wide. The worst city for Taxi's we had was definitively Xi'an, where they not only drove like maniacs, but they were rude pricks. Just getting a taxi there was a battle as they didn't seemingly want to pick up westerners.

The other thing with Wuxi which is plus is the bus network is great - like for us bus no. K42 was our real saviour. And the train network rocks. It takes exactly 1 hour to get to Shanghai on the high speed D train, exactly 15 minutes to get to Suzhou. I LOVED having Shanghai so close - we spent quite a few weekends hanging out in that wonderful city. Now that im back in Australia, i totally miss having access to such a big awesome place so easily. Melbourne looks tiny in comparison. I was quite underwhelmed by Suzhou i have to admit. The gardens were quite nice, but the city as a whole was just a busy dirty mess I found - particularly the train station area, aiyee!!

I have rambled long enough. Wuxi at first will seem like a hole but it will grow on you. Give it some time, be patient and if you want any advice feel free to fire me off an email marcustesol @ gmail.com . I said it before but i will reiterate - initially it will seem quite crap, but in comparison to other cities, for a westerner it's actually got a lot of the 'comforts' we need. Whilst i loved the food in China, i found that i did need my western comfort food also from time to time. Only thing i wish Wuxi had was a good foreign book store, but i was overjoyed when i discovered a kickass one in Shanghai, so went there one weekend and loaded up. You can order online from Amazon, but while the books themselves are pretty cheap, the shipping is killer. And dont let anyone try and tell you the huge Xinhua bookstores carry good english novels - they dont, that is unless you're after a random mills and boon romance, or Moby Dick.

Marcus

[vikuk]

this place is crap but not as crap as the rest - quite a recommendation!!!

However these are wise words -

[Ms Bean]

[El Chupacabra]

My wife and lived out in the Wuxi New District (WND) for 2007-2008. It's pretty isolated but a bus ride will take you downtown.

The WND offers Korean and Japanese food, albeit overpriced. Downtown is a Thai restaurant called The Banana Leaf, where you can eat awesome food with Piliipino entertainers.

The Walmart Supercenter is fun, as is the underground computer/electronics souk. The Big-ass Buddha is all right, but an expensive bus ride and gate fee. Trains to Nanjing or Shanghai make weekend getaways easy.

It does get pretty gray, almost black, due to the coal furnaces used everywhere. Especially on winter mornings.

There are a couple of local pastries to try, including a twisty thing and a sweetbread that is baked on the inside of a burn barrel. also, try the night markets in the warmer months, where you can have your dinner stir-fried fresh for you. I f you look hard enough, you can even find frog or squirrel meat, For more conventional fare, try the barbecue ribs called Wuxi Paigu, or the freshwater crabs and tiny shrimp that come from Lake Tai.