Job Discussion Forums

[selmo]

Hi a couple of quick questions because I refuse to buy a lonely Planet book.
Does anybody know how to go about booking a ticket on the cheap ferry from Shanghai to Wuhan ?
Also where is the cheapest hotel/hostel in Shanghai coz I am F88ked if I am paying 200 Rmb a night.
Any knowledge is appreciated.
One more then What is Wuhan like to coz I find a lot of Chinese people goto bed to early here in Suzhou sorry Snoozo

[MyTurnNow]

[Roger]

Good and inexpensive hotel in Shanghai:
PUJIANG HOTEL, next to the SHANGHAI MANSION and opposite of the Russian consulate at the northern end of the BUND. It has become a YH with dorm accommodation (should set you back some 60 RMB per night).
Y suggest trying to buy a ticket inside the hotel.
Otherwise, tickets are on sale (or were on sale when I last visited SH) in the old pier on the BUND, not far from the Seamen's Club (the one with the KFC).

[ESL Guru]

Whoa there pardner! Whats this bout goin on down to Wuhan?

Ain't ya heard that is one of China's "ovens"? Particlary during summer!

Why ain't no man nor animal in its right mind gonna voluntarily make that trip. The exodux is leaving Wuhan for Shanghai and that's no lie!!

You thought this through young feller?

[selmo]

Roger thanks for the information nice one
My turn now tell me what you think is good about Suzhouand I will tell you what I think is boring about it.
That bloke on the motor bike thanks for the parental advice but after 3 years in Southern Thailand I think 3 weeks in southern China won't kill me
Also My turn I think the lonely planet is toss I could write a better guide to South East Asia myself

[ESL Guru]

Selmo -

I agree with you that "three weeks in Southern China will not kill me."

Hold the train!!! Check the maps!

Help this mate out folks. Tell him that Wuhan is NOT in Southern China. It is in Central China and three weeks there will not do you any good.
It is the industrial armpit of Central China.

[Roger]

ESL Guru,
what 's so terrible about Wuhan? The heat in summer? Does not kill people! In Shanghai, it gets nearly as hot, and in Guangzhou it often is 36 during July and August!
I was in Turpan in July or August. Cool under those trelises with vines growing around and over them!
I was in Assuan, Egypt, with the mercury hitting 46 - and I did a long-distance run! It did not kill me.
Wuhan's temperature may hit a mere 38 - I repeat; it MAY reach 38 (it does not reach it every summer day!).

And, Wuhan is a lively and lovely city! I would recommend it as a tourist destination!

[MyTurnNow]

The Four Furnace Cities of China (traditional): Nanchang. Chongqing. Changsha. Wuhan.
Roger, I gotta go with Guruji on this one. Hot enough to boil a monkey's bum in July/August and ungodly humid (although it may seem mild after Thailand). An industrial armpit. (Shenyang is under the other arm.)

Roger and I disagree rather cordially about a rather large number of things.

What's Cool about Suzhou? (in no particular order)

1) Only Mexican food in China. Those other places are just yanking their enchiladas.

2) Turn the right corner off a busy thoroughfare and go back in time a thousand years...except for the motorscooters, Pepsi-Cola, and cell phones.

3) Beautiful, friendly, open-minded girls.

4) I can buy 90% of the things members in other cities say they miss.

5) Lots of beautiful scenery everywhere, if you know where to look.

6) The Humble Administrator's Garden. Deserves a separate mention.

7) Incredible handicrafts. Cheap if you know where to go and how to bargain.

8: Good food, good local beer (Taihushui, or Reeb out of Shanghai) and exceptionally nice people even for China. I did mention the girls, right?

9) Rock Station: World's (or at least certainly China's) best selection of cheap, hard-to-find CDs and DVDs.

10) Many of the advantages of Shanghai without the high prices or transport hassles. And Shanghai's an hour away.

11) A bookstore that occasionally actually stocks a book you don't mind reading.

12) I live here.

If you can write a guide better than Lonely Planet, then do it! It needs to be done!

MT

[Jojo]

Suzhou sounds like a lovely place MTN..I may just have to take a swing down there to see what all this heyday is about

I hate big cities, I need to find a place to retreat to any ideas? I want to see Xi'an for sure. Lonely planet is helpful for sure but, can't beat what you learn from personal experiences from folks such as yourself who experienced the whole process before huh?

"I wanna soak up the sun, wanna tell everyone to lighten up..." SC

Peace

[MyTurnNow]

Uh, gee, Jojo, ya comin' before or after I get married? Could make a big difference...

Seriously, Suzhou is great. You'll be welcome.

Favorite Smaller-City Places To Live In China:

1. Suzhou
2. Wuxi
3. Dalian
4. Qingdao

Xiamen is nice but I suspect it gets even steamier there in the summer. Ugh. Hangzhou is OK but I like Suzhou a lot better. May just be familiarity?
I sort of like Tianjin, too, oddly enough. I arrived prepared to hate it. It has some of that lovely northern industrial bricked-up squalor, but it had some nice little touches from its Foreign Concession days, cool people, and just generally a nice friendly feeling to it. Beijing's in easy striking distance but you don't have to deal with those 100-yuan taxi rides every day.

MT

[ESL Guru]

I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST WUHAN. I TAUGHT THERE FOR A SUMMER.

The people were great. The food was great. The work was great. The students were great.

Wuhan is not a tourist destination. I respectfully disagree with Roger on this one.

Sightseeing and vacationing have different meanings to me. Wuhan has some interesting architecture to see, as you pass through on an overnight. It is no place to stop and rest. Guilin, Hainan, Yangshuo, now those are vacation spots.

[oprah]

So those vacation spots like Hainan and Guilin and Yanshou.. would you live there ?? or just vacation there?? I am considering a position in a vacation spot..

[Minhang Oz]

Oprah
I spent 2 years in Guilin very happily. Low salaries are the only drawback. If you can get 4000 plus, then seriously consider it. A small city, maybe 500,000 or so, but quite well developed. Low cost of living, great food, and close to some good touring sites. The surrounding scenery gets more spectacular around Yangshuo, about an hour away. If you like small town living with lots of Western comforts, this could be for you.
I haven't been to Hainan.

[Roger]

OK, SUZHOU is it! I accept your verdict (it has been mine too, but the original poster did not ask about SUZHOU, he wanted to know how to get to WUHAN, and Wuhan is certainly a better prospect than Qiqihar or Alatoshan).
Just one question, MTN: What is so enthralling about Wuxi? I agree with you on tianjin and Hangzhou, but Wuxi...?

And to Oprah:
Hainan is definitely a good place, a lot less populated and less polluted than the rest of China! Only one relatively large town, Haikou, chaotic, ugly, hastily built-up but convenient and modern to some extent. The rest of the island is a green, forested park, with small towns along the coast. The sea here is great.
Although the summer gets pretty hot (36 in Haikou) it felt pleasant enough, owing to a constant breeze. The Chinese are selling it to tourists as their version of Hawaii, complete with locally-made Hawaii shirts and bermuda shorts.
The downside is lack of jobs!

Guilin has improved enormously, but it still is a rather touristy place, with hordes of CHinese tour groups descending on the place like a never-ending plague. Tourism earned the city badly-needed money which they have wisely used to spruce up their won. It used to look rather shabby just a few meters off the main roads! Still, I recommend nearby Yangshuo over Guilin! But you can hardly ignore GUilin as you arrive by train at its station. Or by plane at its airport.

[MyTurnNow]

Roger, read again...the guy be talkin' trash 'bout my town and asked me what I liked.

I've found at least central Wuxi to be clean, vibrant, modern, and economically strong. Kind of a micro-Shanghai. Wuxi is probably what Suzhou would be without the gardens and ancient architecture. Of course, Suzhou is still vastly superior.

I've known a few teachers who taught in Hainan and they were all less than thrilled. Found it to be expensive and kind of dirty once you left the beach strips. There were also a lot of work problems reported...apparently a lot of missionary work hiding under the guise of "English schools."

MT