Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Rand al Thor on February 17, 2007, 06:44:49 am
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Kosh's Happy New Year post just reminded me that I'd meant to do this for a while now.
So, you have, I'm sure, all noticed that I haven't been around lurking the last few months. That was because I'm in China, and for the first 3 weeks when I was in Dalian the 'earthquake' (thats what Chinese news told us) near Tiawan took out the majority of China's international internet connection and the for the last two months because I've been travelling arround China with my brother who's teaching English here for about a year.
Anyway, he's put together a travel log so I figured I'd post the link if anyone was interested. Might give you a bit of insight if you're planning a similar trip. Plus it'll bump the hits on the site and swell my brothers ego somewhat.
http://www.travelpod.com/first-travelogue-entry/rivers2007/china-2007/tpod.html
He's the one with the red hair (don't ask me how. And DON'T make any jokes!).
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That was because I'm in China, and for the first 3 weeks when I was in Dalian the 'earthquake' (thats what Chinese news told us
It wasn't just the chinese news that said it was an earthquake.....
So what do you think China so far?
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Phew, sorry this has taken so long, I've been spending the last 3 days travelling home. And yeah, I know (now) it wasn't just the chinese news but at the time that was all I had access to due to the crappy connection. CCTV9 isn't what I'd call a.... thorough news station.
Overall though, China was class. Like the blog says we went from Harbin to Sanya (Hainan) through Shenyang, Datong, Pingyao, Wutai Shan, Xi'an, Chengdu, Songpan, Kunming, Nanning, Beihai, Ghongzhou, Yangshou and Chengching (just the airport which is why I'm probably spelling it wrong).
It's a pretty amazing place. The things that stick out are;
For an (officially) secular country, it has a huge number of temples.
Chinese people don't like orderly queuing.
There's a hell of a lot of polution in the cities.
McDondalds is one of the most expensive places to eat. And that suited me just fine.
Chinese is a really hard language to learn and some people decide they aren't going to understand a foreigner even if (s)he is speaking perfect Chinese. I've seen this happen to ex-pats that have been there for years. It's pretty funny.
A huge number of people travel by train.
I love chinese food.
I hate chinese desserts.
Chinese people eat everything. I tried, God help me I tried, but I cannot get any enjoyment from eating snails or a chickens foot.
Expensive Chinese restaurants don't match up to the cheaper ones.
I thought Christmas was commercialised in the west.
I am rubbish at snowboarding.
I'm incredibly glad to be home but thats probably alot to do with the fact that I've been living in very close quarters with my brother for the last 3months. I'd definately recommend China as a place to visit. For long term stays I'd say check out, Dalian in the north east, Chengdu or Kunming in the south west and Xi'an in the centre. The best of the cities, not too poluted (relatively speaking) and alot to see. Well, actually, in Chengdu we did nothing but flake, but it was good for that.
Plus they got alot of good beers in China. And Beijou!
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Chinese is a really hard language to learn and some people decide they aren't going to understand a foreigner even if (s)he is speaking perfect Chinese. I've seen this happen to ex-pats that have been there for years. It's pretty funny.
Also if you get into trouble with the traffic cops you can just pretend not to understand them, and then you can get away with a lot of things. It's great.
CCTV 9 is not exactly what I would call "great tv". Occationally it has something interesting, but not too often. The "news" that is reported on CCTV 9 is actually a lot more censored than the news on the other CCTV stations. On the other ones it often talks about various social injustices, corruption scandals, amoung other things.
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Really? Well, I'm fairly relieved to hear that. CCTV9 is, as a news channel, insane. I mean for the 3 months I was there you could pretty much predict what was going to be on. There'd be a few stories about Chinese economic expansion, maybe a couple of feel good/tourism/citizens success stories and then a couple of reports about polution or polution awareness. No bad news whatsoever. The only time negative news was reported was when it was a piece about another country, like bombings in Iraq or Israel or something like that.
Do you live there BTW? And where?
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I live in Nanjing
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I hear thats a pretty cool place. And a lot of history, but thats a thread in itself. I would've liked to have seen more of the east coast at least but time ran out.
I take it you're not chinese (else fair play on convincing traffic cops you don't understand them)? You over there working?
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I'm not chinese, but I do work here, at least for a while.
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Cool pictures. Made me laugh my way through, in a good way though :D It looked like a really fun trip. I guess I will have an advantage in communication if I visit China for I speak Manderin and a dozen Chinese dialects. Travelling's fun. I have planned something similar for Europe for the near future.
Oh, very interesting that your brother's a ginger :D
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I speak Manderin and a dozen Chinese dialects.
I'm impressed. How did you learn so many?
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I speak Manderin and a dozen Chinese dialects.
I'm impressed. How did you learn so many?
I think she's under-exaggerating, actually.......
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I speak Manderin and a dozen Chinese dialects.
I'm impressed. How did you learn so many?
I think she's under-exaggerating, actually.......
You mean exaggerating... :P
Well, Kosh, I learned some of them from watching movies and incidentally, I also picked up the accent too :) So, Taiwanese thought I was from Taiwan; my friends from Hong Kong thought I grew up there. Pretty funny.
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You mean exaggerating... :P
Well, Kosh, I learned some of them from watching movies and incidentally, I also picked up the accent too :) So, Taiwanese thought I was from Taiwan; my friends from Hong Kong thought I grew up there. Pretty funny.
Nope :d
See, 1 added post and an added language :D non?
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That's pretty impressive. I was there for 3months and all I learnt was how to say hello, goodbye, and thank you. And that was just so I could go on to order beer and the 3 or 4 dishes that I know.
Travelling IS fun. And I can say that now, because already I'm starting to black out the 50% of times when I was thinking about smacking my brother one. Right. In. The. Face. But we're both adults so it usually just resorted to name calling instead.
About Europe, I'd recommend Sweden (Stockholm) for scenery, Estonia (Tallin) or Poland (Krakow) for drinking/eating (and Cheaply!) and I've heard Croatia is class from a few mates. Prague is a beautiful city but there were far too many foreigners there for my tastes.
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I think that's more than any foreigner will learn (to say hello and order food in Chinese), considering you're only there traveling for 3 months :D
Sweet, I will add those places to my list and maybe we can have a drink when I'm in Ireland. Where are you on Ireland? :D
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Visit Edinburgh & Glasgow!
Barcelona is - so far - my favourite european city. I didn't like Paris the only time I went, but maybe I'll get a chance in the next few years to make some happier memories there :D. Wouldn't mind seeing some of Italy too. Plus my parents just bought a wee flat on Portugal, so I guess I can have a few cheap breaks there.
On a slightly less OT note, I wouldn't mind visiting China one day. Methinks Hong Kong and maybe (not sure) Tokyo would be just ahead on that list, though.
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Yes, Edinburgh's on my list :D
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Yes, Edinburgh's on my list :D
But not Glasgow? :o!
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Ok, Glasgow too :D Since it's about an hour away from Edinburgh. We can have an alcohol night (and maybe go clubbing)? :D
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Ok, Glasgow too :D Since it's about an hour away from Edinburgh. We can have an alcohol night (and maybe go clubbing)? :D
Ooooh, alcymahol - our speciality!
You don't want to go to a Ceilidh?
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No country dancing for me but I don't know mind guys wearing kilt at the party :D
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No country dancing for me but I don't know mind guys wearing kilt at the party :D
Do you like sporrans?
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Hmmm... that sounds a bit... er... not sure... er... er... dirty...?
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Hmmm... that sounds a bit... er... not sure... er... er... dirty...?
Well, check how white it is.....
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I hope it's not raining when they have the party. It would get the white sporrans muggy.
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I hope it's not raining when they have the party. It would get the white sporrans muggy.
Yes, I hate having a wet sporran, it needs a good beating to dry out.
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Sounds like a lot of work to keep it dry :nervous:
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Sounds like a lot of work to keep it dry :nervous:
Yes; most scotsmen need to shake their sporran several times a day ;)
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Hmmmm... high maintenance :eek2:
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Hmmmm... high maintenance :eek2:
Yes, it's necessary to give it a good seeing-to or it'll get crusty and smelly.
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Gee, that sounds bad. Can you bleach it or cut off the smelly bit to save the rest?
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Gee, that sounds bad. Can you bleach it or cut off the smelly bit to save the rest?
Nah - it's very hard for a man with a damaged sporran to find a wife in Scottish society. Many woman simply won't take anything other than a gleaming, shiny, well-maintained and thorougly service sporran.
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Oh dear, I feel sorry for the poor Scotmen...
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lol, innuendo
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el oh el internetz.
The tubes are clogged with all sorts of dirties innuendoes I sees.
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I speak Manderin and a dozen Chinese dialects.
I'm impressed. How did you learn so many?
I think she's under-exaggerating, actually.......
You mean exaggerating... :P
Well, Kosh, I learned some of them from watching movies and incidentally, I also picked up the accent too :) So, Taiwanese thought I was from Taiwan; my friends from Hong Kong thought I grew up there. Pretty funny.
你看懂中文吗？
Do you like sporrans?
What is a "sporran"?
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(http://www.alcaigpipebandsupplies.com/adminarea/resources/resource_206.jpg)
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Very fury. Looks big too. Is it always this size because I always thought it's smaller and longer.
@ Kosh, you asked where did I learn the dialects, I answered - I learned from watching movies.
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Very fury. Looks big too. Is it always this size because I always thought it's smaller and longer.
Well, you'll have to wait and see my sporran, then - that's just a random one off the internet.
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I'm not sure this thread can handle any more double entendres! :nervous:
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Very fury. Looks big too. Is it always this size because I always thought it's smaller and longer.
Well, you'll have to wait and see my sporran, then - that's just a random one off the internet.
Ah, so it does come with different size and shape. Very interesting culture.
I'm not sure this thread can handle any more double entendres! :nervous:
What do you mean? :confused:
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Very fury. Looks big too. Is it always this size because I always thought it's smaller and longer.
Well, you'll have to wait and see my sporran, then - that's just a random one off the internet.
Ah, so it does come with different size and shape. Very interesting culture.
Yes, we have many varied sizes of sporrans.
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Are you given one or you picked your own?
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Are you given one or you picked your own?
They say the sporran picks you, rather than you pick the sporran.
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Very fury. Looks big too. Is it always this size because I always thought it's smaller and longer.
Well, you'll have to wait and see my sporran, then - that's just a random one off the internet.
Ah, so it does come with different size and shape. Very interesting culture.
Yes, we have many varied sizes of sporrans.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm sorry, I appear to have snapped. :blah:
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@ Kosh, wo kan de 懂 (I understand Manderin) :) Don't have chinese software on my computer, but you should be able to understand what I wrote. I read, write and speak Chinese and I used to write poetry in Chinese :D
They say the sporran picks you, rather than you pick the sporran.
Wow, that's some philosophy :)
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Ooooh, alcymahol - our speciality!
You don't want to go to a Ceilidh?
Well, I was going to say 'Hey, they're our main tourist attractions', but then the conversation... got, um.... distinctly more scottish.
But yup. Let me know if you're gonna be in Dublin and I'll show you around some beautifully dingy pubs. And there will be absolutely no sporrans in sight. Well, as long as we stay away from the stags.
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And there will be absolutely no sporrans in sight.
But WF sounds like she's quite interested in sporrans, and so would probably like to see as many as possible. :nervous:
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Ooooh, alcymahol - our speciality!
You don't want to go to a Ceilidh?
Well, I was going to say 'Hey, they're our main tourist attractions', but then the conversation... got, um.... distinctly more scottish.
But yup. Let me know if you're gonna be in Dublin and I'll show you around some beautifully dingy pubs. And there will be absolutely no sporrans in sight. Well, as long as we stay away from the stags.
Cool, I would love to visit some pubs in Ireland. I also like the Irish fiddle playing (some Irish folk music). Oh, and I always wear green on St. Patty's day (I know, the American started that) :D
And there will be absolutely no sporrans in sight.
But WF sounds like she's quite interested in sporrans, and so would probably like to see as many as possible. :nervous:
Why not? Sporrans are art, or shoud I say they are pieces of artistic creation. I love to collect things and if they aren't too expensive, I would consider adding them to the pile of stuff I have collected over the years :D
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Cool, I would love to visit some pubs in Ireland. I also like the Irish fiddle playing (some Irish folk music). Oh, and I always wear green on St. Patty's day (I know, the American started that) :D
If you go to Dublin on St. Patty's Day, you should definitely wear orange so I can hear the wild stories.
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Why not? Sporrans are art, or shoud I say they are pieces of artistic creation. I love to collect things and if they aren't too expensive, I would consider adding them to the pile of stuff I have collected over the years :D
*continues snapping*
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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And there will be absolutely no sporrans in sight.
But WF sounds like she's quite interested in sporrans, and so would probably like to see as many as possible. :nervous:
Why not? Sporrans are art, or shoud I say they are pieces of artistic creation. I love to collect things and if they aren't too expensive, I would consider adding them to the pile of stuff I have collected over the years :D
Well, I'm more than willing to show you my sporran. You can even stroke my sporran it if you want (clean hands only!).
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Why not? Sporrans are art, or shoud I say they are pieces of artistic creation. I love to collect things and if they aren't too expensive, I would consider adding them to the pile of stuff I have collected over the years :D
Well, I'm more than willing to show you my sporran. You can even stroke my sporran it if you want (clean hands only!).
I am not sure if I want to touch it though. Sounds very precious to you. But if that's an order (and if I wanna touch it), ok, I will remember to wash my hands (I usually wash my hands a hundred times a day). Do you want gloves?
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Why not? Sporrans are art, or shoud I say they are pieces of artistic creation. I love to collect things and if they aren't too expensive, I would consider adding them to the pile of stuff I have collected over the years :D
Well, I'm more than willing to show you my sporran. You can even stroke my sporran it if you want (clean hands only!).
I am not sure if I want to touch it though. Sounds very precious to you. But if that's an order (and if I wanna touch it), ok, I will remember to wash my hands (I usually wash my hands a hundred times a day). Do you want gloves?
No gloves, please - my sporran doesn't like rough touching.
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If you go to Dublin on St. Patty's Day, you should definitely wear orange so I can hear the wild stories.
If you go to Dublin on PADDY's day wearing orange you WILL be on your own. We've come a long way but there's still plenty of morons who don't want to believe it.
Not Paddys day but definately not a day to be proud of.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Dublin_Republican_riots)
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No gloves, please - my sporran doesn't like rough touching.
Ok, I have no idea what type of gloves you had in your mind :nervous:
If you go to Dublin on St. Patty's Day, you should definitely wear orange so I can hear the wild stories.
If you go to Dublin on PADDY's day wearing orange you WILL be on your own. We've come a long way but there's still plenty of morons who don't want to believe it.
Not Paddys day but definately not a day to be proud of.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Dublin_Republican_riots)
Ok, should I only bring green color clothes to Ireland then?? :P
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If you go to Dublin on St. Patty's Day, you should definitely wear orange so I can hear the wild stories.
If you go to Dublin on PADDY's day wearing orange you WILL be on your own. We've come a long way but there's still plenty of morons who don't want to believe it.
Not Paddys day but definately not a day to be proud of.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Dublin_Republican_riots)
Heh, I should leave the 'gers strip at home then......
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Yeah but you would probably get away with it as long as you didn't announce your arrival and intent to have a march in honour of rangers and walked (running would only spark things off) quickly through the city visiting every place only once. And finishing up in a Garda station.
Thick thing is, orange is in the flag.
Ok, should I only bring green color clothes to Ireland then??
Nah cause then you'll be immediately identified as a foreign tourist gábeen and someone will eventually get thick with you about some countries foreign policy or taking our jobs or something. Well, probably not, but thats a worst case.
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Yeah but you would probably get away with it as long as you didn't announce your arrival and intent to have a march in honour of rangers and walked (running would only spark things off) quickly through the city visiting every place only once. And finishing up in a Garda station.
Thick thing is, orange is in the flag.
Truly thick thing is, IIRC the flag is supposed to sybolise peace (white) between the Protestants and Catholics. And yet you'll see it flown at Old Firm games and treated as a sectarian symbol - by both sides.
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Me knows, thats what I meant.
I think it was summed up by the cretin who stood outside Croke park protesting the Ireland/England rugby game holding a sign saying 'No foreign sports' while wearing a Celtic jersey.
There's just no hope for us whatsoever.