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So today was an good day. Just got back from the city, had to call it quits from venturing, because my camera, with the photo of my address, died, and had no way of communicating on how to get home.
So the taxi ride from my place is about 100 Yuan to get to bookworm. I wanted to check out the local ‘expat’ areas, but only bookworm popped to mind.
Review: Their service was good. Minus the communication issue (still good in terms of Chinese/English communication), everything went well.
Couldn’t go onto their wifi. Bookwormbookworm password didnt work for me. I guess it was my laptop.
I ordered the burger with the side of bleu cheese. I guess cheese is a commodity and expensive. The burger was OK. In terms of US bar joints that sell burgers, its a few steps below. The meat was very tender. Wanted to order medium rare, but they did not have that option. I guess a burger is a ‘burger.’ Since the meat was very tender, i only had to judge it on that standard.
Their fries were good. Not sure what oil they used, but it really taste ‘fishy.’ I guess they use the same oil that fries fish. Hopefully they dont use the same oil everyday without cleaning it…
Overall, ill give it 7.5/10. Their ‘special’ sause really made up for the tender burger. Still would rather have a med rare burger…
Wanted to check out Mike’s Pizza, but couldnt find it. Man i wanted a large pie…
And added note, the bank near bookworm really have great service. They helped me out emensouly! Without their help, i would have no way of getting home AND was able to exchange USD to RMB. Got 6.3 per dollar, good rate. Props to them! Ill be opening a bank account with them soon!
Still got to check out other areas.. Still got to get me a large pie.. But the 30 USD round trip home is a totally debbie downer.
Does anyone know of any place to get a balance ball and a pull up bar?
And also want to check out the bjj club that Jamie use to run.. Though not sure if i can dish out 30-40 USD for the taxi cab…
Great day, now back to noodles… Pizza :'(
do you live anywhere near a subway station or bus stop? google maps has a function to chart out your public transport trip anywhere round the city (in english, no less), with bus numbers, time needed, etc. just put in your starting address and destination and you are good to go.
Exercise equipment: Lotsa shops in the street in front of the sichuan football stadium. Bargain hard.
Dude, get yourself a bike, will pay for itself in no time, and you’ll learn your way around much faster. “Second hand” bikes available from impossibly sketchy guys at jiuyanqiao bridge. Bargain relentlessly hard.
Buses are one or two kuai (usually 2 for AC) and you must have the right change, or get a monthly swipe card.
Carry a notebook with some basic Chinese commands, in both pinyin and chinese characters. No shame in this. Everyone starts at the bottom. Have fun!
Yea thank you all!
I wouldnt mind biking, but its about 10 miles from where i live to Downtown Chengdu. A motorbike would be good.
I really never bargin…. I dont know, its the american in me, i pay cover heh. But need to start soon (on how to bargin).
I just picked out some work out equipment on taobao. Not sure where i can find inversion boots, but taobao has it. Once i get a bank account, ill buy these! Not sure how to pick it up, and how large packages are handled in my complex.
Buses might be good, need to learn the system… Yet i have a doc app in DT CD at 12.. Guess i have to dish out 30 USD again…
Oh I just found an article last night on bargaining with the locals. It might be a decent jump off point for you to learn.
I apologize if we aren’t supposed to link other sites here. If that’s the case, please delete 🙂
http://www.jazzviolin.com/china/2007/09/29/buying-things-how-to-negotiate-bargaining-in-china/
I also found this app.. Maybe someone else has used it? It’s supposed to help you find where you want to go, and then writes it for you to show your taxi driver.
I’m at the Bookworm now. Nice place to get a coffee and hang out in the afternoon. The wifi password is “Bookworm” here, so that’s why that didn’t work for you.
Chillin in Bookworm with Adam Mayer…
Yea i guess i was wrong about the password. The waiting staff said ‘Bookwormbookworm.’ So natually i went on that..
Ill probably go there again after being situated with work and what not. Just dont want to venture out without knowing my work life would be like.
Now i want a PS3, thats my next step and probably get that next month heh.
Quote:I’ll probably go there again after being situated with work and what not. Just dont want to venture out without knowing my work life would be like.No kidding, who can blame you if it’s a 100 kuai taxi ride from your place? Good lord…
Yea totally. Computer City is about 1 mile due north from Bookworm.
Just found out that the local ‘taxi’ gyped me. Paid 100 RMB to get to bookworm. And the ‘off duty’ real taxi really screwed me more, 120 from book worm to home.
Then today rode in a real taxi. Paid… 57 Yuan! Yes nearly 50% less. And i gave him a tip, just to say thank you. I guess real taxi’s that are on duty is the way to go. But none of them come around my area… So today, still paid 200 (and change) Yuan for taxi service. 150 to get to the hospital and 50 (and change) to get back… I guess being an american (or any westerner), they do take advantage of you.
I do have that TaxiBook app. Would probably work better if my iPhone actually had service here. 🙂
It has lots of locations (claims 500+) and you can pull up a map to see where the place is and as you said it will display a card to show a taxi driver or it can speak the request aloud.
I still haven’t taken a taxi yet, but I would assume they would be able to understand it better than they could understand me.
One tip with the taxi, try to look for the shortest route on Google Maps and look for a nice road or junction you need to pass, something like 2nd ring road. Tell the taxi driver to take that road. Try to know the shortest route, or at least pretend to and tell the taxi driver. Give them a kind of feeling that you ‘know’ the city. I understand you’ve just arrived recently but if you work on it, the results can be seen quickly enough. Especially in your wallie.
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