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How fast do items generally shipped? How many days? For example I want something the seller needs to get from Thailand or Taiwan.
Is the shipping cost based on weight? Will it be expensive/impractical to buy liquid like beverage since they are dead weight?
Is it OK to buy food like the fresh sausages above? Doesn’t this need to be refrigerated while shipping or something?
Has anyone figured out why they have “hair washing” services? Why can’t they wash their own hair while taking a bath?
You can use books published by Beijing Language and Culture University. This series in particular: http://www.blcup.com/CW110?id=1013
Maybe you need more local friends who you can practice Mandarin with. Watch more Chinese TV shows and movies without the subtitles, start with rom-com genre so the vocabulary won’t be very deep. I liked watching those dating game shows before. Leave the TV open while sleeping if you can, listen to the local radio too.
If you can afford it, 1 semester should be enough to polish your Mandarin in a university. If you are very motivated and eager to learn, things will be much easier.
It took a mere semester or two for Africans in our school back in Beijing how to speak decent, conversational Mandarin. At the end of the day it will boil down to you.
Speaking of staycations, I must say there are a lot of big hotel names in Chengdu and the room rates are quite reasonable too.
Sheraton’s cheapest room goes for 125USD a night with breakfast or 110USD without. Oakwood’s 2 bedroom apartment goes for 220USD.
Other 5-star hotels like Shangrila goes for around 160-175USD a night, still reasonable when compared to same chain hotels located in first-tier cities.
I think what I’m trying to find out is if 2015 (technically 2016) Chengdu can be on the same level as 2010 Beijing/Shanghai in terms of non-local food choices.
Since you guys live there, you can see the trend if the city is moving towards this path or not. Only local residents will know if foreign restaurants are slowly growing in number or more of them are closing down. With Ippudo, Din Tai Fung and Jade Garden opening in Chengdu, I can use this as a rough barometer but of course you guys know the city more.
There must be a cost-effective way of shipping things to China. Otherwise we won’t be seeing tons of imported goods being sold in Taobao. I wonder which service these online stores use?
I spent the last year working for a Chinese company with Chinese bosses and Chinese clients. So far these are my observations….
1. As mentioned here before, 对不起 is such a big word. They do not say it unless they did something extremely terrible. Sometimes even a really bad deed can only bring out 不好意思。They don’t say 谢谢 a lot either. It’s like whatever good you did was either necessary and they deserved it.
2. Just like baking cakes and concocting certain chemicals, it seems they can only accept a certain temperature. Often times they will either feel too cold or too hot. The thing about breeze is funny but I feel it’s more than that. A lot of them hate the coldness of an airconditioning system too.
3. They also have a low tolerance to foul odor like the new car smell but they are OK with the smell of no bath for a couple of days or the smell of smoking inside the car.
4. Speaking of no bath, they are used to wearing the same clothes for a number of days. I handle a lot of tourists and there are a number of them who do not bring any extra clothes during a 3-4 day trip.
5. Cash is still king though they are finally learning how to use credit cards.
6. They use chopsticks to eat french fries.
7. They find KFC chicken oily but Chinese dishes swimming in oil is OK.
8. They won’t express dissatisfaction in front of you. Even when hungry, annoyed or discomforted, they will still say they are OK.
9. They live for 面子。They would rather die than lose face. Everything they do is for their “face”.
10. If it is expensive, it must be good. If there is a line, it must be good.
11. Money = power. There is a sense of entitlement that comes with being wealthy. Sometimes it gets very annoying. Most will not experience this while living in China, I just so happened to work for a lot of rich Chinese.
12. When they say you should visit them in their house or hometown, more often than not it’s only out of courtesy. They don’t expect you to give them a call for real.
14. I laughed at the “call him uncle” after a few seconds. I think this is being polite. Same way we call older folks 阿姨 or 叔叔。
15. Fashion-wise there is still a stark difference between China and the west. They may be wearing Prada from head to foot but will still look like a Mainlander.
I guess I can consider myself very fortunate during my short stay in Beijing 5 years ago. The only problems I encountered with my apartment was the old bed sheets (which the landlord bothered to wash before we moved in) and no hot water in the kitchen. If you will cook a lot and there will be no hot water during winter, this will be a big problem. Good thing we barely cooked back then. The bathroom used a small heater with no real water storage, it runs when you turn on the shower. Worked pretty well for us. The cable TV had about 90 channels but 85 of them were in Chinese. The contract we were given had an English translation. Commission was given by the landlord.
As for drinking water, we had a supplier of drinking water which came in 5-Gallon containers. This is very cheap. You will go broke if you will get your drinking water from the groceries. Never drank from the tap.
I had other friends who stayed in both old and new apartments. Ones with elevators and security and ones without. Generally-speaking I’d say it wasn’t as grim as depicted above. No idea about Chengdu since that was in Beijing. One thing I noticed was that common areas, including hallways and elevators were dirty even for high-end condominiums. It’s like property management companies are non-existent.
Hospitals will be grim if you come from the west. I had a friend who lived in a small city outside Shanghai. The nurse told him not to sleep because he had to call their attention once his IV fluid was running low. Take good care of your health specially that you have kids with you.
The banks in China were more efficient than the ones we have here. Yes there were tons of clients all the time but the tellers worked like machines in terms of speed and efficiency.
The “real life” scenario is accurate though. Be prepared to be shoved every now and then regardless of where you are. I also saw people spitting inside one of the most expensive malls in Beijing before. Crossing the street can mean life and death and hailing for cabs during rush hour is like a competition.
I would max out your luggage allowance with food and commodities from home which you can’t live without. Once you’re on the other side of the world, it will be much more difficult to get those items.
Thanks for the input. Looking forward to more insights….
By the way, I think the company will be giving a monthly allowance of 1,000USD. I will spend it for my phone, a little transportation (I expect to live walking distance from work), basic commodities, maybe gym membership and of course food. For food I am thinking splitting it up 30% for home cook, 40% local dining and 30% non-Sichuan dining. I don’t drink but I’ll probably do some clubbing every now and then.
Chinese food in China, specially in Sichuan, is sooooo different from Chinese in the west. Nothing alike.
I am adventurous when it comes to food, albeit too adventurous for my own good. After getting a taste of Ethiopian food in NYC, I just have that urge to seek more “new” tastes out there. I don’t simply eat all sorts of food, I HAVE to eat them every now and then, unless it’s really close to impossible to do again like Ethiopian or Peruvian. When I was in Beijing I even tried Russian cuisine. I love Xinjiang food by the way. This is something I am looking forward to eating again.
When it comes to Chinese food though, my palate is “designed” for Coastal/Southern flavors which is sweet and light. This is because I grew up eating this sort of Chinese food. My friends told me there are a lot of non-spicy Sichuan dishes but I will still need my occasional non-Sichuan fix, something in the line of Bellagio or Crystal Jade. Of course it would be great if I can find non-commercialized versions of them. I have to say Hunan/Sichuan dishes are an acquired taste. My boss is from Hunan and he keeps bringing me to Hunan restaurants here in my country. I’m slowly getting the hang of it but definitely not ready to make it my staple meals.
It’s really funny how divided China is when it comes to food. A particular area will only eat that particular area’s food. Anything else will taste weird or “inferior” to them, most specially foreign cuisine. I work with a lot of Mainland Chinese so I have a very good understanding of them when it comes to food and their intolerance to new tastes. This is where my anxiety stems from. And that one day visit to Chengdu where my tongue got burned so bad…. LOL!
I’m a city kind of person and I live in a very westernized, very culturally diverse city. With the future still uncertain, I’m now trying to psych myself that Chengdu won’t be as bad as I think. I’m praying all those international groceries, Taobao and restaurants like the Iron Grill will be able to keep me sane for a long period of time. Maybe I’ll just have family ship food from home if all else fails.
Being landlocked and far from the sea, does it mean sushi/sashimi isn’t very fresh?
Since foreign food is still scarce, will buffets in 5 star hotels be able to “cleanse” my palate every now and then? Are their selections diverse enough?
Can I ask what measures you took (and your expat friends as well) in terms of getting food from home and coping with the limited choices in Chengdu?
BTW your insights and patience is very much appreciated. I am very paranoid and picky when it comes to food. Though my stint in Chengdu isn’t sure yet, I want to be prepared for it. And temper my expectations if necessary.
Crap. Sorry for another off-topic question, are US movies dubbed or subbed in Chengdu?
Being landlocked and far from the sea, does it mean sushi/sashimi isn’t very fresh?
Since foreign food is still scarce, will buffets in 5 star hotels be able to “cleanse” my palate every now and then? Are their selections diverse enough?
Is Chongqing any better when it comes to international food diversity? I can venture there maybe during off days or weekends if there are food worth trying.
I was hoping that it being the year 2015 already and the rapid westernization of China that they can cope up with “foreign” taste by now.
