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Oh yeah, i forgot to mention that my Chinese visa card is almost worthless o/s, apart from citibank ATMs. it never worked in peru or ecuador and i invariably have no luck when trying to purchase online. So not sure if its really so useful….
Check out chinahopelive.net: “31 brands of bottled water fail safety tests in Beijing”. Dude, the brands are the same ones they sell here! Absolutely never had any trouble with boiled water. Boiling water, even until the boiling point not even the 3 minutes previoulsy recommended kills 99% of harmful substances. Dude, you buy tea on the street in varanasi, the source of the water is the Ganges, possibly the most contaminated stretch of water on the planet. its boiled amd there are no problems. In Australia, Choice magazine has done numerous exposes on the bottled water industry and consistently advises its readers to stick with tap or boiled water. Anyway, each to his own…This is a great forum!
I got a visa debit card from china merchant’s bank, but it seemed almost impossible to get a credit card. The service and paperwork was much easier than other banks, so maybe give those guys a try. They even froze it when i used it in Colombia, for fear that someone had stolen it, skipped half way across the globe, and was gonna drain my meager finances. That’s customer service!
Actually, alot of simple banking shit that in Chengdu is a headache is an absolute breeze in Hong Kong. Damn, HK seems to be the answer to every mainland problem these days (eg. buy clothes, get protein, books, shoes). Gotta love HK…
It absolutely goes against all my principles, and i’m as cynical about the industry as everyone else, but after some research, and having my coat pulled by a friend, i reckon you need some form of dietary supplements to maintain a healthy diet here in China. As some of you guys have mentioned, some essential nutrients that we take for granted at home are just not available here. Take the milk for example. “Low fat high-calcium” milk”. Ask health – conscience Chinese about low fat milk, and they’ll tell you in China that means the lowest quality, often diluted source. Free-range eggs? my Chinese buddies laugh at my naive innocence. “But it’s sold in Carrefore!” I say. “You dont’ know China” they reply. I’ve already spoken about the alleged impurities in Chinese bottled water (a friend is convinced that boiled tap water is far safer).
Anyway, you could go crazy worrying about this shit, and i ain’t gonna pop a dozen pills like some i know, just do the best you can. Stay healthy people….
Living cheap doesn’t have to equate with living miserably. Five star in Chengdu is the same as five star in the west. I genuinely like the cheap bars and restaurants here Even if places like bab i club had 10 kuai beers, i couldn’t see myself hanging out there. About a month ago the rising cost of fruit hit me hard. I average out about 500 kuai a month on fruit (not including vegies) and when bananas and apples jumped in price i was feeling it. But i also agree with some of the previous posts: you gotta have some luxuries. I’ve found that renting a nicer apartment, especially with a garden, saves me $$$. Swing on the hammock with a cold one is a good night “in” for me. Shao kao beats the Shangrila buffet . From the balcony of The Leg in the early evening you’ll see more beauties than a night at Babi or 88, and its a hell of a lot cheaper!(even a monk likes to look sometimes). Enjoy.
Do some cooking, avoid taxis and western food, drink in cheaper bars (20 or even 10 kuai a bottle), 2000 per month is absolutely do-able. Oh yeah, helps if you’re single too……
Dude, i know this is not ideal, but i just had two pairs of shoes ‘professionally” stretched, and the results were surprisingly good. I’m an 11 or 11.5, depends on the brand. I recently bought two pairs of NB’s in the states, got back and found they were slightly too small. The shoe repair store downstairs claimed that they can be stretched a safe max of one size (the cat guarranteed no damage, but if i wanted bigger than one size he said it was “very dangerous”). Anyway, i was sceptical, but it did the trick.
I still get stung by the size differences here and o/s. Bought some undies in the states marked XL (here need xxl) and they are huge, fall around my ankles. i guess you didnt need to know that…anyway, good luck man!
@Novice: depends on your salary and Chinese ability. Alot of good internet resources available these days. On the other hand, a competent personal trainer can be a good investment, cos what you learn you can keep for life. Some of the guys on this forum also know their stuff and can be really helpful. A knowledgable gym buddy can also make a huge difference. Good luck and stick with it!
I go there for a few drinks pretty much just for the music; its nice to hang out in a chengdu bar with good tunes. Decent drinks, good music, everything is fine in the world….
I recently switched to Miracle/KG gym above the trustmart on yihuan lu. It’s decent and in the mornings not too busy. The thing i like is that they have a smaller room at the back, which is usually empty, but has all the essential stuff, so often i treat it as my private gym. One gripe, like alot of the gyms are the placement of the mirrors. For some stuff you absolutely need floor to ceiling (such as when i’m doing the plank) to check for straight or arched back. That’s kinda frustrating. If you live in Tongzilin that should be within 10 mins by bike. They have a small sauna which is often closed, but they have opened it for me when i’ve asked. Dude, if you bargain hard you can get crazy discounts. Bargaining was more exhausting than my workout….
There was a BMW stuck with water up to its doors on Yihuan Lu at the Yiguanmiao flyover. People were climbing on the bonnet to take photos. Seemed to be a case of Chinese “schadenfraude” (sorry, probably spelt it wrong). Bie mo wo!
Not sure how useful this is, but KG gym on Yihuan Lu, above the Trustmart (not far from ren min nan lu intersection) has ballet classes. Seemed to be mostly middle- aged mommas but might be ok also for kids..?
@ HZ: dude, i see why they put “expert” next to your name> You know your stuff. Actually, my diet is not far off what you recommend. The 4 litres of water is no problem as i’m also scoffing green tea during classes. I find that i need 5 meals a day, just cos i get so hungry. You mention essential oils: what do you know about fish oils? i just read that in a study guys taking fish oils supps recorded between 10-20% increased muscle growth (one problem with all these studies is that another invariably arises contradicting or questioning the first one).
Oh yeah, one thing about water: alot of chinese online claiming that bottled water here is more impure than boiling tap water. I hear scarey shit about bottled water here. man, if you care about what you out in your body, living here in China can keep you wake at night with worry….Thanks for your tips. Any of you guys got any other tips, lets share them….
Oh yeah, checked out that fuled.cn site. One cool thing is that they accept bank transfers, which is awesome, if, like me, you have a useless chinese debit card….
@james W: yeah you know your stuff man. I mean 135 gm is absolute minimum, but 290+ that sounds kinda excessive and expensive for me. My brother used to protein pack (or load) straight after workouts, with 200 – 300 grams. Like they say, he had very expensive urine!
I do alot of cardio (much involuntary: i have to bike about 2 hours a day to get to work) and in the hot summer i shed weight easily (i’m 189 cm and weigh 80 kgs) so it’s always a challenge, but lean and mean is good too! Thanks for your info man!
@HZ: where do you get tea tree oil here? Anybody know the Chinese translation? Funny, but on a Tv show here i saw a guy do something interesting: he diluted vitamin B1 tablets in water, then placed it in a spray bottle and sprayed it on his skin, as a home-made mosquito repellent. Gotta do more research into this….
@HZ: sounds like you know your stuff man. From what I’ve been told: to build any new muscle at all, you need a minimum of 135 gm of protein a day. A scop of decent whey protein isolate should contain at least 20 to 25 gm of protein. The brand i used to buy here worked out at about 8 kuai a scop (roughly the same as a litre of low fat milk which has about 25 gm of protein). So you can see its seriously expensive to get protein here. Then i use the old formula of “ideal body weight”. Mine is roughly 195 pounds, so therefore i need 195 grams of protein. Again, expensive. I try to get other sources (the old 6 egg omelette is pretty good, but i’m still pretty protein deficient.
@ James W : can you get protein sent into China? I thought there might be restrictions or hassles with this. GNC in the states also has a good range of stuff.
Some of you cats know your stuff. Enjoy your workouts!
Easy to find: kinda opposite the cinemas on Yihuan lu, about 15 mins walk from the north gate of Sichuan uni.
I checked out the Lazy Pug just a few days after they opened. Seemd OK, and the owner was cool. Only had drinks. Alas, if i wanna eat at places like this i gotta get another job…(45 kuai for a burger! WTF!). Damn, my cat eats better than i do….
