Millhouse

Well I certainly didn't buy real ones. I got mine at the silk market in Beijing (awesome place).

DXBtoDOH

I like Shanghai much better. There. Random comment of the day.

Did have some good food in the old hutongs in Beijing. Took a fabulous food tour. The Great Wall, though, is what I remember the most. Hard to explain why but the Wall doesn’t really resonate until you’re actually there.

scrubbedexpat141

Naturally. Or just buy the pretend / nearly Yeezy types that every high street store seems to flog.


I'd love to go but it's in China and there are many, many Chinese people there.

DXBtoDOH

It’s really not as bad as you might imagine. Shanghai is pretty westernised, very cool urban city center with a great colonial heritage. Singapore with personality and even better food.

Beijing is resolutely Chinese but I never felt overwhelmed by the Chinese. Except perhaps on the metro but it was tolerable mostly. Frankly it was a bit anticlimactic as I was expecting enormous pushy crowds and the only truly crowded place was the Forbidden City but even there it was easy to avoid the Chinese tour groups.

Food is amazing. Pays to do your research but if you do so you will dine well.

Boomhauer

I know they are Kanye's brand but just googled it and see that it is also the name of a shoe. Those shoes look a bit goofy; the bottom looks like whoever designed it took inspiration from hovercraft skirts.

TheShed

Agreed BoomHauer. I try to look decent whenever I can, but could never see myself in these. Yet another fashion trend designed to empty wallets of the fashionistas.

Dubaiexile

My home is in China, Dalian to be precise...have a small farm on the outskirts of the city, and I love being there very calm and tranquil....but , on occasions being surrounded by chinese and the inevitable cacaphony of noise I have to escape on my own!!

Millhouse

Do you fix planes for a living?

Dubaiexile

No ...why???

I used to charter Russian Cargo planes, and became quite an expert on them IL-76 and AN-12 !!

DXBtoDOH

How did you end up in Dalian, of all places?

scrubbedexpat141

It's the overwhelming noise and disastrous lack of manners of the tour groups or big crowds etc that makes me think I just won't enjoy it.
That being said, I'll give pretty much anything a go, maybe a few city nights, a tour to important things like the Great Wall, then head off elsewhere.

Dunno.
Maybe.

Dubaiexile

Buying shipping containers to convert into offices, accommodation blocks etc, missus was my translator, and that was how I met her, Extremely clean city by China standards, plus the countryside on your doorstep!

Dubaiexile

Yes it can be a tad overwhelming in places, but it can be great fun as well. Tour groups are a menace, but time it right and you can avoid them at some of the larger attractions. There are some real diamond places to go and sights to see, but it is a bloody big country, so pre-planning a trip is essential. It as in all places depends on the individual and what you want to get out of it, myself I love the markets and all the food stalls, plus the stunning scenery of the limestone outcrops of Yunnan...wish I had gone down the Yangtse River before they flooded the surrounding areas for the dam!

DXBtoDOH

And the crowds aren't always to be feared.

I discovered this at the Chinese train stations, both in Shanghai and Beijing. Masses of people but very orderly queues and quite respectful too. No pushing or shoving or free for all grabbing like you get in India. The Chinese tour groups are lemmings, or stampeding buffaloes off a cliff in that they follow the herd and only the herd, so avoid the herd and you'll be fine. I saw this in Suzhou where I went to see the famous gardens. The top two famous gardens were packed with people, but the other dozen or so gardens were practically empty.

Food really is fab. That alone is worth the trip. You'd like Shanghai a lot if looking for a big city break. Beijing, not so much. It's an odd city. But that's because it never developed a proper western style city fabric that you get in Shanghai which was, for all practical purposes, built by the British and French and has a big expat community. And the pork dumplings.... hmmm...... fried juicy pork dumplings.... now that is better than sex I will say I did like the Beijing hutongs, at least the handful hutongs that haven't been too gentrified yet. Ate ate some real hole in walls with terrific food.

Next time I go back I'm going to go to Shanghai for a big city break and then into the hinterlands, Xian and further west, and down south to Yunnan.

I know you've been to Vietnam and I found China a lot more enjoyable and far less hassle than Vietnam.

scrubbedexpat141

Thanks gents, I think it is going to have to be worth a visit, without doubt.

I'll come back and ask when the time comes, as usual.