Day 29, USA

Hello USA.
I am back. And there is nothing I want more than Taco Bell. There almost no Mexican food over there at all...I mean, there isn't even any thing close...not that Taco Bell is close. But anyway, you get the point.

I am back in the US. So this blog won't be updated until I go back again.
For those of you reading this for the first time, may I suggest you start in August at Day One, and go from there. By pressing the White arrow to the left of the word August you can expand the files and see each individual date. Then we can experience china together.
Enjoy.
I'll go back to China in Late October. Check back around then.
---Ryan

Day 25 Lohou, China

During the time that I was slacking on the blog last week I forgot to post an update for that weekend. Last weekend we went to Lohou. Lohou is a 45minute ride from our hotel. Lohou is a big 5 story mall, with everything you’d ever want. Most of everything is fake, and if it’s not fake it’s just too hard to tell. Just like the street market in Hong Kong, you have to barter with these guys or you will be ripped off. So, Bryson, Mike, Steve, Dan and Myself decided to stick together and work as a team as much as we could.

Bryson is the best at bargaining. He showed us all how to do it. He was going to buy a jade bracelet for his mom, and they said 480RMB at first, but by the end of the negotiating Bryson had them down to 76RMB. That is incredible. You have to remember at a certain point, you are arguing over pennies. He said 75 they said 76. It’s funny to think that 1yuan (or RMB) is only about 0.15USD.

Still, we had to watch out; they must have thought we were dumb, because we then went to help someone get a pair of shoes we were bargaining with them and they wouldn’t budge and neither did we, so the shop owner says, “ok, ok, you can buy one pair for 250RMB, but next time you come I give you two for 500RMB.” What? Such a deal right? Haha, you just have to laugh.

Dan bargained for about five minutes on some polo shirts and when they couldn’t come to a deal, he walked. He got about 50 steps away, and when the shop owner saw that he was serious about leaving, she ran to him and grabbed his arm and brought him back to the store and gave him two for his price.

This was the most ridiculously fun, exhausting and crazy place to shop. Every corner of the tiny hallways was covered with shop owners calling two you, pulling you into their little lair of counterfeit items. “You want hand bag?” “You want Rolex?” “You want Oakley Glasses?” “You want MP3?”

The mp3 players were hilarious. Some of them were blatant knock offs of the iPod. As I’m walking around I heard someone trying to sell me an Mp4 and then even an MP5! Haha.

You definitely want to be a cautious shopper while in Lohou. You never know what you are going to get. For example I don’t trust any of the DVDs without checking them out first. They know that they have bad quality ones, the kind that were illegally filmed in the theater, so you have to ask if the quality is good. “Hao? Bu hau?” Which means good or bad. They will usually be honest if you ask them, but if you don’t trust them, have them open it up and pop it in the DVD player. They always have one there for that reason.

The DVDs (in Chinese “Deeveedee”) are some of the best deals around. You can usually get the new releases for about 10RMB which is like a buck and a half US. I would have gotten more but I know China and the US are cracking down on anyone who takes a lot of DVDs back with them.

Mike bought some “Qui dza” or chopsticks from Lohou. When we got back to the hotel he was showing it to one of the girls who works there. He was pretty proud he had bargained the shopkeeper down from 300RMB. He asked her if he got a good deal and when he told her he had paid 150 her eyes went wide. “No, No good. 50RMB.” Oh well, I guess you can’t win them all. It was still a pretty good deal for his chopsticks set compared to American prices, but I guess it pays to have some one native who knows how much things should cost.

Although we all had a good, but exhausting time bargaining at Lohou, I don’t think anyone enjoyed the experience more that Steve. By the time he was done, he looked like Shopping Time Barbie, with three or four bags in each hand. It was great. We would watch as shop owners would drag him into shops, pull clothes down form the shelves, hand them to him, and tell him how good he looks. You could tell just by his actions that Steve was saying “Oh, I don’t need a winter coat, but oh, you say it looks good on me? And oh yes, you are correct, this does feel like good quality material…and for that price how could I pass it up?” I think Steve was in second heaven.

We all learned a thing or two about bargaining. You can not go there as a pushover. You have to pick a number hold your ground. Then try not to be fooled by any of their tricks to get you to buy two or pay more than you were expecting.

My favorite was the shop owner who said, “Ok how about 50RMB? No? Ok, how about 25 USD?” HAHA…you are going the wrong way, buddy.

Day 21, Shenzhen China

Cultural Differences

Here are some cultural differences that I have noticed between us Americans and the Chinese.

Big noise, little people

The Chinese are loud. I always used to think that Chinese people were quiet. But maybe that is because they are a little more timid when they speak English, but get 6 Chinese around a table in a meeting and it is a Mandarin shouting fest. Actually they seem to prefer having 4 or 5 conversations going at once. And it doesn’t stop there, if the cell phone rings, they will talk over it for a while and then, “Wei. Ni Hao...” (Hey, Hello) right in the middle of the meeting. Additionally they repeat the same thing many times. All the time I hear “doi doi doi” witch means something to the effect of “yes yes yes.” Or maybe, “right right right.”

Milky White (or as I say, melky)

Another thing that was initially confusing is the use of umbrellas on nice days. Basically, the Chinese women will bring a parasol with them to protect them from the sun and heat. I was later told that it is considered very attractive to have lighter, pale skin. So, on hot sunny days you can see everyone hiding under their little umbrellas. Which basically means I am pretty damn attractive here because I’m quite pale. Oh yeah. I just think it’s an interesting change from the US where the popular belief among pop culture is, the tanner, the better.

Is it raining?

Rice or Ice Cream?

Order of operations at restaurants are also confusing. The seem to bring the food out when ever they have it ready, which is fine, except when you order dessert with your meal and it comes out first. Also, white rice, the American-Chinese staple is not nearly as popular here. In fact, you almost always have to request it special. And who knows when it may come out; probably when you would be expecting dessert. I really found that surprising. I am just so familiar with the American-Chinese restaurants that give you piles and piles of white rice, so that there’s no room for much else in your stomach.

Road Rageless

Even though the average driver in china leaves much, much, much to be desired, there seems to be few occurrences of road rage. In the US if driver so much as looks at you wrong you flip out. Here, a driver can basically cross a four lane highway going the wrong way, and no one looks twice. Except for once, I did get a driver who was ready to throw a water bottle into someone else’s car because he cut the driver off. So, it’s not completely nonexistent but it is severely reduced. Maybe they are just numb to it.

You're beautiful

Karaoke is very popular here in china. They have karaoke bars all over the place. Now, the difference here is not that everyone is amazing at Karaoke, because trust me they arn't...that is exactly the same as the US. Most everyone is terrible. The difference is that Karaoke is so tame here. Sooooo tame. Every song is a ballad. Often they are in Chinese, but the most popular song here is "Beautiful" by James Blunt. And they sit down on a chair while singing it. They take it kind of seriously, which is exactly why I had to show them how to sing. Pearl Jam-Better man, Chilli Peppers-Under the Bridge, Radio Head-Paranoid Android. By the end I was grinding them out as loud as I could. Half of them were dumbstruck at the end...and the other half were also dumbstruck. I quietly got down from the Karaoke stage and handed the mic off to someone who sung "beautiful" by James Blunt, again.

Here are some more pictures

This is like an icecream, except instead of a cone it's seaweed, and instead of icecream it's salmon chunks.


MSG coated salt, just what I wanted.


mmmm, chicken feet.


Is this made from real kids? I just can't stand when they use artificial fillers.


Breast Cream...I can only assume you apply with the Breast Stroke.


Stand on others' shoes...Why not? I'm sure the customer will love that.

Day 14-20 Shenzhen, Hong Kong China

Wow, I have been slacking on posts. This week went by so fast. I have been working hard at work and enjoying the company of my US group here. So it's 11:30 on a sunday. We are headed to Lohou later today. I have no idea if that is the correct way to spell it, just to get something up on the blog, here is a post.

“It’s so good I just want to put it in my mouth and let it explode!” Sarah, on the deliciousness of a particular soup-filled Chinese wonton.

“I’m so good with chopsticks now, I can lift and drink my tea with them.” Brian, the guy who took about 5 trys to pick up a single peanut with the sticks. Actually, it’s pretty damn difficult.

“Donde Estan?!” Eric, speaking Spanish to the Chinese…they didn’t know what hit them.

“Afro-metheus” The name used to describe the guy who says what was just said moments ago. It kind of evolved from After-metheus, the brother of Prometheus.

“Ni Hou-you doin’?” Long, with an awesome pick up line

I started seeing a bunch of these guys and they always kind of amused me. So now I pass them on to you. The adventures of stickguy.

Good ol' slippery floor...watch out!

This one was next to an elevator shaft...I wonder if this is common?


My favorite is this one, found on a subway in Hong Kong. I never new they had so many variations on the stick figure.