In a previous post I had been professing my love for 7 Days Inn, when in the comments someone had mentioned that they preferred the hotel chain Home Inn. I had heard of these hotels before, but never had stayed in one. So based upon this recommendation I decided that on my upcoming trip to Xiamen I would try it out and see how the two compared.
After arriving after a 30 hour train ride from Nanjing (243 RMB hard sleeper), I have to say that I am quite impressed. It is almost exactly like 7 Days Inn in every way, down to the customer discount cards and predominately yellow color. Only my room here in Xiamen is gigantic, with a huge shower and free water jug machine thing (I am losing my English vocabulary). The only problem is the price, as it is about 40 RMB more then 7 Days.
Of course this is only based upon my experience in one city, but it is quite a positive experience. I would recommend either place to any traveller to China, as long as you speak some Chinese. It is better then staying in a dirty, rat infested den of prostitution as I have done before. Unless that is what you are looking for.
According to a story in yesterdays China Daily, N.J. dog crowned world’s ugliest, a 2 year old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix named Elwood won the title of world’s ugliest dog. While not strictly China news, I thought I might share this with you because
A. The dog is from New Jersey, state of my alma mater.
B. It was featured on China Daily. Newspapers in all countries love animal news.
C. I have accumulated since the start of this site a large amount of dog related news. This adds to the list.
The piece goes on to state that the majority of entries into the competition were Chinese Crested dogs. They are quite strange looking indeed.
小白脸. Learned via Chinesepod today, it means a male gold digger, or someone who is using their girlfriend for money and gifts. Literally means, “small white face”.
A phrase for someone who is mentally handicapped.
A common dog name, which is basically the equivalent of “whitey”. Like this dog:
If anyone knows of any other uses please leave them in the comments section.
Mostly, the pop music that I hear in China is awful. Truly awful. But occasionally I will hear a song that is a little something different, and sort of good. This is one of those songs. I heard it on Channel V while I was in Sanya, and staying in my hotel room trying not to be fried by the sun.
I don’t know much about her, other then that she is from Singapore. Another song of hers, “天黑黑“ is successful although an uninteresting ballad.
And speaking of Sanya, I had severely burned my right foot while staying on the beach. Here is an extremely unappealing picture of my red and swollen foot. I decide to post it Humanaught style as a text link. If anyone wants to see my ugly foot, feel free an click on it.
As featured on Search Engine Land, a recent article, Chinese Eye Tracking Study: Baidu Vs Google, showed that Chinese internet users eyes scan search results differently then American users. While most American users eyes travel in the familiar “F” shaped pattern, the Chinese users were much more spread out, and “There appear to be no consistent patterns.” Also Chinese users tend to spend, on average, more time on a page, 30 seconds on Google and 55 seconds on Baidu, as opposed to Americans who spend about 8-10 seconds on Google.
Interesting findings. It mentions this may have something to do with how characters are processed, as it takes more scanning of the information to acquire meaning and that accounts for the more varied results. I also wonder if this seemingly random scanning of a page is the reason for the chaotic nature of Chinese web design. This seems like a subject that needs more research to be done about it.
While in Shanghai I purchased a couple of starter decks of Magic the Gathering cards at the market across from the Science and Technology museum. For those who don’t know what Magic is, it’s a collectible card game that involves summoning creatures, like elves or zombies, and casting spells against other players. Personally I like using green and red beat down decks with some direct damage thrown in. And if you just understood that you are a giant dork.
After I got home I did some searching to find out more about magic in China, as it doesn’t seem to be as big as Pokeman or some other games, and I came upon some information about the Localization of Magic Card Art in China. From the official magic website:
The Chinese government has strict control over the media in their country, and Magic card art is no exception. Along with overtly sexual or violent illustrations, human skeletons are not permitted on the cards.
Apparently this is the only sticking point, as cards can feature any other type of arcane imagery as long as it not a skeleton. For example on the left is the original version of a card and on the right is the edited version.
Other changes are less clear such as involve adding eyeballs to a skull or slightly obscuring skull features. Now one of the major reasons that I have been such a fan of magic is of the card artwork, and the team of really good artists who make these images. Generally these required changes do not effect the quality of the overall work. It instead makes me think why even bother. Is a skeletal dragon beast any less terrifying if it has eyeballs? You can see more artwork changes at Zen of Design.
Recently Chinese censorship has been in the news once again with the more then half of Chow Yun-fat’s scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean 3 cut for the Chinese domestic realese. Theories about why these scenes were cut range from “too much violence” to “Stereotypically offensive long nailed Chinese guy”. We will probably never get the actual answer for why these scenes were taken out of the film. But why are magic cards with pictures of skeletons censored, and scenes in a movie that features legions of skeletons not censored? Instead they cut out one of the biggest stars in China reciting Li Bai’s poetry in Cantonese. The inconsistencies of these policies are just staggering.
For those you who live in Nanjing and are looking for different fast food options besides McDonald’s and KFC, you can now rejoice as Burger King is in town, in the Fuzimiao area by the Mandarin Garden Hotel. It actually opened on the 10th, but I was unable to go there until yesterday. And if you go soon you may be able to get in on some of the sweet store opening deals, as yesterday it was “buy one whopper get one free” day. There is nothing nicer then a leftover whopper for breakfast.
The only other cities in China that I know have BK, from first hand experience, is Shanghai and Hong Kong. Anyone else know what other cities have Burger King?
While riding on an 11 hour hard seat overnight train from Beijing to Nanjing two days ago I had a lot of time to think in between trying to find a position where my ass didn’t fall asleep and keeping an eye on my bags as there were being stared at by some truly sketchy people. Thus I came up with ideas on how to make these train rides a better experience.
Rearrange the seating into airplane/school bus style seating
This seems like an easy solution to the problem of seating on these trains. Rather then the cramped nature of the standard two rows of seats facing each other, this way would increase legroom and hopefully with the addition of armrests would prevent people from sleeping on you. Of course the hard seats could not keep their “hard seat” distinction if converted to airline seats, but I think just arranging them school bus style would be an improvement.
Don’t let people on if they don’t have tickets
A one person one seat policy would get rid of the people sleeping between cars and on sinks that seems to happen on these trains. May not be possible to do during Spring Festival or other holidays.
Actually enforce no-smoking rules
Easier said then done, I know. But, like in so many other situations, if the rules were actually enforced life would be so much better for everyone.
Stop playing wake up/go to sleep music
Not as bad as some of the other problems, but still annoying. I don’t need to be woken up at 7 o’clock by Kenny G music or be reminded that I am on a train by the train noises between announcements.
Make the bathroom floor into a grate
While Chinese bathrooms are almost always covered in urine, train bathrooms are generally worse then usual. I guess some people have trouble aiming with the motion of the train, although I never seem to have a problem. But an easy solution to this is to replace the solid floor with a metal grate, allowing everything to drain directly down into the septic tank or directly onto the tracks. Then you would never have to deal with puddles or piles ever again!
Tear down and rebuild the Eastern Beijing train station
A more retched hive of scum and villainy I can’t not think of. For one thing they don’t check tickets on the way in, which allows a wide variety of beggars, hoodlums and ne’er do wells to enter. Not to mention the filth levels of the place are off the chart. And as a finally insult as I was using a urinal the automatic flushing sensor went off, spraying a fine mist of disgusting urinal water all over my area. The best part was knowing that I could not take a shower for the next 14 hours. The Western station is apparently nicer, but I don’t know if I believe it.
Most of these are related to seats on trains, as that is where I have had my most uncomfortable experiences and the sleeper cars seems like a heavenly dream in comparison. I think that this is a good start, but I would like to hear what additions you would make to this list. And I don’t even want to mention trying to buy tickets, which can be one of the most frustrating experiences in China.
I have just gotten back from a pretty successful 3 day trip to Beijing, and now have a much better impression of the city then my previous journey. A lot of this has to do with our great experience at a 7 Days Inn. 7 Days Inn is a hotel chain that has multiple locations in most major cities in China, and is both cheap and clean. We got a twin bed room that comfortably slept four people, and it only cost 197 a night total, about 50 RMB a person. And based on the two 7 Days Inn hotels that I have stayed at, in Beijing and Guangzhou, it is a overall pleasant experience. And service staff is quite nice, but speak little to no English. If you decide go I would suggest applying for one of their costumer customer cards, which gives you an additional 20 RMB off room prices.
I swear this is not a sponsored post or am I getting anything in return for talking up this hotel chain (although I would gladly accept free rooms if offered). I just think they are a good value, and like to pass on any useful information I have. It is hard enough to travel in China, I’m just trying to make it easier.
As we have lived in Nanjing for about 8 months now, we decided that while we had some people visiting us that we would finally make the trip to see the Nanjing Massacre Museum. We hadn’t gone yet since it was closed for repairs when we arrived, but had read online that it was only closed until January or February and that it would be reopened after that. Unfortunately after taking the cab ride there we were greeted by a closed gate and written on red pain on a piece of bare plywood “Closed until December 17th 2007″.
I decided to post this online in case anyone else who travels to Nanjing planned on visiting the museum. And to wonder why it takes more than a year to complete these renovations, and why it has to be completely closed during this time. Although the reopening time is obvious, as it coincides with the 70th anniversary. For those interested in the massacre, for now you can go to the online museum.
RSS
