User Comments - light487

Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?

The only time I recall hearing the term laowai used in reference to myself was when I was riding the metro in Shanghai and an "out of town" family was riding the metro together. The youngest child, about 10 years old I'd guess, was staring at me as if I was some kind of weird alien or animal and then whispered (quite loudly) to who I assume was his father "laowai, laowai".. as if he suddenly realised what the term meant after all these years. :) It was quite cute really, rather than offensive or annoying. I just smiled and nodded, as his father (?) agreed with him and flashed me a smile as well.

Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?

A good cup of coffee!! :) haha.. Fortunately there are Starbucks and a few other coffee shops around but I often found it difficult to buy coffee in some of the smaller cities. Also, finding shoes that fit and also those inner-sole inserts that cushion and/or massage your feet are hard to find in the size you will probably find useful.

T-shirts with designs that you don't find in your home country are definitely a big seller as well. I think the going price is about 20RMB but they will try to get 80 to 100 out of you if you don't haggle with them. Just about everything I haggled for, after my first attempt, I got for roughly 20% of the asking price. You know you've hit the real price when you walk away and they don't follow you. With that information in hand, you can go to another market and get the real price from another vendor selling the same thing. You can even force people to lower the price in the department stores if you are pushy enough but don't expect too much of a discount.

Another thing I noticed was that different parts of a city sell different things in bulk. You can always find the odd shop here and there that is "out of place" but more often than not, if you are looking for clothes then you will need to find the area of the city where all of the clothing shops are. I joked with a friend that the cities are set up like a massive shopping centre. Near the place I stayed in Wuhan was the home-makers section with all the stuff you need to fix/repair or do up your home. However, in another section about 3 to 5 km away, there was a lot of shops selling books, DVDs, stationery, and other educational type stuff.

So if you want to get a good price, go to the places where there are lots of the same types of shops so that there is a natural competition between the shop owners. :)

As far as language is concerned, most shopkeepers that are used to haggling with foreigners will keep a calculator handy and use that to show the numbers they are asking and offer the calculator to you to type in your offer. I found that I always got a better price when I used a small amount of mandarin. Even just saying the amounts in mandarin is enough.

Ken has a very good point of avoiding the hecklers.. just ignore them.. keep walking.. and if they are really persistent, then a simple "bu yao le" or "bu yong le" is usually more than enough.

Posted on: Fingers, Food and a Mystery Video

大家好！

Hehe.. The interview came out really well! It feels like such a long time ago that I was in Shanghai. I have been logging in to ChinesePOD every couple of days and listening to the lessons but it's been such a whirlwind tour of China that I haven't found the time to comment much in the lessons.

I've been keeping a blog of all my travels and even that is a few days behind. The blog currently has up to day 8 while I am still in Wuhan but now I have been in Chengdu for 5 days already and will leave for Xi'an tomorrow! So a lot of catching up to do. There's so much to say about everywhere I go and see and do, that it takes a while to put it up on the blog in words. You can read the blog at http://daily.lukeparsons.info/ and also see my pictures on flickr by clicking on one of the pictures on the blog.

On the blog, I talk also about the language difficulties and successes that I have been having as I go around the country. It's been a great trip so far but it's only about half way through today. Still another 2 weeks of traveling to go with Xi'an next and then Beijing for a whole week before heading back to Shanghai. I will come to see ChinesePOD again at the end, if they can put up with having 2 Aussies in the office again! :) haha

Today I am off to Leshan to see the Grand Buddha, which from memory stands at a tall 84m.

Posted on: Tech Upgrades and Farming!

Woot! Here I am Shanghai! :) Heading over to the Praxis offices later today to meet the wonderful team! :) I can't really say "it will be nice to put some faces to the voices" but it's the same sentiment. :)

I just went out into the strange world of Shanghai and ordered some breakfast but I have to admit I am little lost for words when I am trying to communicate. It's one thing to know the words, and another to actually use them. After leaving the shop (cai dian ?) with my breakfast xiaochi (snack) I suddenly remembered all my words...about 6 minutes too late. However I did recognise enough characters on the menu to order my dumplings and pay my 4RMB.. :)

One (baby) step at a time.. :)

Posted on: Tech Upgrades and Farming!

Hey :)

See you guys in a couple of days! :)

Posted on: Stinky Feet

I have a Chinese friend who works near my work who's name is 臭寒 Chòuhán. He explained this to me as meaning "to be stinky in the winter", and the way he explained it to me suggested that it was a good name.. :)

This is a great lesson guys: To the point, fun, useful, easy, enjoyable, interesting etc.

I always love the ones that Jenny giggles in.. ;)

Posted on: Reporting a Loss

Yup.. ring first and cancel the card so it can't be used in between the time it takes you to get to the branch to show ID to have a new one re-issued.

Posted on: Bellydancing and Trade Fairs!

@jennyzhu
Hee hee.. yes I knew about that. It will be a highlight of my adventure in China! :) It won't be long now till I am in China.. haha.. it's only 9 days till the day I leave!!!!!! Wow!!!!!!! :) I hope I am ready! :)

Posted on: Munich

I know it has something to do with a sound change or similar, as per bababardwan's reference. What I read had something to do with a language revolution (like a cultural revolution) but yeh.. looks like there is more than one "story" to why it was changed.

Posted on: Bellydancing and Trade Fairs!

I love having extra stuff on these News and Features now that Dear Amber is gone (and we don't have the Saturday Show). Would like to see more of this kind of thing done, interviews and "news" that is not necessarily directly related to ChinesePOD stuff.. good stuff!