Would You Like To Understand China And The Chinese Better ?

[mogoso]

They have the Kunming flight from Chiang Mai direct both ways now? I went years back and you flew via Bangkok to there and direct back to Chiang Mai. Kunming's a nice little city. Surrounding Kunming are peoples like the Hill tribes of Thailand (ok SE Asia), all with their own style of clothing and customs. They've a little zoo that had the hookiest mermaid show you'd ever wanna see, but they do have white tigers. I remember getting a good pizza there near the Thai Consulate. South by train you've the Stone Forest. We ate at a restaurant where the tea kettles spout must have been 8 foot long and the tea man poured amazingly well as I never got a drop spilled in three meals there. Buses are cheap and you can take a taxi if you get lost. Just take a card from your hotel so you have their address on it. When going somewhere get it written at the hotel in Chinese and ask what buses to take to and from,its not a large place. Kunming's a great place for a first visit to China, no big real crowds or confusion. We went on a pre Honeymoon and it was my wifes first trip outta Thailand and she loved it. Ladies there are all sorts of dress shops all over the city, husbands be advised, but not expensive.

I can't imagine not liking Macao, it ain't big but interesting. I found a great Portuguese (it was a Portuguese colony) buffet there, even served those tasty yeast rolls you get in every restaurant in Portugal. I wasn't married at that time ( its been 18 years or more), so I allowed a Filipina waitress to take me home for a few days. On a little hill the have the front wall of a church, that's it just the front wall, they like it and had a photo of it on their stamps. (there is a history behind it)

I'd recommend taking the hovercraft over from Hong Kong, only about 45 minutes.

[bernardgam]

They have the Kunming flight from Chiang Mai direct both ways now? I went years back and you flew via Bangkok to there and direct back to Chiang Mai. Kunming's a nice little city. Surrounding Kunming are peoples like the Hill tribes of Thailand (ok SE Asia), all with their own style of clothing and customs. They've a little zoo that had the hookiest mermaid show you'd ever wanna see, but they do have white tigers. I remember getting a good pizza there near the Thai Consulate. South by train you've the Stone Forest. We ate at a restaurant where the tea kettles spout must have been 8 foot long and the tea man poured amazingly well as I never got a drop spilled in three meals there. Buses are cheap and you can take a taxi if you get lost. Just take a card from your hotel so you have their address on it. When going somewhere get it written at the hotel in Chinese and ask what buses to take to and from,its not a large place. Kunming's a great place for a first visit to China, no big real crowds or confusion. We went on a pre Honeymoon and it was my wifes first trip outta Thailand and she loved it. Ladies there are all sorts of dress shops all over the city, husbands be advised, but not expensive.

I can't imagine not liking Macao, it ain't big but interesting. I found a great Portuguese (it was a Portuguese colony) buffet there, even served those tasty yeast rolls you get in every restaurant in Portugal. I wasn't married at that time ( its been 18 years or more), so I allowed a Filipina waitress to take me home for a few days. On a little hill the have the front wall of a church, that's it just the front wall, they like it and had a photo of it on their stamps. (there is a history behind it)

I'd recommend taking the hovercraft over from Hong Kong, only about 45 minutes.

I have traded with china factories for several years. and find that their culture and education, business style are quite different from Western countries. they are developing rapidly in these years. and e-commerce is also very outstanding, such as Taobao.com and BuyChina.com, where you can get any items or service directly.

China business depend on domestic trade and oversea trade.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I stand by my comments...thank you for yours.

I really can't be bothered to get into an argument with anyone over this.

I answered the OP's question...why am I getting such grief???

7) Not to post slurs or degrading comments directed towards any group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

may give you a hint

In fairness though, it was nothing compared to what forum members in Pattaya get away with when ranting about Russians.

[orang37]

Yes, I would like to know the Chinese people, the Han, and all fifty-five officially recognized ethnic groups better, and increase my dim sum understanding of their culture by one or two nano-scale orders of magnitude greater than my current level of near infinite ignorance, in this lifetime !

I had a wonderful time in Kunming several years ago, really enjoyed renting a bicycle, and traveling around the city using the wide bicycle lanes on each side of the street. I found the people I casually encountered "friendly," in so far as one can "intuitively" judge brief encounters with people whose language you don't speak, and who don't speak your own language.

The Kunming zoo was a highlight; I would call it a very large zoo ! The long-tailed red pandas were delightful to watch.

As I hiked up the hill (baby mountain ?) that the zoo is in the lower part of, I came to a large kind of open-air old-Chinese style structure, with peaked gable roofs, and took refuge there as it rained. A friendly person shared some tea with me from their thermos. And, at the peak of the hill, to my surprise, I looked down on the very ancient, massive, 1200 year-old, water-surrounded, Yuantong Mahayana Buddhist temple, and (double-surprise) the Thai style Wat behind it.

The next day, I visited the Yuantong temple, with its stunning ancient wooden gilt Buddha, flanked by Mogellana and Sariputra, and multi-armed Boddhisattvas, and the remarkable two (twenty meter high ?) Ming Dynasty origin coiling dragons that hang suspended from the high ceiling, that diminish in size from the large head near the roof, to the small tail that is only one or two meters (?) off the ground. Remarkable !

And, the Thai temple is an exquisite gem in marble, donated by the Royal Family to Kunming.

Another highlight of the trip was the cheap hotel I stayed in next to a night-club/restaurant that kept going loud until after 2am. The third night, while I was busy throwing up the remains of a local fish I had unwisely eaten, the smell of ganja kept drifting into my flimsy-walled room from next door, and the sounds of ardent love-making (in Italian: don't ask me how I knew) serenaded me as I went back and forth from bed to bathroom to vomit. I hope I didn't distract the lovers !

~o:37;

[harrry]

I hope you inhaled deeply so that your dreams were pleasant when you finally got to sleep.

Edited May 3, 2013 by harrry

[mamborobert]

I am afraid I am becoming more perverse as I age. I always look forward to posts by orang37, though I hasten to add that I do not find the posts perverse...if anything they are always thoroughly entertaining.

Such is my perverse nature that as I read I kept on thinking of Coleridge's Kubla Khan with its references to China and wonderfully crafted words that always left me wanting more, Dodgy fish is not quite laudanum but I do find an amorous Italian a more entertaining end to the piece than poor Coleridge's person from Porlock.

Edited May 3, 2013 by mamborobert

[hellodolly]

I am afraid I am becoming more perverse as I age. I always look forward to posts by orang37, though I hasten to add that I do not find the posts perverse...if anything they are always thoroughly entertaining.

Such is my perverse nature that as I read I kept on thinking of Coleridge's Kubla Khan with its references to China and wonderfully crafted words that always left me wanting more, Dodgy fish is not quite laudanum but I do find an amorous Italian a more entertaining end to the piece than poor Coleridge's person from Porlock.

I was out of town when they had the meeting and so wanted to be at the meeting/ I understand not many were interested. I would really have loved to learn more about China. I know so little for instance I knew they had different customs and what not but until this thread I did not realize it was five different ethnic groups.

Pretty well tells the tale of not judging China by one city like don't judge a book by it's cover.

[harrry]

Yes Orang can make something simple hard but in doing so enhance it. If that was hard to understand so are some of Orangs posts but they are always worth reading.

[Joop50]

When you are content to be simple yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

Lao Tzu

China have brought great ch'an masters.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Joop50