User Comments - nalenscrafter

Posted on: Custom-Made Shoes

我几个月以前在北京定做了3件丝绸衬衫，价格还行。我以前从来不去裁缝定做衣服. 但是我最近意识到half the battle of找适合我的衣服是大小刚刚好的。现在我很多买的衣服都是定做的。 这是因为我比较瘦而很高，所以这样我可以找适合我穿的衣服。

Posted on: American TV Shows in China

TV:

Seinfled: 宋飞正传

X Files: X-档案

South Park: 南方公园

Movies:

Memento: 记忆碎片

Shawshank Redemption: 肖申克的救赎

American Beauty: 美国丽人

Posted on: Taxi Culture in China

Overall I think Chinese taxi drivers are just trying to make money. At least in Guangdong (and I've had similar experiences in Beijing), the taxi driver's will try to make as much money from you as they can. I've been taken advantage of more times than I can count. At least in my city drivers will either take you the long way round or refuse to drive you anywhere unless you pay a high enough amount. WIth these I just pretend to walk away and then they cave. There have been several instances where the driver where take a long way around. Sometimes we would just tell the driver to pull over and then leave the cab without paying him money, all the while calling him "Pianzi"!

Once in Beijing my friends and I took two differnt cabs. My cab arrived at the destination first and we paid 16 using the meter. After waiting 10 minutes my friends called and said the meter was nearing 30. When they finally arrived it was up to 40 and they just tossed the driver 16. He didn't say anything.

They know they are cheating you, and if you do this it's okay. If you get cheated it's your own fault, you need to be clever and not let them get the best of you.

There are many nice drivers but even they will try to rip you off. Never make friends with a driver. Maybe this is jsut Guangdong and Beijing but I really dislike CHinese cab drivers. However it does provide a good discussion topic for my classes. My students also don't seem to like my city's taxi drivers much.

I've had good experiences in Shanghai and Chengdu-they seem more tame. In Tibet there were a lot of them that will drive you across the whole province since there is not much public transportation for foreigners. It is cheaper than going with the travel agent though. This can be pretty fun. One guy told us we had better go with him because he had friends "on the inside" so we wouldn't be caught for not having the proper permits (we were pretty worried about this, but it was needless we later found out).

One last thing, in Beijing my friend was punched in the arm by a driver (this was proably deserved), and another told a different friend to f-off.

ALso had a lot of experiences coming home from the GuangZhou airport in the middle of the night. Freaky-not reccomended, but it's cheaper than staying in a hotel and taking a bus in the morning. Good adventures and stories overall though.

Oh CHina...

Posted on: Counterfeit Money and Driving in China

Driving in ZhongGuo is so much fun. I recently bought an electric bike and use it to get everywhere now. It is faster than a car or a motor bike because you can drive in the road or on side walks and don't need to stop at stop lights (not that you necessarily need to do this in a car or on a motor bike either). Maybe it is different in other parts of China but in Guangdong where I am nobody cares. Just drive (and try not to die)!