China is a spooky place. If you don’t believe me, see the Sanya beach photos below. Be careful!
BTW, the video is choppy for one reason and one reason only: I bought the value pack of TDK DVs from Costco in 2003. I didn’t know DVs went bad. But every tape I is pretty much corrupted. Well, it could be the Diet Coke spill all over my camera, I dunno. Time for an upgrade.
At one of the bars in the Sheraton, overlooking the South China Sea.
An unedited picture of one of their many pools, with the annual Sanya Jazz Festival being set up in the background. That’s what the water really looks like, so I guess it really is “China’s Hawaii.”
In other news, there was a small disaster in Oakland, CA about 24 hours ago (dubbed the “MacArther Maze Meltdown”, god), where a gas tanker exploded and collapsed a freeway overpass. Then Arnold announced free transportation for the day.
Well, they have free transportation in China, too. This was taken on the Kun-An Expressway (the only freeway in Kunming) on the way back to Chuxiong, at 50 mph.
It has been slow lately, so I went back and found another shot I took a few months ago in the mountains of Yunnan of an old family friend.
I’m now studying the Photoshop RAW mode in black and white. Perhaps if I knew anything about photography I could intelligently manipulate B/W photos, but as it stands, I’m just sliding knobs. We have lots of photos of Sanya, Hainan coming up soon.
I’m testing this in Contribute to see how nice it works.
E Jia.
I get asked where I live a lot. People don’t seem to realize that Chuxiong is a major player in the international scene. Okay it’s not at all, it’s a small, relatively poor Chinese city really far away from the rest of those good Chinese cities. Chuxiong can only look at it’s thriving neighboring cities (Kunming, Dali, Lijiang) and be jealous, because there this nothing to do here except “san bu”.
Here’s a little comparison (via Google Earth):
|
|
MI
|
KM
|
|
Chuxiong
|
0
|
0
|
|
Kunming
|
79
|
127
|
|
Laos
|
173
|
278
|
|
Vietnam
|
180
|
290
|
|
Myanmar
|
206
|
332
|
|
Shangri-La
|
240
|
386
|
|
Tibet
|
297
|
478
|
|
India
|
787
|
1,267
|
|
Hong Kong
|
791
|
1,273
|
|
Beijing
|
1,340
|
2,157
|
|
Tokyo
|
2,391
|
3,848
|
|
Paris
|
5,390
|
8,674
|
|
San Francisco
|
7,217
|
11,615
|
|
Boston
|
7,777
|
12,516
|
So I was like, I need some socks. Chun Mei was like, No thing Bob, let’s go down to the mini-store downstairs and get you some! Boom, they have the new Adidas soc… Hold up a second, WTF is that?
Someone obviously fell asleep in while studying their (pirated copy of the) Photoshop manual, because that’s a Nike logo! You can’t use a Nike logo with the Adidas URl you frigtard, that totally gives it away!
While I was at it, my Calvin Klein’s were getting a little stale. Time for some new underwear. So I went out to a farmer’s market and guess what, they have this new shit in China called fireproof underwear. And you can stretch these babies with a mini hoola-hoop and they’re not even trippin! Ring me up.
I’m with this idea — house fire or no fire, always project your junk.
Anyway I don’t know about you, but the latest technological advancements in sleepwear always makes me hungry. Doritos, nah. Pepsi Cola? Pass. Shrink-wrapped chicken feet? Hell. Yes. That is exactly what I’m talking about.
This next one falls under the “There-Has-Got-to-Be-an-Explanation-For-This” Category. I needed some toothpaste, and I said, Hey Man, you got Crest?, and the clerk was like, No, but we have Black People Toothpaste, and I was like, WTF??, and they were like, yeah, Black People Tooth Paste, and I looked down at my arm, then back at her and said, Look I just need Crest, you know, WASH TEETH, and she said, Follow me.. Guess what:
She wasn’t joking. Now upon closer inspection, in English it’s all innocent and says Darlie. But the secret is revealed in the Chinese characters!
- Characters: ????
- Pinyin: hei ren ya gao
- Pronounced: “hey ren ya gow”
- Literally: “Black People Toothpaste”
If there are any Chinese people reading this blog, please, WTF is up with Black People Toothpaste? (Update: Whoa, this guy has all the details here! – I want to write him an email but guess what, China blocks Blogger.. DoH! Update 2: See the original “Darkie” box here )
My prediction: Beijing Olympics 2008 and the world sees the racist box! They report on it, global coverage, front page of CNN. Said company goes out and buys 100 boxes of fireproof underwear, yells ‘holy shit’ and comes up with a clever explanation about why ‘they didn’t know’ it was racist. Mark my words, Bob said it first, March 2007.
Why use WD-40 when you can get 20 more with AD-60?
Adidaz, only 5 RMB. Who cares if only five of the letters are right, it almost the same, it’s called “having face” bro (get some), I got the latest Adidaz and you don’t, case closed.
All pictures snapped with my top-of-the-line phone camera which is three years old now.
Or perhaps living in a new house, where your neighbor’s house is connected to your house. Via six or so inches of brick.
After going to sleep at 6:30 am, I got to wake up (at 10 am) to what sounded like Tomahawk missiles being launched from the USS Enterprise. Or perhaps, them landing somewhere.
In reality, it is a construction worker with a huge sledge hammer, slamming it into the wall against my head.
It kinda sounds like this.
Good morning!
Update: Lucky for me, this is going to go on for three months. (Time to move back to the Kunming place.)
Update: I have seen two more shows on CCTV 2 about people getting screwed after purchasing a house before it is built. In the last two days I saw stories about the “new middle/upper class” in Yunnan and Sichuan losing their entire investment, and they have no one to turn to for help. The shows are overly dramatic with sappy soundtracks, which to me seems inappropriate for such a topic. (Is it a news story, or is it a drama to sell ads?)
It is still odd to me why a homeowner’s only option with such a serious crime is to contact the state-run television network to get answers. Obviously, the idea is, they run a show on fraud, millions of people see it, then the fraudulent company is pressured into fixing the problem. (Doesn’t it seem like if you started a property/construction company and built faulty houses, you should go to jail? Or at least get hit with a huge lawsuit? Who is accountable? Are these companies in cahoots with the government? The questions — the questions I have in my head…)
Wow, it doesn’t stop
Here are some of the details from yet another show on housing fraud:
- The companies sold single houses to multiple familes
- After the police found out about the crime, they “arrested” people and stopped construction, but the buyers never got their initial down payment back.
- The houses were condemned and construction was never completed, and after waiting two years, these people are still trying to get their money back.
- They marketed these houses as “American style” houses with gardens, backyards, and parks, schools for kids nearby, and were selling them for 1,000,000 RMB (ie, hella expensive in China).
- They’re saying now in China, “house fraud” is one of the biggest problems.
Oh, here’s one I’m familiar with (from a different story about a completed housing complex) — The realtors promised gardens for homeowners, written in the contract. After the gardens were built, the government wanted to widen the road, so they destroyed the gardens, right up to the entrance of the housing complex. When the people complained to the real estate company (“breach of cotnract!”) they replied, “We promised you gardens, but we never said how long you can have these gardens.”
I can only speak for myself and my situation. After buying two houses and two commercial properties in China, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I have not been ripped off or lied to (…yet), but I would say:
Do not by any property that is not built yet.
I did, and while the house was constructed without any major problems, I had an advantage. Specifically, we have a family friend who owns the real estate company, therefore, small problems we encountered were easily fixed. I assume most expatriates do not have this luxury.
This GoKunming.com interview sums it up quite well.
One, don’t invest in forward delivery housing – buying property before it’s finished or even begun to be built – the price may be a little cheaper, but the risk is much higher.
Why? Because you could end up with a house you cannot live in — you could lose your entire investment. Just last night, I watched a CCTV story about some Chinese families who bought into a new development and once the keys were delivered, they opened the door to their new house to see two inches of water flooding the living room, and the cement floor crumbled if you walked over it. They said no one will help them. (Where is the government agency to protect homeowners? Why do they have to resort to calling a television station to put pressure on these fraudulent companies?)
In our experience, we quickly realized all the windows needed to be replaced because they were constructed poorly. No one wanted to help and everyone started finger-pointing. Luckily, labor is cheap in China and it only cost us a few hundred US dollars to fix.
Two, make sure the area surrounding the property you’re considering has all the amenities and infrastructure you’re looking for.
We bought into the most affluent community in Chuxiong, Yunnan, called Yi Ren Gu Zhen (????, or YRGZ). Not having nearby stores is not a big problem as the community is only a mile away from civilization — but the 16-hour-a-day “Yizu” music that blares throughout the community “PA rock system” is incredibly obnoxious, playing the same tribe music, all day, every day.
Three, make sure you invest in a property that is managed by a reputable company.
This is, by far, the most important research you should do before handing over any money. And how do you check on which company is reputable? In our case, our company is reputable but the experience is still lacking.
For example, our “wu guan” (??), or property management office/team is a joke. I think it is to be expected, though, because YRGZ probably contracted out the cheapest management company available, along with a bunch of teenagers for our security patrol. The result is insubordinate behavior, lack of professionalism, and for us, no response or action to any comments or questions (and lots and lots of finger pointing). I am guessing this will be fixed within the next five years.
The bottom line is this — there are many properties that are already built in China. Go that route. You can ask the current tenants how the experience is, you inspect the quality of the property, you can talk to the property management company, and you can see the surrounding areas, the list goes on.
Yes, the value of our house went up by about 10% (but, who’s to say that is accurate?) because we bought it before the construction started — but the problems and annoyances we encountered (and continue to encounter) because it is a new development outweigh any monetary gains we may have achieved.
In retrospect, I would buy a flat in downtown Kunming, right next to that big ass mall and call it day.
We have been hanging out in Kunming for the last few days and I found a few places that most people already know about.
Salvador’s Coffee House is an American-owned coffee house/internet hangout/restaurant and was featured in a CNN article last year. The staff is cool and the coffee is great.
The Prague Cafe has two locations, one in Lijiang and one in Kunming. Both have the same atmosphere and have an excellent menu. Rumor has it that all the coffees listed on the menu are the same, that is, Yunnan Coffee. Whether this is true or not, Yunnan Coffee tastes good and is the cheapest, so I just avoid ordering the “Brazil or African” 30 RMB-a-cup versions. Oh, and they play Gotan, which is always all-good.
Both places are located next to Yunnan University, meaning there are a lot of Chinese and foreign students hanging out, studying English, talking about politics, using QQ (the most popular Chinese instant messaging program), and unfortunately, smoking up a storm.
Other news, I visited the official Panasonic repair center in Kunming and got my 3CCD camera fixed for $60 USD in one day. (They couldn’t get rid of the sticky buttons, thought, from that Diet Coke spill.) I also got a few BP-511 batteries for my Canon 300D, $13 each, at the Canon camera shop next to Bai Sheng (big mall in the center of downtown.)
Third time to Lijiang. As of March 2007,
Do:
- visit Afternoon Sun for the Lavazza coffee and espressos (while in China, I haven’t found Lavazza anywhere)
- visit the Prague Cafe for great ambience, a good mix of Western and Chinese food, good coffee (however, they recently removed their computer and internet)
- all the rest of that touristy stuff (horse back rides, go to Zhongdian/Shangri-La for a while, get lost in the Old Town)
- try to get a shot of the Snow Mountain without clouds, it’s rare
- visit the Snow Mountain and take the tram up the side of the mountain
- try some of the local food, either at the street kiosks (er kuai, dou fu, etc) or just outside of the Old Town. Most places have menus with pictures, if not, just say, “Sui bian ni!” (“Whatever is fine!”) and wait for the bees and intenstines and all that good stuff
- go shopping, but try to find things that are unique to Lijiang (hand made or hand crafted things), and not things you can find in every other city in Yunnan (like Mingzu clothing, fakey jade, fakey silver, Mingzu dolls, traditional “Chinese” clothing, etc)
- help others take photos so a brother can be with his women in the shot
Don’t:
- visit the “screaming bars”, they’re loud, service is bad, very gimmicky
- go to KFC, don’t be like the rest of the lao wai
- expect western food to compare to your home town, it’ll be “just okay” at best (except for the coffee at Afternoon Sun)
- expect the Chinese food to be great (Lijiang is very touristy, food quality is lower than average)
- book a trip with a Chinese tour company. I’ll blog about that later. They’re lame and you only get to see “surface-level” China
- openly complain about no soap in the bathrooms, or any other rant I overhear all the time, you’ll come off sounding crazed and paranoid (ie, get over it)
- buy any jade or silver in Lijiang, it’s overpriced, but worse, 95% of it is fake (doh!)
That’s all I can think of for now. Good luck. Photo above is a flower patch of the main strip in Lijiang.
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