Strawberry picking/pear flowers:
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| April |
May 20, 2012
May 16, 2012
Spring Travel, because it would be "a great adventure!"... right?
One of the most common questions I get from my students and friends is:
I bought this handy dandy little guy the first week I moved into my apartment. I was grocery shopping at the little convenience store across the street and in the back there was a bin of these for 5kuai. I grabbed one figuring it would be handy to write out a little cheat sheet for reading common Chinese characters. Little did I know at that time that the tiny book would be saving my ass left and right from miscommunication with taxi drivers and my horrible sense of direction.
When I travel I put everything in this little book. What train, what time it leaves, when it arrives, how much it costs, how to get from the train station to the hostel, the name of the hostel in Chinese with the phone number, and the major attractions of the area and what buses/subway lines will take me there. It's also been great for shopping. I get on taobao.com and find what I need then copy the Chinese name and price then pop into Taihe (the electronics high rise building) and show the first person I meet. More often than not I end up with some sort of impromptu personal assistant at Taihe. Taxi drivers always get a kick out of the book when I hand it to them with directions in Chinese and English for where I want to go.
"How do you get around? I mean, you don't speak or read the native language, and yet you still manage to travel."Well let me introduce you all to My Little Black Book... of Chinese Travel
I bought this handy dandy little guy the first week I moved into my apartment. I was grocery shopping at the little convenience store across the street and in the back there was a bin of these for 5kuai. I grabbed one figuring it would be handy to write out a little cheat sheet for reading common Chinese characters. Little did I know at that time that the tiny book would be saving my ass left and right from miscommunication with taxi drivers and my horrible sense of direction.
When I travel I put everything in this little book. What train, what time it leaves, when it arrives, how much it costs, how to get from the train station to the hostel, the name of the hostel in Chinese with the phone number, and the major attractions of the area and what buses/subway lines will take me there. It's also been great for shopping. I get on taobao.com and find what I need then copy the Chinese name and price then pop into Taihe (the electronics high rise building) and show the first person I meet. More often than not I end up with some sort of impromptu personal assistant at Taihe. Taxi drivers always get a kick out of the book when I hand it to them with directions in Chinese and English for where I want to go.
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| Preparation for departing Shijiazhuang Airport/Arriving Shanghai Hostel |
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