travel thread

[star seed 7]

Did you get a burner phone? When I landed in Hong Kong in a layover I wouldn't even turn my phone on.

No. My googlefi international plan works fine here with no firewall restrictions. If you connect to wifi you have to use a VPN to get around the firewall. As for the government having my data, I really don't give a crap, and I really doubt they do either. I did bring an old phone as a backup in case I needed to get a Chinese sim/phone number but I haven't needed to. Some apps are tied to having a Chinese number but there are workarounds if you google it.

The biggest annoyance is google maps is useless because Google is banned so the little information on it is half inaccurate. There are Chinese alternatives but again they are only in Chinese. China also offsets GPS positions on maps or something so sometimes you look like 100ft off from where you really are.

[star seed 7]

Did you get a burner phone? When I landed in Hong Kong in a layover I wouldn't even turn my phone on.

They are going to find out about us. 

I can confirm that gE is banned in China.

[mocat]

Bottled water only for everyone in China or what?

[star seed 7]

Yeah. People boil the water at home as well to save money. Also water doesn't seem to be a very common drink. Juices and flavored milks seem the most common. Fancy milktea drinks are the basic white girl double frap extra whipped cream type thing.

[mocat]

was Beijing like Albuquerque? Where would Xi'An go on this map?

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/Gge32QgLJz

[star seed 7]

I have no idea what the year round climate is, but I think more similar to Oklahoma maybe? Hot summers but not too cold in the winter. It hasn't been humid at all so maybe ABQ is fair. A tour guide did say that this was the first year in a while that it didn't snow in Beijing.

It was a beautiful 55-70 during the day in Beijing, and around 75 daily in Xi'an. But you know, it's spring.

[wetwillie]

What's next after China

[Institutional Control]

What's next after China

Your mom's house.

[wetwillie]

 Damn, still salty. 

I bet our guy is going to Bangkok next

[star seed 7]

We'll see 

[star seed 7]

The population in China is hard to wrap your head around. I'm taking a high speed train the distance of basically Dallas to kc. But imagine Dallas had 20 million, kc had 6 million, and between them is like 3 more 5-8 million pop cities and like 15 1+million pop cities. The small ones are crazy looking because they are literally pop ups with like 30 of the exact same high rise. Of course the larger ones are a collection of 10 different areas of 30 of the exact same high rise, so at least there's some variety.

The scale is wild

Are people talkin' tariffs?

Finally see some news at the airport and it's talking about how badly America is mumped and going into a recession.

[star seed 7]

Followed by the bountiful Chinese crop yields

[cfbandyman]

Followed by the bountiful Chinese crop yields

Hey, we ain't far from crop reports being the reported as the measure of the strong country we are

[star seed 7]

Xi'an airport termy 5, just opened in February.



About 20 feet after customs in ho Chi Minh City



Sitting in a park watching the sun set right now and that's very pleasant but so far Vietnam is not really my jam. Way too chaotic for my little aspie brain. Walking anywhere seems like an unending challenge of how much crap can get in the way. Disgustingly dirty and trash all over the place.

[michigancat]

Xi'an airport termy 5, just opened in February.



About 20 feet after customs in ho Chi Minh City



Sitting in a park watching the sun set right now and that's very pleasant but so far Vietnam is not really my jam. Way too chaotic for my little aspie brain. Walking anywhere seems like an unending challenge of how much crap can get in the way. Disgustingly dirty and trash all over the place.

Does the air still smell like campfire most of the time?

[star seed 7]

No but the streets smell like garbage juice

[Phil Titola]

No but the streets smell like garbage juice

Yeah I was in HMC and agree. We stayed out across the river where a lot of ex-pats are which was a little less hectic.

Go to the America War museum if you want to see a country 'scoreboard' over USA and show what real POS we were.

[michigancat]

No but the streets smell like garbage juice

Yeah I was in HMC and agree. We stayed out across the river where a lot of ex-pats are which was a little less hectic.

Go to the America War museum if you want to see a country 'scoreboard' over USA and show what real POS we were.

Agreed it's a great museum. Might be just a tad biased, but you know what? They earned it

[Phil Titola]

No but the streets smell like garbage juice

Yeah I was in HMC and agree. We stayed out across the river where a lot of ex-pats are which was a little less hectic.

Go to the America War museum if you want to see a country 'scoreboard' over USA and show what real POS we were.

Agreed it's a great museum. Might be just a tad biased, but you know what? They earned it

Yeah that's what I thought too. Get the dub you get the tell the story.

[cfbandyman]

No but the streets smell like garbage juice

Yeah I was in HMC and agree. We stayed out across the river where a lot of ex-pats are which was a little less hectic.

Go to the America War museum if you want to see a country 'scoreboard' over USA and show what real POS we were.

Agreed it's a great museum. Might be just a tad biased, but you know what? They earned it

Yeah that's what I thought too. Get the dub you get the tell the story.

Yup, we also committed enough atrocities to really be like "yeah, we weren't great". My Lai, Agent Orange, etc

[michigancat]

Yeah I definitely wouldn't say the bias is WRONG, but it's not a perspective we are used to

[wetwillie]

I don't think I've had this much fun following the travel thread since Mich went to the Olympics

[Stupid Fitz]

I don't think I've had this much fun following the travel thread since Mich went to the Olympics

Agree, both amazing and really fun to follow. I'm a little upset you didn't throw in the time I took pictures of those tacos held up by clothes pins in Arkansas though.

[TheHamburglar]

My parents have never been over seas. They’ve been to Canada, Mexico & Caribbean cruises, but never over an ocean. I’ve finally convinced them to do a European river cruise. I’m trying to plan it for them now. It’s a lot of fun.

[tdaver]

My parents did the Viking Rhine cruise from Amsterdam to Basel a couple years ago for their first over seas trip.  Absolutely loved it and still talk about it frequently.