The great firewall of China
Just back from a conference in Guangzhou in China (2 hours from Hong Kong by train), a little disappointed at the rather limited exposure to Chinese culture that it gave me.
The 'International Conference Centre' was a very western place, with free internet (ie no cost) and piped western lift musak to accompany every meal. They even brought the CD with them when we had dinner on a riverboat. I can't tell how authentic the food was - not dissimilar from Chinese takeaway food, although they seemed very reluctant to remove bones, or indeed bird heads, from the dishes. I didn't try the fish heads, 'cos they were covered in Chili. Food highlight was probably the milk fritters, and the soup and sausage dumpling (latter a Shanghainese speciality I had in Hong Kong).
Despite only getting a chance to visit tourist traps in Guangzhou, China is cheap for shopping. Hong Kong generally isn't - the hard disk I got cost marginally less than it would in the UK, but most things are more expensive. Clothes are cheaper, and in the markets you can find some good deals, if you can get past the tat.
Perhaps the highlight of the trip was around halfway home on the plane - my colleague spotted what he thought was a green metorite, and five minutes later a bright yellow flame appeared and rose into the sky. A bit of research identified the rocket launch we'd seen.
Couldn't post to LJ in China 'though, as it's apparently subversive. It's the only site I couldn't access (although I didn't try a huge number).
The 'International Conference Centre' was a very western place, with free internet (ie no cost) and piped western lift musak to accompany every meal. They even brought the CD with them when we had dinner on a riverboat. I can't tell how authentic the food was - not dissimilar from Chinese takeaway food, although they seemed very reluctant to remove bones, or indeed bird heads, from the dishes. I didn't try the fish heads, 'cos they were covered in Chili. Food highlight was probably the milk fritters, and the soup and sausage dumpling (latter a Shanghainese speciality I had in Hong Kong).
Despite only getting a chance to visit tourist traps in Guangzhou, China is cheap for shopping. Hong Kong generally isn't - the hard disk I got cost marginally less than it would in the UK, but most things are more expensive. Clothes are cheaper, and in the markets you can find some good deals, if you can get past the tat.
Perhaps the highlight of the trip was around halfway home on the plane - my colleague spotted what he thought was a green metorite, and five minutes later a bright yellow flame appeared and rose into the sky. A bit of research identified the rocket launch we'd seen.
Couldn't post to LJ in China 'though, as it's apparently subversive. It's the only site I couldn't access (although I didn't try a huge number).