China Romance
All About China => Your trip to China => Topic started by: UK Mark on May 14, 2009, 05:08:30 pm
-
Hi All , Just joined the site tonight and think its great , i've got a lot of info from chlove and im taking the plunge and going to visit my girl !
The nearest airport to my girl in pingxiang is Nanning but as you can't seem to get a direct flight there from the Uk im flying into Guangzhou , there seems to be a lot of flights between there and Nanning so im confident i've made a good choice :s heheh
Chatted to a few women in the past but clicked with Ning straight away , she seems so modest and down to earth , she was surprised i was interested in her as im 39 and she is 35 hehe seems to think it strange that someone ''so young'' wants to know her , i thought that was really sweet , but having read so many comments about chinese culture i do understand what she means.
Been chatting for about 6 weeks via emails which a friend translates for her , although i feel a independant translator would be best when we are together , keeps things a bit more personel for her.
Anyway off i fly from LHR to CAN landing on the 6th August .. Any of you guys been to Guanzhou / Nanning .. anything i have to be really careful about .. any comments will be very appreciated ! And id love to post a commentary on what happens
Thanks to all the moderators and posters on the site!
Best Regarsd UKM Mark
-
Welcome to the brotherhood mate, hope you have a blast, and findthe lady of your dreams:)
-
I flew into Guangzhou. A very easy airport to navigate...had no problems at all clearing customs. My piece of advice for you...have a blast!
And welcome to the site.
-
:D Thx for the welcome guys ! .. I intend to have a great time and if all goes to plan will return in the new year to get engaged .. Wah! planning ahead already :S heheh,who knows .. if everything is fantastic i might come back engaged on my first trip , might be better waiting till the second trip that way theres no risk of getting caught up in the moment , im going to go with the flow!, that may sound weird to some guys and make sense to others but im crossing the world to look for my first and only wife and im sure China is where i will find her , On a serious note , i really have clicked with this girl ! if by some chance it all goes wrong i will still make the most of my visit there and whatever happens im sure i will return soon ... For now its researching hotels , reading advice on here and learning some more of the Language !
-
Hi Mark,
Good to meet you! Go with an open heart and an open mind and enjoy yourself. Oh, and read everything you can get your hands on.:D All the best to you my friend.
-
Welcome Mark.Just have a good time open eyes and a open mind go along way in China.
-
Welcome Mark to this site , with reference to translating when you and Ning are together a lot of our members have found the Besta range of electronic translators very good , they have internal battery recharge , just make sure if you do purchase one that it has a stylus pen as this lets mandarin figures to be drawn and it will convert sentences both ways and even speak to you in either English or Mandarin all to simple and is invaluable .
-
good luck man .. may you find every happiness and yours and her dreams be fulfilled
-
Best of luck Mark. GZ airport will be fine, I had no problems at all navigating it last time I was there.
Are you just changing flights there or will you be staying in the city for a while? The airport is a fair distance outside the city so if you have a long layover bring a book as there isn't much to do in the airport.
-
:D wow ! what a great welcome , thanks guys ! Will take your advice on board and will let you all know how it goes ..
Ref getting a translator (besta) is it better to get one in China (by better i mean cheaper to be honest) or am i better off buying one in the UK?
-
Have yourself a great Trip . It will be an Life changing experience for you . I myself might be in Guangzhou in August too , for my Wife's interview . I might need your help ... killing the interviewer if he say's NO . Hehe
Please keep us posted as your Adventure unfolds , if time permit's of course .
Good Luck , wish you and Ning the best .
-
Mark , good question on the Besta , a lot of electronic gear is not cheap in China , but they do run on 220/240 volt system , I bought mine in China and I think I paid about 30 percent to much as against on Ebay or Powerdictionary.com who are a world wide discount store , the Besta can be plugged into computer also as a translator and can be set up for lessons but as I purchased mine in China the instructions are all in Mandarin haha , but my lady was able to use it in an instant and only took me 10 minutes to work out .just remember to keep on power wherever possible as you will find it invaluable , but does not work to well on flat battery regards Robert .
-
The Besta is great. But I also carried a pocket Dictionary. We ran the battery down so we used it. Not a bad idea to have a backup. I also bought ours in China. I dont remember exactly how much or which model but it cost about 1900 yuan in an upscale department store in Beijing. It is easy to use and no matter which one you get make sure it has OCR. (optical character recognition) Which means it recognizes handwriting as Robert Said. She uses it on QQ also when she needs a word or meaning. and welcome to the brothas. Ashas been said. Read everything on here and most of your questions will be answered, but ask and you shall receive.
-
Sounds like a Besta is a must have item ! .. The Besta CD218 seems good value at about £150 delivered from www.powerdictionary.com
-
Like Ronan said, the airport is a fair way out of the city. So you know, if you plan to take a taxi downtown, it will cost around 100 RMB, and probly take a minimum of an hour during the day.
-
Thx for the airport info , Not sure yet if we are going to stay in Guangzhou for a few days or fly straight on to another city
Got a interesting message today, Ning tells me she thinks the weather will be hot and that Guangzhou is not a good place to visit , I mentioned maybe visiting Bejing this or anothern visit in a previous message and Ning tells me that it is a long way away but she would like it if we could visit , But she also says she doesn't mind where we go as long as she is with me (sweet :)) I can choose whats best for me .. She says she doesnt know how she can be so lucky to have chance to meet a man like me .. Wah! Im just a normal like the rest of you!! but when a beautiful women says that to you , its impossible not to feel good ! :D ,
Im dying to get to her as fast as i can!!!
-
Slow down there tiger :D Give yourself time to get your head straight.That long of a flight is really rough.New country New customs can be overwhelming. The first time Most people are in a fog for the first twelve hours in country.
What city does the lady live in? if it is Guanzghou I would suggest staying there for a couple of days.Then go somewhere else if you want to.If your lady lives in another city.I would fly to that city.Stay a couple of days then go somewhere else.
-
Mark , check out the MD8290 from Besta as it has a larger internal battery and a few more features , this is the one I was using , regards Robert .
Also because of the bloody hot weather try heading for the coast if possible , I will be in ChongQing during August and we are heading for a lake area at Kunming for a week ,:heart: you will find 40 degrees Celsius is a real possibility .
-
Thx for the airport info , Not sure yet if we are going to stay in Guangzhou for a few days or fly straight on to another city
Got a interesting message today, Ning tells me she thinks the weather will be hot and that Guangzhou is not a good place to visit , I mentioned maybe visiting Bejing this or anothern visit in a previous message and Ning tells me that it is a long way away but she would like it if we could visit ,
GZ will be incredibly hot and humid. They have their most rainfall in the summer and the highest temperatures, most tourist guides recommend visits in the fall for that reason.
That said I'm gong there next month because I cannot wait to see my Ling :D
I asked her how they deal with the heat there in the summer, she replied "air con" !
They are also totally obsessed with hygiene and cleanliness of their food, i think I'll pay very close attention to that in a hot wet climate too.
-
Irish, I live in the same temp. & climate as GZ. It's not so bad. Shenyang were Song lives is like New York weather so between the two? I can handle it. Others can too. :cool:
-
Mark, I am going to be in Beijing from August 11th until the end of october. Please look me up if you get there. You are right about a beautiful woman. I was talking to her about something and she just naturally said, You are the man it is your decision. It knocked me out. I was on QQ with her for 5 hours tonight and it seemed like 20 minutes. I am so thankful for QQ.
-
Welcome Mark, enjoy your stay here.
Jim you are right, they are amazing and kindhearted cute persons, as long as you treat them the way they have deserved. QQ is fantastic tool. My lady uses it even from her cell phone.
I will be in Urumqi in August. Depending on how things develop, it could be that we will go to Beijing for a few days. If it should be after August 11th it would be a pleasure to meet Sgt. Jim in person :D
-
:D Thx guys , My thinking on it all at the moment is to stay in GZ for a couple or days then head to Bejiing, I have almost 3 weeks holiday :D. I've travelled quite a few times to Indonesia and you are right the flights can be hard , i've always tryed to get emergency exit seats or at the very least aisle seats , As for the weather i've been to Singapore/Indonesia in the months of July/Aug/Nov and Jan and that area is always really hot and sometimes very wet heheh , but its a different kind of heat , over here that temp would kill me but over there i just love it! , I'm lucky i guess. If i get to Bejing it would be great to meet up with some of you guys ,
I'm getting so much info and help from you guys , THANKS! , i will try and put back what i can into the site and help you guys also in whatever way i can
-
I recommend going for a walk up Baiyun mountain to the north of the city and take the cable car ride down while you are there. Its not really a mountain at all , more a hill - is only 300 metres tall! and is a leisurely stroll to the top. Great views especially after rain as the pollution usually makes any views rather short .
The bigger zoo - there are two, is pretty good - take the train ride around the safari park part of the zoo, that's awesome, the tigers literally go nuts when the train goes by and look like they'd love to eat you..its pretty cool.
There's also a circus there, if you want to see a huge bear riding a big motorbike around a ring unaided or monkeys riding push bikes then Guangzhou is the place to see it!
-
Bears riding motorbikes ??? sounds more like Norfolk than China heheh , and anything over 1m high is classed as a mountain where i live :D
Seriously though thx Ronan , My girl likes hiking so so Baiyun mountain sounds like a great thing to do! ,
-
Also , HIGHLY recommend the boat ride down the Pearl river after dark.
Its amazing, the city looks nicer all lit up at night i think than during the day. The boat ride is really romantic too ;)
-
Guangzhou has started a city- wide overhaul of marriage agencies.
This will clean up marriage services in the city and prevent those from being swindled by such agencies, said an official with the municipal administration for industry and commerce in this south China city.
The administration has also cooperated with the civil affairs bureau in publishing a circular that states marriage agencies must be registered. The circular also stipulates that marriage agencies should not mislead or cheat their clients, or provide matchmaking service that involve foreign nationals, people of Chinese origin in foreign countries, and compatriots from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao on the one side and people in China's interior on the other.
In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, there are more than 100 marriage agencies. Only some forty of these have permits.
An official with Guangzhou Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau said that in the campaign, authorities will issue a new list of marriage agencies, close down agencies that are not registered and implement detailed rules and regulations for such agencies.
Looks like there cleaning up there own back yard,but not much for us .
-
As stated earlier in the thread, GZ ariport is modern and easy to navigate. I would suggest to allow your self a night or two in the city before travel on. Book a hotel at Shamian Island, take a look at the Qing Ping Market it's across the street. Also recommend the night cruise on the Pearl River. The cruise boat leaves 5 minuts walk from Shamian Island. I left a few pics from the river cruise in the photo thread. (If you have not yet chatted directly to your girl, it is probably a good idea to do so. At least a few minutes to make sure she know who you are and that you are going there :) ).
Im sure you will have a great time and a wonderful experience. I had my most amazing trip when i went :)