Gidday guys!

I am back. Is there anything I miss? any new gossip?

Somehow I find that anywhere I went, Sydney Australia still is the best city to be in

Also, Australian beer tastes a lot better than wannabes overseas..

but then again I am biased, I think

Glad to see ya back buddy. Same ol HuntingNut here not much changed
Joe

Sydney ??

Me best mate is up in Newport

Welcome back Gelan......nah mate, no changes...just the usual good natured banter taking place.

Cheers, Vince

gelan good to see ya!! where did ya go, what did ya see? what did you bring us all back???

Welcome back Gelan, nothing new, we just missed yer witty repartee and sagacious wisdom

Welcome back Gelan.

Tracker and I have been stirring up the pot a little, but other than that, it's been pretty slow around here.

Eric

We do what we can

Hey Gelan.
welcome back.

I own the biggest spoon...

What did ya bring us???

Oh yeah...Welcome back (almost forgot my manors)...

I got a flu (not avian ... lucky) anyone want some?
Also, of course after two weeks of travel, I got lots of dirty underwear and socks !!

Gelan

gelandangan wrote:

I got a flu (not avian ... lucky) anyone want some? Also, of course after two weeks of travel, I got lots of dirty underwear and socks !! Gelan

EEEEEEeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww !!!!!!!!!!!


You can keep ya flu, dirty jocks and socks mate.

Now did ya bring us all back a present mate???? Any good stories or maybe some duty free grog?


Cheers, Vince

Yeah!! What Vince said!!!

Well, here is some yarn:
I went to Hongkong, then head inland to Quangdong province of China, then I head back to Hongkong then Taipei, Then back again to Hongkong and then Guangzhou, Hongkong then back to Sydney. All done in 15 days business trip.

It is winter in Aussie, and summer on the other side of equator. So, first thing that got to me is the extreme heat and HUMIDITY of island/delta area of Asian country.
My first day there, I drank over 2 liters of beer . Okay, that is not only because of the heat, but it is my "justification" of not wanting to get stomach bug. Mind you, water there including the bottled ones, sometimes got sediment on it . At least the alcohol in the beer kills some bugs that may harm me. Besides, I like them and I could tell people my justification

Hotels in Hongkong (I stayed in Majestic Hotel in Kowloon and Harbor Plaza in North Point on my different visits) , even a 4 stars rating (AUD$130 / night), is a sham. They are trying to look good but only at the facade, inside, you find that the bed sags, the carpet old, the room only clean where you could easily see it (very dusty in corners and inside drawers), the toilet & shower stinks and the plumbing blocked. What made it worse is that they do not even have complimentary bottle of water, everything must be purchased!!! and Internet costs about $30 a day

Now, in Inland china, I stayed in the Pavilion Towers Shenzhen. It is a 5 stars hotel ($AUD60 / night, yep sixty bucks for 5 stars). They have complimentary broadband, water and great services (at less than half the price).

Funny things is that in Hongkong, girls are not as attractive as the ones in Shenzhen. When asked, I was told that apparently the attractive ones in Hongkong are very quickly swept up by international modelling agency and shipped overseas. Whereas the inland girls do not usually have passport, nor permit (visa,etc) to go oversea.

The amount of people in Shenzhen China is incredible. Shops sizes are about 3meter square (30 feet square to you Bushy) and usually is attended by two or more attendant. Usually, a building of a "wesfield" size (for Aussie standard) shopping mall have over 2000 stalls in it, and is usually sells one genre of product. So, if you are looking for say a mobile phone, you will see over 2000 shops in the same building selling the same item. The way you choose where to buy is to look for a "nice" looking seller that actually smiles at you, they may be willing to talk with you and help you through the language barrier.

To show you the prices differences, a riflescope, coated, mildot, illuminated, 2.5 - 16 x 55 with 3 types of mounts would cost about AUD$15.
A portable DVD player with 10 inch LCD screen and BLUETOOTH plus Infrared headphone connection costs about AUD$50.
A night out with meal to feed 10 people plus beer to drown them cost less than AUD$200
A 4 channels R/C 60cm helicopter that carry a video camera (great for finding animal in the bush ) cost about AUD$200

I will presently stop my narration of my trip, because I have to work. I will continue in installments if there is interest.

HECK YEAH there is interest!! keep going! i find this very interesting! never been overseas so to me this sheds light on a whole new world.. keep it coming!!