China blog by Kristof

It could happen anywhere … and probably more chance of getting it in China : food poisening. It sounds worse then the sickness itself : the food is unable to be processed by your stomach and finds the nearest exit, both ways. Followed by sweating, fainting, etc.

Thus, my gf called the ambulance and they dropped me off at a government-hospital in Shanghai. I was placed in a rather big room, surrounded by about 20 other patients with all kinds of diseases. No pillow, no blankets, just the basics… The doctor doesn’t speak english and was about to treat me with injections and next he questioned me in order to make a diagnosis.

After a few hours I had to go to the toilet and when I returned I had to throw up a couple of times. While sitting with my knees in my own vomit, not even one nurse or doctor showed up to help me out. Luckily a friend who was with me, assisted me.

Few hours later, back to the toilet. This time, on the return I fainted. My gf asked the two doctors, sitting behind a desk, to help me out. They lifted up their head, looked at my gf and then simply continued their writing job. They acted as if they didn’t hear her, as if she was ‘air’.

Anyways, i recoverd well, but those hospitals from the government in China are terrible. You’re better of with a private hospital : cleaner, helpfull nurses, certified doctors and at least they speak your language…

Chinese are famous for copying and duplicating. How about chinese taking advantage of the millions spent on marketing by those famous brands?!

KFG instead of KFC
IVIKE instead of Nike
ADADAS instead of Adidas
PUNK instead of PUMA
OKAY instead of OLAY
SQNY instead of SONY

See pictures and read all about it on : Chinese stealing famous brands

You can find full-service “massage parlors” and “hair salons” everywhere in China, even with your eyes closed. On the other hand, prostitution is officially illegal. Also, in China, sex is a taboo subject.

The park manager, Lu Xiaoqing, had planned to have on hand naked human sculptures, giant models of genitals, sex technique “workshops” and a photography exhibition about the history of sex in China.

Read more about an attempt to open the first sex theme park in China. Soon, after it was quashed by local officials, well before construction was completed : China Sex Theme Park

Who said chinese people are not creative ?

Chinese border police Tuesday arrested a man for selling fake influenza A/H1N1 medicine to foreign ship crews in Shanghai. The man, surnamed Liu, is a rural migrant worker from central China’s Hunan Province, police said. Liu confessed that he wanted to cash in on the fears over the fast-spreading A/H1N1 flu to sell so called “miracle” medicine to foreign crews at the Shanghai port.

More about this article : Chinese man held over fake A/H1N1 flu medicine

Speaking a different language is not easy and it’s obvious that one makes mistakes while speaking a language other than your native language. However, if you create signs, publish documentation or write stuff ; you’re supposed to have a native speaker double-check your creations. Chinese don’t have this discipline. That’s why you have so many “chinglish” expressions…. An example of chinglish : signs that write “Cripple’s lane” rather than “Wheelchair path,” or “Deformed man toilet” instead of “Handicapped restroom.”

Oliver Radtke even wrote books about this chinglish topic : chinglish and chinglish signs

China exagerates in its policy to fight the swine flu. Suppose, at this moment in time, you’re a mexican passport-holder and located in China, you would probably be quarantained for the single reason that you’re a mexican… Swine Flu in China

But then on the other hand, the British International School Shanghai considered it the perfect moment to set a new worldrecord hand-shaking : 5,102 students shaked hands while there is an worldwide outbreak of swine flu : World record hand shaking

I suppose no Mexicans were allowed to join this event

Zonet opgezet voor wie zelf wat wil bloggen over zijn of haar reis schrijf je reisverhaal

If you’re about to quit smoking, or still hesitating ; here’s a good one : Quit Smoking in October

Lol : Barack joins Quitober (1st of april)

There are a few water towns near Shanghai.
Most known would be Suzhou. To get to Suzhou from Shanghai, it takes about an hour with the train. Of course you should see the old town in Suzhou! There are also 2 gardens in Suzhou and a lot of water…

Another nice water town would be Xitang. To get to Xitang from Shanghai, it takes about an hour with the train. Xitang is one of the less touristic water towns near Shanghai ; while Zhouzhuang would probably be the most commercial watertown of all of the existing water towns in the world. Never the less, Xitang has a romantic atmosphere with authentic Chinese residents. People are friendly and certainly not trying to get into your pockets in Xitang. You can take a small cruise on the river with those ancient-looking, typical chinese boats.

There are all sorts of street jobs in China. The most common street jobs are of course the garbage man, and the cleaners, also policemen and other officials populate the streets of China. But once in a while you can still see less common street jobs performed in the streets of China.

Let’s start with the popcorn-man : he heats up an oval object that resembles a black-coloured bomb. Inside you have corn and when the pressure is high enough (and the popcorn is ready), he releases the pressure. At that moment you hear a loud explosion, luckily nobody gets hurt. The popcorn-men learned to inform everyone in the street by screaming out his lungs before opening the “bomb”.

Another street-job in China would be the men/women selling potatoes on the street. You can easily recognize them as they heat the potatoes on top of an oil-cylinder (how do you call these things ?!). Anyways, see picture below