China today

[bazzanz]

Have only just returned from 2 1/2 week trip to China which was a totally amazing experience albeit absolutely full on & not to be recommended to anyone who prefers relaxing holidays. Below is a link to a report which does have some fishing related content but also non related comment that some may find of interest, however if mods think it is inappropriate on a fishing site please feel free to delete.

Please scroll down the opening page :-

http://www.completefisher.com/forum/...6161&start=915

Cheers Barry

[b.reelz]

I only looked through the pics, but that looks like an amazing experience!!

Hopefully your stomach was able to handle the trip. Many folks I know who visited China got sick at least once due to the change in "food culture".

[bazzanz]

Originally Posted by b.reelz

I only looked through the pics, but that looks like an amazing experience!!

Hopefully your stomach was able to handle the trip. Many folks I know who visited China got sick at least once due to the change in "food culture".

My wife experienced a dose of the trots BRZ which carried over after we got back home & I had a brief encounter as well. Fortunately their were no "disaster" but when in unfamiliar surroundings it has the potential to result in very embarrassing circumstance particularly on flights but as mentioned managed to avoid such disasters albeit only by the breath of a hair on a couple of occasions.

To further complicate such circumstances almost all public toilets which can be either squat type or raised do not supply toilet paper so like a true boy scout need to be prepared by remembering to BYO whenever venturing out.

[dallasdb]

Pictures looked great bazzanz!

[b.reelz]

Sounds like you had multiple adventures on that trip ; )

[bazzanz]

Originally Posted by b.reelz

Sounds like you had multiple adventures on that trip ; )

Yep it was certainly an eye opener & the best is yet to come .... wait until you read about the entertainment venues, some of the shows were mind blowing.

[bazzanz]

Trip to China report now complete at :-

http://www.completefisher.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16161&postdays=0&postorder=asc&sta rt=915

Scroll down the opening page, until posts on China appear on pages 62 & 63.

[Kadaverie15]

Awesome pics!!

[bazzanz]

The best part was that it was so incredibly affordable @ approx. $NZ2500 + approx. $US1700
inclusive of :-

15 days in China
Return air fares to China
Three internal flights & coach transport
A 4 day river cruise up the Yangtze river ( incl upgrade )
Tips & gratuities built in however additional at the time generally expected.
All other transport such a coach etc.
Entry to all the attraction & shows mentioned in the report.
All meals including hotel breakfasts
Accommodation in 5 star hotels
All taxes
A trip in the high speed bullet train ... 400 kph was mentioned. altho we missed that due flight rescheduling caused by airport flooding.

Tipping altho readily accepted by you guys in the US is alien to our culture in NZ where it is not obligatory, however staff are mostly paid a fair wage, which is no doubt reflected in the bill. So when overseas we have a problem dealing with it inasmuch as trying to decide who, when & how much but for the life of me cannot understand why you guys feel obliged to tip barbers or taxi drivers In my experience cab drivers in the States are often at best offhand & at worst quite rude so why tip individuals that are so inclined ?? As for hairdressers & barbers you guys pay four times as much as we do here, so why do you feel the need to tip on top of that?

[bazzanz]

Some staggering facts re China :-


The world population is conservatively accepted to be = 8 billion

Put them all in a line then every 1/100 = British, every 1/1500 = NZ

Every 1/5 will be Chinese. = one quarter of the world population.

China pop = X 5 the USA.

Farmers in China = one in three of their population.

Pigs or pork = China has over 50% of the world pop & eats them all.

Ducks = far more than 50%

This info courtesy of Joe Bennett in his book " Where underpants come from" which anyone that wants to gain an insight into just how increasingly powerful China will become, absolutely should read even if it is based on 8 yo info.

As hordes of the population are constantly moving from the country areas to the cities to join in the exploding manufacturing sector it is not very far off world domination. Having gained world domination there is no reason it should not retain it for many centuries to come, if not for however many years are left to our species, because :-

Already most of us are clothed by China, Shod by China, supplied hardware, machinery, toys etc etc by China, & eventually cars, trucks, aircraft etc. Most western countries are effectively in debt to China & will no doubt become increasingly so. If China was to recall the debt the US owes then the US would virtually be bankrupted but thankfully they can ill afford to consider doing so for the time being, as would then lose their biggest customer.

For a couple of millennia China lead the world in technology along with pretty well everything else & looks like it is on the brink of doing so once again.

However the MOST amazing factor is the number of us in the Western world ( including NZ ) that consider China to be a backward nation, comprised primarily of sweat shops with the workers being paid with & surviving on a bowl of rice per day. This is not to say such conditions have not existed & do not to a lesser degree still remain in some pockets of the industries. however these remaining bastions are invariably fast being converted into high technology driven industries, still well capable of producing goods etc. at a more than competitive price. Plus if push came to shove, China being largely self sufficient, does not need to import hardly anything for their domestic market & anything they do if need be they could do without ... how many other countries can say the same ?

Admittedly they need to import certain commodities such as ore from Aust. raw cotton from the US etc. to make up their current China produced shortfall to feed their mammoth export industries but even so still manage to sell it back at a profit in the form of a refined, value added product, to the country from whence it came & elsewhere.

Many may consider, that this is a non fishing related topic therefore inappropriate to appear on a fishing forum. However the reality is that development in China is going to affect fishing / boating in most, if not all countries along with almost everything else, probably far sooner than we realize & there is no way we can stop it ,even if we wanted to.