[manolin]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

And as mayank mentioned, behind all the glitz, the Chinese cities are high on pollution and the people are not too enthused by the political system as well. Corruption is common among the higher ranks, but the common man is less affected by it, unlike the case in India.

Rather the common man has no ability to say anything about it in China. The same 4-5 families rule China. They can do what they want with it. Its nobility system, who choose the king between them once in a while.

[mayankjha1806]

Lot of us go to China with an impression that the electronics would be cheaper there. At least i had this impression and initially went looking for some Jazzy phones that i could buy cheap.

Everyone else that i met in China (Non Indians) were either using a phones from Samsung/LG or iPhone (Apart from other well known brands like Sony etc).

When asked the response was "They feel the quality of these products is much better".

China manufacturers lot of electronics. Some of very high quality and some pathetic. One needs to be aware on how to figure this out. I am posting some pictures as an example.

I am highlighting two of the products from China, one way better and the other just plain pethetic. Although it is difficult to understand the level of quality from outside. The first one is a laptop speaker set made in China and they are of awesome quality.





The other one is a simple clock. Very good to be used at night, were it shows the time with LED and is small, good to carry and keep it anywhere. It takes in 4xAAA Battery. It looks awesome from outside and i ended up buying it. This week i put in new batteries in this clock and with my past experience i was expecting these batteries to last months (if not years). You would be surprised how long the battery lasted (Exactly 3 days flat). This is how it shows up when the battery is new.



In approximately 3 days flat the battery drains and the display becomes like this.

[RGK]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Nothing is missing in us, trust me.
If i have to summarize. If i was asked to choose between Democracy+Free Press+Independent Judiciary Vs Awesome Infrastructure Development. I would choose the first one on the blink of an eye. One needs to understand building the fist one takes generations and is more time consuming as compared to Infrastructure.

Totally agreed, democracy is the pillar of a nation and hence India (with millions of languages, castes) is regarded great even though we have not developed as expected. At the same time, we have started exploiting the nation under the name of democracy.
I am not that much interested in a town where there are Big malls, Mac D, KFC, parks, fountain, Wireless networks, 4G, metro, Highways, etc, but definitely expect basics like good quality roads, drainage, drinking water, power and primary health care (only these kind of basics). Somehow we did not focus on this before other developments and there is not a single town or city in our country with these basics completely fulfilled. This is the reason for my frustration..

Photos are amazing. Thanks

Mayank/Anshuman - Please do share info on Chinese Railways.

PS: Most of the electronic products are designed in US, Europe or Japan and executed in China

[balajird]

Originally Posted by RGK

Most of the electronic products are designed in US, Europe or Japan and executed in China

Probably a very good example of how an excellent design could be spoiled when poorly executed. We keep stating this in our technology that its not a "good design" that gets hailed but a clinical execution bringing the design in the right shape to the hand that gets appreciated.

Thanks all for your inputs on China to "low awareness folks" like me, much appreciated.

[Arch-Angel]

Nice photologue. Never knew GZ looked this good. Nice to see the people there too. From my friends who have been to a few cities like HK and Dongguan( sometimes the names of Chinese cities gives me a hard time), they said that though the cities had good infrastructure, It somehow lacked that Indian feel we all are so used to. They both reiterated the same thing that though the places can be visited, there is no better place to live than India itself.

[petroheadd]

Mayank your pictures are fabulous , even i travel to China almost twice a year. Haizhu district near Pearl River is the best place to stay , since i know basic chinese by now it is not causing much of a problem.

Off my last few visits i have made some things very compulsory which makes living in China easier.

SIM Cards: These are easily available at any Seven11 for RMB:100 with 2GB internet activated , they have a validity of 2 years , call charges to India cost approx Rs.4 a minute. Internet on the phone proves very handy in case of emergency.

Google Maps: When abroad I prefer to live like the locals , travel in local transport, shop where the locals do , I often loose my way and Google Maps are very handy , GPS is more accurate out there then in India

Shopping in Guangzhou: There are many fancy places to shop in Guangzhou, its a shoppers paradise , you name it and you get it , however if you want a more bang for money shop at places where the local people shop , shopkeepers here do not handle foreign customers offten and you can crack a good deal with them.

Some awesome Places I discovered :
Renming Zhonglu : This place is very near to the famous Beijing Lu , RenmingZhongLu is not very famous with tourists. There are mainly street shops , hawkers, fashion clothing , cheap electronics , shoes , etc.
I managed to get some great deals here like a pair of boots for RMB35(Approx 270 INR), pair of jeans for RMB 30, dresses for my better half RMB 40-60 (Store YiYi very nice collection)

Beijing Lu: This place is very famous with foreigners , so shopkeeps are better prepared here , they do not bargain easily and you might notice that you have paid an amount for which a particular item is avaialable in india too. Be ready to fight and bargain .

Onelink International Plaza: Very flashy , awesome products , high prices , if you bargain nicely you will be able to buy things at 1/4th of what they quote. They usually bargain if you buy in wholesale , outside onelink is a street market which deals in lightning products and seasonal items (christmas, haloween , new year items)

Eating out in Guangzhou: Till date i have discovered two places merely which serve authentic indian food . Food tastes like in India , staff are Indians & Pakistanis , they speak hindi . Because i am a pure vegetarian i didnt have many options too.
Swagat Restaurant and Zyka were the two places i had food .

Transport: I preffered the MTR and busses to travel , saved money and was a different experience. Busses can be a bit confusing if you dont know basic chinese.

Nearby Visits: Whenever I go to Guangzhou i prefer visiting a few nearby places like Zhuhai , HongKong, Macau , etc . Bullet trains are cool and very less time consuming , they do not pinch the pocket either and travelling in bullet train is a must atleast once.

[Ironhood]

Amazing pics! This just enlightened my knowledge a bit about China. I always thought about Shanghai and then the offshore Hongkong when it came to talking about China. Guangzhou seems to be better than any city in India. Even with this huge population, it seems to be well planned, with the lane for cyclists, road side trees, foot paths, no dust / pollution. Looks like its just built now. Moreover, the people behave like literates. Great one.

[rxpaul]

A great photologue. I have always been curious about China, but have never yet had a chance to visit. In Singapore & Malaysia i've met a lot of chinese origin people, and they seem to be very hard working & also very health conscious.

Now some questions :
1. Have all the chinese adopted western style dressing, or is it only in the cities ? In India the sari & the salwar is still prevailent/prominant in the cities. In the chinese villages do they still use their traditional dresses ?
2. While we have been seeing all the wonderful buildings & infrastructure, don't they have rural areas/ villages ? How is it in the outskirts ? Can some one post pictures of some villages.
3. In places like Thailand & the Phillipines, i have seen manicured cities sites but also areas or localities having (India style) slums. Are THERE NO SLUMS IN CHINA ??

Sorry for so many questions, but I am extremely curious !!

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by rxpaul

1. Have all the chinese adopted western style dressing, or is it only in the cities ? In India the sari & the salwar is still prevailent/prominant in the cities. In the chinese villages do they still use their traditional dresses ?

I have no idea about how it is in Chinese Villages, what i did see was in Cities most were wearing trousers/jeans or some other western dresses, do not remember anyone wearing traditional Chinese dress, Maybe i was not paying enough attention to women dresses .

2. While we have been seeing all the wonderful buildings & infrastructure, don't they have rural areas/ villages ? How is it in the outskirts ? Can some one post pictures of some villages.
[/quote]

They do, and the areas were similar to what we have in India. We did go to (or passed through) some such areas but never stopped. I will search if there are any pictures, my guess is there wont be as while passing we were on the bus and we did not stop.

3. In places like Thailand & the Phillipines, i have seen manicured cities sites but also areas or localities having (India style) slums. Are THERE NO SLUMS IN CHINA ??
[/quote]

Yes there are, but they are hidden somewhere were its quiet difficult to get to. We never got to such areas, never thought about getting there, also were never offered.

I am done with this PL, Next in line is TL/PL of Italy and Dubai

[Papa Blaze]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Nothing is missing in us, trust me. As soon as you land you get amazed with the infrastructure that has been built and feel we should have done the same in our country. If you just roam around as tourist you take this impression back and feel everything is awesome in China. Only if you have local contacts and start openly discussing what are the problems their country is facing, then the reality sinks in, that all this infrastructure is definitely good but then would we want it to done in the way they have done.

*All that glitter is not gold*

Agree with your view point there. I see a similar trend in Dubai or UAE as a whole. The frantic tales of many who bit the bullet only to see themselves imprisoned with no hope. Slave City a term used to describe Dubai.

Well, we have our own set of problems to deal with.