China can be gross sometimes
Since I’ve been here I’ve seen a parade of disgusting everywhere I go. It’s relentless and it’s exhausting. Here are just some of the notable ones: As I came up the escalator from the subway, a woman was crouched on …
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The Phone Situation
You’re going to need one. You’re going to want a smartphone. And you’re going to want a data plan and GPS. China, like the rest of the intelligent world, uses GSM for cell phones, and the cell and provider are …
Strange walking tour of Shenzhen
If you look at a map of Shenzhen, you’ll see the Shekuo area is a huge jutting out of land into the sea, and there is a lot of coastline. I thought I’d take a long walk and see how …
Public transportation is great for EVERYTHING
This is exactly what it looks like. A public bus being used to transport a few dressers and shelves. I can’t imagine the bus driver was amused, or the other passengers happy that they had to navigate around this set. …
Getting by without talking
I’ve decided that it’s totally possible to get by without talking at all, and in fact may be preferable to trying to speak. When I try to initiate a transaction and say Hello in Mandarin, people assume that I can …
Don’t Just Roll The Dice – eBook about pricing
I recently read a short book called Don’t Just Roll The Dice, available as a free pdf. The book is about different pricing models and how they work, why they work, the psychology of the different schemes, and how to …
KFC
KFC is HUGE in China. You’ll find one on just about every other block. They have delivery bikes, a breakfast menu, and many are open 24 hours. One night, partly because I was tired and hungry and didn’t want to …
Hello looking handbag watch?
The most popular phrase in the Luohu shopping market is “Hello looking handbag watch?” Sometimes this is shortened to “Hello looking?” or mixed up with “You buy glasses?” Where the electronics market is filled with booths of people who sit …
A-Tech Product Engineering
On the recommendation of a mentor, a few of us took a quick trip to a prototyping company called A-Tech. The company’s focus was building prototypes of toys. With big names for clients such as Hasbro, Mattel, Tiger Electronics, Hallmark, …
Being a Mandaridiot
My Mandarin is awful. I just spent the whole subway ride, about thirty minutes, with my little book on Mandarin, trying to figure out what to say to order my buns this morning for breakfast. I hate that every day …