Re: [Linking-open-data] Birthday in Beijing

Kjetil Kjernsmo wrote:
> On Thursday 03 April 2008, Yves Raimond wrote:
>   
>> Btw, if anyone knows a good place (it is my first time in Beijing, so
>> i will completely rely on external opinions for the choice of the
>> place :) )
>>     
>
> Just be really careful in making sure you understand the menu and prices 
> properly. I got into a tea shop near Tianemen square, and a really tiny 
> cup of tea costed 50 Yuan, i.e. € 6, and I took a whole "tea ceremony", 
> in the belief that the menu said the whole ceremony would cost 50 Yuan, 
> which would have been a reasonable price. Beijing deeply disappointed 
> me, and you have to be very careful, and trust no-one. It was not at 
> all like that further west in China, where I spent most of my time.
>
> Kjetil
>   
Last time I was in Beijing about a decade ago I had the advantage of 
having a friend who stayed there studying Kung-Fu and Chinese language 
for 2 years and I had similar experience: Many restaurants had vastly 
lower prices for same items in menu written in Chinese. Often what would 
happen was we'd sit down, look at the menu (in English) which would get 
my friend *very* annoyed. We'd get up to leave, the waiter would come 
over to see what's the matter, and when he complained in Chinese about 
the ridiculous prices, produce a menu in local language and pricing.

(This friend is about 2m tall with long blond hair and played guitar 
with a local metal band there so that may have offered a bit of leverage 
as well ho-ho)

This sort of experience, of course, is not unique to China - I've seen 
similar pricing in Bulgarian hotels and restaurants, for example.

Tianan men and anything else in vicinity of the forbidden city are, of 
course, prime real-estate so prices will reflect that.

Taxi drivers would be about as bad as they nowadays are here in 
Amsterdam. Better know how much the ride *should* cost and make a deal 
about the price before getting in. Have a pen and paper ready and be 
good with smiles and gesturing. I must shamefully admit I remember 
resorting to the one-finger (or two-finger for you in the UK) gesture 
and worse more than once with these dudes, though.

Due to the Olympics there's some kind of a clean-up with these practices 
going on and my information is somewhat outdated so take the above with 
a pinch of salt,

(Oh, and it'll be my birthday while there as well :) )

Yrjänä


-- 
Yrjana Rankka            | ghard@openlinksw.com
Developer, Virtuoso Team | http://www.openlinksw.com
                         | Making Technology Work For You

Received on Friday, 11 April 2008 12:23:56 UTC