China

GELDY

Hi Geldy.

There are no more Team Sky Poker Qualifiers, the last one was Sunday just gone.

The VLV position is currently unresolved, as there are some technical issues to resolve.

How was China? Tell us about the interesting things - the Railways, Trains, Bridges, that sort of stuff. And the food. Can you get Fray bentos Steak & Kidney Pie or Pudding there? Or KFC? 

GELDY

Hi, any more TSP qualifier tournaments left?

Also any update on when VLV starts?

sorry if answered during the last month - I tried catching up on the forum posts but with TommyD active on the forum again I didn't get any further than his.

MattBates

In Response to Re: TSP qualifiers / VLV:

Hi Geldy. There are no more Team Sky Poker Qualifiers, the last one was Sunday just gone. The VLV position is currently unresolved, as there are some technical issues to resolve. How was China? Tell us about the interesting things - the Railways, Trains, Bridges, that sort of stuff. And the food. Can you get Fray bentos Steak & Kidney Pie or Pudding there? Or KFC?  
Posted by Tikay10

No pressure with your responses Gedly but there are 2 picks left for TSP so a good train/bridge related post might put you to the top of Tikays list!

GELDY

In Response to Re: TSP qualifiers / VLV:

In Response to Re: TSP qualifiers / VLV : No pressure with your responses Gedly but there are 2 picks left for TSP so a good train/bridge related post might put you to the top of Tikays list!
Posted by MattBates

Thanks Matt. However Tikay doesn't need to be offering anything to get a response from me - have a few interesting stories which I am happy to share.

Lambert180

I'd be interested to hear Geldy.China is definitely on my list of places I'd love to visit, what parts of China did you get to?

Tikay10

In Response to Re: TSP qualifiers / VLV:

I'd be interested to hear Geldy.China is definitely on my list of places I'd love to visit, what parts of China did you get to?
Posted by Lambert180

Yeah, what train stations & airports did he visit?

unknown_username

I travelled from

Guangzhou - Hung Hom in 1994 

They were laying a second track by hand, without machinery or lifting gear!

100 labourers carrying 90m cwr, then welding it into position! 
An eye opener compared to my dealings with the Area Civil Engineers Peterborough

Tikay10

In Response to Re: TSP qualifiers / VLV:

I travelled from Guangzhou - Hung Hom in 1994  They were laying a second track by hand, without machinery or lifting gear! 100 labourers carrying 90m cwr, then welding it into position!  An eye opener compared to my dealings with the Area Civil Engineers Peterborough
Posted by DUNMIDOSH

For the uniniated, such as JamieLou, "cwr" is "continuously welded rail".

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_(rail_transport)

This site is a belter.

http://www.grandadsez.co.uk/railways/continuous-rail.htm


It begins.....


Older readers (and those visiting heritage train sites such as the WaterCress line) will know that a train journey was (or is) punctuated with a rhythmic sound as the train's wheels went (goes) over rail joints. Clicka-click-click, Clicka-click-click, Clicka-click-click;

percival09

Sorry to interrupt your train trash talk, but I'd really appreciate it if the VLV packages make a return next year. Thanks

Wacko90

I was on an incredible train in Poland. So different to the UK! Travelled from a place called hell too! Definsitely interested to hear some stories of China, spill all Geldy!

GELDY

Some context: spent the majority of my time in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in the province of Yunnan in the SW of China, bordering Laos & Burma. But travelled via Shanghai. Two totally different concepts of China. Yunnan province is one of the poorest areas of China, with over a third of the population belonging to ethnic minorities. Shanghai, meanwhile, is the largest city proper in the world, and China's most importand industrial and commercial city. Chalk & cheese, or in this case fresh air & dead pigs.

percival09

In Response to China:

Some context: spent the majority of my time in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in the province of Yunnan in the SW of China, bordering Laos & Burma. But travelled via Shanghai. Two totally different concepts of China. Yunnan province is one of the poorest areas of China, with over a third of the population belonging to ethnic minorities. Shanghai, meanwhile, is the largest city proper in the world, and China's most importand industrial and commercial city. Chalk & cheese, or in this case fresh air & dead pigs.
Posted by GELDY

Everything that is wrong with the world in one sentence. Congratz

GELDY

train stories from Shanghai & Yunnan

Shanghai has the world's fastest train in regular commercial service - the maglev train from Pudong airport.

Yunnan has the only metre-guage railway in China, the remnants of the Sino-Vietnamese railway built by the French

GELDY

In Response to Re: China:

In Response to China : Everything that is wrong with the world in one sentence. Congratz
Posted by percival09

how so - thanks to the Western financial crisis the world would be in a deep depression if it wasn't for the Chinese bailing us out? 

rancid

Always wondered why leaves can stop trains running !

percival09

In Response to Re: China:

In Response to Re: China : how so - thanks to the Western financial crisis the world would be in a deep depression if it wasn't for the Chinese bailing us out? 
Posted by GELDY

nothing wrong with China specifically - it's everyones problem now, thanks to the West. Globalisation and all that. Apparently money is more important than people. 

GELDY

Shanghai maglev - so smooth - just beautiful

GELDY

also smooth were the sharks swimming up & down, up & down, in the lounge bar we visited in Kunming.

they were somewhat smoother than the lounge music. Thanks to shazam I now know my wife and I were listening to Richard Cheese's "Sunny side of the moon" at 4pm in the afternoon. Look it up - another great American import "xxx music". Thank goodness the staff couldn't speak English.

FlyingDagg

A proper blog post would be fascinating Geldy if your up to it. 268 mph is mindboggling.

GELDY

Food: You can get the best food in the world in China, whether Chinese or not. Even out of the big cities you can eat well - and you can eat badly as well!

In Xishangbanna I turned down the donkey stew, but did eat the Ostrich Carpaccio. I was very sick the following day - but I truly don't think it was the Ostrich - more likely the tuna sashimi I had at dinner.

GELDY

In Shanghai, you can get great European food as served at Jason Atherton's Table No 1. After all he is a Michelin starred protege of Gordon Ramsey. But under £20 for his 3 course lunch was crazy.

unknown_username

I stayed at the White Hart hotel Guangzhou so many floors my room was above the clouds!

Have a guess what the meal of the day was?

Barnsley Pork chop! the best I've ever tasted!

GELDY

Sichuan Cuisine is great if you like it hot and spicy - with chilli peppers all over the place - our favorite

and if you want to try something new.....

how about chicken feet, intestines, fish heads, pigeon, rat, snake, turtle etc etc

and as for KFC - it's everywhere - as befitting the first Western Restaurant Chain to open in China

my wife didn't have much recollection of our previous trip to Kunming - all she could remember was:

1. there were lots of KFC's

2. some guy getting thrown out of a liquor store into the street, wild west style. to which she always adds "and it wasn't my husband" as if I would make a habit of that!

GELDY

In Response to Re: TSP qualifiers / VLV:

I stayed at the White Hart hotel Guangzhou so many floors my room was above the clouds! Have a guess what the meal of the day was? Barnsley Pork chop! the best I've ever tasted!
Posted by DUNMIDOSH

nice

We were in Guangzhou 25 years ago - no sign of Pork Chops - in fact by the time I'd finished reading the specials on the menu I was finding it very difficult not to vomit there and then - rat embryo anyone. Food there has improved enormously since then.

GELDY

Meanwhile general Chinese infrastructure is pretty impressive

great roads, railways and bridges

driving not so hot though

here is the view we had after our car stopped, and they drive on the right btw.

our driver had insisted in doing a chicken run around a blind bend in heavy rain, only to have a jam around the corner. he braked, lost control, and we skidded across the road towards the oncoming traffic and the 100m drop into the valley. fortunately the oncoming traffic was able to weave around us as we hurtled at them, and we stopped before going over the edge.

and the reason for the jam

rancid

Stick to chicken chow mein, you can't go wroung )

GELDY

as well as potential car crashes - we were also very worried about H7N9

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-bird-flu-h7n9-problem-2013-4

so, no, mr rancid, no chicken chow mein thank you.

although the chicks were cute

and the pork was fresh - although as they had just removed 16,000 dead pigs that had floated downstream into Shanghai, we were a bit worried about that as well.

GELDY

so what did I miss most while in China - 3 things

1. a soft bed 

2. a decent gin & slimline tonic

3. skypoker

(other than seeing my kids of course)

GELDY

1. a soft bed

i don't even like soft beds - medium firm is my preference. but i'm speaking from a European perspective. in china a pile of bricks would be regarded as a soft bed. seriously. even in western hotels the beds are hard, and as for the chinese-owned ones!

so i have to put the 2nd pillow, if there is one, on the bed under my hips, just to be able to sleep. i would rather sleep on a hump-backed bridge than a pile of bricks

GELDY

sorry for the delay - been playing all 15 tournies in the community night - it's a brutal schedule - 8 running at the same time at one stage - but all gone now

GELDY

2. a decent gin & slimline tonic

very difficult to find a bar that does slimline drinks in China, even in the big cities.

outside the big cities, very difficult to find anyone who knows how to make a G&T. they tend to put a measure of gin in a large glass, then fill it up with tonic. now i know i like my G&Ts strong, but you can't taste the gin in their version at all. we found a solution to this problem. drink long island iced teas instead, which i can now ask for in chinese, and be understood! remarkably LIITs are often on the drinks list and not much more expensive than G&Ts. However as they contain 4 times as much spirit than a G&T, but are served in the same size glass, there is less mixer, and hence you get a drink way stronger. In fact the one night we drank three of them (after our first scary car trip) we got kicked out of the taxi we were trying to take back to the hotel! we didn't argue - you don't argue with chinese taxi drivers - and the next one along was happy enough to take us. he saw us coming though and wanted to overcharge us - but i didn't mind paying the extra 50p he wanted.

in supermarkets out of town gin is very difficult to find - instead there are 100 different types of white spirit, the best of which tastes like recycled paraffin. drinkable vodka is easier to get, if expensive, so we drink vodka & coke instead (and coke light can be found in the bigger supermarkets).