A view of the beachfront at Koh Samet island.

The internet hardly needs another travel blogger post on Thailand. The word got out a long time ago about how great of a place Thailand is to travel to. But one destination that is worth mentioning is Koh Samet. If you are a budget traveler and limited with time, Koh Samet is just a 4 hour jaunt from Bangkok, and provides a similar tropical scene to the the more popular tourist spots like Phuket. Flights from Bangkok to the southern islands (like Phuket and Ko Samui) run about $300 USD round trip on Thai Airways, and though a train costs much less, overnight train travel is not always ideal on vacations.

Beachfront dining lines the coast at Koh Samet-- with both Western and Thai offerings.

After staying in Bangkok for a few nights, I was looking for a shorter (and cheaper) trip to experience Thailand’s beaches– so Koh Samet was the perfection option. After 3 hours by bus and 1 hour by ferry, I was on the beautiful island of Koh Samet. Like most islands in Thailand, Koh Samet is known for its warm turquoise waters, tiki-bar night life, and probably the best part: waking up to breakfast on the beach every morning. A basic American-style breakfast costs $3 USD– and Thai food is even cheaper. There are a number of different accomodations on Koh Samet, ranging from the exclusive resort of Ao Prao, to fully equipped bungalow style units for $40 USD (1200 baht) a night. If you’re willing to rough it a bit, you can even find basic bungalows for $15-20 a night.

Koh Samet just before sunset

Since so many people who live in Bangkok weekend in Koh Samet, the island can get very busy on Friday and Saturday nights. If time is not an issue, going during the week is a better option.

Koh Samet has a tamer nightlife scene than the famous spots like Phuket, but there are plenty of "buckets" to go around.

Most people spend a fair amount of time in Bangkok when they travel, and for good reason. The capital city is a warm blend of exotic colors, impressive buildings, and international flare. In addition to experiencing the city’s nightlife and major tourist spots, there are also a number of cooking schools catering to tourists.  I went to Silom Thai Cooking School, and the 1000 baht was certainly worth the experience of food shopping at a local market and cooking up several unique Thai dishes.

Preparing vegetables and spices for a cooking class in Bangkok.

Coconut Chicken soup... made by me.

A few basic pointers for Koh Samet and Bangkok

• When you are traveling from Bangkok to Koh Samet, get the round-trip bus and ferry tickets– and don’t purchase accommodation at the pier before boarding the ferry. They will rip you off.
• The exchange rate is currently $1 USD to 31 baht. Bangkok, and most of Thailand is quite inexpensive, with shared hostel accommodations available for $15 a night in Bangkok. Food is excellent and cheap– even in tourist spots, a full Thai meal won’t cost more than $5-10 USD.
• There are lots of interesting people–from all corners of the world– who live and travel in Thailand. Hostels and guest houses are a great choice for single travelers looking to meet up with people.
• Thai is a tonal, and difficult language to learn. Thankfully, staff at hotels, restaurants, and other tourist places speak good English. I rarely had an issue with the language barrier.

Colorful architecture at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

The Thailand equivalent to the Pentagon.

Traveling to Bangkok and Koh Samet is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

Local Environment

One of the biggest drawbacks to teaching (at the university level) in China is that most of the universities are in the outskirts of town, often times in entirely different areas than their name would lead you to believe. The universities locate in these areas because the cost of land is much cheaper. Usually only the best university in each city will be located directly downtown. Typically, your university will be anywhere from 30-90 minutes from the closest major city. Unfortunately, life in these undeveloped outskirts where you’ll be living is far from desirable. You’ll often be surrounded by poverty and substandard facilities. Usually the upside to not living in a big city is that you can enjoy a quiet lifestyle; however, most of these outskirt areas are under industrial development—which makes for a loud and smoggy environment. It’s advisable to know the exact location where you will be living and teaching before signing a contract. Be sure to find out what the commute will be (both by taxi and public transportation), since you’ll most likely be taking both.

One way you can remedy the problem of a lackluster environment is by renting an apartment in the downtown area. Though, the policy of universities in China is to only offer on-campus apartments to their foreign teachers, which means you will have to pay for this on your own. But you can make some extra money tutoring students, which can help defray (or entirely cover) the costs of renting your own place. Most Chinese universities have teacher busses that go from the downtown area to their campus, so you wouldn’t necessarily have to take a city bus to commute to work each day if you decided to live downtown.

Education Level & Classroom Environment

Asian style education often conjures up images of strict and efficient methods of education in the minds of Westerners. You should throw those perceptions out the door before you come to China as not to distort your expectations when you arrive. In general, Chinese universities pale in comparison to their Western counterparts. They are poorly run; poorly planned for, and offer substandard facilities for their students. Even universities in the north of China often do not have heating inside the classrooms. It’s normal for teachers to wear long johns under their pants.

Student’s English levels will vary considerably depending on what type of students you get, but it’s not uncommon to get students who only know a handful of English words. Despite learning English all their life, most students are still at a very basic level. Your best case scenario will be that you get all English majors who are generally invested in their major, while your worst case scenario will be getting all non-English majors (usually technical majors) who are only in your class to fill a university-mandated requirement.

Many foreign teacher’s are often shocked by the appalling lack of preparation at Chinese universities. Almost everything is done at the last minute and without the quality and care you may be accustomed to.

Since most foreign teachers in China are there only temporarily, the biggest concern that  teachers face is their living environment. To get the most out of your experience in China, I recommend choosing a city that suits your personal tastes (like Xi’an if your into history and traditional culture or Shanghai if you like energetic, modern cities), and making accommodations to find an apartment within the city. If you want to know more about what it is like to teach English in China, check out my frequently asked questions post.

Art of Backpacking, which is run by a former colleague of mine, also did a more comprehensive review of university teaching in China.

Downsides To Teaching University English In China is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

All the 4 and 5 star hotels in the major cities generally offer a Thanksiving-inspired, Western style buffet. But at the Sheraton in Xiamen, there was a lot more than just turkey. For 228 RMB (includes service charge), there was what seemed like endless stations of Western style food. Some of the best included pizza, a make-your-own burrito station, steak, oysters, grilled shrimp, ice cream, creme brulee, and cheesecake. There was even Korean Kimchi, Japanese Sushi, and Beijing roast duck.

I did something I’ve never done before on Thanksgiving, and that’s start off my feast with a beef burrito and a couple slices of pizza. For all the adjustments I have had to make in China, this wasn’t so bad.

What’s surprising is that even though the buffet is in honor of the American tradition of Thanksgiving, it is mostly wealthy Chinese who show up. In total, it was about 80% Chinese, 20% Western, and an even smaller proportion of those Westerners being Americans. In my group of foreign teachers, half weren’t from America. After all, who isn’t looking for an excuse to come enjoy a massive buffet of Western food in China?

Thanksgiving Day Burrito is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

Some things we’ll be covering:

• The best way to find a job
• What to expect when you get there
• Is teaching English hard?
• What the total compensation package looks like
• Some problems you might encounter
• How to make the most out of your time

If you can’t see it live, we’ll also have a recording of the webinar.

Teaching English Abroad Webinar- This Saturday 11/19/2011 At 12 PM EST is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

Cheers In offers 300 types of beers from 30 different countries.

Cheers In beer delivery was formed by a group of French entrepreneurs who have a passion for beer. They call themselves beer hunters, as they source an extensive choice of imported and premium beers from around the world that can be found in their two Shanghai locations. The owners also take great pride in providing custom beer recommendations so that all customers walk away with a great beer experience. Cheers In allows customers to order directly from the website, and within just an hour, to have beer delivered right to their Shanghai residence. In fact, the name Cheers In comes from the idea of celebrating the night in. Never a bad idea in this down economy.

I had an interview with the founders of Cheers In, and here’s what they said:

Where are you guys from and how long have you been in China?  Do you speak any Chinese?

We are 4 French guys: Cédric, Greg, Alex and Sam. Three of us come from the city of Lille on the Belgian border where you can find a lot of great breweries. We arrived in China between 2 and 6 years ago. Some of us speak good Chinese and the other ones still need to improve!

What was the inspiration for starting a beer delivery store in Shanghai?

You can find so many wine shops in China but no beer shops. In China, there is a good choice of imported beers but that means you will have to drink out at bars where prices are very expensive. Also, in China, where most people drink over sized bottles of Tsing Tao, people don’t realize the four hundred year legacy of Tripel Karmeliet, Japanese Microbews, or the American IPA.

The founding crew of Cheers In

In addition to offering great beer, we also want to offer the convenience of delivery through an easy to use website. The site allows customers to choose beers by country of origin and price range.  In some sense, Cheers In is a web project.

Is the store aimed at foreigners in Shanghai who miss their beer from home, or at Chinese consumers as well?

The stores (we open the second one in November) aim at both foreigners and Chinese customers. Of course, many foreigners from all around the world come to the shop and are happy to find the beers they miss from home. But 50% of our customer base is Chinese.

What beers to the Chinese tend to like, why do you think that is?

Chinese like many different kinds of beers and they are very curious. They often buy Lambic beers (Lindemans) and dark beers, but are not afraid to try new things such as Duvel, Vedett or Chimay. But in general they come to discover new beers and a more sophisticated way of talking about beer.

Can you briefly walk us through the process of starting your own company in Shanghai? It appears it didn’t require a Chinese business partner; was it difficult navigating all the paperwork in Chinese?

You need to find a good partner who will set up the company for you and apply for your business license. A Chinese business partner is not required to set up a WOFE (Limited) in China. It takes between 4 and 6 months before you can start your business operations, but the process is not so difficult if you have a good company to help you. And it should come as no surprise that, in China, having a Chinese staff or a Chinese partner can speed things up quite a bit.

Do you have any advice for someone considering opening up a business in Shanghai?

You need lots of patience. You also need to carefully study your market because selling products in your home country is not the same as selling products to Chinese. It is also very important to have people talking about you and be shared on weibo, qq  (Chinese social networking sites). Networking is critical.

What beer excites you most right now?

At this time my favorite beer is the Tripel Karmeliet. The taste is both sweet and complex. It owes its name to the Carmelite monks recipe, Dendermonde! It is drawn from three grains: wheat, barley and oats. Usually we have a few cartons of them at the shops and they are sold within just a few days!

The best part about Cheers In is that they deliver. On bikes. Get ready for a cold beer.

Cheers In Locations & Online @ www.cheers-in.com

French concession shop : #25 Yongkang Lu (cross Jiashan Lu)

People square shop : #499 Beijing Xi Lu (cross Chengdu Lu) – Opening in November

Shanghai Phone Number : 641 88 400

Tired Of Drinking Tsing Tao In China? Try Cheers In, A New Premium Beer Delivery Shop in Shanghai is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

It’s taken me nearly another 6 weeks (since I got back to China at the end of August) to re-continue the same vigor towards Chinese that I had when I left. It wasn’t that I lost so much of the language, even though I did probably forget about 33% of the characters I knew going home in July (since regained all those back).  It was getting out of my routine that made it most difficult regaining traction.

I figured trying a slightly new approach might be the jump start I needed. While I have light conversational ability in Mandarin, the vocab words I need to maintain a normal conversation are absent. I need to acquire the basic vocabulary that are used in everyday conversations. And I wasn’t getting that from a Chinese business magazine I was using to increase character recognition and increase vocabulary. So I have turned to a kid’s book. It’s a basic novel, probably meant for 10-13 year old Chinese student’s. Still way above my level, but key to my choice of this book, was all the conversation in it. We talk differently than we write. So the vocabulary words I see in the book are entirely different from the advanced business vocab that I just do not need at this time.

With a little inspiration from Mandarin Segments flashcard series, I have also begun to make flashcards a part of my routine. Whenever I know the characters, but don’t know the word, I use Pleco dictionary to look up the word and then add it into my Anki flashcard program on my computer.

Of course, I understand very little of the book I am reading now, but my belief is that the more vocab words I know, the more I will be able to start making sense of the Chinese language around me (a philosophy enthusiastically supported by Steve Kaufmann that I also firmly believe to be true). And even after just a week or so of reading out of a Chinese book I hardly understand, there is a slight improvement in my overall level. Words come out of my mouth a bit more fluently, and I can follow better the organization of the all-Chinese podcasts I sometimes listen to when I can’t get to bed. (By the way, if you can’t get too bed, just start reading characters or listening to Chinese. It won’t take long to get drowsy).

I’ve been a little slow in recording my progress with Chinese, and it is probably because there was so little of it during the first month. But I do believe that this more basic, and active approach has provided a spark for my Chinese.  If anyone has any thoughts or comments to share about their own experience, don’t be a stranger on this blog.

Why Taking A Break May Not Be The Best Thing For Your Study Routine is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

The pools of water were quite deep. Deep enough to jump off from the top of this waterfall.

The Fujian province of China is located on the southeast coast directly across from Taiwan and sandwiched between Zhejiang province to the north and Guangdong to the south. The terrain is actually quite mountainous and makes for a varied landscapes with plentiful hiking and outdoor opportunities. I made my first such excursion last weekend via an organized trip by Chinint, a foreign owned company in Xiamen that organizes team building exercises focusing on the great outdoors. The trip was advertised on a popular expat site, whatsonxiamen.com, so a few of my colleagues and I decided to go.

I did not know what to expect, since the advertisement just said “hiking off the beaten path.” But it was definitely off the beaten path. We were bussed to Tong An, a sub city of the larger Quanzhou. If you, like most people, consider hiking, to be walking on a moderately challenging mountain, this experience could be said to be more like lateral river rock-climbing. And I say lateral because we weren’t actually going straight up, but rather traveling slightly upward on a rock-filled river.

The hiking started off relatively easy with small boulders and rocks, but got much more challenging as the treck continued. Here is a picture at the beginning when it was safe enough to have the camera out.

The challenge of passing rocks on a river by means of rearranging yourself into the most awkward body positions possible was very serious exercise. And it probably wouldn’t have been worth it, if it wasn’t for the two picturesque natural pools we were able to swim in.

I took this picture from where you can jump into the water. The water was pleasantly cold enough to cool us all down from the Fujian summer.

The trip featured two of these natural pool sites. The water was a shade of blue you thought was only possible with special graphic effects on your new Macbook, and a water temperature so refreshing, you forgot it was a humid 85 degrees outside. Actually, the heat of Fujian was much less of a problem than I thought, because the mountain elevation shed at least a few degrees from the higher city temperatures. What was even more exciting was jumping off rocks into adequately deep pools of Fujian blue water. And sitting under a waterfall provided a much needed, free upper-body massage. You can tell from the pictures, this is the kind of place you usually only see in pictures. There are only so many of these types of places left in the world, and judging by the construction we saw towards the end of the river, this one may not be around for ever, either.

A shot of the hilly terrain that makes up much of Fujian's landscape.

Adventure In The River: Hiking in Fujian is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

The Chinese have an expression for going Dutch: it’s called AA制 (AA standing for Algebraic Algorithm and 制 means system). But it is not a phrase often used, because the Chinese will rarely go Dutch. In Chinese culture, going Dutch contradicts the idea that friends shouldn’t be exchanging money for goods or services.

Last year I wanted to hire a good student, and friend, of mine to tutor me in Chinese. He gladly accepted, however refused to be compensated in cash. Thinking this might be the typical reject a gift three times sort of gesture, I kept telling him I would be happy to pay him if he would help me out with Chinese. But he was serious. He didn’t want to accept money from a friend because he thought it could diminish friendship.

While to some extent you may see this in the West, by and large it would be acceptable to engage in business transactions with friends or family. Whether it be true or not, there is a belief in the West that you can successfully keep business and friendships separate.

I thought about the idea that Chinese don’t like to mix business with friendship, but then I thought it was very contradictory with the prevailing institution of 关系 (guanxi), where business relationships are awarded to friends and family. So the Chinese don’t have a problem mixing business and friends, it looks like going Dutch just hasn’t caught on.

Why The Chinese Don’t Go Dutch is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

Xiamen at sunset.

I’ve been in Xiamen now for about 10 days. And because I spent the entire last year in Xi’an, I often find myself comparing it to my experience there. Even though I have traveled extensively in China, I have only lived in Xi’an, and hence a lot of my perspective on China comes from that. It’s a good thing I can now count living in Xiamen because the city brings and entirely different feel and way of life to China.

Some major things I have noticed already about Xiamen.

It’s relatively clean. Chinese cities are generally not known for their cleanliness, and that is especially true for Xi’an. But Xiamen is a city that makes an effort to keep the streets and the air clean for its citizens. While in Xi’an people treat the streets as their own personal trashcan, the people of Xiamen seem to value their environment much more. What is even better is that there are “no spitting” signs posted, which means I don’t have to dodge puddles of mucus whenever I go for a walk.  The air is also cleaner, though it is a bit smoggy on the coast of Xiamen Island where factories are located. Overall, Xiamen is noted as one of China’s cleanest cities, and one of the most preferred among foreigners.

The weather is hot and humid: If there was one downfall to winters that for the most part will not go below about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degree Celsius), it is that the subtropical climate brings non-stop rain in the summer months. Since, I have gotten here, it has rained a majority of the days. And when it is not raining, the air is hot and damp, making even the slightest bit of outdoor exercise a sweaty ordeal. Can’t be much fun for my students, all of which don’t have air conditioning in their dorms.

The cost of living is much higher:  One positive thing about living in Xi’an, aside from the many friendly people, was that the cost of living was incredibly low. Not so in Xiamen. What I used to pay only 15 kuai for a meal in Xi’an is now about 30 kuai in Xiamen, and the portions are much less. Because the city is relatively spread out, taxi fares are also much more expensive. Where I paid 30 RMB (About $4.50) to get to the downtown Xi’an area last year, it’s now 100 RMB (about $15.00) to get to downtown Xiamen. Granted it is still much cheaper than back home in the States, but I still am only getting paid a Chinese salary, and need to make due with that. Moreover, the international nature of Xiamen means that there are significantly more options for eating Western food. And anyone who likes to indulge in Western food in China knows that it carries a price tag. That said, I have been taking advantage of the kitchen in my apartment, making meals for myself at least once a day.

Palm trees line the parks and streets of Xiamen. The subtropical climate with a robust rainfall creates a lush green environment.

The bus system: Since the cost of living is higher, I am forced to be a bit more economical with how I spend my money. Because taxi rides can be very expensive, I have been using the bus system to get around. The buses are air conditioned and, fortunately, not jam packed with people. Fares range from 1-5 kuai ($.15-.75 cents)

It’s international: The university I am currently teaching at in Xiamen is employing 47 foreign teachers this year. And that is indicative of the amount of foreigners in Xiamen. I have already met several fellow Americans who own restaurants on Xiamen Island, and from my understanding, there are a number of foreign businessmen in the area. Some people argue that if you are going to go to China, you should go to a so-called second-tier city so your Chinese experience will be more authentic. But for me, it’s more exciting to be in a cosmopolitan city where appreciation of different cultures, new ideas, and a modern lifestyle is in vogue. Not to mention, when Westerners think of China, most think of the economic growth. That’s real china. And it’s nice to live in a city that is a reflection of China’s economic boom.

The First Two Weeks Living In Xiamen is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.

Chinatown, Boston, MA

I was a little bummed I did not have much of a chance to talk Mandarin, because so many of the Chinese in Chinatown-Boston speak Cantonese. Though some are conversant in Mandarin and I was able to get some quick Mandarin-speaking practice in.

As I was walking around Chinatown, I started to wonder, how would I actually say Chinatown in Chinese. My first guess was the literal translation: just take China 中国 and town 乡, and voila, you have Chinatown. But, language isn’t often this simple and part of me believed it could be translated into something completely different.

And sure enough it is. Chinatown can be correctly translated as 唐人街。唐＝Tang Dynasty  人= people 街= street. For a little background: the Tang dynasty is China’s most prosperous dynasty and this time period is something that Chinese people are very proud of. Like anyone leaving their home country and entering a new land, we are all like mini-ambassadors. Wanting to represent the best of China, Chinese immigrants called themselves 唐人 or the Tang people. So 唐人街  Táng rén jiē means the streets of the Tang people.

How To Say Chinatown in Chinese: 唐人街 is a blog from Tom's China Blog 中国博客 - Your guide to life, work, and travel in China.