To Be Rich Is Glorious
China Travel, News and Lifestyle
Buying Nintendo Wii in China
Dec 19th
I just got a Wii a few days ago. It was in Zhuhai, but you will find it in all Chinese cities. I bought the Japanese version modchipped with the new D2C chip together with two games for 2100 RMB (approx. $285 USD), and later got an extra controller and nunchuck for an additional 390 RMB ($53 USD).
The major advantage with buying a Wii in China is, after you buy the chipped console, future games will more or less be free. Pirated games go for only 4 or 5 RMB (around $0.6-0.7 USD) each. The bad part about buying a Japanese Wii is that the menus are in Japanese, but it’s not hard to figure out what’s what after some testing. There is a Japanese – English translation (PDF) you can look at if you’re really stuck.
I originally bought it because I felt that my daily tasks were getting repetitive and that I would need to do some thinking that only some well designed video game puzzles would give me. Unfortunately, I still suck ever as much at playing games so I’m still glued to the computer, checking for full step-by-step walkthroughs to play my games. Sigh…
American Guy Does Homemade Chinese Pop
Nov 28th
Does it even get better than this? This 20-something from New York has made himself known on the Chinese interwebs. Dubbing himself honglaowai (hong=red, laowai=foreigner), he has released numerous music videos in which he sings in Chinese with a heavy accent. Oh, and he calls himself a communist running a blog in Chinese. Below is a video where he apparently covers a song by Taiwan Pop sensation Jay Chou. Apart from pop, this guy usually sings nationalistic Chinese songs from the Communist era.
Can he be serious? Who knows… Anyway, here’s my prediction of what will happen: Some rich, fat Chinese businessman decides China needs a western popstar and finds this laowai singing familiar tunes online. Profit. 
More of him on Youku.
HOLY SHIT! The Apartment is Burning!
Sep 23rd
This morning I wake up at 11:25 to check the time, and as I was getting back to sleep, I noticed a faint smell of… BURNING! I try to ignore it but after a while the smell gets so heavy that I decide to throw on my clothes and run for my life.
PANIC! First, I check the peephole on my door. Indeed, the entire corridor is orange from flames. I open the door, the hallway is thick with light gray smoke. I turn to my right. WHAT, no fire?!? I turn to my left. WHAT is an old lady doing kneeling on the floor burning a big bunch of paper. She looks at me, I look at her. I close my door.
After 30 seconds I open the door to look at her, she looks at me. I close the door.
After another minute of confusion I understood that she was performing some kind of ritual, either because it was some kind of ghost holiday or that they’ve just moved into their new apartment.
As I put on my shoes and go down to tell the security guard, I’m thinking “Damn peasants, take your tacky traditions elsewhere!” After I told the security guard what was going on, he said “Damn Cantonese! They’re getting on my nerves.”
We went up, and by the time we’ve gotten there they had already cleaned up the fire. The security guard apologized to them, I looked like an idiot and went back inside my apartment.
And then I realized there was a lot of ash on the floor of my room.
Professional Workout in Zhuhai
Sep 20th
When I just arrived in Zhuhai and was looking for somewhere to work out, I got stopped one day on my way home from the supermarket by a solicitor for a local gym. He took me for a 20min walk to the gym, I sign up, and he earns his 70 kuai ($10 USD). The gym / fitness center is called Huofenghuang (Fire Phoenix) and is located at Xiangzhou Station. They also offer dancing, yoga and other girly stuff for free. 
So I go there a few times a day, and do my regular routine. One day one of the trainer helps me correct some moves, and then offers me to try 1-to-1 personal coaching. It sounded good, and I decided to pay for September; 500 RMB (approx. $70). At first I was a bit skeptical, but now I can say it really makes a difference, in both workout quality and motivation. Before, I used to go maybe 3 times a week. Now I go 4-5 times a week.I’ve seen great development too, I’ve never been this fit in my life! My strength and the overall shape of my body has improved vastly – already fetching compliments.My experience with working out in Zhuhai has been much better than working out in Beijing. If you have the time and money (especially in China), I highly recommend you to get a trainer at your gym.
Hairdressing in Zhuhai Rocks
Aug 30th
If you ever visit South China, you’ve got to try the hairdressers here. They are just so much better than in other cities.
The special thing is, when you first arrive, they first take you to wash your hair and massage your upper body for around half an hour. During the massage, they will place hot towels under your neck and on your forehead and even help you clean your inner ear. After the massage, they proceed as usual by cutting your hair, rinsing it, drying it and applying some gel.
This costs 25 CNY, which translates to less than $4 USD.
