Heading to China for the Yao Ming Foundation Basketball Tournament

Never travelled to China but that's awesome man. Hope you have a great time.

 

That's awesome, good luck to you and your nephew. Wish I had some suggestions

Post some pics if you can!

 

I worked in Shanghai for about 2 months and really enjoyed my time there. If you don't know Mandarin, I highly recommended having a Mandarin translation app or two (like Pleco) that you can use. Take your hotel's business card with the hotel address in Chinese in case you need it for a taxi. I recommend the Shanghai Metro, as it goes everywhere around the city and is easy to use. Definitely go to the Bund and walk along the Huangpu River, go to the other side of the river to the financial district (Lujiazui), and walk along East Nanjing Road. If you have time, I like People's Square/Shanghai Museum, Jing'an Temple, and Yu Garden. Dumplings were my favorite thing to eat in Shanghai. I recommend trying xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and fried dumplings. The closest cities worth going to outside of Shanghai: Nanjing - City Wall, Rape of Nanjing WWII Memorial, Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum; Hangzhou - the beautiful West Lake area; Suzhou - known for its gardens and culture. All three cities are 90 minutes or less by high-speed rail, and they are all worth seeing if you have time.

Edit: A VPN will slow down your internet connection, and internet can be spotty in China. It may not be as easy as you think to stay connected to a VPN. I would keep that in mind if you need access to Facebook or Google.

 

Be sure to not buy any Chinese crap while there.

 

Be very careful where and what you eat in China.

Lots of roaches and limited health regulations.

 

shanghai is one of the great cities of the world. be sure to check out the french concession

 

I like yr Avatar response to that.

 

Even if you know the stuff is crap, you can still have fun negotiating in the Shanghai markets. Someone tried to sell me fake Studio Beats for US $300, and I just laughed at him. At least in my experience, no one would get angry because it was all in good fun.

I would avoid the grilled meat served on the street. The raw meat is usually not kept in a cooler and sits outside all day, warming to unsafe levels before being cooked. The pain afterward is not something you want to experience. Another thing: summer in Shanghai is rainy. Pack an umbrella or buy a cheap one off the street. If you are a white guy like me or look like you are clearly foreign, a lot of people will stare at you, and it will take some getting used to. This is less of a problem in Shanghai than in smaller cities.

 

come again?

 

I knew I was forgetting stuff haha. I enjoyed the French Concession area. Personally, I would only add it if you have extra time. The main things for me were the Chinese cultural sites and getting to experience how rapidly Chinese cities like Shanghai were changing.

 

Shanghai is legit ( honestly biased but I actually prefer it over New York due to public transportation alone. Also feels much safer to walk around at 2 a.m.) and shouldn't be an issue in most of the downtown areas. Don't get food from alley stores

The city actually have Michelin rated restaurants so if you're a foodie you can go nuts there.

 

Also the people are much more forward lean in Shanghai. Mobile payments are already ubiquitous.

 

I'd just search for the item on taobao.com and tell them I'll give them 10 percent markup, take it or leave it.

 

Their quick adoption of mobile technology was surprising. A potential negative of that though is how many people I saw trading stocks on their phone as if there were no risks with doing so. The Chinese stock market is the financial equivalent of the Wild West.

 

Congrats man! That sounds hella' exciting. Yao truly is amazing and it speaks a lot to his connection with houston that he would want us to represent.

 

Very cool. Congrats. I'm sorry I haven't been to China, and have no advice I can offer. But it's really cool that you get to go there and meet Yao. Sounds like it will be a great experience.

 

post some pictures

 

Good luck at the tournament. Such a cool honor for your son's team. You'll have to keep us updated.
Mrs 2000 and I will be in Beijing in November. We are trying to schedule in a CBA game. I'll be the Texan dude in the Yao jersey.

 

Do you need an assistant coach? I've been killing it here with the youth basketball league.