robertrankin.org

I’ve been attracted to Chinese paintings for a while now. My favorites are usually those of landscapes, bamboo or flowers depicted in as few strokes as possible. Last week I visited the very wonderful Shanghai Museum and saw the following flower and leaf series by Wu Changshuo.

My Job in China is different than in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, we, as tour leaders have loads of support. My company’s main Asian office is there and if I have any problem’s I just call Queen Hang in the Saigon office and miraculously she fixes everything. I gave her that nickname because she is that good.

In China we, as tour leaders are on our own. We don’t have an office here and it’s expensive to call to Saigon. So we have to think on our feet. Our suppliers provide our local guides and transport, but not much else. In short, in China, we have to be proactive and manage everything. In Vietnam if we forget to do something, someone will catch us on it. In China, if we forget to do something, no one will catch it, and it usually means some very unhappy passengers!

The main difference though, is commission (shopping) stops! The local guides are so eager to push the group into a silk shop, or a pearl shop, or a wood carving shop, or an antique shop and so on, where they get anything from 10% - 40% commission! Sometimes it’s hard to actually find time for the touring itinerary with all the shopping stops! OK, it’s not that bad.. but it’s annoying.

Fun with translations in the Middle Kingdom

See below. And check out my Flickr Chinglish category.

WTF?