Shenzhen, China!

[ray]

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been incredibly busy with a major move in my life. I accepted an English teaching job in Shenzhen China in Guangdong province (Canton), and started my new localle of China.

I've always wanted to move somewhere out of the states. Its indefinite for now, I could stay a year or four months or forever depending on my open-ended destiny...

Shenzhen is pretty modern, but very different than life in America. I visited Japan years ago but this is quite a different place. Its very humid. I have lots of bug bites. Nobody speaks English and I need to learn the language quick. I don't really like the food to be honest.

But I've met a lot of cool people, Chinese and Western expats alike, and I truly do love it! I recommend moving to China to everybody, if the opportunity ever comes up...

I don't know if anyone else lives around here, but let me know if you do. And Hong Kong - nearby - as well! I'm still learning how to get around, and working like crazy, but when I have the time Hong Kong I hear is the place to be.

I don't think there are very many naturist-friendly places around. If there are let me know. Its still very much beach season and clothed or not I should go soon.

Well, forgive me if I don't log on often enough lately. I don't even have my own computer yet. I'll keep in touch bit by bit, as I find the time and get situated...

taa

[papabare]

Wow! Exciting journey!!! I have always wanted to visit

Glad this site is easy to get to from the great firewall of China Can't wait to hear some great stories!

[Aaron Stern]

Hey Ray, good to hear from you;  missed your posts lately!
Hope you're doing alright, and stay in touch!
Take care and be well, Aaron

[1Boy]

Ray, congrats on getting the teaching position!  My friend spent 6 months in China teaching English and enjoyed his time, though he was glad to come back home.  (Maybe it was the food!  haha)  Will you be making the trek over to Burning Man again next year?  Or are there any Decompressions and whatnot in Hong Kong, perhaps?

[-DontLookBack-]

Hey, i'm very familiar with Shenzhen and China in general - my family lived in Hong Kong for 20 years and i've travelled all across China quite a few times 

You're incredibly lucky, China is the place i've always wanted to live when I grow up, and teaching English is a really great career choice, my uncle taught English in China for 8 years and he always says it was the most wonderful experience of his life. My first tip, however, is TRAVEL! It's impossible to fully start to understand the Chinese way of life until you travel out of the cities and experience the countryside. I've found that travelling alone is comparatively easy as well in China - the transport is incredibly cheap, especially if you use public buses or shared minibuses. And, any hostel you stay at will ALWAYS have hundreds of pieces of information on travelling tips, as well as great company amongst backpackers - i've made some truly lasting friends through chance meetings in hostels.

On the English side of it, it's always surprising for newcomers to China just how little of the population speaks English. Even in the major cities it'll be rare to find many places that speak English. However, get yourself a teacher - either a Westerner who can speak the language or a native, and you learn pretty quickly - my uncle learnt to speak with relative ease in about 6 months, and he was fluent after about a year living over there. Also, a great tip i've learnt is not to go over the top trying to stop bug-bites, they happen and there's nothing you can do about it. In fact, the sooner you stop using anti-mosquito creams or sprays or whatever the sooner you become used to it and, for some reason, the less appealing you seem to the bugs! Whenever i go to China now, i never use any cream or spray and i hardly, if ever, get bitten - whereas most short-term tourists will spend their first few days in constant itching fits! In terms of the food, that's a trickier one to get used to. Changing a Western diet immediately to Asian-style cuisine causes loads of problems. I've found that whenever i go over there i stick to relatively simple dishes for the first few days - rices and noodles - and slowly start to introduce the more dangerous foods. Meat and dairy products are the big issues in China, it's not in the Chinese culture to eat lots of dairy products, so be wary of dairy because it's often not prepared in the way we're used to it in the West.

To cut it short, China is the most incredible and varied country in the World, and make the most of your time out there  in term's of naturist-friendly, the chances are basically zero of finding a native nudist club i'm afraid! The letting down of barriers and inhibitions is something that just doesn't appear very often in Chinese culture, and social naturism simply doesn't appear in the general frame of mind. However, i've found plenty of time to be nude outdoors in my time in China - half the country is deserted and stunning valleys, mountains and plains - you couldn't ask for a better setting for being natural in nature  i would check on the laws to do with body-freedom though before you disrobe, they have a tendency to be far more strict than Western laws 

Enjoy your time in the best country on the Planet  and if you ever do happen to be in Hong Kong at the same time as me - hop on down to Repulse Bay on a nice day and i can guarantee you'll see my stark white body catching some rays amongst the crowds 

Peace, Steve 

[jessie4289]

I was in China last year and I had a blast. I would definitely go back any time. Go to Hainan if you want to go to the beach because it's beautiful. I didn't find any naturism there though. Get out and see the countryside a bit because there are some really awesome sites. It is sad how polluted the country has become but its still awesome. I don't know where else you've visited, but as far as cities, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong are all amazing cities. Macau is cool too if you get the time. There are cruises up the Yangtze that are supposed to be a lot of fun but I didn't do that. If you want to talk about China, let me know!

Also, I liked the food. There is really a variety out there. You just have to be open minded (which, of course, I know you are) and not worry about what things look like. It's one of those "stepping out of the box" experiences, or at least it was for me. Stick with bottled water though for sure.

Oh, and you have to try the watermelon juice. I drank so much of it when I was there and I really miss it.

Thanks for updating us, Ray, and good luck!

Jessie

[guitarman2013]

cool!!!! i was in beijing for 17 days during the beijing olympics. it was just awesome!!!
i didnt wanted to come back to aust tell u the truth, and even after arriving back, i always dreamed that i was still in beijing everytime i woke up in bed. this went on for one week... i love everything over there, the language, the foods the shopping, the hi tech...there are lots of western people in beijing too, and lots of them speak the language which really surprised me, and look like they fall in loved with china as though they are a part of china. why? because at the sport events, eg, when i went to see chinese women idoor volleyball vs brazil, i saw 2 middle age european had the huge chinese flags wrapping around their bodies...also, i was sitting with another western guy (i think from America), and he was going for China too. i guess the reason why they like china is because chinese are very friendly, and looking after them over there. they are very helpful. I certainly had a great time over there.

one thing i found is, after i came back from china, i learnt to be extra friendlier, i learnt to be more polite to others and respect others and specially when i am driving, i learn to be more polite and friendly, because over there, they are very friendly and polite to strangers and very helpful.

one other thing i am so impressed is when i am on the train or buses, i always see younger people offering elderly people to take their sits, and they even insist...thats their culture, i feel i'v learnt so much... i cant wait to go again in Jan.09..
   

[rc]

congrats, which dialect of chinese do they speak

[Danee]

First, Ray, I am so proud of you.  Far too many people especially from my own country, never think outside the boundries of their own town, let alone the country.  I wish you every positive experience in the world and to the other members who posted here, thankyou so much for all the detail. I always enjoy reading good and informative accounts of foreign travel!

-D

[johnnyconfessional]

thats quite an amazing and dramatic move,
and hope u continue 2 enjoy it there! :-)

[ray]

Well, I said I wouldn't post often and preemptively appologized; and with good reason. Again - sorry I'm not here enough. The internets is tricky, and I only just got my own laptop, but haven't set up the net in my own apartment, and here I am in the school library. Then, when I do get online, there's that server proxy thing to set up... then I'll be in touch...

Really quick: thanks so much everybody for the kind words and support. A few replies. They speak Mandarin Chinese here and I've been studying zhongwen a lot. The tones are so very difficult for me, all 4. But I'm glad its not Cantonese which has 8 tones. Good question about Burning Man and I have no idea where I'll be. Maybe just maybe. It all depends on so much on whether I save enough money, where I want to live, and even who else wants to go. Do you want to meet up on the play?! Let me know. No doubt there will be a Burner thread as that date approaches...

Well I've been making friends here and working hard teaching the kids, and its been cool. The only thing is, the foods not my thing. Barring that I recommend an occasional trek to China to everybody

So I wrote a few blogs about Shenzhen and Hong Kong as well, if you have in the interest to read:

http://blog.myspace.com/rayhecht
http://raelianautopsy.blogspot

taa for now!

[1Boy]

Thanks for the update, Ray!  Glad you're doing alright over there.  Keep us informed of your experiences!  We'll have to keep an eye on your blog posts.  Oh, and the blogspot one needs a .com: http://www.raelianautopsy.blogspot.com/ 
We'll have to see about Burning Man next year.