Thnx for the welcome.
I'm a US based shoe designer and I travel to the GZ area about 8 times a year for 10 days to 2 weeks per trip. I usually stay in Panyu at the Lotus Hill Golf Resort, Lin Hua Shan. Anybody reside in the area?
Favorite places to hang would be Cohiba's and bars in PY like Babi, etc although last trip a girl I met took me out clubbing in GZ proper. Great time, very cool place, dont know the name but I will definitly be going out with those new friends more.
My Mandarin is pretty decent. I can certainly slip my handlers and wander China on my own without any problems. I can order (duh), direct cabbies, shop, carry on simple conversations (not exactly waxing philosophical but hey, Im getting there) and I can seriously get my flirt on with the local girls. No Canto though. Even though its officially a Cantonese area Ive never had a problem.
At the moment Im back in Seattle. Missing the food and.. erhem, all the rest of that stuff Im addicted to... We do two lines a year and I just finished the Sprng/Summer 09 line so now theres a gap before I start Fall/Winter and I wont be back over until mid July. Too long, Im gonna need to get Skype or something so I can stay in communication with my friends. I just want to be able to text 2 peoples' cell phones. Skype is the only thing I know of that will let me do that w/ out it going on my personal cell. Anyone else have any options on international texting that are cost effective?
(rolls...)
(peeks...)
(strokes goatee, pretending to be carefully strategizing through the drunken haze)
Ba ge Liou!
Gan bei! (LOL, the trick is to just keep toasting even if they keep winning, you can drink them under the table by "gan bei"-ing the whole table enough times!)