Comments on: Hong Kong to Shanghai by Train

By: JoeDuck

JoeDuck — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:14:38 +0000

OK, I’ll stick to my vocab so far:

PingPongCho = Table Tennis
Ni Hau = Hi
Xie Xie = thank you
Mien = noodles

By: TourPro

TourPro — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:07:57 +0000

Eh, don’t bother with the Shanghainese, there’s less than 20 million people speaking that.

By: JoeDuck

JoeDuck — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:52:21 +0000

Hey, cool TourPro! Sounds like a new blog for you about the China adventures? My Chinese language is not going well but we will have a Mandarin speaking friend with us for Beijing. He said he won’t be able to understand things in Shanghai.

By: TourPro

TourPro — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:50:01 +0000

OMG, you’re going from Cantonese to Shanghainese with Mandarin thrown in…. Should be great fun.

I was in China for a year 88-89 and evacuated from Shanghai on boat to HK during the democracy stuff. There’s a trip report worth telling someday.

I can’t imagine train rides have changed that much, but I’m sort of out-of-the-loop. Back in the day, my MO was to buy the cheapest ticket available (No Seat), find the Public Security Bureau/Conductor guy, bribe with a pack or two of Kents or Marlboro’s for an upgrade to the first available Soft Sleeper. Hot Tea for the rest of the trip!

Another piece of completely useless info: I grew up in Los Angeles speaking Shanghai dialect. When I arrived in Shanghai in 1989, I was like an alien from space on my mountain bike speaking like a pre-Civil War old man.

Dude! You are gonna have a blast!