I've not found any gyms here that aren't way more expensive than at home.

Basic membership at Planet Fitness in LA costs $10/month. My gym membership in China cost me 500/year so about 40 rmb a month or $6/month. I guess it's not a huge difference.

I wouldn't worry about malaria in Sanya...but you should take some Tiger Balm or something with plenty of DEET in it. I also question your decision to go to Hainan...it will be absolutely mobbed during summer! Jeju (Korea), Coron (Philippines), and Koh Samui (Thailand) are better and cheaper island alternatives.

Has anybody been to Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan? I'm thinking of doing some hiking there in July. I heard Kazakhstan has a small but growing poker scene. I'll have to check it out.

If you pay 500/yr you either got lucky or maybe you live in a 3rd tier city. Gyms in Chengdu are 2000/year standard for a very basic gym.

500rmb a year??? wow, i pay waaay more than that.

I have no idea what tier 88 city you're living in but in Zhongshan Park, Shanghai, my 3100 number was the cheapest I could find, and that's not even quite city center. Also isn't Planet Fitness the gym where they have candy/pizza and there are no squat racks?

paid 4k in Xiamen

shenzhen seemed to have too many gyms and it was possible to find good promotions, got one for 1500 I think. Seemed like there was a new one opening every week.

A more interesting topic is how every single one of them charges completely nonsensical prices for shorter terms. Like 2k/year, and then charge 1600 for 6 months and 1200 for three, no negotiation at all.

I mean, I get it from a long term business perspective and they probably just make most money from a few hundred members signing up for a year and never showing up, but I still find it ridiculous.

Heading over to Hong Kong tomorrow, will be there until the 6th if anyone wants to meet up for some noodles or egg puffs or something. Probably staying in Tsim Sha Tsui again but haven't decided yet.

I've got a similar anti-malarial question. Need to pick up some doxycycline. Headed to Solomons, PNG, & Indo soon. Is that something I can just buy in a pharmacy over the counter, or will I need a prescription? Looks like they sell it at the travel health centers but I'm not sure if I can take advantage of that since I'm not a resident? Guess I'll show up at one of them and find out if I don't see it at Watson's.

My girl and I may be in Hong Kong next Tuesday, and I'd like to hit up Morton's happy hour while there. If you haven't been chopstick its pretty good. Free steak sandwiches and 60hk$ martinis.

Did you guys pay sticker price for your gym memberships? I live in Guangdong province so things are a lot cheaper here compared to Shanghai, etc. but anything over 1000 seems insane.

Watson's probably has anti-malarials. If not, just walk into a hospital, flash your passport like an FBI agent, and refuse to leave until you get what you need. Crude but effective.

I live in Guangzhou CBD. I have 8 gyms within 1km from my place. Gym for under 3k/year is impossible here. Out of these 8 I think 5 or 6 you will go to minimum 4k/year. 1k for a gym... can't even imagine how far away from civilization you are living.

Buying your own weights on Taobao is the way to go imo unless love going to gyms and most of those overpriced places are **** tier (like most things in China) to begin with if you don't pay crazy money.

Hotel gym memberships can be better deals sometimes if you're already paying a lot and you often will have pool access there too.

problemeliminator - sounds good, man. Haven't been to Morton's since the last time I was in Vegas. Could definitely crush some of those steak sandwiches again.

Do they still have that at the HK one? They stopped doing it at the Shanghai one unfortunately. It was easily one of my favorite promos.

Last time I went was November, I don't know if they stopped...

Struck out at Watson's #1 in Hong Kong for doxycycline but was told to go to a larger one, so hope remains. Hopefully I find some and don't end up in a traditional medicine shop buying ground snake scales or whatever the traditional equivalent of doxycycline is.

Also on the list of stuff to find here:

- rash guards. seems like this will be easy, lots of sports shops. shirts will definitely be easy. longer pants I won't hold my breath.

- throwaway clothing. need some junk clothes for next 4 months of sailing, street markets (ladies / fa yeun?) will likely suffice for tshirts. hopefully they'll have a couple of cargo shorts as well. they'll end up getting destroyed on the boat so I don't care much about quality.

- fishing gear. have some, want more. haven't researched this yet.

- camera for diving. knew I should have got a gopro before leaving USA#1, lolme. semi reluctant to pick one up in hong kong due to lack of warranty and lolpricing. may go see if I can find some chinese knock off in wang chai that doesn't look too suspicious. need something I can oops drop in the ocean and not cry when it happens. only really needs to survive the next 5 months.

In TST for at least the next 3 nights, may stay there or head south to central for the rest of it. flying out next monday. saw most of the tourist stuff last time I was here but big buddha is still on the list.

How have I never heard of this?

Does this also go on at the Beijing branch?

So for any who come after me wondering the same thing - you need a prescription to purchase doxycycline (or any antibiotic) in Hong Kong. You can't just walk into a Watson's and buy it. The local Travel Health Centre are not available for non-residents or people without a long term visa. You must use a private travel health clinic or hospital. Here's the reply I got when I asked the local HK Travel Health Centre if they help non-residents:

using that link brought up about a half dozen travel docs, will try them next.

Chopstick and I went to Mortons last night. They've changed up the happy hour a good bit. It's no longer martinis, but several different drinks, including a moscow mule, sangria, and a couple of cocktails. Also no free steak sandwiches. Instead, all off their 'bar bites' menu has been big discounts (35-55%). I had the steak sandwiches and truffle fries-both very good.

Thanks for the responses, I did some research on my own and it turns out there has not been a case of malaria on Hainan since 2008. Both the doctors here (in Shanghai) and the major hotels in Sanya, Hainan (Hilton, Marriott etc) have confirmed it's unnecessary to take medicine. For people wondering.

I've got an anti-malaria update as well - after contacting a few Hong Kong doctors to see how to set up an appointment for the purpose of getting a prescription, I stumbled across a couple of web pages that said to just go to a Fanda pharmacy and ask for it there, because unlike Watsons, they will ignore the rules. Stopped in at one, and it was as simple as asking the guy behind the counter. 100mg pills of doxycycline for just under 4HKD/$0.50USD each. Walked out with a 30 day supply for about 120HKD a few minutes later. They even look like they might be real. The least expensive quote I've received from the doctors that have replied has been 500HKD for a consultation, plus the cost of the doxycycline.

In other news, problemeliminator is good company, and you should hang out with him for a drink sometime.

Thanks chopstick, I enjoyed learning a little about the sailing world!

Buddy of mine opened a 25/50 poker room in Chengdu. He's a local who speaks really good English. Rake 5%, 300RMB cap. PM me if you want the address.

Sigh **** china Rant,

Laptop Monitor Screen got a nice crack in it, took it to the local computer shop, they told me 3 days (optimistic at best) i told them ok, 3 days later I return they have no recollection of my laptop, i show them receipt (No total amount, just received laptop), they take it and mull it over in the backroom, and say no idea about update, try to not give me back my receipt. I then ask for the owner, they call him in broken English he tells me they shipped my laptop to HK for fixing. I ask them for a date of return, he says 4 days.

4 days later my wife heads in to pick it up, they have no clue where it is, are super rude to her, she calls me, I head over there and miraculously its sitting on the counter, no bag nothing, in a ****ing computer store, feels like it was for sale. I try to ask for a price, the guy working has no clue, he makes up a number $600HKD I ask him to ask the boss, he calls him and says boss says ok. I pay and everything is good. Fast forward to yesterday the shop owner spots my wife grocery shopping and starts screaming at her and demands she pay another $1200hkd as it should have been $1800 and grabs her hand trying to drag her to the store.

She calls me, I head down there and explain that if he had a problem that he should have not screamed at my wife or grabbed/dragged her, rather he had my number to call me. He apologizes and then tells me he was angry that day, i tell him I'm angry today and if i should grab him and drag him through the shop window, he agrees he was out of line and apologies and tells me i owe nothing.

So right now, morally I'm unsure how much i should pay, considering his actions and how his staff/business handled the situation. Is this a snap **** him dont pay, or go back and pay half situation?

Pay whatever makes you feel good about the situation. In my case, nothing more.