BGP, I get what your saying, and it makes sense, except for the part about listening for English words, because these people speak absolutely zero English.

Just about everyone knows some English, but it really doesnt matter regarding what I'm saying. If they dont know a single word then they're just expecting you to be speaking a language which they have 0 chance of comprehending anything, so that's what they're going to hear: incomprehensible noise.

If they are a native mandarin speaker they will likely pick up that you arent speaking some incomprehensible language and are actually speaking their native language far easier than someone will pick up that you're actually speaking their third language... which they're mediocre at.

Not a huge sample size, but when I've spoken Chinese in Cambodia, people respond without any sort of "wow you can speak Chinese?"/"wow your Chinese is so good" that you get so often after saying simple things here in the mainland.

Ha yea it's definitely not like mainland China where you get a standing ovation for a saying a complete sentence in Chinese. But Sihanoukville is weird place, it really is a chinatown now, and you get all sorts of gamblers, construction workers, risk takers, people who didn't fit into mainstream chinese society, etc who have flocked here and I would guess most are undereducated and from smaller cities, and never really learned much english. Even at the poker tables there might be one person who can speak more than a few words of English.

I was tentatively planning on going to Sihanoukville this past February but every person I talked to in PP made it sound like a massive bummer. Your description makes it sound much more interesting lol.

I ended up going to HCMC instead (first time in VN) and it felt like a waste of a travel experience.

I was planning to go to HCMC over the Buddha holiday, not booked yet though, what was the problem there?
I was in Sihanouk last summer, it was not that bad, just a lot of construction going on, and everything more expensive and less convenient than PP. And overrun by Chinese obv. Some nice beaches and stuff though

I went to HCMC for the first time last week and enjoyed it a lot, the city is a bit chaotic (traffic is nuts) but has plenty of nice spots, cafes, restaurants, bars, etc, would go again and would recommend for a short holiday for sure.

I'm a ****ty traveler--and embarrassingly inexperienced given how long I've been in China--so don't take any advice from me. I'm incredibly lazy and generally just want to go chill somewhere that is not China during vacations.

HCMC just felt very generic. PP obviously has very seedy elements to it, and the poverty is a lot more visible, but I prefer the more laidback atmosphere.

Thanks, yeah well, lazy and holiday out of China, that describes me pretty well. Plan was 3day trip and not doing much except for checking out the poker venues and the nightlife. Ive been there before for a whopping 8 hours or so on a duty mission, it looked nice in some parts at least, as much as I could see from the taxi, somewhat like a bigger and more polished version of PP, but with the scooter traffic madness of Hanoi.

Well once you get past the construction, dust, sewage, high prices and lack of laowei hangouts it’s got it’s more interesting points, especially if you speak Chinese, ha.

A lot of Chinese girls in snooky or it’s mostly dude?

Like pretty much all dudes, it's ridiculous

Can you still play real money on pokerstars (com) client (laptop) in China with an existing pokerstars account?

yes

For the past few months I have been getting constant disconnects on PokerStars playing from China, regardless of whether I use a VPN or not (yip, sometimes works without a VPN). Anyone having the same problems, or know why it's happening or better again any solution?

Can anyone who's familiar with the Z Visa process explain the health form requirements? I was told I'm supposed to get this filled out: https://visaforchina.org/MEL_EN/uplo...rbj/275119.pdf

But it's confusing because they told me I need to get a health checkup both in the US and in China. So do I use that form for both locations or what? I can't imagine a US doctor ordering tests/x-rays for some of that crap unless there were symptoms indicating it's needed. This is for Dongguan in case the city/province makes a difference.

I am pretty sure they will all do it, it is just you have to pay it yourself because it will not be covered by any insurance. Normally you should get it reimbursed. I had to do a related kind of form when I was moving to HK from Germany, for the Xray my GP sent me to a nearby hospital. At no point did anyone give me the impression that they do something out of the ordinary.

You do a check in your home country then another one in China (at least that was my experience for jobs in Hubei and Jiangsu). The form you linked to is the one you have filled out in your home country.

Everything above the chest x-ray and EKG line is just the doctor asserting there is nothing seriously wrong with you.

In both of my experiences my employer handled all the paper work and arrangements for the health check in China, so I have nothing helpful to add on that front.

Thanks guys.

What about the Cholera, Yellow fever, etc. (last section)? That's also just the doctor asserting there's no obvious signs of that stuff (i.e. no tests) correct?

So the only extra things I'm paying for are X-ray, ECG, and HIV/Syphilis blood work?

Hey guys, been away for ages. I'm unable to get stars to load up or update initially without having vpn set to HK but then once on I can turn it off and things are fine.

Anyone do any sports betting through the app? I saw the tab and when I clicked it, it wouldn't load up. It just is a white screen with:

Missing Page We're sorry but you've reach a page that does not exist......

Then below that is some generic stuff to download the app as if I was on their homepage on my browse.

Not sure if it makes sense to open pandoras box and ask what vpn country i should try using if wanting to place a champions league wager

Anyone else use the sports betting?

Otherwise, for someone who's been away from stars for years, any good vpn best practices I should be aware of?

Update: messed around with it a little, if I choose Singapore then the casino loads (that didn't load before) but the sports betting gets an astrill error message stating it's been rejected by the host

really unsure, remember from China there were some web elements (like opting in on a promotion) that wouldn't operate very well but don't ever remember it being vpn site specific

tried the app, it worked

Hochiminh City, or Saigon, is home to half of the Vietnamese people of Chinese descent. When I was there, I saw lots of Sino-Vietnamese people in District 5 and District 11.
The cake called "bánh pía", originating from Teochew cuisine, is something tasty you should enjoy. Its Teochew version is called 潮汕朥饼.

Hi guys,

does anybody have any tips about live poker in Beijing? I read that there is a sunday game at XL bar but more recreational than anything else. I would very much appreciate if I could get any tips (thread or PM).

Thanks guys!

i haven't done it for a while but cheating is rampant for anything above 1/2 rmb

those bar games are what they are, lol stakes with lol skills, mostly a bunch of degenerate drunks and broke english teachers grinding out 100 rmb buyins so there's a lot of "i don't care I'm jamming mid pair" but at the end of the night utterly crushing it means the amount you win didn't even cover your bar tab because it's lol micro stakes - so long as you treat it for what it is, a night out with the boys and not poker then you'll enjoy it. otherwise you'll be steaming how you can never isolate preflop with your aces and always get cracked by rags seeing a flop 5 ways.

don't play for higher stakes, you will get scammed, if not then the rake too high for it to be sustainable - can't even point you to any if they still existed anyway since out of the loop these days

was a big part of the private game in apartments turned poker rooms, teahouse games and back rooms in restaurant and bar games back before the olympics - things may have changed drastically, but i doubt it

just go to macau or another neighboring country that spreads the game