A detailed description of my trip to China 7-20dec2023 is beyond the scope of my blog, but here some short impressions.
Sightseeing
A lot of world-class, but little known outside China, sightseeing. Mountains that eclipse everything I have seen before. My trip was Chengdu, Emei, Leshan, Chongqing, Fengdu. Few foreign tourists. In my two weeks, I spotted 4 other Whites. In Thailand, stopping in Lotus Prasart (Surin province) for lunch, I spotted 4 Whites. But local tourists, even in low season: people, people, everywhere people!
Leshan Buddha, source: internet.
Emei mountain, source: internet.Language
Very little English spoken. But I have been studying Chinese for some years. Without Chinese, it would have been difficult to get around. Geographical situation is similar to South America (an entire continent where no English is spoken). Both have a large domestic market and far/long/expensive to get from from three sides. South America has Antarctica in the south and oceans east and west, only to the north other countries, and they speak Spanish as well. China has vast empty land north and west and ocean east, only to the south and Japan other countries.
Recent interesting articles on the subject of language learning:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/27/english-world-power-language-linguistic-justice
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/dec/29/the-costs-and-benefits-of-english-as-a-lingua-franca
Money
Money exchange in bank and withdrawing money from ATM works the same as elsewhere. They use banknotes and coins, but you can get around easily without using coins. Many ticket machines are for digital payment only, but still some that take cash. Elsewhere as well, cash can be used everywhere to pay, and digital in many places.
Infrastructure
Great infrastructure. Especially the high-speed trains are cheap, fast, run frequently, on time, clean. Applies to subway and mono rail as well. Puts German railway services to shame. A trip from Chongqing Shapingba to Chengdu East is 250 km by air, cost about 20 USD and took 1 h 10 min with a maximum speed of 346 km/h. Amazing!
Hotels
Decent hotels, bookable on western platforms (agoda, trip.com), even cheaper than elsewhere in SEAsia. I set a new record for best value for money.
The Great Chinese Firewall
Accessible websites: tripadvisor, checkfelix, skyscanner, onwardticket, thetaiger, pattayamail, irrawaddy.com, gayguides, sawatdeenetwork, shamelessmack, stickmanbangkok, hornet, blued, gayromeo. Search on internet with bing.com, use bing maps and mapcarta. Bing is a Microsoft service, why is this allowed, whereas google is blocked? Agoda app works but when I want to make a booking, a Chinese note appears and I have to “register to book”. When I use WeChat to register, I get into a loop. Instead, I did my hotel bookings with trip.com.
Blocked websites: all google services (googlemail, googlemaps), wikipedia international (Chinese version works), Facebook, Instagram, Facebook messenger, Twitter (now X), Line. Bangkokpost, christianpfc.blogspot.com (not personal, blogger is a google service), Utopia Asia, archive.org, grindr. I used ExpressVPN, it didn't work to get around the firewall.
Maps
Worldwide except China I do all my navigation with google maps. Google maps is blocked in China, and in addition coverage is poor, and road network is misaligned by about 500 m from satellite image. Three good reasons to use the Chinese equivalent Amap = gaode.
Amap has all bus and train schedules and current location as well. Whereas google maps does not fully cover public transport in Thailand and Vietnam, and doesn't have bus lines in Phnom Penh at all. Wherever I go, I download local apps for buses.
Only drawback of Amap, there is no English version (not a problem for me, I can read Chinese) and satellite image is poor. Here the same area on google maps and Amap:
To get a better satellite picture, I use mapcarta or bing maps. Mapcarta has better elevation lines than google maps. AllTrails app has hiking trails in China, and some in Thailand that I didn't know of.
Climate
I misjudged the climate. I thought it would be 10-15 C, but it was 5-10 C. A bit cold for me, and next time I will plan better according to climate. The same day, temperature could be – 30 C in Harbin and + 30 C in Hainan.
Expenses
My general formula for SEAsia works here as well. Per day I spend on average 15 USD on accommodation, 10 USD on food and 10 USD on travel and sightseeing. That can be one day a 20 USD train ride or entry fee, and another day walking around in town for free.
Food
Delicious local oranges, kumquat, radish, Lay's with lime flavor. In Chengdu and Chongqing, there are a few high-priced Italian restaurants, but no middle-class as you find dozens elsewhere in SEAsia. I spent the full two weeks without pizza or pasta.
Here a menu. Everything in red (I don't like chilly) and brown (a lot of meat, I don't like that either) is unsuitable for me. But the boiled leek and pork dumplings (with garlic and leek dipping sauce) are delicious!
There is no tea in China
In Myanmar it is standard that free hot tea is served in restaurants, and it's delicious! I could get drunk on that tea. In Thailand it's rare, and during my stay in China I haven't seen tea served for free anywhere.
Gay venues and encounters
Search on bing in English leads to https://www.travelgay.com/chengdu-gay-bars MC Pub 1F Haicheng Dasha, 6 Tianxianqiao N Rd, Jinjiang, Chengdu, China. Marked as “closed” on travelgay, but in walking distance to my hotel, so I went there and a local told me it (bar and only gay sauna in Chengdu) closed years ago.
Search on baidu in Chinese 成都同志 gave only few results either.
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/381402019?utm_id=0
No.2 Tata 地址：一环路东五段87号阳光新业5楼橙天嘉禾影院旁
Picture looks promising. I find the address on Amap, can easily walk from my hotel. However at that address there is another business (SINTA), closed when I'm there about 9 pm.
If search on a Chinese website in Chinese doesn't give anything useful, there is nothing more I can do. I give up.
Online dating doesn't work either. Grindr is blocked. Hornet and blued only few profiles. Blued is from China, and works well in SEAsia, so I thought that would be the app. But within 300 km from Chengdu, that would cover a population of over 30 m, there are only 30 profiles. And scrolling a bit further, I get: "There are no more guys, please check it later."
I have scrolled to the end of blued!
In some way, my approach is completely wrong. Is there an international version of blued that I'm using and a local version they are using? Ask on gay forums and that is confirmed.
https://www.gayguides.com/forums/topic/40403-chengdu-and-chongqing/
https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showthread.php?23162-Chengdu-and-Chongqing
On the other hand, in 2021 in Cambodia I met two Chinese who didn't speak any English and were using the international version of blued.
Summary
Good reasons to come again. Sightseeing (Danxia Mountain in Shaoguan, Fanjingshan, Zhangjiajie, each of them alone worth a trip to China any season, and in summer Bejing and Shanghai would suit me by climate) and continue my search for gay life in China.
Copyright 2023 ChristianPFC
Informative. Thank You, I feel bad for the gays in China. I know how that hurts.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had an enjoyable trip to China! Here are some "supplementary notes" to your original post:
ReplyDeleteMap apps - Also consider install Baidu Maps - it provides street view (similar to Google Maps) in many cities’ central area, which might be useful sometimes.
Tea - only mid-priced and above restaurants offer choices of tea and most likely they are not for free. Some cheap restaurants offer free, low quality tea but usually it tastes really awful. Also Chinese prefer green/white/oolong tea which all have mild fragrance and traditionally drink tea alone, not to combine with meals.
Gay venue - bar and disco - if no profane shows presented then they are allowed to open for business. Whether they can make money is another story.
Gay venue - sauna (where sex could happen) - often be raided or shut down by authority temporarily or permanently. I think the point is to keep this kind of activities at a much reduced level, but not to eliminate them at all costs. Also, these places may turn away foreign visitors because they don't want extra risks (in an already high risk business).
Blued - This is the dominating gay dating app in China and is very active in big cities. However, you have to download “China” version to see local users, not the "international" version on which you can only see fellow foreigners. Go to blued.cn, download and install the .apk file by yourself, then register using a Chinese mobile number.
Finally I want to say you've done a great job documenting Thailand’s gay life on this blog. This is useful information, but also a small piece of history record.
Glad you had an enjoyable trip to China! Here are some "supplementary information" to your original post:
Map apps - Also consider install Baidu Maps - it provides street view (similar to Google Maps) in many cities’ central area, which might be useful sometimes.
Tea - only mid-priced and above restaurants offer choices of tea and most likely they are not for free. Some cheap restaurants offer free, low quality tea but usually it tastes really awful. Also Chinese prefer green/white/oolong tea which all have mild fragrance and traditionally drink tea alone, not to combine with meals.
Gay venue - bar and disco - if no profane shows presented then they are allowed to open for business. Whether they can make money is another story.
Gay venue - sauna (where sex could happen) - often be raided or shut down by authority temporarily or permanently. I think the point is to keep this kind of activities at a much reduced level, but not to eliminate them at all costs. Also, these places may turn away foreign visitors because they don't want extra risks (in an already high risk business).
Blued - This is the dominating gay dating app in China and is very active in big cities. However, you have to download “China” version to see local users, not the "international" version on which you can only see fellow foreigners. Go to blued.cn, download and install the .apk file by yourself, then register using a Chinese mobile number.
Finally I want to say you've done a great job documenting Thailand’s gay life on this blog. This is useful information, but also a small piece of history record.