#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Macau Travel Forum >  >  Koojos neighbourhood.

## Cujo

Just as a matter of interest, In a relatively small southern China city.
Yestrday I took my camera for a walk to the mall, it's about 12-15 minutes walk, and took a few along the way before the battery died.
In this mall there is, among others, Mcds and KFC of course, also starbucks, subway, pizza hut and a carrefour for all kinds of imported goodies., which isn't bad for a small city in China.
I'll add more as I get around.
Finally got the TD gallery sussed, thanks Mid.

















Notice the Mangos, it's mango city at the moment. They all seem to dissapear overnight though as the locals clmb the trees and get use long bamboo poles to get them, the government outlawed picking the mangos last year after too many people were falling out of the trees and breaking themselves.

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## alwarner

It looks pristine.

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## pseudolus

Llve China - more pictures of the blarts though please  :Smile:

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## Boon Mee

Good pics, Koojo.  :Smile: 

What impressed me was how clean everything is in China after living in Thailand and sorta getting used to the rubbish everywhere.

...out of Greens right now..

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## aging one

Nicer than I could have imagined. Thanks.

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## kingwilly

> What impressed me was how clean everything is in China after living in Thailand and sorta getting used to the rubbish everywhere.


not to mention the lack of crowds and lack of traffic!




> Finally got the TD gallery sussed, thanks Mid.


Join Date: Mar 2011

 :mid:

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## Mr Earl

A Carrefour! That means crispy baguettes and Camembert.

Nice pics. Looks like a pleasant city. What's the name.

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## Cujo

> Finally got the TD gallery sussed, thanks Mid.


Join Date: Mar 2011

 :mid: [/QUOTE]
(That's not the least of it)
I tried it a couple of times early on and got frustrated with it.
It's still a pain in the arse.

I'll add more as I get out and about over the weekend with a charged battery.

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## Cujo

> A Carrefour! That means crispy baguettes and Camembert.
> 
> Nice pics. Looks like a pleasant city. What's the name.


Zhuhai, on the border of Macau and across the water from HK (30k).
It's a pleasant 70 minute ferry ride to HK, direct frerry to and from HK airport, in fact HK acts as our international airport, immigration procedures are done at the ferry port here, so leaving the ferry deposits you in the departures area and arriving you catch the ferry in the arrivals area BEFORE any customs procedures. Your bags are put on the ferry and you collect them at the port in Zhuhai where immigration are also, so you never have to enter HK.  I'll get some pics of the port over the weekend if I can.

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## Thormaturge

Interesting pictures; was everyone at work?

What animal is that on the kafelaku coffee sign, and what is it, er, doing?

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## Exige

eerily quiet, very un-China

Please award yourself a hearty slap on the back for taking the effort to post pictures.
Well done.

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## misskit

Nice place, Koojo. Lots of open space.

Is it a "bedroom" community of Hong Kong, where people who work in Hong Kong commute from?

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## Cujo

> Interesting pictures; was everyone at work?
> 
> What animal is that on the kafelaku coffee sign, and what is it, er, doing?


yes, it's quite lively on a Saturday or Sunday and mental on public holidays.
i'll post some pics of busier times.

That's a cat of some kind, the kind that eats the beans then poops them then people go through the poop and find the beans and make coffee from them.
(allegedly).

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## Cujo

> Nice place, Koojo. Lots of open space.
> 
> Is it a "bedroom" community of Hong Kong, where people who work in Hong Kong commute from?


No, but a lot of Hong Kong companies have their factories here.

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## Davis Knowlton

VERY nice. I almost didn't open the thread, as I expected a gritty, depressing, industrial hellhole. It's way nicer than my neighborhood!

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## pseudolus

^ China is a country of extremes Davis.

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## t.s

very cool city, it certainly does not gibe with the industrial china i have had the misfortune of visiting

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## aging one

> That's a cat of some kind, the kind that eats the beans then poops them then people go through the poop and find the beans and make coffee from them. (allegedly).


Civit cat

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## Davis Knowlton

> ^ China is a country of extremes Davis.


Never been there. Macau (once); HK (many times).

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## peterpan

[quote=Davis Knowlton;2467400]VERY nice. I almost didn't open the thread, as I expected a gritty, depressing, industrial hellhole. It's way nicer than my neighborhood![/quot]
I was expecting the same, it leaves  my  neighborhood for dead. shops have parking out front, imagine that   :bananaman:

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## English Noodles

Good pics, thanks.

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## Bung

It's a shame Thailand can't get it's act together and be like this. Quite a pleasant looking place. 

Maybe it could do with a few bars with scantily clad women shouting entreaties and scooters on broken footpaths crowded with people frying food of dubious origins to be considered a more normal place to live.

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## Mosha

> Originally Posted by Koojo
> 
> That's a cat of some kind, the kind that eats the beans then poops them then people go through the poop and find the beans and make coffee from them. (allegedly).
> 
> 
> Civit cat


Supposed to be a very expensive coffee

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## Rural Surin

Nice work, Cuj!

And even a nicer locale in China.

Cheers! :Smile:

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## Cujo

> Nice work, Cuj!
> 
> And even a nicer locale in China.
> 
> Cheers!


Wait till I start posting pics of the beaches and bars.

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## Rural Surin

> Originally Posted by Rural Surin
> 
> 
> Nice work, Cuj!
> 
> And even a nicer locale in China.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> ...


......and the local female form? ::chitown::

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## Cujo

^ And that.

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## Bangyai

Nice one.....just shows plastic bags everywhere are not an essential part of Asian city life.

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## reinvented

nice Kujo
spent a couple of days in Zhuhai last year and really liked it; thought it was one of the nicest places i'd been in China.
well set up and infrastructure to Canyton was impressive.

except gtha actual Macaou border and that frigging go awful market

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## reinvented

hope you dont mind

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## Cujo

> nice Kujo
> spent a couple of days in Zhuhai last year and really liked it; thought it was one of the nicest places i'd been in China.
> well set up and infrastructure to Canyton was impressive.
> 
> except gtha actual Macaou border and that frigging go awful market


It's ok once you get used to it (and the exits)

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## Cujo

> hope you dont mind


Just got over two weeks of that which is why everythings so green at the moment.

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## reinvented

stayed here do you know it?
round the corner from Carrefour :Smile:

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## kingwilly

> That's a cat of some kind, the kind that eats the beans then poops them then people go through the poop and find the beans and make coffee from them. (allegedly).


which is technically not a cat. 

terribly expensive, and Indonesia has civet factory farms of them in horrible conditions. 

also available in Vietnam, Malaysia and Philippines. (as far as I know)

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## crocman

Great looking place,amazing lack of rubbish.Nice pics,good job on using the gallery it's not too bad once you get used to it.

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## palexxxx

> Originally Posted by Koojo
> 
>  That's a cat of some kind, the kind that eats the beans then poops them then people go through the poop and find the beans and make coffee from them. (allegedly).
> 
> 
> which is technically not a cat. 
> 
> terribly expensive, and Indonesia has civet factory farms of them in horrible conditions. 
> 
> also available in Vietnam, Malaysia and Philippines. (as far as I know)



and also in Chiang Mai province.

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## Latindancer

> amazing lack of rubbish.


Yes...all the litterers have probably been put in "re-education" camps. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

An interesting view of your life, Koojo. But watch out that Smeg doesn't track you down and tell things to your employers.

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## STARGASA

Nice,  makes a change to see somewhere else.

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## xanax

looks nicer than fvcking Thailand, a kid of 7 can work out how to post from the gallery! Nice pics.

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## Neo

I thought China was crowded. Where's all the people!?  :Dunno: 

Good effort... needs some sluts though  :Wink:

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## cymru

the place where the sign says 'chick fook' might be worth a visit

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## Loombucket

Very good! I like the formal plantings in the public areas and, as many have said, the village does seem to very clean, with no visable Dog droppings! I'm not sure that I would like to live there myself, as I prefer that 'lived in' look, but it does have a wholesome quality about it.

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## MissTraveller

Looks nice! Near Guangzhou are ya?

Amazing just how vast and huge China is when it comes to terrain, landscapes and temperature. I can't wait to discover it!  :Smile:

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## terry57

I like these clean city's. Good pics.

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## 9999

> on the border of Macau and across the water from HK (30k).


Looks like a pretty flush area, nice looking city. Do you ever hop over to Macau for a few hands?

I've taken that ferry from HK a few times to Macau and the punters literally run from the ferry to the bus going to the casinos, and push and shove each other over who gets through the casino doors first. Quite a sight.

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## terry57

The first time I went to Hong Kong I got caught out in Macau as I did not realize that there was different currencies.

I flew from KL into Macau and jumped the Ferry to Hong Kong. 

Changed money into Pesetas and had no Hong Kong Dollars.  Bit of a fuk around that was.

Trap for young players that one.

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## Takeovers

Thanks for sharing.



What's that? Automated rent a bike or charging station for electric bikes?

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## kingwilly

> Trap for young players that one.


Nope, trap for dopey old fuckers.

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## Toadman

Zhuhai is a very nice city, wouldn't call it small though.  It has a large expat community given in part that there is a lot of western manufacturing and distribution companies in Zhuhai because there are special economic zones that allow for import/export easily.
Everyone who wants to have some fun goes up to Donguai.  Near Shenzhen and south of Guangzhou.  Full of German fat expats.

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## Cujo

> Zhuhai is a very nice city, wouldn't call it small though.  It has a large expat community .


I see you are a newbie to Zhuhai.

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## Cujo

> Originally Posted by terry57
> 
> Trap for young players that one.
> 
> 
> Nope, trap for dopey old fuckers.


 :smiley laughing: 
They're all the same these days.
That must have been long ago.
The YUAN rules now.

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## 9999

So Koojo, you still haven't told us the real reason you positioned yourself so close to Macau. What are you not telling us?

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## Cujo

^ Never gambled there, I'm here because this is where the comany is.
Anyway, went for a walk in a different dirrection yesterday.

Here's a few from yesterday.














These guys are everywhere and the reason it's so clean.






















Another one




Starbucks






The bikes are for public use, you pay 1000 deposit and get a swipe card to unlock the bike, you can take it from any rank and deposit it at any other one, The first two hours are free so as long as you put it back into a rank within 2 hours.



Fruit seller.






Public loos.







Fletch doing a passable impression of Robert Cray.

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## CNF55

Thanks for the pics, Koojo, looks like a pleasant enough place.

What kind of work do expats find there?

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## Cujo

All sorts.
Most are either working for foreign companies factories, teachers, or trading.
A couple of factories here for eaxample are Clarks shoes, Phillips, Bosche and many others.

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## Cujo

just took the pup for his piano lessons.
Took a few while I was out.

Here's where he goes, 10 minutes walk from our place.


Did someone ask where all the people were?
here they are waiting for the bus.














Shoe repair on the go.

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## terry57

Really nice thread mate,

Cheers

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## aging one

Does Zhuhai have some kind of duty free status? My wife took my kids on some incentive tour she always gets and had 4 nights in Hong Kong and Macau with a side night in Zhuhai, the kids really enjoyed it as the wifes tours are all 5 star and there is good shopping. But they are keen for a deal, and wont be overcharged. Sadly I will not go on bing bang bong package tours no matter how many stars they are....  :Smile:

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## Cujo

> Does Zhuhai have some kind of duty free status? My wife took my kids on some incentive tour she always gets and had 4 nights in Hong Kong and Macau with a side night in Zhuhai, the kids really enjoyed it as the wifes tours are all 5 star and there is good shopping. But they are keen for a deal, and wont be overcharged. Sadly I will not go on bing bang bong package tours no matter how many stars they are....


It's an SEZ which gives foreign companies tax incentives but that's all, and less and less of them.

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## Toadman

> Originally Posted by Toadman
> 
> 
> Zhuhai is a very nice city, wouldn't call it small though.  It has a large expat community .
> 
> 
> I see you are a newbie to Zhuhai.


I am a newbie posting to this forum, but definitely not a newbie to China.

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## Cujo

> Originally Posted by Koojo
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by Toadman
> ...


My point was you must be a newbie to ZHUHAI. It has grown from a small city, almost a town, but still,
maybe not compared to wherever you come from, but by China standards, Zhuhai is a small city.

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## Toadman

> Originally Posted by Toadman
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by Koojo
> ...


I probably should of explained better. Sorry I have spent some time in xingping which is about an hour outside of xian.  In that town I was the only white honkey that I ever saw.  That was a small town in china. 
Now enen xingping is changing and getting the standard Chinese influx of money , 6 land roads that go nowhere and the typical hi-rise apartments.

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## barrylad66

great pics and thread,and BLOODY HELL the place really is clean...

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## ossierob

Good thread Koojo.....yes the place is encouragingly clean.....thanks

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## bushwacker

Really enjoyed the pics thanks for taking the time.  I am starting to look for a new place to visit for a few months as Thailand is getting to be too normal.   :Smile:

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## liveinlos

I lived there in Zhuhai for 6 months myself. Hated the Chinese food they cook in that nasty hot spicy peppercorn oil and almost everything else for food with the exception of the place next to Papa John's Pizza. It's a shame more people do not speak English or even understand a word of English. One thing I noticed about Zhuhai, many of the products in the upscale shopping areas are counterfeit. I was in the Levi's shop in the same building shown in one of your photos and all the jeans are counterfeit. Turn up the bottom hem and look inside at the crazy, crooked 1 row stitching that should be 2 even rows. Lots of KFC's got bust recently for being fake and after eating at the one in your photo, I believe that has to be a fake as well. Working at the largest state owned Aviation company, 2 out of every 100 engineers could speak English to the point you could understand it. It was a good experience for about 2 weeks and after that is slowly declined. The beach sand is extremely course and the water is muddy and brown from mixing with the river. Even with a great ocean view condo, I was completely bored. Getting in and out to Macau across the border was a pain in the ass as well

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## Cujo

> I lived there in Zhuhai for 6 months myself. Hated the Chinese food they cook in that nasty hot spicy peppercorn oil and almost everything else for food with the exception of the place next to Papa John's Pizza.


You can get every Chinese cuisine here, from hot spicy Hunan food to bland oily cantonese food. The Coral de place you're talking about is ok, it's the equivalent of fast food, fortunately they have pictures on the wall.  It can be frustrating trying to order in a restaurant if you don't speak Chinese. 


> It's a shame more people do not speak English or even understand a word of English. One thing I noticed about Zhuhai, many of the products in the upscale shopping areas are counterfeit. I was in the Levi's shop in the same building shown in one of your photos and all the jeans are counterfeit. Turn up the bottom hem and look inside at the crazy, crooked 1 row stitching that should be 2 even rows. Lots of KFC's got bust recently for being fake and after eating at the one in your photo, I believe that has to be a fake as well.


That's a real KFC, but yes, there are a lot of fake goods here.


> Working at the largest state owned Aviation company, 2 out of every 100 engineers could speak English to the point you could understand it. It was a good experience for about 2 weeks and after that is slowly declined. The beach sand is extremely course and the water is muddy and brown from mixing with the river. Even with a great ocean view condo, I was completely bored. Getting in and out to Macau across the border was a pain in the ass as well


It can be quite boring if you don't know the place and don't have a circle of friends, I'm assuming you never found bar street, or the go kart tracks or took day trips out to the islands or went out to the hot springs for a weekend or two or spent a relaxed afternoon drinking beers in lotus street at the street beer bars watching the hotties come and go. 

 If you go around to Wan Zai (where the seafood street is) you can get a ferry across the river to Macau, it takes about 5 minutes. There aren't the ques at immigration there. 

 There's really loads to do here if you get out and about, (We spent the afternoon yesterday at the lost city waterpark) or you can buy a pile of DVDs for the equivalent of 25 baht each and a box of Tsing Dao beers (12 large, delivered) for 240 Baht and spend the weekend in watching movies and drinking beer and then go and get a foot massage for 150 baht or even get the top knocked off for 500 baht,  

 I will admit that's not a great beach but it's right in town, very convenient, you have to go to the islands or the beaches on the western side of town if you want a proper beach experience.
This is Fei Sa tan (Flying sand beach) on the western fringes.

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## Neo

Sluts?  :Dunno:

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## pseudolus

> Sluts?


All in Macau filling up the goldfish bowls.

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## socal

> Originally Posted by Koojo
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by Toadman
> ...


Nice Sea Doo

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## Cujo

Someone mentioned earlier they prefered the 'lived in' look.
Well my wife has a couple of cousins living in macau and they came over and we met them and a couple of others in the 'lived in' part of town for dinner near the Macau border.
This is not really my neighbourhood as such, down the seedier part of town. Fairly early in the evening.

This is where we ate.


looking the other way.



This guy's cooking the fried Tofu.



Did someone say sluts?



These guys come from XinJiang the Muslim province, they do great BBQ lamb sticks and bread.



Hair wash.cut?



Nick nacks for the fish tank.


DVDs?
These are all legitimate, there's a secret door in the back they usher you through to the alladins cave of Pirated DVDs, (and series)



Setting up for the dinner rush.


Fluit?


Those high rises in the distance are in Macau, the red roof below them is the border crossing.
This is a very busy avenue with people coming and going to and from Macau.


Making glass stuff on the street.


BBQ Oysters.


Dinner over, it's getting dark, go for a wander.





























It's early in the evening, thing's liven up a bit when the shops shut (not to mention it's Tuesday) This is where the Macau and HK guys (and a lot of whiteys) like to hang out at weekends.




These fixed speed fluorescent bikes seem to be all the rage with the kids around here these days.






It's early.



Chicken pita and mystery BBQ on a stick.








Excuse the quality of some of the pics, obviously I need to take more care with the low light no flash shots.

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## Dead Metal

> That's a cat of some kind, the kind that eats the beans then poops them then people go through the poop and find the beans and make coffee from them.


Are they the ones mentioned in the film "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman. Now that was funny. .  :Smile:

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## Dead Metal

... i expected China to be similar to Thailand, surprised, looks good. 
Thanks for sharing....

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## wasabi

Interesting,thanks for sharing.
Are there Tefler vacancies?

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## Cujo

> Interesting,thanks for sharing.
> Are there Tefler vacancies?


Always. 
 Being such a desirable location all the big Universities have campuses here. 
Salaries seem way high as well.

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## wasabi

^ Not for Me,just being curious.
Others following may be interested.

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## cdnski12

You need to check out your Camera's EV Meter Settings and/or install a Polarizing Filter on your lens (if it is possible). Most of the photos are too light. Alternately, adjust the Fill Light and Shadows in a typical Photo Editing System.

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## Neo

Looks ok from here Vic, maybe you should turn your brightness down or put your sunnies on  :Wink:

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## Cujo

> Looks ok from here Vic, maybe you should turn your brightness down or put your sunnies on


Maybe he's just not used to places that are actually bright.
I'm usually (if paying attention,) exposing for either the highlights or the shadows, so the shadows are going to seem too dark or the highlights washed out in many cases.
I'm not going to bother then editing every shot.

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## terry57

Looks like a place I could enjoy for a while. Seems like heaps to do if one is motivated.

Nice info by the way.

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## DrAndy

the first pics make it look a boring modern town, one that I wouldn't bother to try to get to

the later pics make it look more interesting, with some real life and good food

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## Cujo

> the first pics make it look a boring modern town, one that I wouldn't bother to try to get to
> 
> the later pics make it look more interesting, with some real life and good food


The difference of course is in the title, 'Koojos Neighbourhood', which was really what the thread was originally about. So it's daytime in the suburbs, (as opposed to nighttime downtown)
I can do more downtown if members want.

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## terry57

Yep, keep throwing up more pics please. 

Gives travelers a good insight of what to expect plus the first hand information is priceless.

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## DrAndy

> I can do more downtown if members want.


get out there and show us the nightlife......

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## stickmansucks

Where are the girls pics ?

:-)

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