The Asian Reporter Columns - asianreporter.com

INSIDE:

NEWS/STORIES/ARTICLES
Book Reviews
Columns/Opinion/Cartoon
Films
International
National
NW/Local
Recipes
Special A.C.E. Stories
Sports
Online Paper (PDF)

CLASSIFIED SECTION
Bids & Public Notices
NW Job Market

NW RESOURCE GUIDE
Consulates
Organizations
Scholarships
Special Sections

Asian Reporter Info

About Us

Advertising Info.

Twitter

ASIA LINKS
Currency Exchange
Time Zones
More Asian Links

My Turn
by

Wayne Chan

From The Asian Reporter, V33, #8 (August 7, 2023), page 7.

An amazing trip with a number of money-saving caveats

Look, I like saving money as much as the next guy, but sometimes, saving money shouldn’t always be the highest priority.

I sign up for discount programs. I seek out Black Friday sales. I’m always on the lookout for particularly good bargains. With some purchases, though, the adage "you get what you pay for" comes into play.

Case in point — the trip to China with my brother Steve.

I love my little brother. I call him my little brother because he’s younger, but there’s nothing "little" about him. He’s about four or five inches taller than me. And I’m pretty tall.

In my previous career as an import/export specialist, I travelled to Asia a lot, particularly China. Steve, who has a law degree, never had an opportunity to travel to China.

A few years ago, when our mother was still with us, mom mentioned to me that Steve had expressed interest in going to China to visit the normal things a tourist would see.

Not long after, mom passed. We all miss her, even though we know it’s just a part of life.

But I remembered what mom told me about Steve, so I had a thought which I shared with him. Why don’t we go to China together? Just us two brothers. In honor of mom. Steve thought it was a good idea as well.

So Steve started researching the trip. After looking at the various options, he presented his choice — two weeks in China visiting Beijing and Shanghai. The cost of the whole trip, including airfare from the U.S. and within China, hotels, ground transportation, and some meals: $799.00.

I couldn’t believe he found such a great deal. It was one of the most memorable trips of my life. Although I had been to many of the places before — the Bund in Shanghai, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City — there’s something so much more meaningful when you’re doing it with your brother — and during his first time.

It was a terrific trip, and we saved money to boot!

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Not too long ago, back here at home, Steve and I had lunch. At one point, he said he’d mentioned our trip together to one of his friends. His friend told Steve he thought it sounded fun and exciting and that he and Steve should go to China together. Steve did his research again and came up with another option. But, Steve said, this trip was even quote/unquote, better!

Two weeks in China to Shanghai and Beijing, airfare and hotels, ground transportation, with day visits to the Great Wall and other tourist locations included, all for the bargain basement price of … $299.00.

Bear in mind, he shared this price with me with a big grin on his face.

I had questions.

1) Does the plane use normal jet fuel? Or are they experimenting with reconstituted french-fry oil?

2) Are seatbelts included in the flight? Or is that an extra safety add-on?

3) Does the plane actually land or are participants mandated to parachute out of the plane? If so, does that count as one of the included tourist excursions? How are travellers supposed to get their luggage? Or do those come with parachutes, too?

4) When visiting the Great Wall, are the tourists expected to patch up parts of the wall in disrepair on their way back down?

Seriously though, I did mention that the reason some of these tour packages are so affordable is because the Chinese government is subsidizing a large portion of the trip to encourage travellers to spend money once they arrive. For example, on the tour of the Great Wall, everyone usually makes a stop at a silk factory along the way to encourage guests to buy some products.

I mentioned this to Steve and the conversation went something like this:

Wayne: You know you’re gonna have to sit through a stop at the silk factory for an hour or so before you end up at the Great Wall, right?

Steve: I don’t care what they do or where they take me. I’m not going to buy anything.

Wayne: But that’s the whole problem — you’re on vacation and you have to go to these stops every day before they take you anywhere you want to go!

Steve: I don’t care. They can put me through a timeshare presentation every day, if that’s what they want. I won’t buy anything.

Wayne: Is Carol (Steve’s wife) going on this trip with you?

Steve: She said she’d love to go, but not for $299.00.

Carol is a wise woman.

Humor writer Wayne Chan lives in the San Diego area;

cartoonist Wayne Chan is based in the Bay Area.

Read the current issue of The Asian Reporter in its entirety!
Go to <www.asianreporter.com/completepaper.htm>!

Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the
authors and not necessarily those of this publication.

My Turn by

Wayne Chan

My Turn
by