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How to play Mahjong?
Lifestyle / Local Customs
Written by : Lena Gidwani
Feb 4, 2008
Tags :
maghjong
game
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| When it comes to Chinese games, nothing else matters.
Most people think of Mahjong as "that Chinese game with the noisy tiles." And they'd be right. Mahjong, which literally means "the game of a hundred intelligences", involves a combination of mental skill, estimation, luck and, of course, noisy tiles.
It's common to find scores of devout locals sitting in parks and teahouses playing intensely for hours without end. But just because Mahjong can be intense doesn't make it impossible to figure out. In fact, you can learn the basics of how to play simply by reading our quick guide.
The Traditional Rules
Mahjong is generally played by four people. A full game of either 136 or 144 tiles has 13 or 16 hands of play in four rounds named after the East, South, West and North. A Mahjong player's set of tiles is called a "hand". The game goes in a circle so each player gets their turn to
organize their tiles into a winning hand. ... ... |
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How to survive...a taxi ride
Lifestyle / Local Customs
Written by : Lena Gidwani
Jan 28, 2008
Tags :
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| Scream all you want, but it won't get you anywhere.
As the taxi veers away from the curb, a recorded voice reminds you to fasten your seat belt. This is excellent advice, except there are no seat belts in the back seat to fasten.
After five years of being an honorary Guangzhou-ren, I must admit this is the first time I've noticed this blunder. I have, however, noticed the traffic jams, insane shift changes, and the crowding of taxis at popular areas.
But, these aside, taxis are affordable luxuries and I kowtow the authorities for not raising the flag fall fare of 7RMB since 1997, making Guangzhou one of the cheapest cities for taxis in the world.
And yet, most of us still fail to look beyond the steel bars when it comes to making the taxi driver work for you. So here are the ins and outs of surviving a decent taxi ride:
There are 17,000 cabs in the City of Flowers, including 700 new yello ... ... |
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