Hi All. Just recently transferred to Jiangmen, China for work in August. My assignment will last 2-3 yrs. Before the transfer, I have been living in Edmonton, Alberta for the past 27yrs. Did not play too much badminton (used to play lots in jr and high school). Since graduating from UofA (Class of 96'), I played very little. If lucky, I get out to play twice in a month during baminton season. Now that I'm in China, I have lots more opportunity to play. Once a week, our boss rents 2 courts and invite his workers to play badminton, then takes all of us out to dinner (usually there are 14 of us). Really nice guy. The first time playing was very HARD. Getting used to the heat and humidity and also being out of shape! I almost fainted! Now its getting better. Able to last longer in playing time. Anyways, I have a co-worker that has connections everywhere in Jiangmen. For those who don't know where Jiangmen is, it is located in Guangzhou provice, and is 2.5 ferry boat ride from Hong Kong. He was able to locate a local badminton store that willing to sell AT900 Technique for 1200 RMB (CH coded) strung with Nanogy95. This is legit. Is this a good deal? With the exchange rate, this would cost approx. $186CND (6.44:1). Is it cheaper in HK? Also they had CH coded Arc Saber 10 for just about the same price. Any advice? Take the deal or go to HK? Thanks. Thomas
^^Welcome..^^ ..to BCBF, tl_tiger (Thomas)!..Wow, so, you're re-starting playing again, eh??..Yes, CHN is very hot & humid (was there recently, but not in Guangzhou). Well, the whole Asia Pacific is hot & humid in comparison to N. America/Canada. As for your query about rackets and which place to buy is worth it, since you're already in CHN, i'd say you couldn't go wrong with either place (although the prices could be slightly different in HK and CHN). As long as the price sounds reasonable (not one of those super duper cheap prices), you're playing with a legit racket. If you want to make sure about the rackets' legitimacy, you could check ahead in the Equipment Forum sub-forum and post the serial numbers of those rackets in the "Post your serial no.s" thread. The folks there would definitely help and confirm them for you, whether they're legit or not. Anyway, hope you'll get a hang of playing again and feel free to bug us if you have further queries. Enjoy & have fun in this forum! *I have a couple of contact infos for HK baddy stores, if you want to check & compare their prices, first. If you want them, i can PM to you.