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Nah there isn’t. It’s something that we’ve been thinking about for a long time, though. I’ll continue work on it. Thanks for reminding me.
Here’s some quick info, though:
To purchase items on Taobao that aren’t local, you’ll need to pay with Zhifu bao, which is like the Chinese Paypal. It’s not easy for foreigners to set this up but you might be able to get Chinese friends or a girlfriend to help you out with payment. Shipping is cheap, quick, and easy. What I do sometimes is search for local items and then contact those sellers via telephone or qq and either go to their shop or request that they deliver items to my house. That way you can inspect the items in person and pay in cash, which eliminates a lot of the hassle of Taobao.
If you got any other questions, holler
great that the internet speed thread has revealed that we basically all share “F” Line Quality internet connections. ha
trudat, do you work in Gaoxin Qu? I’m a web developer also, I work there twice a week.
I have never seen anyone rowing in Chengdu before, although there are rivers all over the place. It sounds like the kind of thing that you should be able to find if you look hard enough. Also, be careful not to fall into the river if you’re in the vicinity of Chengdu! If you go an hour or more outside of Chengdu the rivers are clean in a lot of places, too.
I’m not sure about full weight, but here’s where I’d check:
1. In Chengdu, try Decathlon, located right across the street from Ikea. They have frisbees for sure (I bought some to take to Zebra music festival) but I’m not sure if they’re full weight or not. Decathlon is a French sports supply store though and they generally carry much higher quality items than you’d find at a similar Chinese chain.
2. http://www.taobao.com search for 飞盘
Definitely check out Ikea, it’s right near where you’ll be located. If you’ve been to an Ikea you know what to expect. Fill your empty apartment out with inexpensive houseware and eat a 5 yuan hotdog or two on your way out.
Regarding international calling, you can buy phone cards which is what I used to do, years ago. The last 2 years I’ve been using http://www.jajah.com which works perfectly in China. Here’s how it works: sign up and pay whatever amount you choose and you can dial any number and talk using your phone. Login to their website and dial the number you want and they call your cell phone and connect the call. It’s ridiculously cheap, like 2 yuan / hour if I remember correctly.
Lastly, welcome to Chengdu.
Check out Hakka Homes’ new website where you can find out more information about the apartments they have available: http://www.hakkahomes.com
Recommended as usual! We added a link to the sidebar, too.
To answer your questions: the test I ran wasn’t from a commercial-grade connection and I was going through a firewall so there might have been blocked ports and so on. I have no idea what Hurricane Electric is, I’ve never even heard of that. Maybe Ben will know and offer his piece, he’s more knowledgable on local internet services than I am.
Here’s a test I ran from home; not much better, though. Strange, as I mentioned above I routinely download at 400kbps+. Bad connection to Sydney, I guess.
I recommend checking out http://www.taobao.com and search for the brands or designs that you’re interested in. Keep in mind you’re navigating a landscape of many fakes but once you find a seller that deals in quality you’re comfortable with, stick with them. That’s what I do, at least and it’s worked out pretty well so far.
What I find with a lot of the shops in Chengdu is they either have goofy looking clothes or they have nice threads that cost far more than what they’d cost in the US (after they’ve been shipped there from China, undoubtedly changing hands a few times beforehand).
My connection to Sydney is incredible slow, apparently. I’m at my office where the ISP is listed as Hurricane Electric (???).
Try inside the stadium on Renmin Nanlu in the south of Chengdu. They have kick ass coffee there and ping pong as well.
Jovian teaches in his free time – I believe he got in touch with you already.
If you’re at an intermediate level, Jah Bar located near Wanli Hao (the giant fake boat) has open jam sessions every night.
Good luck-
yo Peter,
There’s a music university in Chengdu which is the gathering point for many of the music shops in the city. You can get guitars, pianos, traditional Chinese instruments etc there and prices are pretty reasonable. I spent 700 yuan on an Epiphone dreadnought acoustic which is comparable to what you’d get in the states for about $100 – perfectly fine for me since I’m not a guitar wizard or anything.
Musicians hang out in People’s Park, but those are mostly traditional Chinese instruments and… old.. people. Jia Bar has jams all the time though, they have a drum kit and electric guitars and bass.
Welcome to Chengdu and to the site-
Wow, that many? You can definitely find a place to play racquetball. Nicer health clubs will have indoor racquetball courts to play on.
Oh – one more thing to add. They have a giant Bronze Dekembe Mutumbo. It’s like 2+ meters tall. Haha
One of the best places to play is 一环路北一段 above the 好乐迪 KTV on the roof. It’s a massive 5-court complex that hosts tournaments and regular play everyday. I believe entry is about 10 yuan and it’s filled with people playing pickup games all day long. There courts are new and adorned with good looking graffiti and they host b-boy competitions there also.
Ikea will definitely have that. Otherwise taobao.com will have whatever kind of magnets you’re looking for!
