Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
yes they do have that service, 3G sticks for laptops, I can find out more info for you in a bit, my wife has that info. Unless someone else has it in their head? I used it in the countryside and it worked very well.
@kopi
Chengdu is laid out like a spider web with Renmin Road down the center and 1st ring, 2nd ring and 3rd ring as the web around that crux. So first ring is the inner most ring road, packed with electronic malls and universities; 2nd ring is currently the middle ring, with some high end stuff, teahouses, club, but basically its a movement artery (ie traffic moves along) 3rd ring links the north/south/east/west parts of the city with each other via a vast ring with turnoffs. So third ring is right now the ring between the urban and the rural, big, almost like a highway and GREAT for zooming on a bike.
i saw your earlier posts. an international license is prob best, a Chinese one is easy to come by (so i hear), but really this thread has the answers and the people) for anything motorcycle related.
welcome to the du
this might be a good place to start.
also there is a brazilian BBQ spot right behind the Minshan Hotel on Renmin Road Central, just before tianfu plaza and just across the river. last time i went they had brazilians there.
rafting and camping on qcs … not sure about either really. i have been there a bunch of times and the “river” is shallow with boulders. its awesome, but not like some whitewater rafting spot. unless i am missing out, which i hope is the case. same for camping: most of the mountain has human settlement of some kind on it. whats up? where’s the secret spot?
brother,
That is the sweet baijiu made from “stuff” that includes Chinese medicine – like sweet syrupy Chinese whiskey. If you like to mix (seagrams drinker) then a “chinese whiskey on tonic” or just real cold is ok.
Other than that my friend, you’re gonna have to pay for whiskey. Chinese liquor, in general, tastes like shit.
There is a Google Map of some teahouses at the bottom of this post: Interviewing Chengdu Comedian Li Boqing.
Might be cool to just hit them up one at a time. They’re all pretty nice places. Find a friend to roll with or bring a book.
i love CQ. I can offer up some info for you here, but as for CQ related/dedicated sites I have nothing besides CQ Scene above which is dope. How long r u there for?
and you prob already read these but:
ok i actually looked at that thread and called my wife, she has an online ICBC account she uses for Taobao and other purchases. Yes that option does exist, it is a bit thorny setting it up (there is a USB key and you need Windows to run it) but it is not as thorny as a bank wire transfer.
Take a friend to ICBC (bring a bunch of docs just in case) and get an online account. after looking at that and talking with my wife,. that seems to be plausible.
Hey i will try that online version out this week and see how it goes, you should too, then we can post our experiences and see if that is indeed a viable option.
justinf has a proxy/Chinese friend do the job for him.
That might be the best way, but again, I believe that justinf’s situation prob had a lot to do with the competence of his friend in dealing with bank staff. that is key. also, in my exp, official places like the bank, the post office etc seem to act more favorably to a bumbling foreigner with a Chinese friend helping them.
so to recap: mad docs and persistence OR a Chinese friend with great people skills and some status
I wish there was an easy answer to this one, but in my (10yrs) of experience the banks have not changed one iota when it comes to anything non-routine:
staff get arbitrary and the whole bank converges on the issue, with one view prevailing, not necessarily the right one, but often the most annoying.
What this means is, you have to get your docs together (from your home bank): Swift code, address of bank, name on account (caps and low case are IMPORTANT), acct number and a personal address in your home country.
Then you need your Chinese side docs. Bring your passport, residence registration form (just in case), address in China, work unit in China, you might have to visit HR at your job and talk to them for an hour or so (over three days) to get docs like: the business license of the company (you might think WTF?! but it is needed for all sorts of things), your Z visa and expert booklet, pay stubs, and perhaps other things which i cannot think of.
if you do not have a Z visa, work unit, HR dept then the process becomes infinitely more difficult, because then you will have to provide documentation as to where the money came from and what you are doing here and why you want to send funds anyway.
If this is your case, then you might want to hire a proxy.
Once you have these, go to the ICBC and try and get it done, just on your own, and see what happens. it will be a colossal waste of your time and will probably fail. Make sure you get all of your docs back (be patient and calm while all this goes down) and then try again at a different branch (usually the head branch in the city can handle the procedure if smaller branches cannot). You might have to open alternate accounts. You might have to go to Merchants bank and try it there.
It can be done, but you are dealing with an unprofessional, unconnected(ie each bank is an island), often incompetent, foreigner unfriendly banking system.
here is a comforting tale:
http://imagethief.com/2011/08/i-can-haz-international-funds/
yeah cress has it right. Opening up a school here is basically out of the question. What a lot of people do is partner up with a local school (university even) and have a training or consulting business underneath the university’s wing. That way you’re safe, have a flow of students, but you also have to share the wealth.
Starting a company here is not always the best way. What you are doing benefits local wealthy and middle class people – provide English for their kids (ie a better life). Parents can and should be your allies.
If you have deep pockets, all is possible, but if you are looking to do it cheap and on the fly, then prepare for a lot of slogging. Anyway, feel free to contact me
@ cress I also have two kids but we’re in shanghai for the moment. heading back to the du ASAP
sascha.matuszak [at[ gmail.com
rick is right in a lot of ways … I watched Chengdu’s prices go from 1500m2 to 3500 in about a year and now high end properties are are 10.000m2, which is ridunkulous, as anyone living here knows.
Is any property in Chengdu actually worth 2kUSD per m2? (location, livability of the city, climate, opportunities, schools etc) answer absolutely not.
Places to look to MAKE MONEY are the spots between CQ and CD, Wuhan, Leshan and DuJiangYan, places like that that will see growth and above all government infrastructure investment (or already has seen it).
And definitely in Chengdu. Chengdu is not yet finished with its growth. East side spots along the proposed subway lines, villa style spots along 3rd ring, anything along third ring actually, especially in east is just waiting for the growth wave to hit it.
You face a gamble with Chengdu however, as the scheme is based on things like hukou reform and the creation of a CQ-CD megacity corridor.
But look 5 years into the future and what do you see? the aftermath of Armageddon or the world moving on? …. place yer bets ya’ll.
i dont want anyone (including you Caelan) to get the wrong idea, we love new members and people here at CL forum, new blood = new awesomeness.
but if yer a fake troll then we’ll get you. we hate trolls. hate em.
I had a little gas-powered scooter for a while and I loved it. Very very convenient (i lived outside the city) and because it wasn’t a big motor bike, i never got messed with ever. Rode it everywhere, downtown, third ring, wherever. I would recommend a scooter (Eli’s booty free one posted on the forum for example) and a motorbike for trips to Leshan, Emeishan, Dujiangyan or farther …
