Went to Xian-Dunhuang-Urumqi-Almaty-Bishkek this July. I met lots of people who had traveled to Xining (in between Dunhuang and Xian) they said it was awesome. I'd give it a shot. I mainly traveled to Urumqi to get the bus to Almaty...don't go there for tourist reasons! It's a dump. If you want to explore Xinjiang, stick to the South.

If you want to explore the Tianshan mountain range, I'd do it from Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan...they're a lot friendlier towards tourists. Changing money is awesome in KY or KZ too...they charge something like 80 cents per $100 (USD). They really want dollars because of the collapse in oil prices.

If you go to Kyrgyzstan and crave some isolation, go to Song Kul. You can walk up to some nomads and stay with them then go hiking during the day. The beef in KY and KZ is awesome as well and very cheap. About a pound of bbqd beef skewers will cost $1.5 US. I highly recommend central asia.

Sweet, thanks for the advice guys. The scenery and the hiking and staying in the yurts all sounds really cool. I'm planning to do a Mongolia-xinjiang-Stans trip next summer so I'm just in the initial planning stage.

Is it worth it to learn some Russian in the Stans? My travel Mandarin is already pretty decent.

I would learn the numbers and some basic greetings. Anything else would just be "parlor trick Russian" where you say something, the local replies "wow your Russian is so good" then you go back to speaking English. The younger crowds speak decent enough English in the cities. You might have trouble with older folks but that will usually be in a shop context so just pay with large bills and you won't have to know the numbers.

You should definitely either memorize or take pictures of the cities you want to go to in kazakh, kyrgyz, and russian. You should stow away your Mandarin while in the Stans because there is a bit of negative sentiment towards Chinese.

So I have a really weird/unique situation, and I cant seem to find any answers on HK immigration, specifically the 90 day Visa Entry. Here is the scenario:

- Employee has a Macau Blue Card, wife is dependent
- Employee wants to reside in HK and work in Macau
- Employee will be working in HK, with Ferries back to Macau weekly(2-3) days

Work cannot get a HK working Visa as our office is in Macau, but being in the 90 days approved VOA countries the employee can get a 90 day visa at entry. What I cant find any information on is if there is a limit on these visas per year? Has anyone done the Hk->China/Macau trips regularly and just been given fresh visas every entry?

There is a ton of info on the Macau side (30/20/10 gone) visa structure, but absolutely nothing to suggest that the 90 day HK visa is non-renewable or limited to X days. My concern is locking up a 12+month contract and then having visas being denied after X days..

An other event in Mainland China this November in Shanghai / Kunshan. There is detailed infos about the event in English here: http://somuchpoker.com/event-guide-a...ague-shanghai/

Basically breaking the law with your 3rd point up there....

Only a matter of time when your EE will be flagged and questioned as to why they keep on entering HK on a visitors visa especially if you are saying they are doing this frequently over a 12+ month period.

I have done HK --> China trip and had visa renewed 3x but was also in process of getting HKID.

http://www.panda.tv/419832?psrc=pc_web-NGA-HSbbs

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I live in Kunshan. If anyone has any questions about the area, I might or might not be helpful.

I was in kunshan for the wcg 2012 , nice place. I'd definitely be happy to live there.

Hey Chris,
Just an update, after speaking with immigration side/lawyers the above falls under the following:

"If you are formally resident and working in Macau and demonstrate that to ImmD if challenged at Macau Ferry terminal and so long as you frequently arrive and frequently leave you would not face any problems being a regular visitor to Hong Kong to augment your work and residence in Macau. If challenged, state that you live in Macau and need to visit HK frequently for business meetings and to see friends."

So overall if you can claim you live in Macau, due to their business trade ties, you can frequently go back and fourth between HK <> Macau and fall under general visitor visas, as long as you dont earn a wage in HK.

During the series in Kunshan will there be cash games running? I'm in Suzhou so will definitely try to spend a few days there regardless, but it'd be great if I could degen a bit more after busting.

can someone in macau trade me some HKD for stars? i need around 10k$

Hello I'm currently in Thailand playing in Microgaming site, I'm thinking moving to China for 6 months - 1 year to a not so expensive city, I have some questions, how can I make cashouts?

Somebody tried webmoney before? How can I get 1 year visa?

Thank you.

See you later.

If you are registered on your Thai (or non Chinese) address, your withdrawal options will stay the same.

If you register your Chinese address, WebMoney or EntroPay will probably be the only options. I haven't tried WebMoney myself, so I don't know if it actually works. I guess the only question mark is whether if addresses should match or not.

Visa has been discussed tons of times before, use search in this thread and check the posts from the last 1-2 years.

Ok thank you, I will check it later.

Do you know any city in China well located to live with 500$ a year?

Thank you.

See you later.

500$ a month sorry.

If you want a "well located" city for that money you're going to have to bum it out and live with 3+ Chinese roommates in a tiny room and either cook yourself all the time or stick to nothing but noodles and rice.

$500 a month is at the low end of average income here, China is 2-3x as expensive as Thailand.

A long term visa alone is already going to be $1.5k+/yr and not unlikely you'll have to borderhop at least once.

Ok thank you, I will make some researches.

From my experience cooking and grocery was more expensive than eating out. But that was in 2014, I heard the prices went up

That's literally impossible unless you're talking about buying everything from the import section. Veggies and rice cost virtually nothing.

If you are on a tourist visa then you will most likely have to live in southern Guangdong so you can cross to Macau or Hong Kong easily every month or 2 as you can only stay 30 or 60 days. Impossible to live there comfortably on 500 usd a month imo, plus cost of visa.

Supermarkets are very cheap unless you're buying foreign products.

Also I've heard rent prices have risen drastically since I was there 2 years ago.

Here in Thailand it's cheaper eat outside than cooking by yourself.

I was shopping at 华堂 , little bit more expensive, but in Beijing I was eating a good meal for less than 15块, which I think it's cheaper than cooking.

No it's not, you're just buying your ingredients at the wrong places. How else do you think restaurants are making money?

Something like fan qie chao dan with rice could be considered a "good meal" for 15rmb. If you buy 2 tomatos, 3 eggs and rice in a market you'd end up paying half.

西红柿炒鸡蛋 is pretty cheap to make, but it's also much cheaper. I was think about 回锅肉盖饭 and other complicated meals. You got to factor the price of cooking equipment and time to cook and clean. But I guess if you are a liferoll nit you could save a bit. It just wasn't my case.