anybody want to meet up at shenzen.
i'm coming within 2 week.

In Macau, the Grand Waldo Sauna is closed for renovations in Feb and March. Is there any place comparable in price for one to sleep in for the night without getting a hotel room? Won't have time for extracurriculars, so don't want to pay extra for atmosphere.

Would people recommend learning Mandarin? I had sort of set this as a personal goal but am realizing that

(a) don't really have any attachment to China -- would be cool to visit but wouldn't live there
(b) not planning on working, especially in a job where it would be beneficial, for many years

How useful would it be for an extended vacation there (maybe 1-3 months, possibly doing some English teaching)?

How useful is it in the business world? I'm talking learning to a semi-intermediate level, pinyin only. Obviously the China economy is speeding but doesn't everyone there speak English anyway (to the point where unless you are fluent you aren't that useful)?

If you are in macau, and want to trade live cash for ftp or stars, please contact me.

unless you spend time to live there and study it, you won't learn Mandarin at any proficiency level for it to be of use to you. Studying it before you come over to live might be of some help, but if you don't continue with lessons while you are here it is money down the drain. Need to spend a good year here.

plan would most likely be to do 3 semesters of mandarin here then go there for 1-2 months. this is all very speculative, but just thinking about it. i wouldn't expect to be fluent, but would probably be somewhat intermediate after that, right?

now my main issue is what use in the world does being intermediate have? more respect from the Chinese i interact with? listening in on them talking about me expecting me to not understand?

pmed

a little too soon for me, i'll arrive in shenzhen probably on the 18th of march. don't know where i go after...

i had a look on the taiwan forum and i understand that u live in taipei, right?

how is it compared to China, i've been there 3 years ago and i remember clubbing was 1 million times better than anywhere in China. But how expensive is taipei compared to chinese big cities:food, accomodation, clubbing?

3 semesters= 1 year and half right?

definitly usefull if u want to have fun in China...u'll be able to survive in China, enjoy yourself here because people are always willing to interact with foreigners and the level of english is very very bad.
As far as business is concerned, u definitly won't be able to understand when people dont want u to understand because they have so many dialects here, and they could always speak slang or too fast for you anyway. but chinese people will always enjoy to see that u can speak chinese and that u know about chinese culture, they are very proud of China and any sign of interest from ur part will be rewarded a lot.

anyway, i think learning chinese is very interesting by itself and kind of addictive, maybe u'll get fluent after a few years...

clubbing wise depend on what you looking for.
for dressup and look good, girls in taiwan beat girls in china.
the pickup part at the club, taiwan is mostly see but not touch, china is easier.
china is cheap on everything compare to taiwan.
food price is about equally, but in china you are better off eating at higher class resturant, since cheap resturant i afraid for the food been not clean.
accomodation: you can stay at 4 stars hotel at the price of day rent apartment int aiwan. china definely won this section.

Hey guys i was just wondering if i flew to macau on a one way ticket is it true that i need to have a return date aswell or was that just the travel agent scaring me. I recently just came back where i booked my ticket home from Macau but i came through on the ferry from Hong Kong. Any help and advice would be awesome thanks!

I flew into HK with a one way ticket before, so I dont think it'd matter if you flew into Macau with one.

can anyone tell me if there are smallstakes cashgames like 200nl and 400nl offered in macau? and can someone recommend a cheap hotel to stay? ive looked into it but they start at 70$/night. maybe ill just look for a hostel? cant imagine im the only busto person going there

For a cheap hotel, just follow the below link. It's not the cheapest but at MOP$200 it's one of the cheapest in town.

http://www.macau.com/en/hotels/macau...-for/5/central

I was just at Macau, stay at the Augusters Lodge. $15 usd/night and close to Grand Lisboa/Wynn

How is the electronic (laptops, iPhone, iPod) priced in Hong Kong?

Is it much cheaper then in Europe?

No its more expensive anywhere in china.

HK compared to Mainland China is cheaper though for any electronics or clothes that are not counterfeit.

Anyone going to Macau this weekend for the Macau Poker Cup?

Hey Guys, I just move to china and also set up a local bank card couple days ago, gonna play on FTP, any good advices on the internet provider, i was in my friend's place and found its pretty slow when I was playin on FT, sometimes I even cant Log in.

Btw, how could I access to PSTAR when im in mainland China and also How to deposite with my CHina bank card?

Thanks for the feedback!!

Hi! I dont know how u managed, I just openened an account today and even going with a chinese girl to help it was pretty awkard. Btw, bank of china gives an RSA token just as Pokerstars to operate online

I dont really know about depositing directly from the account but neteller seems to work

Does the chinese firewall also block the postgress? I can't really find the way to install HM/PT even following the tutorials. Any reliable VPN servers that works? cost? PM would do fine

There needs to be a stickied post in this thread cause ive answered this like ten times.

The great firewall of china (see what i did there?) blocks stars, does not block FTP.

Ways to get around that are to get an Open VPN such as at www.witopia.net It costs 70 USD/year.

Its what i use and i have had no problems at all.

As far as depositing goes, i use bank of beijing checking account. I have a close personal relationship with the CEO and he doesnt care about bank wires too and from poker websites. If you go into their offices they usually have one person in there who speaks terrible english.

If you do not wish to use this bank, i know Deutche Bank has branches in major cities in china, but know nothing about their policies as far as depositing goes.

yes this has been answered numerous times... and pstars is NOT blocked in mainland China. As long as you have the software downloaded already on your computer then you ll be fine. Just open up stars through "my computer" and it it will open and load perfectly fine.

Yes that is true, but you cannot assess the website to download stars.

Ok thanks, I think I am doing something wrong with the postgress+windows 7

If you end email to support at PS and they will give to instructions on how to dl

Anyone near tianhe/citic at gz?

There is crappy but free proxy software out there too if you are trying to bypass the firewall. It is often shut down so it makes it a constant game of cat and mouse.

My gf and I are in Tanshan, we are liking China so far. People are really friendly though, especially to two foreigners that speak next to no Chinese. People think we are movie stars too. This is bloggy, so I will just direct people to our blog if they want to read more about us. If anyone is in Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan or *******n, PM me.