Robert S.

NOW WAIT A MINUTE---- Randy, you are making this interesting. You contradict crazybanana about gluing the picture and say do not glue the picture but then you do not tell what you actually did in this case. What was the policy at the particular embassy you went to, and which one was it? Did they use tape? Please make this clear. And also, as I quoted from their website, the Houston embassy specifically requires that you present the form filled out by computer and printed, BUT then you come along and say in your experience they want customers to fill out the form they provide, whereas Chi-Hous says emphatically that they will not provide any hard copies at their office. How can this be any more confusing? It's like we might be talking about Chinese related stuff....... Hey, let's have a fire drill - everybody run off in all directions.

Thank you, Father Andrew, for the yes answer and the web site link. Has there been a thread about the Houston embassy lately? I found this interesting tidbit just now: No hard copy of the Application Form will be provided in the Visa Hall. Please make sure that all paper work is in order before you submit your application.

Since I'm going to Houston to see my grandson and his mother and my Ping, and I want a China visa, do they still have that service available where a US citizen can just walk in to the embassy in person to request a visa? (Sorry if this is an old topic, but my search-fu is weak). It's been 10 years since I've been to China. The last time I went Ping and I were departing from Abu Dhabi and that was quite an experience going to the Chinese embassy there.

This sounds like a great idea. I like the way one lady interviewed said it will make her feel like part of the country instead of an outsider. My link

The question was what are some of your favorite China related blogs. The first poster gave a list that was pretty much exhaustive apparently. I thought it might be interesting to some of us here. My link

I can't tell you guys thanks enough for remembering what I was trying to ask about in my confused way, and finding it. I really appreciate that, xie xie. I am so happy to have seen this EPIC thread again.

Are the pics in this thread? http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/37887-chengdu-is-alive-and-well/page__view__findpost__p__507256 No, buddy, that was not it. The thread I want was just all pictures one after another with them traveling and then hiking on this mountain. There was the little boy in the field with his mother and they threw him some candy and when he ran back to his momma he had the cute little open flap on the back of his pants. There was Larry learning how to thresh wheat by hand. Man that guy made some good pix but the old lady with the buffalo was awesome.

I could kick myself for not copying some of his photos from his travels, especially when he and his (then) wife went to the famous mountain. Anybody remember the fantastic pic of the old lady leading the the monster water buffalo on a leash? I tried to search for that thread a couple different ways and could not find it. Do we still have that in the archives here? (Beggar begs compugenius to find, please).

Not only did I like the pictures, but I am hoping to make chengdu4me magically show up here by posting this. Larry, come back!

I like this photographer's style and the way he focuses on everyday things. Chengdu

Being as young as he is and with all those books it looks like he is going to school there, so it is partly his China too. When I was in Dalian 10 years ago there was a bar I wanted to go in and Ping would not agree to go there. She said look at all the Mercedes Benz cars parked on the sidewalk, these are cars belonging to Party members and that bar you want to go in is where they go and drink. It pissed me off to have these cars in the way. You had to walk in the road to get around them. Somehow one developed a small scratch as I went by. I love China, but China will always be 3rd world.

My link What an awesome guy! Stopping a military car violating the bus lane - and he's done it before!

He makes some beautiful instruments! Thanks for the thread. I love Chinese music and singing. My wife had a great-great uncle who sang and acted in Peking opera a long time ago and she heard him sing. Good luck with your guitar.

Chinese food can still be good with NO SUGAR in it.

Chinese cooking uses too much sugar and too much oil, WAY too much. My wife is also a real chef, but she modified her style for me in order to use a great deal less sugar, salt and oil. Now even though we are separated by work and other issues (taking care of her daughter's new baby) she still cooks in the new way because she realized it was better for herself as well and the food still tastes great.

You live near the airport? I lived in Hapeville for 6 years in the late '90s. Here in Bamatucky the roads got clear enough for a little while for a quick trip to the Winn Dixie, but they are officially closed again now. Supposed to freeze up completely overnight. Lucky I got plenty of food and GAS HEAT. We still got our power, but I'm not going to freeze even if it goes out.

If you don't have tire chains (and who does down here?) there is no sense in thinking about going out today. For one thing you can't see the road. We might have had this much snow once before.

Y'all are going to take the baby over and show the grandparents? Of course!

As someone who types thousands of lines per week in my transcription job I have to deal with some pain and emu oil helps. Google for emu oil and back pain and there will be lots of claims about how it helps even for bad pain. But I believe in the plain oil rather than the so-called pain creams a lot of the emu oil producers make. The health food stores and herb stores have it around here.

My phone service costs $10 a month, which my stepdaughter pays on her family plan. That's the best kind of plan!

Back in 2001 in Dalian my wife, the local members of her family and I all walked up on the mountain to the grave of Ping's grandmother. I have told about her before, that she did not even have a name as a small baby, and when she was old she was recognized as someone who had had some profound experiences in her meditation. It was a moving event for me as Ping had already told me that she had spent so much of her life with her grandma. The family members burned that special paper the color of cardboard and made piles of it on her headstone and put a rock on top to hold it down. As we were walking down the road going back a piece of that kind of paper blew in the wind and landed in front of me. I picked it up and tried to make a joke about it, but they were not amused. I carried the paper with me for a few seconds thinking I would keep it as a souvenir, but let it go in the breeze after a moment, thinking maybe some unremembered one would like to have it.

I thought only tax forms showing above poverty line was enough to sponsor someone, but now I'm being told the lawyer wants my pay stubs for the last six months, but I had a period of unemployment from February thru June. Is the lawyer wrong, or is this also a requirement?

Were you thinking about the comedian Louis C.K. when you wrote that? This is severely not safe for work and not safe for kids, but is so damn funny: "Why"

One hour overtime! We were on production pay.

I wish I could set my life back about 40 years. When I worked third shift we had to work an extra hour because of the clock being set back. Come in at 11, work till 12, clock set back to 11 again.