carl.hops

We were looking at ovens last night on taobao, with a convection oven and pizza stone you need to hit 500F or 260C and most of these get up to 250 so we will probably be buying one of the more expensive ovens that get up there. There is a large expat community next to my work, one store is devoted to ovens. I've been looking into how to build a brick oven, the idea is to make it like the Mongolian grill (not sure if that's just a northwest thing) where everyone can see the brick oven behind some glass or back in the kitchen. I've talked to a lot of my Chinese friends and some like pepparoni and salami, some don't. My girl does, sea food is definitely going to be on the menu (shrimp). Were planning on making the pizza price low so that college kids can afford it, but the whole logistical side of importing food is foreign to me, I may have to go down to HK every once in a while and buy it there. Right now there are no pizza places selling by the slice, this is what is going to give us our edge. We will of course make fresh pizza's and have a place inside to sit but people can come in and pick from pre-made pizzas as well. As for the taste your right, Papa Johns and Pizza Hut are easy to beat. We had some real pizza at a new Italian place in town and then Papa Johns right after, PJ didn't even have tomato sauce. We will perfect our menu before we spend a dime on the restaurant. (I have a plan for this one that wont cost us anything but time and a bit of organizing of an English corner in our apartment with dinner). You can find Peking duck on a pizza here at one of the most popular hang outs for expats called Alibaba's. I'll make sure to borrow that idea as well, as for the normal sized pizza's I think I could do that with a proper brick oven otherwise I think it would be a bit too much cheese for most Chinese to eat (the thickness of the crust varies). Don't know about that one. I'll try to get a hold of my friend mentioned above to gain insight on all of this, and get back to you. I do know that she does buy most of her ingredients from the nearby Metro supermarket. Robert S, may be right though about the cheese. I'll ask around and get back to you. My wife likes pepperoni pizza Buy a Peking duck restaurant - I'll bet that'll be a good combination Chinese cheeses

You are really ... er ... well, naive. You expect that authorities turning a blind eye works when an expat is involved? Sooner or later you'll have immigration and a whole platoon of police there and you will get FITA. If you're really lucky, they'll just fine the hellout of you, confiscate your business and not deport you. That's the kind of response I was looking for Bill, not intended for me exactly. I've been planning this for a bit with her, wanting to do it in her home town where her father has the right connections in government to make those hoops easy to fit through, but she wants to try it here in Tianjin.

I'd love to keep it on the legal side but from the looks of it (went down there today) all the street food (that's pretty much what it is here in Tianjin) stands and even permanent building structures connected to larger buildings don't run with licenses. What we were told today by such a property owner is that the police will give notice (not sure how advanced) that they will be coming, when that happens they make everyone close their stalls, stands and shops for roughly 2-3 days and then its back to business as usual, mind you these stands and restaurants have been around for years operating like this and the business will be in her name only. As for start up costs and remodeling that will cost a bit and we're crunching the numbers now, looks like a year from now to start, year and 3-4 months until opening.

Èç¹ûÄãÒªºº×ÖÊé ÎÒ¾õµÃÕâ±¾ÊéÌ«ºÃÁË.

Here is the vague plan: Open in a ´óѧ (My girls former university) where rent would be roughly 2,000 RMB and foot traffic of college students is heavy. Do it, don't do it? Suggestions, comments?

I second that.

and no paper work.

I'm starting this post to help anyone who plans to go to Hong Kong for a China F visa. I'll post again when I get back about my hotel and experience. If your in search of a China visa in Hong Kong then you need to process your application at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the P.R.C. Here is their website. This will list the most up to date application, address, map and phone numbers as well as cost of visa's and supporting documents you will need. Currently (August 5th 2009) they prefer you get your visa in your home of residence. If you do get your visa in HK you will need 4 working days, they are closed on Saturday and Sunday. This includes the submission day, e.g. if you were to submit your application on Monday you would pick up your visa on Thursday. They offer rush services. For U.S. Citizens the cost of an F visa is 1020 HKG. There are many cheap Hostels in Kowloon that range from 50 RMB (dorm style) a night to 300 RMB (single rooms). Beware of hawkers/hustlers/scammers who may pretend to be from your hotel and lead you to a different place.

I can vouch for WiTopia, I use it every day. http://www.witopia.net/welcome.php {edit} link added.

*shivers*

lao wai [you will always be lao wai]

I was just looking at weather undergrounds forcast for Hong Kong, looks like its thunder and rain for the next two weeks! Hope you guys miss it, looks like i'm rolling straight into it when I go get my visa, bummer, no more Shek O beach plans

I know its not the best but Hulu seems to be the best option for internet T.V. up to date programing and free movies. I access it from China through a VPN called WiTopia, works fine on China's ADSL.

For your work visa I would try and find a job with a foreign company unless you like teaching, you can find a Chinese one. I haven't deposited money into my American account since arriving but I've been able to manage it with its online services, so if you don't already do that its a good idea to set it up, its also a good idea to give power of attorney to anyone you trust back home just in case. After 8 months of study in and out of classes here in China I've come to the standpoint that studying Chinese language in class (for me) is useful if it consists of Chinese only, that is (no English used in classes) also, I think that a Chinese teacher or other non native English speaker trying to teach grammar through English is a big waste of time unless they are able to really answer your questions (most likely not unless you have a really stellar teacher). If all your looking to do is be able to get around, buy stuff, take care of the electric, gas and water bill then I wouldn't waste my time with classes. If you do want a class, find one that's taught only in Chinese. Lexical learning (learning high frequency phrases / sentences) like Chinese pod (and all the other pod-casts teaching Chinese) give very useful vocabulary for living in China, you can get these for free using i iTunes subscriptions (you don't need an iPod). Do some research for schools in your area that expats like to go to, this will save you some money and a head ache taking classes that are poorly taught and constructed. From what I've read and who I've talked to here, if you want to own part of a business its going to take around 100,000 usd (but less than a Chinese would pay because its "foreign invested" <---- that's you) to start it up and make it official. And I do believe that a Chinese needs to own more than half, but that shouldn't be a problem right?

If you go to http://www.escholarship.org/editions/ and click on any book marked "Public" you can read the entire book for free on the website, if you want to put it in your e-book reader click on the "Print" option which will lay out the entire book on one page, just copy and paste from there! There are a lot of interesting books about Chinese History, literature and Studies not to mention all the other categories listed. If anyone has an iPhone and wants to put these on it, I suggest the free e-book reader Stanza, you can download it through the app store fore free. Then, go to Stanzas website and download the windows application, with it you can import almost any e-book document including .doc and put it on your phone to read. Even if you don't have an iPhone the windows client of Stanza is worth downloading to convert e-books to different formats.

Has anyone traveled to Hong Kong lately to obtain an F visa? I may have to do this soon and I'm wondering how long of a stay will they grant me, and maybe the contact of a good visa agent (I read I need one) my company is working on it but I'd like to know for my self to get a heads up. Also, if anyone could point me to a very low budget dorm type hostel I would appreciate it, just as long as I'm not going to be stabbed or robbed, I do have standards...

I'm searching for a good VPN service available in China, something like a paid subscription.

ShaQuaNew... one question, how are you able to look at you tube? I'm using TOR with no luck.

its been blocked on and off all day, but its back now. Good thing I have TOR. But thank god I don't have to use it.

mistooken for a zhong guo ren again, this time by an old lady. I'm on a roll

Right, I dont doubt it will work, I just doubt how well. Is anyone using this in China on adsl who can comment on the connection?

seems this Italkbb is good, but I'm skeptical because you are using it in the states on FIOS and cable connections. Were over here in the stone ages using adsl. Today we are going down to china mobile and getting international service, its 6 mao (.60 rmb) a minute.

Sorry to bring this thread out of its grave but I've been looking for a good option to use when calling from China to the states. Because I'm unable to get a fast enough internet connection skype doesnt work properly when calling from my computer or my iphone. I tried buying an IP card but thats a hassle as I have to go find a public land line and stand out at 10 p.m. to make a personal call next to the hustling traffic. Did this magic jack work at all for you in China? I know it runs off the net but maybe its actually clear? Yakun told me about a job interview she went on, an American man at the company was using a blue box type thing connected to the phone, said it was real cheap when calling to the U.S. and a clear signal but didnt get a name of the product.

The round eye?! HAHAHA

I'm not sure where to start looking for foreign Channels, Yakun tells me I can get an illegal satellite service or I can buy channels from the local t.v. station but I'm guessing that would be rather limited. What are your experiences ye expats?