johnxiaoying

I hope you been able to get good medical treatment and that you're back on your feet. You've had a hell of an ordeal. Thanks for the post, more food for thought for us aging guys that might consider living in China for an extended period. My few visits to the horspital in Guilin left me quite unimpressed. However, I did find my favorite doctor in the world there, an allergist, who offered me a cigarette.

I took my wife to an indoor range several years ago. I instructed her, then reminded her numerous times to keep the business end pointed down range. She finished a clip, turned around smiling and the business end was pointed straight at me. We left the range and haven't been back. Make sure they understand the business end and that these apparatuses that punch holes in paper will kill.

My wife had her mother mail some traditional medicine. It never arrived, probably because it looked like pot.

There was an article on MSN today about 13 great aquariums in the world. One is in Shanghai. http://www.sh-aquarium.com/en/html/index.aspx We were in Shanghai in December, my wife had a taxi driver take us to a wholesale shopping area that was 95% women's clothing. Not too great for me but she loved it and made some great buys on blouses.

I'm sad to hear of your horrible situation. Medical care in China is one thing that keeps me from wanting to live there for any length of time. I would have thought that there would be some excellent care in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong. If not, perhaps India. I did a quick search and came up with the following: http://www.apollohospitals.com/ Are you a veteran? I'm not sure I would want to go to a VA hospital for this type of surgery. Best wishes.

Yeah, you have to admire these macho bad ass men that can beat a woman or a child, but not another man.

My wife really enjoys being able to return clothes, something they can't do in China. Go shopping one weekend, go back the next weekend to return the items she's decided against keeping. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! I've had to caution her several times about going into Kohls to return something and then shopping on her way to the returns area at the back of the store. "Do the damn return and then shop. Don't give any funny impressions like perhaps you returned to the store with a receipt, an empty bag and then refill it and ask for a refund". I just explained to her what happened to Dougs ex and she says she "gets it". Keep an eye on your wives until they get it!

I don't recommend long trips on the old diesel trains. Guilin to Guangzhou was about 13 hours. The wc is no fun on these rocking and rolling old trains, particularly if you have come down with Maos revenge, filthy China squatters. In two years there will be a high speed train from Guilin to Guangzhou, travel time will be reduced to 2 hours. We recently rode the high speed train from Shanghai to Nanjing, smooth and 302 kph.

If you served in Vietnam and have type II diabetes it is presumed by the VA to be due to agent orange exposure and compensation is almost automatic.

Thanks for the news, now we know for sure that Chertoff is a limp wristed wuss.

Don't miss out on http://www.ppstream.com/ . Lots and lots of movies, some nearly first run US movies for free.

Over the last three or four years I have read of two other cases of a crazed maniac going into an elementary school with a meat cleaver and hacking up the kids. I'm glad China is unlike us and will not consider this guy as a suspect until proven guilty after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide for his legal representation and boarding. China will do the proper thing and properly end his life quickly.

The methodology is different. In China it is outright corruption by many individuals and companies. The local kingpin taking land away from farmers to give to construction buddies, the local kingpins son running a brick factory with enslaved workers and other officials looking the other way, it's the melamine in the watered down milk to make greater profits. In the US it's done by legislation for special groups, lobbyists, highly paid speaking engagements and jobs to former politicians as a way of repaying favors done in the past, quid pro quo. Somethings are similar in both countries, kickbacks for overlooking improper construction , jobs based upon political connections when the individuals are not qualified in the least. The US is more sophisticated in the art of skullduggery.

The US can do it IF China provides the financing!

The kid is toast. If he hadn't taken $146 to bump the ahole off then he might have had a chance at keeping his life. No doubt he'll be seen as a paid hit man.

Usually takes 10 days or so. I had my wife write her address in Chinese and then I made photo copies so I could mail to her. Never had a problem.

A night tour of Hong Kong harbor and a visit to Victoria Peak are musts. You need to make sure she can get into Hong Kong before you go there. Unless she has a US Visa and an airplane ticket departing from Hong Kong within seven days of entry or acquires a permit ($35 or so) from her home town she won't be able to enter. I remember purchasing an airline ticket from Guilin to Hong Kong for my then SO to meet me at the HK airport, at a cost of about $250. She could not use the ticket and it was non-refundable. She had to fly into Shenzhen and then make the entry at the border with a permit from Guilin.

Apparently it's safer being in a coal mine than being on the roads in China. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 600 people are killed and more than 45,000 injured daily on China's roads.

You'll need certified copies of any previous divorce papers to take to the consulate. I know of one *&^% guy who got a single certificate in Guangzhou even though he forgot to mention he had a current wife in California. It's been reported to ICE and Guangzhou but as far as I know he has not received any penalty.

I was talking with a Chinese guy this afternoon who works for a Oklahoma City University. He is involved in a program that brings students from a university in Tianjin to Oklahoma City University to study international law and escorts American students to study in Tianjin. He said the Chinese government has issued an order that no students are to go to the USA or any country that has swine flu this summer. He said that when an airplane lands in China the health people show up in moon suits to check everyone on the plane. If one person is running a fever everyone goes into quarantine for a week at the governments expense in a 3 star hotel with free food and internet. I'm thinking my wife and I will likely pass on a trip to China this fall. Anyone up for Cancun? Rates are cheap and the locals claim no flu there (lies)!

I've been over six times and always register when staying in a private home. It only takes 10-15 minutes. If you're staying in a private residence in an area that sees few foreigners you are well advised to register.

You need certified copies of your divorce decrees. persons who have previously been married need to show a certified divorce decree http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/chengdu/cons/mrginfo.html http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/in...d_in_china.html I know of a guy who brought my wife's best friend to the US on a K1. He had obtained the certificate of marriageability from the Guangzhou consulate. Luckily for her, two thieves on a motorbike swiped her purse on Shamian Island so they ended up doing a K1 instead. He provided his divorce certificate from his 1st marriage but somehow he forgot (neglected) to mention, when he filed for the certificate of marriageability and when he filled out the I-130 and I-129F, the fact that he had a CURRENT wife in Los Angeles. She's back in China and he's been reported to ICE (apparently of no consequence).

Almost every time I have returned from China, usually through O'Hare, I have a note in my bag that customs has been through it. There's a good chance you'll get 8 bags confiscated. Leave 6 behind for future trips. Walmart whose world purchasing headquarters are in Shenzhen imported similar items and sold them at a substantial profit. How could they have made this mistake? They've done a settlement with Fendi. http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/NewsRoom/6513.aspx

I send a set amount each month, basically it doubles the mother in law's retirement. We throw in extra for Chinese New Years for the mother in law and some for the niece and nephew. We've sent money when the mother in law was hospitalized and about half of the cost when the sister in law had surgery and treatment for cancer (I'm thankful medical costs are so much cheaper in China, if the costs were the same as the US I couldn't make a dent in the tab). Depending on your circumstances and their circumstances I wouldn't overly obligate myself, to jumping on a moments notice, don't set yourself up for them to be dependent on you. That said, family helps family when needed. Set up a PayPal account and get a second debit card in one of their names. You can transfer funds from your checking account to the PayPal account and it's ready for them to withdraw in 5 or 6 days, I believe up to 2,000 - 2,500 yuan at a time for a $1.00 service fee.

Some folks have a cast iron stomach, but not all of us have them. There's a lot of food in China I can't or won't eat. Either what it is or how it's cooked. I was royally sickened for about 18 hours on an ice cream cone at Hong Kongs Ocean Park. The worst heartburn I've ever had came from a combination (of ???) pizza at Pizza Hut in Shenzhen. I've had Mao's revenge to the point that only antibiotics would cure it, and I'm the picky kind of eater. Cat, civit cat, dog, brains, guts, feet, scorpions, sea worms, etc. I won't even try. In China I tend to stick to noodles, rice, pork and chicken. I loved the Peking Duck in Beijing, second day the wife ordered it again and she came down with the duck's revenge. I've learned to carry beef jerky and granola bars for those times I can't find something palatable, it's saved me from going hungry more than once.