Sebastian

Sites? hahaha - no time for sites ! too busy getting things done, meeting with families, and trying to keep my head down and not get snowed on ! Snow Bad ! Wuhan Cold ! We did spend many hours inside, if that helps? Light jacket? Buddy, I was told to 'dress warm' so I stocked up on Winter LongJohns , warm flannel pajamas, and heavy weight exercise clothes. Snow Bad ! Wuhan Cold ! was between 22 and 39 most of my stay there. SNOW BAD ! WUHAN COLD ! (Repeat for emphasis). FWIW, if you want points in the future, switch to ctrip.com, handle your bookings there.

OK - this was a problem for me as well during my trip to Wuhan/Chengdu. Sure - install the language support files. But - now you have to choose an INPUT METHOD for the IME. For Chinese, there are 6 different ones. I stayed at an internet cafe with one of their techs, mapping out chinese names of IME's to English Names of IME's. The one that worked for my lao po was 'quan pin' The MS PinYin 3.0 IME was useless for her. but hey - you have to ADD them. click on the language you just installed - then click ADD, you'll see the additional IME's available to install. I installed all 6, then we went through trial and error until she found the one that she knows. Again, she knows the Quan Pin IME . Good Luck ! If I have time next week, I'll do some screen shots . This wasn't as straight forward as I thought, and I'm a gear head.

Heya Fellas. Got a bit of free time on my hands now, so will write up a bit about that Wuhan Snow. Short Version - WUHAN COLD! SNOW BAD! Long Version. OMG - Snow in Wuhan. I was told it hadn't snowed like this (heavy snow, need snowplow or humans with shovels) in about 55 years. I'm not a snow bunny, but mostly I think snow is nice to look at. After that first 5 minutes of looking, of course, there's the rest of the cr@p about it, ya? Melting Snow, gets into shoes as cold water once you step through it. Shutdown of taxi service whilst they clean the snow out of the roads. Delay on public transportation schedules (bus, train, airlines). It had snowed heavily the day before I came into China, and was packed up high on the ground when I came in. Oooooh - snow pretty ! - my first basic thought as I trekked through the airport. I met her and one of her uncles and a youngish english speaking cousin at the airport, we go straight to Hotel on the River, very close to her house and relatives. Her uncle was driving newish Hyundai Sonata SUV, and we were talking about the snow and how happy YanYan was that I made it to Wuhan safely. Mostly, the roads were already clear, but this fella was driving slow - he was in shell shock with the snow as much as I was. They had arranged a hotel stay at - TaDa ! Howard Johnson's Wuhan. When I saw the sign on the outside, I fell over laughing, knowing about the bankruptcy stuff with HoJo's in the USA. OMG - the inside was amazing ! 5 star hotel (chinese rating, 3 star European star system). We had a nice visit in Wuhan, though I pitched my Bass Suede Walking shoes right after I found a pair of 90 League Hiking Boots. I'll miss those shoes - they've been around the world for me, but it was time for them to die a frozen death. The hiking boots fit mostly, but rubbed my ankles raw. I had packed a small first aid kit, complete with elastic gauze (for my knee, just in case it popped out again), so I was able to stay mobile with these boots. Wuhan really not known for 'picture perfect snow wonderland' type of place to visit, but most places we went to were coping with it. The hotel room had real working heaters - we cranked it up to 30 degrees each night (man, this was a luxury, let me tell you). We made big side trip to Chengdu for a few days, and returned back to Wuhan the morning of the 30th, staying in the airport there as I had a flight back leaving at 6 PM. It had snowed again whilst we were gone to Chengdu. Snow Pretty, Right? My 6 PM flight didn't make at all. I went to the China Southern 'fix me' desk (desk 18, btw, if you get stuck) - the CZ staff found me a flight out on ShenZhen Airlines (ZH) . I had to make it to Guangzhou by 8 PM to make connecting flight to LAX. So the ZH flight was late as well, I finally arrived in GUZ officially at 8:55 PM - was no way I could make the 9:00 PM flight back to LAX. I talked with the head purser on the flight, during the flight, and they told me where to go afterwards to have my ticket changed. I went to the big CZ 'fix me' desk at the Baiyun airport (around Gate J, if you need it!) and they listened to my story about SNOW IN WUHAN, delayed flights, blah blah blah, and got me reticketed . Of course, CZ not fly on Thursdays, so I must stay in CAN two days. The weather is cold here in Guangzhou at the moment, as well - it supposedly is the coldest temperature since last 60 years. At least it's not snowing. I checked the weather reports for Houston, thankfully I can get some sun when I return. Wuhan Cold ! Snow Bad !!

Ya, I wasn't sure if I was too 'clear' about what we were doing that day, I just wanted to list as much as I could with my original post. Sometimes writing on yer wedding day is a bit tedious, yes? I had the affadavit in hand, but of course when we first show up, they want the 'official translated chinese' version, and sent us to the 'right one'. I had asked her about this one step many times - basically the answer was - we go first, show the affadavit, and THEN they tell us WHICH office to go to for the 'official translation'. This was something really not amenable to 'plan in advance' - as she tells me that the Marriage Office has a small list of 'approved' translation/notary offices to send the American-Spouse-Wannabe TO, and this list changes every 3 months. It all worked out, and the timeline for that day, though seeming rushed, really wasn't that rushed . We first showed up around 10:20 AM, then came back with the translated thingie sometime around 2:40 PM, married by 3:20 PM, then off to the Chinese to English Translator/Notary Office for the rest of it. It was a good day, really !

Jing - AH ! Thanks for meeting up with us - it was good thing - I was feeling a bit lost due to the snow. Chengdu trip was fun, busy, full of food and only a bit of snow there. I had some problems in Wuhan getting back to GUZ for the pond jump, will write more about it later. WUHAN SNOW ! BAD !

Ye Gods. Walmart. We went in there to look for gloves and a knit cap, man what a dissapointment ! Nice place to buy beer, though (hahaha). We went to several hot pot places in Wuhan, but really, the hotel (Go Howard Johnson's Wuhan!) had a good mix of food, was good place to rest and relax when we weren't out meeting her family (it's rather large, extended, etc). Mostly I was bogged down internally with 'situational awareness' - I just didn't want to get lost. But we had a great time in Wuhan. I'm kinda stuck in China (GUZ) at the moment (missed a flight, will write more later). Mostly, Wuhan in Wintertime WITH SNOW is a no-go. Don't do it. Don't come here. It's like having heavy snow in Dallas for a Thursday morning at 4:00 AM - no one knows how to drive in Snow, and there are many car wrecks, the 'county' road de-snowing crews don't have the right gear for it, or not enough of it or not enough personnel. On the 24th, we went in for the big 'marriage photo' photo shoot (you know the thing guys, most of you have done it before). I'll make a new post about it - it was a fun experience ! Mostly, not breakfast meal, we were at one of her relatives' homes for either lunch or supper. Was not hot pot at their places, but regular family style food. Much talking, everyone wanted to hear me sing, and lots of fun with chinese/english language spoofs. I like Wuhan a lot - though I only saw it covered in snow. There's a huge river outside the window - I know it will be nice to travel on it on most subsequent trips. That's it for the nonce - I'm a happy man (mostly) and will write subsequent posts RSN.

Kevin - just in case you can't get your paperwork done - You can transit to HKG, stay there a day or two, return to PRC. If you do that, the CLOCK resets for your duration stay. Doesn't have to be HKG, hey - South Korea is fairly close as well, but HKG can be FUN!

Yesterday was fun and a blur ! YanYan and I married at the marriage registration office here. Monday night we went to BeiJing and stayed at a hotel within 10 minutes walk of the US Consulate - I went in there Tuesday morning to ACS office to get 'affadavit of marriagability'. Interestingly, I ran across a fella doing the same thing, and I gave him the website address for CFL. It was easy thing there, they not ask for any divorce paperwork, just the name of your prior spouse. The Vice Consul was friendly, and she was interested in my marriage plans . We went back to Wuhan Tuesday night, and had a family style dinner with her best friends - I'll write more about this later - wasn't my first experience with home made family style, but WOW was it good, we laughed very much.. Wednesday, the 23rd, we start off with taking the 'marriage photo' for the 'marriage books' . Then we went to marriage office, start paperwork, they tell us which official translation office to go to to get English to Chinese Translation of my 'affadavit of marriageability'. We went to that office, was something about Wuhan Engineering Office, Official Foreign Relations (and Translating) office. We gave the paperwork to the auntie there, and she told us was ready after lunch, so we go to lunch. We briefly met another couple there doing the same thing at this office. After lunch, we pick up the english to chinese translation document, and go to the marriage office again. We give all of our documents, fill out 2 forms (one for husband, one for wife), and the clerk prepares the documents. Lo and Behold, that same couple we met in the english-to-chinese translation office was there, we start talking, and I mention this website (again). So we have a new set of marriage friends, we marry same day, we have small contest on who's K-3 finishes first. Finally, the marriage register clerk finishes our paperwork, and I have YanYan sit down at a table there. Since we are now officially married, I wanted a small celebration , just the two of us. I had carried red wine in small container (thank you the genius who thought of putting wine in cardboard boxes!!!), and 2 wine glasses that I borrrowed from hotel bar, and the rings. I poured the wine into the glasses, we exchanged rings, and had a Toast to Happy Marriage!! But we had to rush off again - we then go to the Notary Office here for translation of Chinese to English , for the marriage documents that the I-130 needs. YanYan knew exactly where to go and who to talk to, as she had done prior work here on her other documents that I needed for the I-130. We had the other couple tag along, and SHAZAAM! it turned out we saved them 8 days of paperwork processing time. My wife is amazing on paperwork. Then we went for small hotpot gathering with 2 of her family members to celebrate, and then met up with Jing and An for a long talk. The 23rd was a good day!!! I'll write another post later , fill in details of where ....

Bah - I not bring the right heavy winter boots - but I remedied the lack quickly. I'll send you a PM here in a moment.

Wow - it's cold on the ground here ! I made it over ok - there was a flight delay with the leg from CAN to WUH due to bad weather in WUH (I thought it was cause CAN was socked in with .4 km visibility due to the fog). Currently in BeiJing - going to US Embassy on 22nd to get certificate of eligibility to marry, then flying back to Wuhan to file all of the paperwork. Brr ! Cold !!!

The IRS has had SSN checks in place since 1996 (IIRC). So if she filed her return, it would be red flagged. NOT FILING the return suggests to me she knew about the problem all along, had good advice from those who knew about it.

Why would it be a shock ? She knew about it prior to coming to work for your company, and committed fraud by using that SSN. Your company is abiding by the laws and giving her a 30 day window to rectify her situation. The law allows your company to do this. She cannot claim ignorance, she knew about it all along. I'm happy to see my tax dollars at work in her case. If she married a U.S.A. citizen, she might have a stronger 'case' to remain in the U.S.A. I'm sorry, but I cannot feel any sympathy for her whatsoever.

There's also the wiring of money. Called TT, or Telephonic Transfer, in China. Not sure what you mean by 'huge fees', but it's gotta be less than what Western Union Charges (and then you are limited to 2999.99 per month). She'll have to go to her bank, and wire the money to your account in the USA. Other's have mentioned International ATM card - lets see what that looks like? 400 usd max withdrawal per day, 2.00 service fee each time. 10000/400 = 25 days, 25 * 2 = 50 bucks. There may also be currency conversion fees, depends on the chinese bank and the type of account.

Excellent News ! I pray it all goes will for her. Do you think you might take a moment to write up yer timeline, place it in your sig here?

I call her what her parents call her, 'YanYan' - it's a shortened then doubled version of her name.

Hey Mark - I'm referring to this beastie - http://www.candleforlove.com/FAQ/Timelines/Ne...Index_New2.html This 'master' was last updated on 9/30/07, generated from an Excel v11 program into html.

Hi - Welcome aboard ! I've no idea about the answers to yer questions - but - my lass is in Wuhan TOO ! We're going the K-3 route with an I-130/I-129F . PM me here if you think we should put our women in touch with each other?

Ya, I was looking at the posted time line 'spreadsheet' thingie here as well, but - it hasn't been updated in some time. Did the person making the updates stop making the updates?

This is set at the Central Planning Committee, a year in advance. What's funny to me, really, is that it *SEEMS* that there is a RMB/USD forex market - and there's really not. The Yuan has always been pegged to the US Dollar. Since GW wanted it otherwise, that Central Planning Committee decided to 'make it waver' , just so ol GW would think there's something going on. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is. Don't like it ? shift yer monies into a different currency, not the USD.

Can you convert your retirement account and pension to EU or UKP ? I'd take a different approach, really - take any monies, shift it to either EURO or UKP. If that's too messy for you, then you can switch to AUD or SGD.

Ah- my take is different, having been at the Guangzhou Trade Fair 4 times in 10 years. Never again will I consider to import something INTO the U.S.A. from China except 'The Lass'. It's a personal choice, made out of too many lost $$ along the way . I know, I know - ya can't win if you don't play. I've played, won sometimes, lost most of the other times. My favorite multi-national END USER SALE Shop - A Korean family at a Mexican Run Trade Fair in Texas were selling Chinese clothes. I don't want to play in that arena. I weathered through, with another business partnership, a shift in WalMart's purchasing practices for the last 20 years. We made money in the first 3 years, until Walmart wanted to know more about the manufacturers WE used in China. They REQUIRED that information from us, then went around us, cutting us out of the revenue stream. Anyone can 'find things' to shift out of China on the Alibaba web site. Go there, spend yer time. As you can tell from reading most of the links that you found after you googled those 3 magic words I gave you, there are several foreign casinos in Macau, with their holding companies based in the U.S.A. . IMO, I don't think yer bringing anything to the table (adding extra value to the sale) by landing in Macau and finding buyers. The purchasing methods are totally different than in the USA (but you know that already). IIWY, I'd tell 'my friend' to contact the purchasing agents back in the states, and emphasize with him on the concept of 'selling directly to the Macao subsidiaries' . But hey - if you wanna become yer buddy's 'direct sales agent' in Macau - go for it - you'd enjoy the experience, as it would singularly keep your mind off the wait at the GUZ potentate's cesspool. In the future, I'd happily recommend things to you that could sell well IN China, but I'm dead tired of finding Chinese things to sell in the U.S.A.

Yo Dave - I betcha a phone call to the purchasing agent at the Wynn Macao Casino in Macao would be quite beneficial to old TS. Macao ain't the PRC, the rules are different. I"m only suggesting that TS inquire in that SAR where Gambling is not only legal, but it's the MAJOR revenue stream.

Can you access google from china ? Use this search combination, exactly - 'macao gambling commission' xie xie !

Pardon? you wish to export something TO the U.S.A. ???? So sorry, I misunderstood your intent. I thought you wanted to import machines FROM the U.S.A. into China.

Why not inquire in Macao, where gambling is not only LEGAL, but it's the major reason for it's existence ? Is a special SAR specifically for gambling.