Luckily, I live in Hangzhou…just a 90-minute D-train ride from Shanghai—home of the US Embassy. I had visited their website about a year ago when I took another look at my passport when returning to Hangzhou from visiting the States and realized what little room there actually was in it. Turns out, in China, we are able to add pages when our passports get full.

So noticing that the time had come to do this, I again visited the Consulate General of the United States website.

http://shanghai.usemabssy-china.org.cn/adding_pages.html

I made an appointment and got my butt to Shanghai to avoid deportation due to lack of visa.

The office is open and available for appointments Monday-Friday from 8:45am-3:00pm. The system allows you to make an appointment as much as 2 weeks in advance.

If you are unable to go yourself, you CAN send a representative in your place, but you will still need to make an appointment.

When making the appointment with their online system, make sure that you use a computer attached to a printer (preferably one with ink and paper in it). You will need to be able to print the last page that has your appointment confirmation number and password, time, etc.

The appointment confirmation system gives you the address of the embassy in English, so it couldn’t hurt to have a friend that can write in Chinese translate and write it for you, especially if you go to Shanghai yourself.

They do have the address in Chinese on another part of the website:

http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/acs_contacts.html

OR copy and print this:
美国驻沪总领事馆美国公民服务处
American Citizen Services
American Consulate General Shanghai
办公地址：南京西路1038号（近江宁路）梅龙镇广场8楼
Street Address: 1038 West Nanjing Road (by JiangningRoad),
Westgate Mall (MeilongzhenSquare), 8thFloor
路线指示：地铁二号线（南京西路站）
Directions: Subway Line 2 (West Nanjing Rd Station)

The website includes a map, but it is pretty useless.

The website suggests arriving at least 15 minutes (another spot on the site suggests one hour) before your appointment to clear security.

Note that the Embassy is, in fact, located in a mall. Weird, right? When the taxi dropped me off, I was initially a little confused. You can go in through any entrance. Make sure that you take one of the elevators that actually goes to the 8th floor. If I recall correctly, they are in a section off to the far right.

Show your form or the address above to anyone on the first floor when you enter the mall and they can point you in the right direction to the elevators.

Something NOT included on the website is what clearing security entails… This was the biggest struggle I encountered while there.

First, you are not allowed to take any electronics into the embassy with you. You must turn off your cellphone and hand it over to security. This also goes for computers, iPods, cameras, etc. I had gone with the intention of staying overnight in Shanghai for some fun, so of course I had BOTH my laptop and my iPod with me.

Not having had access to a printer when I made my appointment online, I had emailed myself the page and saved it in my iPod. BIG mistake, as they wouldn’t allow me to take it with me. I had to beg for paper and a pencil to write the info down while security was trying to wrench everything from my trembling hands.

Treat the embassy as you would an airport. Wear shoes and a belt that are easy to take off and keep your change in a bag. Trust me, it will save you a lot of time.

Again, PRINT your appointment confirmation page and take it with you—don’t make the same mistake I did.
The second thing to make sure of is printing and filling out your forms before you go. They DO have them at the embassy, but you have to go to a window and ask for them—they do not have them available in any of the lobby areas as I had expected them to.

I tried using the computer they have there first, but it was so slow that it was basically useless, even though it is set up to only go to the US Embassy website.

https://pptform.state.gov/?Submit=COMPLETE+FORM+DS-4085+ONLINE

When you get through security, they will direct you to the correct room for adding pages. Despite the fact that you have made an appointment, you still have to take a number from the machine inside the door of the room. At least people that have made appointments get their own button and set of numbers.

All in all, despite my security and form struggles, it really only took about 45 minutes total and I was done. Now I have 22—count them, TWENTY-FREAKING-TWO!—brand new pages to continue filling with visas. As an added bonus, the new pages are much more colorful than the old ones with historical American scenes and quotes from famous Americans on them. Looking through it will certainly kill a bit of time on the train ride back to our fair Hangzhou.

I bet you all know them, but just in case you’re new in China here goes anyway – these intros are from Google(-ish).

Koubei means literally ‘word of mouth’ and it was based much around user comment. People also referred to it as Yahoo Koubei as it’s one of the websites linked to Taobao 淘宝. Now, it is China’s largest life services website, covering dining, entertainment, housing, housekeeping services and tourism covering pretty much every city ton village and hamlet in this huge country. Since its founding in June 2004, it has always been supporting and promoting the domestic life of the e-commerce service industries, as well as to meet all the wonderful and weird demands of Chinese people. The Founder Li Zhiguo 李治国 worked for Alibaba 阿里巴巴 for five years. (So, now you kind of know the reasons it’s relating to Taobao, huh)

大众 means ‘everybody’, and 点评 ‘comment’, so 大众点评网 means ‘Everybody’s comments’. As such it can be a bit of a free-for-all. It was founded in April 2003, is has become China’s largest city life Consumer Guide. It’s mainly focused on providing reviews and comments on food and beverage, leisure, entertainment, lifestyle, and an information-sharing platform for Chinese people. On top of all this, it is a very focussed city guide with more than 460,000 merchants in over 300 cities. Currently it is the most popular and the largest restaurant reviews website. It is also largest local search portal web2.0 style in China. Call it a cross between Craigslist and Google, in Chinese. CEO Zhang Tao 张涛 studied and worked in America for a few years.

In Beijing, 饭统网 Fantong seems more popular. In Shanghai, Dianping is much more used, and in Hangzhou, Koubei is the best. Membership is free for all of them and as a member there are discounts and special offers. Have a look at these websites before you head out to eat, or pay a little attention when you dine out or spare a second asking the staff, and you will save taxi fees or other little treats. Dianping includes merchants Hatsune, Banana Leaf, Westlake One, Double Star, Papa Johns, Zen, Burger King, Ladinna, Jura Restaurant, Iceason, Dairy Queen, Segafredo, etc. Koubei has Mingren Mingjia, Bro Ding’s Black Fish Restaurant, Xiang Wei Guan, Fengdu Restaurant, Yun Shui Yao, Yoho, and loads more. As you can see, there is a broad range of restaurants on offer.

Rumour says in Shanghai that even the best restaurants care about their reviews in Dianping. Newly-opened places beg for the diamond level reviewers attention, but woe-betide if those diamond Level reviewers write something terrible; there’ll be no business. A diamond level reviewer friend of mine once wrote a critical review of an Italian restaurant on Dianping and the owner emailed him, apologised profusely, and invited him for a free dinner there.

I hope the same will happen soon for VH reviewers.

The link to NCIKU.com from this site has been up since the beginning and has had several thousand clicks. This is pretty cool as nicku is pretty awesome and anybody trying to study Chinese should definitely have it in their toolbox.

I first ran into nciku on Sinosplice.com, a site that, despite its obvious popularity, I find patronising. (I must be the odd one out.) The Sinosplice post is about how we should all say ‘NCIKU’, because it clearly isnt a pronounceable name. Pasden argues that it comes from the Chinese name for the site 词酷 or cíkù. The ‘n’ is for the nth number. n词酷 then means ‘cool gadzillion words’ or some such, and one should said ‘n-cíkù’. n词酷 is much more than dictionary though. It is a thorough language tool, and while they plan to expand into other languages, its power and versatility will probably shine most with Chinese.

The mobile search too – http://m.nciku.com

n词酷 is owned by Korean search engine market leader NHN, who, since conquering Korea want to colonise elsewhere. Rather than plowing on into Japan and China with their own brand, they are testing waters with a new product – n词酷. This helps explain the main interface on n词酷 – a search bar. There is no need to define what language you input – it will automatically recognise English, pinyin and of course both simplified and complex Chinese characters, n词酷 then simply runs a search of its daily updated database. Listed in the returns are definitions, translations, pronunciations both phonetic and spoken, and examples showing usage. Pretty much everything is clickable, wikipedia style, taking you onto public dictionaries, etymology and more.

Pretty novel as well is the handwriting entry tool. Nothing very special about that in itself but this one is built for us paleface who might not know the stroke order of a character. Just ‘draw’ it, and n词酷 will offer suggestions, then show you what the meaning is, how to use the character, and there is an animated pop-up showing you the real stroke order. No more conting srokes or trying to figure out the radical in order to look up a character.

n词酷only started in 2007 and already has an Alexa rank (in China) of about 1600 – ie the 1500th most visited website. In just 2 measly years. They must be getting something right.

Speculators smell chance with China garlic | Financial Times, 25th November

Great seeing 10 goals in one sitting, and some were indeed good to look at.

Some other Manchester United and Green Town reports

Manchester United Blog; AFP (via Google); Guardian

There isn’t a whole load to say about karting. We’ve all done it and loved it. Adrenalin, focus, aggression, speed, revenge, thrills, fun. It does bring out all the basic emotions. Some tracks are better than others, and this Hangzhou one is pretty good. The karts are not particularly quick, (which actually benefits most of us – stay on the track a bit longer) and the track is tight, so going at the speed of sound isnt really an option anyway. The karts are also armoured, so nobody minds a little bit of Dodgems style driving, and the karts all go pretty much the same pace which keeps it properly competitive.

F2 Karting in Hangzhou is busy, and so a Saturday afternoon does mean a bit of queuing. There is pool in the bar and a supermarket for cold drinks between kart battles, and in any case you’ll probably want a break between bouts. Or try in the week – the place stays open until after midnight.

Tickets are 60Y for 6 minutes, and you get 6 tickets for 300Y. Track rental is 4000Y an hour

From the HHH website:

The Hash House Harriers are a group of loosely affiliated running (and drinking) groups around the world. A group of Hashers ‘the hounds’ follow a trail set by a fellow Hasher ‘the hare’ who has run the trail earlier leaving marks in flour or chalk so the hounds know where to run. The running is not taken terribly seriously and there are enough false trails, check backs and other ticks to keep the speedy front runners looking for the right trail while the slow and steady runners and the walkers catch up.

Hashing began in Kuala Lumpur in the 1930s with a group of British Colonial Officials who would meet at the Selangor Club (also known as the Hash House) and set off to chase the hare much as we do in Hangzhou, as thousands do in cities around the world, today.

For upcoming Hashes visit their site

Image from Oakwood Hangzhou website

Despite the apparent lack of good it does me I tend to spend quite a lot of time in the gym. The lack of progress has probably got something to do with diet, or better yet, the liquid diet taken on board most days, but hey, I would be a proper round guy if I didnt go.

Feel Well Gym on Yile Road, just north of WenEr West Road used to fulfil my 2 gym requirements: close to home; cheap. There are no bells and whistles, and more often than not the bathroom stinks of piss. (Does cheap make the smell of 3-day old urine in the showers acceptable?) But it was quiet in the morning and so one could change in the tiny locker room (I affectionately call it ‘the monkey cage’) without accidently inserting your nose in someone’s arse crack. I am not scared of crowds or of naked men, but terrified when both attributes come together. The sauna was rarely on, and in any case, the black slime that seemed to cover most surfaces made the place pretty repulsive. Of course that was nothing compared to some guy spreadeagled naked on his back scratching is scrotum. (Hence monkey cage). Lastly, like all cafes and gyms, Feel Well opens at 10am. I guess the only poeple that can actually afford to go to these places can also skip work…

So when the serviced apartment lot, Oakwood Residences, set up shop in Hangzhou, I thought I would go and have a look. Wohoho. Great. The place is not really close to home, and isnt really cheap either, but the sauna works, and is clean and even switched on! The locker rooms are also a little small, but well-appointed and I could certainly live in the showers, the swimming pool is big and flat, and the treadmills each have BBC and HBO. Paradise. And the place opens at 6.30 in the morning. You can be there before the Hangzhou rush-hour and stay there until the rush-hour is over. What more could I want.

Went this morning for a swim. Arrived at 7.30 and nobody was in the pool, the lockers, or the gym. I had this million dollar exercise facility all to my little self. My swim, well a swim is a swim, no? Then on to breakfast. Breakfast might well be worth the price, bottomless espresso coffee, fresh-cooked eggs, croissant, cheese, sushi, bacon, baked beans, you get the gist, but honestly is a little expensive for me for every day. The buffet with 10% gym membership discount still came to 110Y. Sadly there is no a la carte option with some eggs on toast, or coffee and bread. Certainly going to mention that to the boss.

Anyhows, if you’re looking for a gym that is nearly as good as the Hyatt with a much more stomachable price, then have a peak in Oakwood.