January 2012 Blog Posts (15)

Hey chaps and chapettes,

Am trying to organise a HK trip for my partner (visa funtimes).

Have checked a few airline comparison sites but was just wondering if you guys have any tips for getting there on the cheap!

Thanks =)

Jem x

I am researching which VPN to go with. I assume that paid ones will be more reliable than freebies (Correct?). I saw an ad for Express VPN in one of these expat groups and wondered if there was any feedback on them by users here. Also I noticed that Chinoxy was also recommended here. Is there any difference between the two performance-wise? Thanks.

We finally, after months of waiting, made it to China. We have been here in Jilin for a week now, shaking off our jet lag, poking around the city of Jilin, enjoying the strangeness of it all.



I have lots of questions that come to mind, so I am sure I will get good use out of this forum to get better information. Speaking of which: Where can I get (preferably in Jilin) an adapter for my Dell laptop (bought in US)? The fellow in the store here (named Da something Guan) sold me a…

Just some holy people I have come across recently:

Dennis the Abbott

Mahatma Jack

Steve "the seer" Mellow

The Dalai Richard (or as some people say: "The Dalai Dick"

Are there any other holy people out there?

Boxing great Muhammad Ali, right, with the help of his sister-in-law, Marilyn Williams, left, makes an appearance at a balcony before the celebration for his 70th birthday at the Muhammad Ali Center on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. Ali turns 70 Tuesday.

I remember so many great days watching this man perform either in the ring or being interviiewed by the TV, especially the great Parkinson interviews that were aired on the BBC.

I shared so many of these…

An angry crowd shouted and threw eggs at Apple's Beijing flagship store after it failed to open on schedule on Friday to sell the popular new iPhone 4S model.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9011987/Angry-mob-pelts-eggs-at-Apple-store-in-China-over-iPhone-4S-release.html…

When I get home later this month my first breakfast will include:

2 rashers unsmoked danish back  bacon, a good sized pork sausage, 2 fried eggs (easy over), button mushrooms, a half grilled tomato, 2 pieces of fried black pudding and fried bread. All washed down with a good mug of tea (with milk and sugar) - also English mustard for the sausage.

All followed with hot butterd toast and marmalade

here are some replies from the guardian on this most…

It's superb. I can do nothing but smile. I am very happy,' says person who ate some of the prized tuna bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 56.49 million yen, or about $736,000, Thursday in the first auction of the year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market.

The price for the 593-pound tuna beat last year's record of 32.49 million yen or about $416,000. The price translates to $1,238 per pound — also a record, said Yutaka Hasegawa, a Tsukiji market…

The Changchun 2012 Ice and Snow Festival was grandly opened at Jingyuetan National Forest Park on Monday morning of January 2, 2012.

This year marks the 15th session of the Ice and Snow Festival, and the 10th anniversary for the settlement of Vasaloppet in Changchun. 

The theme of the festival is “Passionate Vasaloppet, Attractive Changchun”. In line with “tour around Changchun, have fun on weekends” and “watch the Winter Games, travel around Jilin Province…

 The 28th International Harbin Ice and Snow Festival held in Harbin, in China's northern Heilongjiang province. The annual three-month long festival will have its opening ceremony on 5 January 2012

Well worth a visit if you have never been - Go to the ice festival in the evening and the snow festival the following morning - and then find a good Russian restaurant to warm up!

.

 From cbc.ca:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/03/f-vp-ross-language.html

The secret to learning languages

Tips from the polyglots: Find out how your brain works 

 On a trip to Costa Rica, I marvelled at how a fellow…

This first of a two-part blog about differences in the Chinese and Western educational systems and the following impacts is not about what is good and bad, for very little is indeed black and white. However, fact is that big differences in educational program, curriculum, and not least the whole concept of ’What is good education?’ brings out totally different skill-sets in young people coming out of high schools and universities in China and the West. A thing, are they not already, future…

Richard roman started me thinking with his last post, "what is the best drink in the world?" Belgium seems to be a great beer making country. But what is the best alcoholic beverage? Wine (what wine?), Beer (what beer?), Mixer (what mixer?, Shot (what shot?). 

For me: 

Beer - Yorkshire Bitter.

Wine - Californian Red

Mixer - Gin

Shot - Patron (Gold)…

THE Trappist Abbey of St Sixtus of Westvleteren has little to offer those wishing to gawp at ecclesiastical architecture. The 19th-century buildings—squat, brick and functional—sit on a quiet country lane amid flat farmland, close to Belgium’s border with France. Yet the vast visitors’ car park is a clue that some people nevertheless consider the abbey worth a trip. For beer lovers, St Sixtus is a place of pilgrimage.

The abbey and its most famous brew, Westvleteren 12—a dark, strong…