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If you can believe it, there are only seven daily nonstop flights between the US and China and three via Tokyo. But it is really harder than heck to actually figure out the right flights using expedia or even a travel agent. The routings are wierd. So here is a summary that I’ve found really […]

According to Roland, if you want a fancy watch, you should go to Hong Kong. There is a 30% luxury import tax in China, so it makes more sense to go to Hong Kong.

Well since I’m learning Chinese in earnest here are the tools that I use. All are free and publically available and here’s the order: If I see a Chinese word or sentence and don’t know the translation: # “Google Translate”:http://google.com/translate_t. First I use the Google translator to see if I can generally see what it […]

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Figuring out the cheapest way to call the US when you are living in China is incredibly complicated. The main issue is that you don’t really want to spend $2/minute with your cell phone while you are there, but you do want a US phone number so someone can call you. Here is the best […]

A good buddy of mine was asking about fun quick trips in China. While there are many, hat top to Duane for these two suggestions: 1. Cruise of the Li River and spending a day or two in Yangshuo, a very scenic and unique town at the end of the cruise. This would be a […]

Well, I use Google to translate Chinese characters to English which works OK, but I really need something that also translates to Pinyin so I can read it. “Ping Asian Imports”:http://www.pingasianimports.com/Chinesepinyin/Translate.asp has such a tool. What I really need is something that takes a web page or a PowerPoint document and double converts to Pinyin […]

Iv’e ordered a bunch of Chinese language programs and texts. Wow, things have gotten wayt better than the old days of just learning from a book. Here are some of the tools and an early review: * Rosetta Stone. This is the most expensive package at $300+ for Level 1 and 2. The program is […]

Two great translation aids. The first is is Mozilla Update :: Extensions — More Info:Chinese-English-Japanese Character Hint Bar – All Releases. This is a freeware and a shareware version. It creates a toolbar in Firefox or IE and then when you hover over a Chinese character, it displays its dictionary meaning.