Latest Comments

• • February 20, 2013
  • Dun Pijiu: DIY Mulled Beer
    

    What? 2 bottles of beer? Who are you kidding?!

    Get yourself an 8 bottle sized kettle and do it properly!

    Don't go overkill on the citrus fruit and don't omit the ginger!

• • December 6, 2012
  • Chengdu to Hong Kong by high-speed train in 7 hours
    

    Is it just me, or is the aircraft carrier "fly off the rails" pose singularly inappropriate for the railway company?

• • June 16, 2012
  • Chongqing
    

    @AlexKMG Apart from the section titled "dining" above?

    If you're in the Home Inn sort of budget then I used to stay at the No. 9 Business Hotel http://ditu.google.cn/[...] quite a lot and this was consistently cheaper and nicer. Last time I was there more recently though it seemed somehow to be both more expensive and more run down than I remembered so YMMV.

• • June 16, 2012
  • Chongqing
    

    Never actually stayed there myself, but the Yangtze River International Youth Hostel in Chaotianmen always gets good reviews from plenty of friends of mine who have.

• • May 24, 2012
  • Ghetto Superstar Mama: the laowai-ma hall of shame
    

    @iraglass Certainly didn't mean to suggest that you regularly do #11. Never in front of me that I can recall, and I'm sure less than anyone other mums I know. I'm also don't want to come across suggesting that kids shouldn't be allowed to run around and act a bit crazy a lot of the time — just not in 5* restaurants, churches, department stores, etc or even the middle of the road for that matter (well, maybe some kids...)

    > there have been many times when my shushing and stern warnings
    > to said child have been met with so many, "小孩子就这样!" and "不管他!"

    > and other vociferous rebuttals from friends/family/bystanders that in
    > the end i had to leave it alone or come off as a complete shrew.
    > thereby undermining my authority in my child's eyes...

    ha, an interesting thought.

Latest Forum Posts

• • February 6, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Chengdu > Roaming your Chinese mobile number abroad
    

    Haven't tried China Telecom, but China Mobile works pretty well overseas. China Telecom won't work in Europe though because none of the operators have a CDMA network.

• • February 6, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Chengdu > Using Chinese bank cards overseas?
    

    Buying stuff online from overseas using a UnionPay card still appears to be difficult. Singapore Airlines definitely don't accept UnionPay to buy tickets online, even from within China.

• • January 31, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Chengdu > Using Chinese bank cards overseas?
    

    Not tried Germany, but UK definitely worked in pretty much all machines. Cash is the most reliable though — take it in a money belt and deposit it locally at the other end.

    Forget travelers cheques, although if you insist BOC at very least will do them (for some extortionate fee no doubt).

• • January 28, 2013
    
  • Forums > Living in Chengdu > Cheapest 24/7 Internet (DSL, CAble,...) ?
    

    We have China Telecom's 8MB fibre service. Have had it for a while now, was very unstable initially but seems to have been pretty good of late. Can't remember exactly how much it costs, but think it's about 130 RMB a month as a free upgrade from our previous ADSL connection. Regularly download at 1.25 MB/s (bytes not bits, so that's actually higher than nominal). Dependent on the time of day speedtest seems to think anything from about 4 - 8 mbps.

• • December 6, 2012
    
  • Forums > Living in Chengdu > Looking for fellow Rock Climbers
    

    Bouldering wall on one side, looks better than the Tongzilin wall. Ropes on the other side. Not as high as CDUT's wall but looks like a better choice of routes.

    Yes, it's that Suning building near Ikea.

Latest Reviews

• • Dragon Expeditions
    February 4, 2013
    
  • Chengdu > KDK
    卡迪亚美食

    A new review is in order for this place now that I've visited several times plus they have redecorated and included a few seats. Food is pretty tasty and definitely value for money (read not bad and very cheap!). You probably wouldn't want to travel from the other side of town just to get there, but if you're in the area and after something cheap and tasty I'd strongly recommend it.

• • Dragon Expeditions
    August 27, 2012
    
  • Chengdu > The Sultan Turkish & Middle Eastern Restaurant (Halal)
    苏坦土耳其餐吧

    @Birdman I'm going to refrain from linking to it, largely because this post will get deleted if I do, but look at the reviews over the last couple of weeks of the only other Middle Eastern restaurant in the listings section here that's still in business.

    For an actual review, I haven't been back in the best part of a year, and even then this restaurant was only a shadow of its former self. I can't imagine it has improved any since.

• • Dragon Expeditions
    July 31, 2012
    
  • Chengdu > MINTO Coffee
    民土咖啡

    Unimpressed.

    Food definitely not value for money, and poor quality tea for the price as well. No real view and a bit run down.

• • Dragon Expeditions
    June 15, 2012
    
  • Chengdu > The Spot

    Not a fan of the Jelly Fish at all, and so didn't get around to checking this place out until last night as a result, but really impressed. Good, reasonably priced food and a great beer selection to boot. Hope you manage to keep it up.

    Have to agree with ATChengdu about the fries actually. They're OK, but not as good as the very best in town (wonder if we're thinking of the same place or not?). Both the burger and steak only came with a pretty measly seven of them as well (we counted!)

• • Dragon Expeditions
    May 10, 2012
    
  • Chengdu > Indian Food Corner

    Finally headed there last night on the back of these reviews and other recommendations. I really wanted to enjoy it but sadly came away very disappointed.

    Not sure if it was just because the owners weren't there but the food was atrocious. Best dish was a passable but hardly great Chicken Kadai. Worst was a Lamb Vindaloo that was basically just Tudou Shao Yangrou and no hint of curry in any way shape or form. We also had completely flavourless tasteless steamed potato and cauliflower (supposedly Aloo gobi) and Samosas which were genuinely inedible.

    One star because I'm glad someone's trying to establish another Indian restaurant in Chengdu (sorely needed) and the service was OK with friendly staff.

    I'll be sticking with Namaste for a while though.

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