Moved again, this time within the same country

I've moved so many times this year, it's hard to believe. 5 times, I think. But this time it was from Beijing to another part of Beijing much closer to work. In fact, the commute went from 75 minutes to about 7 minutes. No buses or taxis anymore are needed just descending 22 stories and crossing 2 major streets which is actually quite dangerous.

The new apartment isn't quite as new or swanky as the previous one (I'll add photos soon) but the overall situation is better. I guess the best thing is that the water pressure is really good so taking a shower is much nicer. I believe it's about 128 square meters versus 103. So we have a bit more space that we didn't really need and we still have the same basic floor plan (2 bed, 1 bath, kitchen, living room) but extra furniture now.

Birthday celebrations at work

Just a quick post to show an event at my job in Beijing. Every month, they have a birthday celebration for all the people with birthdays in that month. There's fruity birthday cake and singing "happy birthday" in English. This is pretty similar to companies in the USA. Except at my company there are only 4 non-chinese (1 English, 1 Canadian, 2 Americans) out of about 150 employees.

In the photos you'll notice everybody is dressed in warm clothing. We still have no heating in Beijing for one more week. The government controls the central heating. So the outer offices, like the "games" room and my office are quite chilly. Apparently, when the heat comes on, it's too hot all the time and can't be easily regulated. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess I'll see.

Got Passport and Bag, Next stage is visa application

So, a passport and bag showed up with a courier. It was the right bag, but the wrong passport. Genius! Well, you can't blame them when hardly anybody is going to be able to read an English passport. I insisted they track down my passport the same day -- they were trying to say they'd do it the next day, but I put my foot down.

Well, I was able to finally pick up my passport at the shipping company. The next day I rushed to the police station first to get my resident's permit. Then I went to my company and gave them my passport to get the visa application rolling. It looks like I'll get a 6 month multiple entry work visa at first. I guess that's all right. I may want to travel a few times out of country during the 6 months.

Everybody wants my passport!

Well, the past week or so has been a bit frustrating because I've had to deal with Chinese bureaucrats, customs, police, etc. Tuya and I are applying for visas. She got her student visa which went well. She has enrolled in a Chinese language school near my work. She will study every morning during the week.

My work visa application has suffered a snag and I can't work until I get it. I did the medical part ok. But now they want my college diploma stuff and my passport. Problem is that I had a bag sent here from England by air cargo. Course the diploma is in that bag. The bag comes on a separate plane. Takes a 7-10 days to arrive and then sits in customs until you can figure out how and who can help you retrieve it. Because nobody tells you how the process works. I went to the airport 3 times before being told that I can't get it that way. The irony is I've never been asked for my diploma for a job before. Also, the shipping company in Beijing took my passport to give to customs. So even if I didn't need the diploma I couldn't proceed with the visa because the visa needs it.

Also, to add another wrinkle to this mess, the police want to see my passport to give me my resident's permit. This has nothing to do with visas, it's just a police thing to keep track of foreigners. Tuya got hers at the police station, but the next day at 10am the cops showed up at our house when we were still in bed asking to see all kind of papers. I think they suspected us of something terrible, but all they could find on us was the fact I had not registered yet for my resident's permit. But with my passport in the hands of customs, the police and my visa will have to wait. It was quite a scary thing. Apparently, they don't trust Mongolians but then they had to hassle me too. I suppose they were professional but to come to my home twice in a day to follow up on a stupid resident's permit just seems like massive overkill.

What I have learned from this is: never to ship anything cargo; never give my passport up unless completely unavoidable in a foreign country. Unfortunately, I've also managed to arrange to ship my motorcycle to Shanghai (being the nearest seaport) for a ridiculous sum of money. It may arrive in a couple of months and knowing my luck it will then be impossible to retrieve because of Chinese bureaucrasy. I'll probably need some sort of chinese agent to help me with that part. So far it has cost me about $2000 to ship a $4000 motorcycle. I wish I'd sold it in the USA but I wasn't able to. Also I wish I had sold everything that didn't fit in 1 bag. It just costs too much in cash and frustration to ship internationally, especially to China.

On the pleasant side, Tuya and I found a nice sauna and swimming pool in our apartment complex. It's not free but the price isn't bad. We will probably go there quite often because nobody knows when our hot water will be available. Perhaps, this month. Perhaps not. And winter is coming. So a cheap sauna may really add up in total costs if we use it often. It's funny because you have to wear swimming caps. I haven't worn one since my swimming race days. I also got a scrub down massage from a guy which was all right until he started trying to scrub my "privates". I wasn't into that at all. Call me a prude, but that's an area reserved for Tuya.

Another pleasant thing was I met up with Gordon Kutil last night and some other ex-pats. I stayed with him and Ben, my ex-Disney co-worker on my previous 2 visits to Beijing. We had drinks and played pool last night at Rickshaw bar. We may go out for dinner tonight but Tuya is out with Mongolian friends, so I'm not sure what will happen.

Stay tuned, as they say.

New Home in Beijing

well, I'm definitely, undisputably, the Englishman abroad again.

Things can happen very quickly in Beijing, especially if you have money (cash preferred) and a USA cv/resume. To be more specific we did some apartment hunting and then I found a good job, all in the space of 1 week.

First of all the apartment hunting was interesting. Just like anywhere else, you pay more for a central location. We first started looking in the Sanlitun area. This is the westerners/embassy district. Sort of a nightlife and shopping mecca. It's also near the Olympic stadium so prices have gone up ridiculously. Some of the places were very nice but I thought they were too expensive, especially since I didn't have a job and didn't know how much money I will get payed. So my housing budget was just a guess at that point. In hindsight, we could have gotten one of the places but the agents were really trying to rip me off with a high commission. The price for a 2 bedroom (plus den/office), 2 bath place was 5800 RMB, about $775 per month. It was a big place.

So, we moved on and tried some other areas, a little bit further out of the city center. Essentially to save money and get a nicer place. We were shown a great, brand new, apartment complex in the Soho area of South Chaoyang. We had the choice of 2 brand new, furnished apartments (2 bed, 1 bath) and picked one. Without any credit, income or background checks of any kind we signed the lease the next day. The cost was 4500 RMB (or $600 per month) about 1/3 of the cost in LA. The experience was much different compared to the USA or UK. I didn't even have a job at this point, but 2 months rent and a 1 month deposit in cash was all that was required to seal the deal.

The only downsides seem to be that the building is so new that the hot water is not on for the building yet. So cold showers are the order of the day, or we can go out and go to a sauna massage place, which are plentiful in Beijing, for a hot shower. The other problem, is the location, which I will talk about later.

On my previous visit in June, I got a lead from Ben Radcliffe (my ex-Disney co-worker) on an animation company in Beijing for potential work. I had met with an old contact from the USA at a bar in Hou Hai park. He is now an equity partner at Xing Xing animation. So, I emailed the company attaching my resume and some of my work. Within minutes the president invited me to meet with him and his senior management (Americans). Well, the meeting went very well and a couple of days later they made me a decent offer. The money is quite decent when you compare cost of living and major expenses. Most importantly they arrange a work visa for me, which is essential because I am on a tourist visa now. I probably will not have to leave the country to get my visa, theoretically. They will also cover some of my moving expenses. Basically my flight to Beijing and loss of my deposit if I have to move closer to work. The problem I mentioned before is that the job location is too far from my apartment and the commute could be murder. It's not on the underground, there might be buses which could be slow but cheap, or I could take a taxi not quite so slow but expensive for the distance (about $7 roundtrip), or my own vehicle at unknown cost. The traffic here is really congested but also very undisciplined. Sort of a free for all, battle of the nerves. So I'm not sure about getting a small motorcycle. My own motorcycle is actually waiting to be shipped from LA to London -- not very useful.

So, for a 2 or 3 month period, I will probably have to deal with the commute and then move closer. Depending on how bad things are. We still have to deal with getting Tuya a student visa and time is running short. She basically needs to enroll in a Chinese language course and probably study English the rest of the time. We only have a couple of weeks to sort that out.

I added some photos of our apartment and the neighbourhood where we live. I think it's really nice and I've discovered lots of great shops and conveniences close by. Sometimes they are tricky to find because I can't read the signs very well. So you have to take a close look and peak inside, because it's not always obvious what kind of business it is.

First Mongolia, second Beijing. Farewell London

Me outside the hotel room, going for a walk.

We went drinking at an Irish pub with some of Tuya's girlfriends. Later we went to a danceclub and Tuya was very sick. An allergic reaction to her medicine and the red wine.

A ger camp in Terelj national park. We stayed here with some of Tuya's friends. I felt somewhat left out because I speak no Mongolian and only Tuya speaks English (or was willing to try).

So things seem to happen very quickly in my life. The latest news is that the UK embassy refused Tuya's visa. Their reason was she hadn't explained how learning English would help her in the future. I can't begin to explain how idiotic I think these people are. They are refusing a legitimate student an education and the British economy valuable income. Good work UK. One way or another we will visit the UK again but probably not for some time. We may even live there at some point.

So, I basically washed my hands of my country for the time being and we have moved to Beijing. It's easy to get a student visa apparently here and hopefully a work visa for me. Within a couple of days we flew to Beijing, after spending some time in Terelj national park near Ulaanbaatar, and signed a lease on a really nice 2 bedroom apartment in Beijing's Soho district.

I returned to London to properly finish up some business here. I have allowed myself only 2 days to move out of my studio, get a refund from the English school where Tuya was hoping to study, do some banking business, and resign from my company. I'll attach some photos.

mongolia or bust!

Well, I couldn't wait for the fucking UK embassy anymore, so I decided to fly off to Mongolia to wait with my baby girl, Tuya. Also, I hope to take some time to see the Ulaanbaatar and a little bit of the country around the capital.

I think me and my girl will be return to England together in 1 or 2 weeks. That's the plan anyway. I still have a good job in England waiting for me when I get back, so I'd like to keep it.

If the UK embassy says no to her visa then we'll move to China. But first I have to come back to England and quit my job, leave my apartment, get a visa and some other things before I can go to China.

Hey, it's fun flying around the world!

I don't have any of my own photos yet, but for a little taste of things to come I ripped off these off internet for now.