Dear Foxy,

I know about the bank tip, as I am not a newbie to China but thanks away.

1 piece of advice I will give re: banks is, take your fao or a chinese teacher to help you convert your rmb if you are going home. Most of the banks in China will string you on and tell you all kinds of tall tales about why foreigners can't exchange rmb into foreign currency (and what good does that do you, if you are left with 20,000 in flights, bonuses, final pay etc at the end of contract!). So the simplest solution take chinese friend/FAO/colleague/teacher, they only need queue up, show their ID card, and you can get whatever foreign currency you need. Try not to go at a busy time, as the lines will be interminable, and make sure the currency you want is their in advance. Dollars/Euros seemed no problem in Hangzhou, but pounds were somewhat limited. As you stay in China, I suppose that does not matter, but for FT's going home, it's better if they change some.

As for food, I managed to cook italian food by myself. Didn't really like cooking chinese food in my flat, except the odd bowl of ramen, which is japanese anyway.

Eat at the muslim noodles places, they are cheap and filling. Just be warned some of them don't like you drinking beer, for their own religious reasons, whereas at some it is ok to buy beer from outside if they do not sell it there.

Happy hogmanay!
SMGS