I added an interactive map about Shenzhen to my website. Together with my girlfriend we are adding the most important landmarks in Shenzhen to the map. We included subway lines, shopping malls, cinema, PSB, iceskating places and much more already. You can see the preview below, or go to the big Shenzhen map .

Shenzhen is one of the most expensive cities to live in China, but still relatively cheap compared to most Western major cities.To give you an indication of how much things cost, I collected some prices. I'm sure prices will vary a bit depending on where you buy and which brand you buy, but this should give you a good indication. I rarely eat in Western restaurants and have adopted a Chinese eating pattern. If you enjoy Western restaurants, you obviously will spend more. Living costs are relatively most expensive, but house prices have come down considerably and you should definitely look around  and bargain when you consider renting a house. 

All foreigners in China need to be registered with their local PSB (Public Security Bureau, like Police station). This rule has existed for a long time, but was never enforced strictly. From July the 1st 2008, they will start to enforce the rules more strictly: with fines of up to 5000 RMB! It is strongly recommended that all expatriate personnel living in apartments in China register with the local PSB prior to July 1st to avoid problems. Read more below for the procedure and who need to do it.

Ikea Shenzhen opened in April 2008 and has already generated quite a buzz in the city prior to opening. Ikea misses the crazy housing market from 2007, but I'm sure many Shenzhen people will be interested to see what this Swedish brand has to offer. Sunday the 20th of April we visited Ikea in Nanshan for the first time. Together with several thousands of Chinese, see the photos!  

When we went home around 16:00, there was a queue at the entrance to Ikea. I think they (wisely) decided that the store was too busy and only let people in slowly. See below for more photos!

Our travel report from Guizhou has been added to the website. Guizhou was one of the best holidays I ever had. Our itinerary was: Guiyang – Zhijing Cave – Hangguoshuo waterfall – Kaili – Nanhua Miao village, Xijiang Miao village – Zhaoxing – Kaili – Guiyang. Read more in our travel report for Guizhou .

After living 2 years in Shenzhen I have collected lots of useful information about this city in south China. My website was purely in Dutch before, but I have decided to translate everything (except my blog) to English and I will publish lots more current information about Shenzhen on my website in the coming weeks. I hope that my website will become a good source of information for foreigners looking that are going to visit Shenzhen for pleasure or business. Already added tips for shopping, tourism and eating in Shenzhen!

I added lots of good information about Tencent QQ to my website. I hope this will help non-Chinese to learn more about Tencent and QQ. I also wrote a help page about registration and downloading QQ2005 or Tencent Messenger 2008 in English. I will add more information about QQ services and products later!

We visited the former Portugese colony Macau this weekend, which is about 80 minutes by boat from Shenzhen. Although famous for gambling, there is more to see in Macau. You can read all about it in our Macau travelreport.