Post by Raoul Duke on Apr 24, 2005 14:16:56 GMT 7
<A forwarding of an e-mail I got from my old friend Ron, formerly of Suzhou. He's been playing piano at the only 5-star hotel in Lijiang, Yunnan. He has sent many photos of the area and it is amazingly beautiful. Lijiang is way out west near the borders with Tibet and Qinghai. PM me if you are interested...>
Hello,
My job at the Guan Fang 5-star hotel in Li Jiang, Yunnan Province, SW China, is finished at the end of July. The hotel has asked me to stay on, but I cannot, and so they have asked instead if I know anyone who might be able to take my place. Hence this letter.
The job is in the mornings (7 to 9:30) and evenings (6 to 8:30), six days a week, but if you come here you'll find that everything in China is highly negotiable. I also teach English to the staff two hours per day on weekdays, but this is something of a joke since the hotel doesn't enforce attendance and usually no one comes. Fine with me, I get a lot of writing done. The
piano (a Heinzman 6-foot grand) is on a small dais in the Western Restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel. My training is classical, but I play ragtime, a bit
of jazz, some pop (both western and Chinese - easy to learn stuff). In short, you're on your own in your selection of music. Most requests I get have been
for Classical, especially the Moonlight Sonata (1st movement, the only movement most people know), and that sort of thing. The Chinese don't give tips, but
sometimes foreigners do. Don't expect much.
My pay is 4000 RMB per month (about US$500), princely by Chinese standards, and again negotiable. The average Chinese aspires to 1000 per month and
usually makes less, often much less. You could earn more, double, even triple, teaching English in Shanghai or Guangzhou (and I did), but this place is so beautiful I gladly accepted a pay cut. Even renting a room and
paying for Chinese lessons, I save 3/4 of my pay. It helps that I eat for free at the Western Restaurant, a nice perk but not so good for my waistline. Nearby
is the charming Ancient City, Black Dragon Pool, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Tiger Leaping Gorge, the list goes on. I have spent a very happy year here,
even flew to Tibet - return airfare to Lhasa 2860 RMB!.
Write to me <via PM to Raoul> if you are interested, and I'll put you in touch with the hotel. Even if this opportunity is not for you, please forward it to anyone you know who might like to see it.
Ron
Hello,
My job at the Guan Fang 5-star hotel in Li Jiang, Yunnan Province, SW China, is finished at the end of July. The hotel has asked me to stay on, but I cannot, and so they have asked instead if I know anyone who might be able to take my place. Hence this letter.
The job is in the mornings (7 to 9:30) and evenings (6 to 8:30), six days a week, but if you come here you'll find that everything in China is highly negotiable. I also teach English to the staff two hours per day on weekdays, but this is something of a joke since the hotel doesn't enforce attendance and usually no one comes. Fine with me, I get a lot of writing done. The
piano (a Heinzman 6-foot grand) is on a small dais in the Western Restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel. My training is classical, but I play ragtime, a bit
of jazz, some pop (both western and Chinese - easy to learn stuff). In short, you're on your own in your selection of music. Most requests I get have been
for Classical, especially the Moonlight Sonata (1st movement, the only movement most people know), and that sort of thing. The Chinese don't give tips, but
sometimes foreigners do. Don't expect much.
My pay is 4000 RMB per month (about US$500), princely by Chinese standards, and again negotiable. The average Chinese aspires to 1000 per month and
usually makes less, often much less. You could earn more, double, even triple, teaching English in Shanghai or Guangzhou (and I did), but this place is so beautiful I gladly accepted a pay cut. Even renting a room and
paying for Chinese lessons, I save 3/4 of my pay. It helps that I eat for free at the Western Restaurant, a nice perk but not so good for my waistline. Nearby
is the charming Ancient City, Black Dragon Pool, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Tiger Leaping Gorge, the list goes on. I have spent a very happy year here,
even flew to Tibet - return airfare to Lhasa 2860 RMB!.
Write to me <via PM to Raoul> if you are interested, and I'll put you in touch with the hotel. Even if this opportunity is not for you, please forward it to anyone you know who might like to see it.
Ron