Also, you can buy fresh soy milk every morning from many of the breakfast street vendors. Especially those who sell you tiao, the long fried bread sticks. Some sell it sealed in the big drink cups.

Rope lights to be found in the lighting areas of the major decoration markets, and in B&Q. Decoration markets at DaShangHui (off Guangfulu), at YunFang (Area adjacent/behind Carrefour on SouthRing Road (Huanchengnanlu) and Haigeng Lu), and there are several others in the city. All of these markets will have several traders who sell rope lights.

Xmas lights and all the Xmas paraphernalia will magically appear in at all the big supermarkets and Metro will have a grand selection a little later in the year.

Basically the soy milk cookers are a blender in a tall boiling vessel. The biggest brand is Joyoung. You do get what you pay for, the more expesive ones are faster, and also much easier to clean (ours only needs to be rinsed thoroughly, but do it while it is hot before the stuff dries on).

You can put in the beans and water (we use drinking water not tap), put it on the dry bean setting and it takes 20mins. Or you can soak beans overnight. The only bugbear is that you need to strain the cooked liquid to take out the remaining solids. You need to push it through the strainer really.

Advantages, fresh and you can also mix beans. My wife like a 60/40 soybean/peanut mix.

Tip, most people throw away the dou zha. It makes a really tasty dip or side dish.

INGREDIENTS
Dou zha
Garlic
Sesame oil
Salt
Green onion (optional)

Take some garlic, and fry in a little sesame oil until soft. Add the dou zha and heat through, you can also add a little water to thin it if desired. Add finely chopped green onion, and salt to taste.

@Yankee
The 'buffy' dog you describe sound like a rottweiler. The problem with rotties is that there are two main bloodlines. In UK they have been bred as house dogs, and some are the biggest softest pussies you could meet. However, in Germany they have been bred as working (guard) dogs and have the temperament to match, and are not suitable as pets. I am not sure which bloodline is in China, hopefully the soft one.

The most common cause of dogfights is when one dog is on the leash, and the others are not. The dog on the leash cannot move freely and if it feels vulnerable it will become defensive (aggressive) and then the fight starts. If the same dog were off the leash it would be happily running around sniffing butts with the other dogs. Sadly it is the dog with the responsible owner that is percieved as the problem.

BUT thank God, chinese TV is now showing the Dog Whisperer www.cesarsway.com/channel/dog-whisperer-tv

How long does it take to travel to Ruili?
How far does the train go now?