I started looking for a Chinese wife back in 2009. I was 37 at the time, had a good career, but started to feel lonely.... and that feeling that a woman was what was missing from my life.
Why Chinese? Because they were the girls I thought were hottest on the ForeignLadies.com mail order bride themed site.
Why didn't I look for love earlier in life? I've always liked foreign ladies, but it just never occurred to me that Asian women would be interested in younger guys like me. And also my Uncle was a long time visitor of Thai ladies, but Thai ladies don't rock my boat like Chinese ladies do.
OK so my first visit to China confirmed that while the Internet (and certain dating sites) can lie, China really is full of absolutely beautiful women.
I've dated a succession of Chinese (and a couple of Japanese) women but I've come to the conclusion that I'm just too darned picky for the dating site > chat to women > go to Asia for a fortnight to meet a woman/women thing to work. It can work, but marriage is just too big a step in my opinion.
It needs careful thought.
So I quit my well paid job, sold most of my possessions and here I am, in Guangzhou, China.
Why Guangzhou?
My first visit to China was to Wuhan in Hubei Province. Geographically it's in the middle of the country. It's quite a boring city, with not much for a Westerner to do. The ladies are beautiful, but you might go out of your mind if you spent any length of time there.
So for my 2nd visit to China I chose Guangzhou. It's about 100 miles up the Pearl River from Hong Kong.
I really fell in love with Guangzhou (or Gz as the locals call it) as soon as I got on the metro that whisked me right into the centre and I could walk to my hotel. The hotel has Pizza Hut, McDonalds and a whole load of Asian restaurants nearby.
Gz is also a good place to take a date - there are lots of tourist sites. And there's a couple of great shopping streets which will allow you to check if your date's a shopaholic!
The weather is also good here, although it's almost always stupendously hot and humid. I'd rather have that than the biting cold I witnessed in Shanghai last January!
OK so China is harder to get a visa for nowadays and if you want to find a Chinese wife I recommend you stay for a year. You've got 3 main options: teach English, work as an expat or study.
Teaching English is good if you don't have much cash savings. The little girl on the plane next to me was learning English from a book - it's a massive industry here. For a better chance of a job head for medium sized cities like Changsha.
Expat jobs are available but you'll need some kind of expert status. Younger guys can try and land an internship though. Remember that China has no shortage of unskilled labour and you'll not get a work visa if a Chinaman can do your work.
Finally Chinese universities offer reasonably priced education and options include MBA's or just learning Mandarin. I've chosen the Mandarin option - it does cost around $2600 a year but students here get bargain basement health insurance, food and accommodation.
So here I am, and assuming my visa gets processed OK, I'll be here until early July. Will Winston visit? Who knows

Anyway, ask me anything about China, Chinese women, and if you want to meet up here, then I'll be happy to show you around.
I'll post more updates as they happen. Sorry no photos tonight as it's really cloudy and not ideal conditions for photography.