MS Word find and replace tips

One thing I often find useful in MS Word is to remove formatting from a particular block of text. (It's helpful to first see what formatting you've got in a document by turning on Show Paragraph Marks.)

Say I want to remove all the tabs in a table. Here's what I do:

1. Select the cells in the table I want to remove the tabs from.
2. Press CTRL + H on the keyboard to bring up Find and Replace (or use the menu if you don't like keyboard shortcuts).
3. In the Find what field type "^t" (without quotes). This is the code that tells Word you're looking for the tab character.
   
4. As I don't want to replace it with anything leave the Replace with field blank.
5. Select the Replace All button, select No when it asks me if I want to search in the rest of the document. Done!

That's a lot easier than pressing the Delete key 81 times (as I would have had to do for my most recent example).

If you wanted to remove all paragraph breaks you use the code "^p" in the Find what box. There are other things you can search for as well such as footnote markers - select the More (or Options?) button and then select Special and choose what you want to search for and it will put the code in the Find/Replace box for you.

Hope this is helpful.

Microsoft Word searching with formatting options

I just found a nifty feature in the search box on MS Word. I happened to press CTRL + U to try and take off underlining on the word I just found using 'Find', but actually as the search box was still active it refined the search even further so that is was searching for the word I typed in and where it had underlining applied to it. You can do three types of search like this - 'search word' + underline, 'search word' + no underline, 'search word' (i.e. find it regardless of underlining).

I'm guessing the same will work with all sorts of formatting options. Hope this might be useful to someone out there. Do comment to say if it is! I'm using Word 2007 but I'm guessing this feature has been there for a bit.

Being away was good, being home is good

Well just a quick post to say that I've been back in the UK for a week now. And I think I'm finally over jet lag.

I'm currently at my parents house before I start 2 Christian summer camps for under 18s on Saturday, and then have a week of holiday in the UK. After that my course at college starts on 3rd September!

On the weekend just gone I managed to get back to Cambridge which was good. I saw my old work colleagues on Friday, and then other friends on Saturday, and then friends at church on Sunday. I also brought home another car load of stuff as it didn't all fit in when I moved out over a month ago!

This week I'm getting ready for summer camps and getting admin done. It's a bit quiet at my parents house as they are away on holiday.

Somewhere before term starting I've got to try and fit in reading for college. It'll be a busy few weeks...

Beijing is great

[Written this morning as for some reason I couldnt' post then.]

Sorry I've not posted on my blog for so long. I'm having such a good time in Beijing it's been difficult to fit in the time :) So while I have a bit of a lazy morning today I thought I'd write another post.

Beijing is a great city. I got here early on Monday morning after taking the night train from Shanghai. The city to me seems very different from Shanghai, so much more space, and less busy. On my first day I checked into the Far East International Youth Hostel and had a bit of a wonder around getting my bearings etc. I met up with a friend of a friend who comes from Beijing in the evening so that was nice to begin to meet some locals.

On Tuesday I went to the forbidden city. The place is just awesome, you really have to see it to appreciate the size of the place! I spent the whole day wondering around and then in the late afternoon went up the hill in the park just to the North to try and get a view of Beijing. The hill was built using the soil excavated to build the moat. Unfortunately due to the smog you couldn't see very far, probably about 1km but never mind.

Wednesday was a bit of a lazy morning, and then a trip to the Lama temple in the afternoon. Again rather sad to see people very sincerely paying respects to false gods. The Lama temple is the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist outside Tibet. Wednesday night was meeting more locals and took me to the financial district of Beijing to the East.

Thursday was a 10km walk on the Great Wall with some friends from the hostel. Me and a guy Daniel from my room decided we'd try to get their ourselves rather than book on one of the fairly expensive tours. At the bus station we met 3 Americans who were doing the same which was helpful for haggling a bit late on. The minibus from the bus station first took us about 2 hours away and then we tried to find the minibus that lonely planet talked about to do the next bit of the journey to Jinshanling. Unfortunately no such minibus seemed to be around, but there were lots of minivan drivers vying for our money. So here the purchasing power of 5 of us was helpful, and the fact that Daniel and another guy could speak some Chinese. After 15 minutes of haggling we eventually got a good price to get us to the wall, and another hour or so later we were there.

The great wall was 'great'! It's amazing to see and walk on. The section we did to Simatai was quite steep in parts but was well worth the nearly 4 hour trek in the sun. The views are stunning of the mountains round there. The ride back was a lot easier as our minivan driver was at the other end (we'd not arranged it as we again thought there would be minibuses as lonely planet said). We got back tired, sweaty and hungry. First stop was the shower, then we went out for some street food and a couple of beers. Beer is cheap out here (Y2 for a 600ml bottle!).All in all I'm loving Beijing.

I'd better go as I'm off to the summer palace now.

See you,

Andy

Shanghai - travel tips

Well I've now been in Shanghai for a day and a half. The 19 hour train journey from Hong Kong was fun, meeting people from China and things like that.

Shanghai is very different to Hong Kong One of the most visible things is it's not as clean as Hong Kong. Some people here just throw litter onto the street even though there are lots of bins nearby. Also people here seem quite cold, pushing to get to places, and you hardly see people smile. If people are friendly then they are most likely trying to con you, see tip 2 below, or sell you fake goods. It seems you have to actually ignore people who offer you things or say hello which seems really rude.

A friend of mine (Rob) from Cambridge South Hockey Club has a brother Nick out here teaching English so I met him in the evening after I arrived yesterday. It was great to chat to him about what Shanghai is like, in a couple of the bars here. I also met him this afternoon in the old part of Shanghai. I'm staying in the International Youth Hostel here which is actually pretty good. It's a good way of meeting fellow travelers. Tomorrow I'm going with a guy from the same dorm to Suzhou, which is a 1 hour train journey away and should have lots of gardens to see so quite different to here in the city.

Anyway on with the travel tips...

Tip 1 - eat in restaurants that are busy preferably with locals.
I was wondering around the Nanjing Road and was looking for something to eat. You get all sorts of people wanting you to eat at such and such a place. I ignored them and turned off to a side street, I was hungry so looked at a menu outside a restaurant without looking in. Oops. There weren't many people there and I could see why after eating my duck which was more bones that meat. Thankfully it wasn't very expensive.

Tip 2 - be very wary of trusting anyone.
You get all sorts of people approaching you here, trying to offer you all sorts of things. You also get people who are trying to con you. On my first day here I went with a guy from the Netherlands for a walk along The Bund. There two Chinese girls came up and chatted to us. We walked along with them for a bit, and it was all nice and friendly. I just thought they were wanting to practice English. Then they suggested that we go to a tea ceremony display nearby. Ok I thought, so we went up to where this tea cremony was. The prices didn't seem to bad so we went along with it, each of us buying a different tea and before we got our tea, sampling a bit of all four. All very interesting and some nice teas. Then the bill came - just under 900 RMB! I looked at the bill a bit closer and it seemed they'd charged us for 4 of each of the teas. As not much of the tea menu was in English, I guessed we had misunderstood and so the price was probably right. My companion from the Netherlands didn't seem to think anything was up, so we split the bill four ways. Why alarm bells didn't ring I don't know! I think I'm a bit guillable at times :)

When I told Nick about this on the first evening, he'd told me we'd fallen for one of the cons that happen in the city. Interestingly Lonely Planet didn't say anything about scams here like it did for Bangkok :(. Anyway, today I happened to pass the hotel where the 'tea ceremony' had been the day before. I thought I'd just go and see what was happening there and perhaps complain about what had happened telling them I think they'd conned us. But on my way in I met some police outside so I thought I'd ask them if they knew anything about the tea house. One of them spoke a bit of English, so I explained that I thought I'd been conned. They went to see the tea house (on the 12 floor) and when one came back a police van arrived that they said I should get into. I didnt' really know what was going on, were they helping me out? Well I got in (not the bit where they lock you up so I thought it was probably ok) and a few minutes later ended up at the Public Security Bereau (police station). I was taken to a little office upstairs and had to wait. It was a bit like how I imagine police stations were like in the UK 20 or so years ago! Smoking allowed, not much going on, but lots of plain clothed officer around. After asking a few times and about half an hour had passed, I eventually managed to speak to someone who spoke English ok. I explained again what had happened and how I'd ended up in the PSB office. From what I understood apparently some French guys got scammed the same day as us but this time for 7,000 RMB! They'd reported the tea house to the PSB and it got raided that night. I wish I'd realised earlier that it was a con. I showed the PSB some photos of the poeple I'd taken and the PSB said they were now in custody or whatever. However it seemed I wasn't going to get my money back and I thought it wasn't worth the hassle and time trying to pursue things any further. I also got a slight impression that they thought I might have been involved in scamming people which is perhaps why they took me to the PSB - who knows but the helpful police officer did say to the others that I was a 'British citizen' during that part! Anyway after half an hour or so of wasted time I was out, with an 'amusing' story to tell to all of you. I don't think many people can say they were taken to the PSB in China in a police van! Anyway don't worry I'm fine, just a bit annoyed I fell for a con trick. Thankfully it didn't cost to much for the 'experience' :)

Hope you're all well.

Andy

Hong Kong (who you know, not what you know)

Well I've now been in Hong Kong for 4 days so far and will be leaving soon, so time for a post about Hong Kong and what I've been up to here.

On my first full day here I spent some time wondering around parts of old Hong Kong, and then the financial 'Central' district. I decided to use the old fashined tram to get to old Hong Kong, which was great fun. The trams are still made of wood and are probably the only form of public transport without air conditioning. While I mention transport, I really am impressed by the transport here in Hong Kong. It's cheap, clean, efficient, runs when you want it... infact I haven't got anything bad to say about it so far. Of course you do get traffic jams in rush hour if you're using road based transport, but I think that's to be expected. Why does the transport system in London have to be so bad in comparison?

Anyway, in my wonderings of the old city I found the Man Mo temple (1847). I was sad to see people worshipping and praying to the variety of gods there, because they are just lumps of wood (or whatever) unable to do any good (Jeremiah 10). So different to the living God of Christianity. After the old I saw some of the new wondering around the skyscrapers of Hong Kong. I went up to the 55th floor (of 88) of the International Financial Centre 2 tower (the tallest skyscraper I believe) which gave a great view over Hong Kong Island.

The next day, Saturday, I went up The Peak (by car with my Aunt) in the morning after breakfast at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. You get a good view of the North of the island (the main part of the city) from the top of the peak. In the afternoon I explored some of the countryside of Hong Kong. As it happened it was the hottest day of the year! So lot's more sweat :) I walked for a total of 8.5km over a couple of the hills that run across the middle of Hong Kong Island (Jardine's Lookout and Mount Butler) and then down past Tia Tam reservoir to nearby Stanley. I had a swim in Stanley which was nice, in 28 degree water I think (or was it 23? hmm... whatever it was it certainly much warmer than the UK). I didn't realise there was so much countryside in Hong Kong.

On Sunday I was encouraged to find a welcoming international English speaking church, Ambassador International Church, where the Bible was taught well. Unfortunately I had to leave early so couldn't meet people afterwards as I had to meet my family and some of their friends for lunch. After lunch I wondered around some of the shops with my uncle and cousin. There are so many shops in Hong Kong. Basically the first few floors of any skyscraper are shops. I think shopping must be the biggest past time here. And the shops stay open till 10pm or later (but don't open till 1oam). I tried to get a train ticket to Shanghai, but at the travel agents found that the train on Wednesday I intended to get (which only goes every other day was fully booked). So it looked like I was going to have to fly to Shanghai (from just inside the China border which is cheaper than going from Hong Kong).

However in the evening I (plus my uncle, aunt and cousin) met up with some friends of theirs for dinner, whom I know a little because my parents were guardians to one of their children, while he studied in the UK. It was good to see them and their children again, and proved very helpful. I was talking about my travel plans and how I wasn't able to travel by train any more, when the father said he'd see it he could sort out the train ticket I needed. It seems he knows someone who works at the China Travel Service, and somehow he managed to get me a train ticket on the train that was full! It seems to me that in Hong Kong it's who you know that counts, not what you know.

I picked the ticket up today (Monday) from the train station in Kowloon, and then spent the afternoon wondering around Kowloon. I went to the Hong Kong History Museum which was really interesting and a very well done museum (it's fairly compact so you can see most things in a couple of hours). I then took the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island (only 2 HK dollars!).

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get up fairly early and have a day out walking and perhaps taking in a beach as well, so I'd better go and get some sleep.

Undeserved kindness, and farewell Thailand

Just a quick post for the moment. I'm now in Hong Kong with my family (Uncle, Aunt, Cousin). I've only just arrived here so not much to say about Hong Kong for the moment.

I sadly left Nakhon Sawan on Wednesday night and took a minibus to Bangkok for the night before flying on to Hong Kong today. I had a great time in Nakhon Sawan, and really enjoyed seeing the work the McClean's did with students there, and getting involved where I could. It was nice to get to know some of the students a little from hanging out with them at the Youth House (the bottom floor of the McClean's house).

On the minibus into Bangkok I met a friendly guy called something like 'Teem'. In fact he was really helpful to me and when we arrived at the Victory monument in Bangkok, helped me to find where I planned to stay for the night. But he didn't just point me in the right direction for the SkyTrain to travel into the city, he actually got on the SkyTrain with me (at his own cost) and then came down the road where the guesthouses were until I'd found a room to stay. He didn't want to stay for a drink so sadly I didn't really get a chance to know him. He works as a military doctor in Bangkok. But I was just so surprised at his undeserved kindness.

It reminds me of someone else's undeserved kindness towards us all - God's in sending his Son to save us from our sin if we trust in him.

Fried Insects

Well I'm now in Nakhon Sawan, about 2-3 hours North of Bangkok. I've been here for just over a day now, seeing what Johnny and Ann McClean (and their three kids) get up to. They work as missionaries among the many students here. They're basically trying to support Christian students and encourage and help them to share the good news about Jesus. They have a great house near to one of the universities here, and the bottom floor of three is for students to hang out in and use.

This afternoon I went off with them and the kids to try and find a suitable venue for a weekend camp they'll be running. We didn't find much apart from a very nice hotel resort that will probably be too expensive. Soon they will have some Christians over from the UK and America to help with university missions, basically getting to know students and seeing if they are intersted in hearing about who Jesus is. The missions will finish with the weekend camp.

Tonight I went out with some students and a Thai Christian who works with Johnny and Ann to the market for some food. It was raining so we didn't stay out too long and the non-food parts of the market weren't there because of the rain. Before we got the 'bus' (basically a pick-up truck with seats down the sides) we got some fried insects from one of the stalls, some grasshoppers and then some big grasshopper things. I decided to give them a go and actually they weren't too bad - I even had another of the big grasshoppery things.

Well that's about it from me for now.

I've never sweated so much!

If you read my last post, you'll have heard that I was about to set off for a 2 day trek in the hills around Chiang Mai. I'm now back and it was great. But I don't think I've ever sweated so much! Sweat was dripping from my face as I climbed with the 8 others into the group up to the summit of the hill where we would spend the night on the outskirts of a hill tribe village. There wasn't much to see on the way up, and actually the vegetation was a bit like that in England in many ways apart from lots of bamboo growing, and bananas. So it was a bit like a walk up a hill in England, apart from being much hotter and more humid, hence more sweaty.



On the first evening our guide cooked one of the best meals I've had so far in Thailand, prepared with fresh food bought from the market on the way. We then had a relaxing evening around the fire, before settling down in our bamboo hut.



This morning as I was the only one in the group doing the two day trek (the rest were doing three days) Nu an 18 year old guy from the village who seems to help out the official guides, led me down back down the hill. It rained for most of the morning, and had also rained for most of the night so it was rather slippy but Nu made me a walking pole out of bamboo which was helpful. We stopped off via a large waterfall where I had a quick spalsh, and after a couple of hours walking arrived at an elephant camp. Here I had an hour riding on an elephant - quite a unique experience. I'm not sure what the elephants make of it, but I'm guessing they prefer walking around with someone on their back eating shrubs on the way to being tethered up waiting around (although some did seem to be roaming a bit more freely with a couple of baby elephants).


After some lunch, was a white water rapid ride down the river which was good, and then bamboo rafting to finish off. Bamboo rafting is a bit like punting in Cambridge (or Oxford I guess but I've not punted there) except you get your feet wet. I'm now hanging around for a couple of hours before I get on the train at 9pm to arrive in Nakhon Sawan. In Nakhon Sawan I'll be spending the week with Johnny and Ann McClean who work their as missionaries amongst students. It'll be great to spend some time seeing what they get up to.

Right I'd better go, my internet time is nearly up. Do let me know how you're doing. The floods in England made the news here in Thailand!

Gecko's falling

I drew the curtains in my guest house room and a gecko fell to the floor giving me a bit of a surprise. Well you can't expect much for 150 Bart (about GBP 2.5)! I'm now in Chiang Mai which is an interesting place. It's quite small really. I hired a push bike today - single speed :) and pedalled my way around the city. The old city is surrounded by a square moat all the way around which took about 15 minutes to cycle round. No one run me over so that was ok. This has been my first full day in the city. Last night I slept in a more upmarked 'hotel' as I got here quite late for 590 Bart, but decided that I'd go for a cheaper option tonight.

Tomorrow it'll be even more primative as I'll be in a hill tribe village! I booked a 2 day trek today for 1300 Bart. It includes an elephant ride, white water rapids and bamboo rafting, as well as walking. Should be good fun and hopefully a chance to meet some other folk. I thought there would be lot's of Western tourists but the place is not over-run with them. Tonight I've been at the night bazaar, bartering for all sorts of things. I'm glad I've got some room in my backpack. Earlier in the day I got about 20 small bananas (about half the size of ones in the UK) for 10 Bart! Bananas taste really nice out here.

Before coming to Chiang Mai I was in Muaklek - http://www.muaklekresort.com/ (it's not as nice as in the pictures!) helping out with a 5-11 yrs kid's club for a missionary conference. It was a great time, and really opened my eyes up to a great need out here - out of I think 796 districts 260 or so have no church, and so no good news about forgiveness through Jesus! I got a ride up to Chiang Mai from a missionary here. Everyone seems to drive a pick up truck in Thailand.

It's not hard to miss that Thailand is a very Bhuddist country. I think there are hundreds of temples (Wat) here in Chiang Mai. I cycled to a couple today. However there is freedom of religion here.

Right I'd better go so I can sleep and then get ready for my trek, after which I head down to Nakhon Sawan on Wednesday night on the overnight train. Unfortunately I couldn't get a cheap fan coach, so had to pay more for air con which will probably be too cold overnight!

Arrived safe and sound

Well I'm now in Bangkok!

I finally arrived last night after some 12 hours of flying, and then a taxi ride from the airport to where I'm staying. It seemed the taxi driver didn't really know where he was going. We had to stop and ask several times. Driving in Thailand seems an interesting experience. The express roads are fast, and you basically do what you like in whatever lane you want. Then there's your dual carriageway type roads where again you do what you want (including reversing when you miss your turning like we did!) and then on the local roads there's lots of motorbikes to try and avoid. Well at least that's my experience so far.

I'm staying in a mission organisations guest home, which is quite a way from the city. They've got air con here which is rather nice, and it works well unlike that in my old office! The temperature outside is 30 degrees already 70% humidity and it's only 9.30 in the morning.

Today I think I'm going to explore some of Bangkok, and then tomorrow I'm heading North of Bangkok to Muaklek to help out at a mission conference doing some kind of kid's/youth work.

Bye for now, and do pass this blog address on to others.

Last day at work

So my last day has finally come! I've got lots to do so not much time to write anything here.

I really enjoy my work, and will miss many friends here. I'm just thinking again 'Do I really want to change all this and become a Vicar for the Church of England?' I think so...