help with a game

do any of you play mahjong? I've been dieing to trying and learn it, i LOVE games? I just bought a little mahjong set and have been reading the instruction manual and gosh, it's really intricate. If you play, do you have any tips? any sites that offer some good concise directions? I'm just boggled at the number of hand combinations. Also, where could I find a nice set of mahjong tiles for not TOO much money, that is, if I can actually figure this game out. . . .

I only play online which is pretty easy. I've never played with an actual set.

Real Mah Jongg is very different to the tile game where you just match pairs - unfortunately I only know the easy version

i love the easy version, but i wanted to learn the real version. it is REALLY cool so far. i think i found some good info online but i still want to hear from anyone who has played this game before.

and i was shocked that agatha christie actually wrote a whole chapter about it in a book i just read. . . .

I have no idea how to help someone learn that over chat, or a message board,
i used to play with my GF mother,, unitl i beat once then she would never ask me to play again.

and when i was in hong kong, lots of people would sit around the gamble how they play it, but i never had the guts or trusted my skill enough to try it with money.

was it fun? what things did you like? did you learn any tricks to remember the hands?