China Response for Barley's mom

[MrsGarden]

I thought I would start a new thread to respond to your questions about the Viking China trip.

 

Tipping -- Yes, you may contribute to a tip pool for the service staff aboard the cruise ship. When you get your final docs there is a booklet that gives suggested amounts ($7-$10 pp per day) You may adjust as you wish, of course. This can be in cash in an envelop or charged to your onboard bill. The service is outstanding and that won't seem like a high estimate! We charged our service tip but gave an additional tip in person to 2 of the young women who were our main waitresses during the cruise. They were our main ones because we most often chose to sit at one of the tables they were working. We also left a tip in the cabin for our housekeeper Amy who was terrific at checking towels, toiletries, etc in the room.

 

Tour escort and local guides -- We had one escort (Frank) from arrival at Beijing airport until the group departure from Shanghi. (We went on the extension and had a different escort to Guilin and HK but that escort had been with another group on our same tour). Again the booklet you receive will suggest about $5 pp per day for the escort. When you see how much work and organization these guys do, again that won't seem like a high estimate. Additionally in some places (ie, Xian and at the dam among others) we had a "local" guide for the day and most couples seemed to give about $5 to the local guide. He/she was with the group for about 3 to 5 hours and gave local narrations about the area and upcoming site stop while we rode on the bus to the stop. Also the bus drivers are tipped a small amount, perhaps $1 or $2 pp person per trip.

 

Money issues -- I brought 100 one dollar bills and 25 five dollar bills and used those for Local guides and street vendors. American small bills can be used widely. I used my debit card for cash at our first hotel so I had some Chinese money but don't worry about doing that at the airport wait and do it at the hotel. The ship would not take travelers checks as payment for onboard accounts, btw! Only cash or credit/debit cards!! We had travelers checks but never cashed any of them, lived on the ones and fives and ATM Chinese money (and credit card for larger purchases -- I got a rug at the silk rug factory). There was some difficulty for those trying to cash their travelers checks because some of the banks they tried wouldn't do it. I don't recall the specifics but I know several people were running around bank to bank trying to get cash. I wish I had used just my debit card for larger purchases as I had no surcharges for using it. I did have a 3% added foreign transaction fee on my VISA charge for each charge purchase.

 

School visit -- Many people brought gifts for the school. I brought several packs of pencils; others had markers, crayons, colored construction paper. There will be a large plexiglass box to leave gifts and another to leave money donations. Most people in our group brought a gift and left $$ also. Are you sure the school trip is included when you go?? Doesn't seem like school will be in session in July?? I am not sure, just thought you might like to double check on that.

 

Viking does send a very useful booklet with the final docs. I had all the same questions you did and they were all addressed in that booklet. They should send it when final payment is made, I think that would help a lot in planning before the last minute.

 

One other thing, make sure you d/l the PIF form from the Viking site and send it in early. They "lost" ours and I had to re-do so I mailed it and faxed it the second time around!

 

Sorry I couldn't get this posted yesterday.. I could not log onto the CC boards, my computer just got hung up several tries.. Glad I was able to send this now... guess less "traffic" in the morning?

 

Please feel free to ask anything else. I got great help from several people here and it made the planning so much smoother!

 

Joyce

[EmJakeBubbie]

your tips are noteworthy. we have 25 more sleeps till our departure which is going to be a land tour - Beijing/Xi'an. We're going with our KWU Choral Group. It's a "for credit" class for the students - they'll be singing at the Great Wall, as well, special school performances. What were your favorite souvenir buys? I have heard to look for silk purses at $1 each. ???? You mention debit cards - any problem with credit cards? Are there many street urchins or beggars? any problem with crime? How was the airport shopping? Any problem taking pictures anywhere? If you stayed in hotels, how was the bedding?bath?breakfast? (should we bring our own TP?) in other words, are modern amenities such as shower caps, etc. provided? I just finished reading Wild Swans for the second time...it's a real eye opener to China's history, etc. I recommend this book to anyone going to China. I look forward to your reply. Thank you.

[MrsGarden]

EmJake's Bubbie --

Trying to recall our first days of tour which would correspond to your trip namely Beijing area to Xian... Lots of street vendors and pretty much "in your face" in Beijing near Tianamen Sq.. I did get some tote bags -- look like silk but are definitely polyester material with Chinese decorations, ie embellishments, etc for $1 from street vendors.. also post card packs for $1 per set are the going rate. I also got a couple of 'Beijing 2008' Olympic baseball caps for $1 each in Beijing but got far better quality ones later in trip near Shanghi for the same price! Best buys for me to give as souvenir gifts were pillow covers and table runners at $2/$3 each.. very nice looking and sold as being silk but obviously not.. polyester, too.. but nice and I am using two already covering pillows on my living room sofa..

 

There were some street beggars but not annoying, just sort of there.. in Beijing.. Lots more in markets' areas of Shanghi and again, not up to you kind of begging, more just roaming with hands out or sitting with handmade begging signs at street corners. We NEVER encountered any kind of circumstances that would seem like street crime (as we have had in many other places we've visited, esp in western Europe).. You can get lulled into a feeling of safety.. which I will amend to say.. that we were warned that there "might" be some street crimes like pickpocketing and we should be forewarned.. but no one in our whole tour group ever reported any inkling of feeling unsafe or victimized by petty thieves..

 

Our Viking tour included stays at 5 star hotels. We had all and every toiletry item you could think of in all hotels.. I would imagine the level of "supplies" depends on where you are staying. Most hotels with websites list the room details.. As for the "toilet tissue issue".. I had several rolls of Charmin' To Go (WalMart, 89 cents) and used it only once when one place we stopped had actually just run out of paper (not that it was never supplied).. Bigger issue is in several public rest stop areas there was only one "western" stall and you might have to wait if you don't want to use the Chinese style toilets.. Bring lots of handi-wipe type cloths though.. sometimes the soap dispenser/bar leaves a lot to be desired.. And we used them often after climbing stairs and holding a lot of rails, etc..

 

Hope this helped! Let me know if you want more elaboration on anything!

Joyce

[EmJakeBubbie]

what is a Chinese-style toilet? I remember a WC visit in St Petersburg finding stalls w/o doors and a lady upon entry would issue a pre-established amount of TP and then you had to hover over the porcelain princess because there was no seat! I do recall in that same 'service area' there were doors, but one lined up to use them. guess it depends on the urgency. Typically I bring TP, washcloths, tissues for our comfort - bedding tends to be rather much an adventure, yes? each country has a definite style - usually we are so ready for sleep the bedding never bothers us. The oddest room was in the Canary Islands - it all looked like doll furniture and we pretty much felt we were falling to the floor upon our recline into bed. How was the time change for you? I think we'll China is either 11 or 12 hours ahead of us now that we are on DST - do you know? We've been told no jacket/ties even though we expect to attend cultural activities - the notes say "China is very casual dress". Any comments on this? I appreciate your shopping notes - how about airport shopping? I think we are going to be sorry about missing Shanghai - but perhaps a cruise sometime to visit the places we will miss.

[BigDogMom]

I just returned from a Viking River 10 day Imperial Jewels of China trip. The Chinese/Asian toilets are porcelain fixtures, flush with the floor with footholds on both sides of the rim. It's a squat and balancing act. The restrooms we encountered, outside of our hotels, had mainly Asian toilets with 1-2 Western styles. If you can see a step up under the door, it's a good bet that the fixture is Asian. Toilet paper dispensers were almost always empty. In some there was a huge common paper dispenser mounted on a wall. You needed to roll off what you think you might need before entering a stall. I brought 2 rolls of traveler sized Charmin that I kept with me at all times. I got them in CVS. The Chinese tend to queue up in front of each individual stall. If you are not paying attention they will cut in front of you to enter the stall. Also if the next person in line thinks you are taking too long in the stall, they will knock on the door and try to open it.It's a little unnerving to open the stall door and be face to face with a stranger rushing to get in. The soap dispensers at the sink left a lot to be desired but for some strange reason, the hot air hand dryers always worked!

As for shopping, sorry I'm not much of a shopper. I did get the impression from that the same things were available from city to city so if you missed a purchase in Shanghai, chances are it will be available in Beijing,usually for about the same price.

I live on the East Coast and it's a 12 hour time change from here.

As for clothing, China is casual. You can go to dinner in what you had on for the day. It's not really a place for a fashion statement. I took 1 dressier pant outfit and my husband took a sports jacket. We wore them once at the Captain/s Farewell dinner. About 1/2 the group dressed and the other 1/2 came in what they had on for the day.

[glgolfer]

Definitely take TP and plenty of Purell. I did not take a sport coat and never missed it. We were limited to 44 pounds of checked luggage apiece. No room for a sport coat.

You can get travel packs of TP at many places, check Walmart or any pharmacy.

[npphotog]

Hi Big Dog Mom - Wife and I are going to China next May 8th with Vantage. Had to have her read your last post re: toilets in China. We will take some extra paper. Been reading all the posts about China and am ready for that adventure. One concern is that there was a post on another message board regarding The Wall. Seems there was a report that the state will be taking over the Wall and stopping tourists from walking on it. In your business have you heard any report on that or from the tour guides on you recent visit to China? Willard in Largo, Florida (formerly from Lansdale - think we talked before)

[smeyer418]

Nonesense. The Chinese government controls the wall now and charges admission. They won't be stopping people visiting. Also China is much more modern than I expected and that was three years ago. We never had a problem finding a western comode in the bathrooms. They are in the ones marked with the handicap notice. But take extra TP that is good advice anywhere actually.

China is getting ready for the 2008 Olympics and wants to shine to the rest of the world. Most airports have been rebuilt. I would happily give you the link to my China pictures.

 

One more thing 4 years ago China had a conference on Bathrooms. They decided to put in more western style ones.

 

The Chinese themselves use the handicap ones....

[BigDogMom]

Hi Npphotog, the Chinese Government isn't about to stop such a profit machine as the Wall. There are hotels built and being built next to the entrance point and shopping areas in place. The govenment has already spent money refurbishing parts of the Wall for tourism. Those parts that have not been refurbished aren't accesible anyway.

As for more on the restrooms, most public facilites that I visited did not have a handicapped marked stall. Of the rare few that I saw, the stall did either not have a door or was also used to store the mops and other cleaning materials. Our group came to the "when in Rome" conclusion and used what was there and don't drive ourselves crazy.

Just be prepared and enjoy the cultural experiences! It's a wonderful country with lots to see and do.

[BigDogMom]

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[EmJakeBubbie]

appreciate all the good info/words of wisdom - can't imagine the Asian-style toilets, so this will be an adventurous 'pop' (photo op?:D) - I understand about the $1 group of postcards & to be aware that silk is probably polyester if it's that cheap (good souvenirs for the office..they don't care what they get just as long as it is brought all the way from China). Any words about designer handbags? what was your favorite buy in Beijing / Xi'an? and I'm still wondering about the airport shopping.....

[BigDogMom]

Sorry I'm not much of a shopper so I can't comment on the designer bags. Some in our group did get some LV knockoffs at the Wall, that looked cheap to me. In the domestic Chinese airports, the items are almost the same as you'd see in the cities - chop stick sets, jade pieces, miniature terra cotta warriers and food. Lots of local goodies! The international airports had the usual duty free shops with cosmetics, alcohol, cigarettes.

[EmJakeBubbie]

I read the "warriors" come with an authenticity letter but you pay a little more at the site - ok on duty free shopping. yes, usually all the same in any int'l airport. I have heard the food in China is to "try everything, it's all delicious". I love teas and I love soups, so I'm hoping for alot of this (altho, gotta go light on the teas when it's an all day bus tour:rolleyes:) .. Did you ever read Wild Swans? I've read it twice - a real birds eye view on where China was not so many years ago. did you see much poverty? were there many children beggars?

[smeyer418]

I read the "warriors" come with an authenticity letter but you pay a little more at the site - ok on duty free shopping. yes' date=' usually all the same in any int'l airport. I have heard the food in China is to "try everything, it's all delicious". I love teas and I love soups, so I'm hoping for alot of this (altho, gotta go light on the teas when it's an all day bus tour:rolleyes:) .. Did you ever read Wild Swans? I've read it twice - a real birds eye view on where China was not so many years ago. did you see much poverty? were there many children beggars?[/quote']

 

We bought a 1/3 size terricotta warrior at the site in Xian. It included shipping back to the US no duty. We saw no children beggars. We did see a whole bunch ot teenagers selling boxes of terracotta warriers just outside the Xian museum walls. A dollar a box of 5...but they were a little agressive. Yes we saw some poverty but frankly less than you see in along the Mississippi in rural areas.

[smeyer418]

One more point about no children beggars. As it was explained to us, because of the one child policy, each baby gets six adults to watch and dote over it. How is that? The father, the mother and both sets of grandparents(the only child for both sets of grandparents) so they have become little emperors and empresses- spoiled too. Orphaned babies are adopted by others - so very little begging by children. In fact I can't remember any begging at all.

[EmJakeBubbie]

1/3 sized warrior? that's pretty large. my souvenir purchases are mostly limited to what I can carry home in my suitcase (smile). Thank you for all the tips - noteworthy about the spoiled "one child" syndrome. any notes about the food/beverages?

[smeyer418]

1/3 sized warrior? that's pretty large. my souvenir purchases are mostly limited to what I can carry home in my suitcase (smile). Thank you for all the tips - noteworthy about the spoiled "one child" syndrome. any notes about the food/beverages?

 

Hello Bubbie! The food was fine. We left the tour a number of times and ate by ourselves off the economy(but not from street vendors). We had a lovely time and good to great meals. The food on the tour was fine as well ok but not great. On the Yandyze river cruise, we asked for steam vegatables for our diet instead of stir fried ones. They were great so good that the entire table prefered them. Ask and you get what you want...PS why would you care if the small ones came with a paper saying they were authenic copies? They won't be original and they are taking you for a ride to give you a paper that says they are.....

[EmJakeBubbie]

smeyer418 - LOL about the paper to prove warriors are authentic. I had already figured out I'd buy wherever I could get a good price - recently we had to sell what was leftover from MIL's life - it was sad to discover things that were thought to be so valuable and meaningful to her brought pennies on the dollar. So, to spend any significant amount of money on Chinese souvenirs won't happen. We have a curio cabinet that is perfect to display small trinkets and souvenirs from our various travels. Nothing holds any value for re-sale and we are happy to live with our souvenirs that didn't drain our budget but provide us with happy memories. The kids will have a good time with them at the eventual "yard sale" :D I will add a little story for entertainment and consideration. On a trip to St Petersburg, the street vendors had mink and rabbit hats for sale. naturally, the rabbit were way more affordable, so DH bought one and did wear it for the remainder of the trip. Arriving home to a harsh winter, he continued to wear the hat for the warmth. On our second trip to St Petersburg, he bought the mink hat - that's about the only thing we've ever gotten abroad that was a splurge and actually useful. So, if you ever get to the Hermitage, in winter, out in the square, treat yourself to a mink hat! (p.s. any idea how cheap a warrior might be?)

[smeyer418]

The cost will depend on how well you negotiate. We paid about $1.00 to $1.50(we brought 4 boxes) for a decent box of 5. At the great wall after coming back one woman said she had done well getting a great wall paper weight for $7.50. I paid $5.00 for two(not for each 2.50 each).

[EmJakeBubbie]

I've read where the best negotiating is when purchasing in multiples. Where did you buy the warriors? at the site? great wall? besides one warrior for our curio cabinet, I'm most interested in "silk" (don't really care if it's polyester) purses and/or tote bags. thinking cheap/lightweight/nice to hand out at home. I'm also interested in good buys at the Cloisinne (sp?) factory - I really appreciate everyone sharing in the "helpful tips" - thanks!!! p.s. did anyone have the opportunity to use simple Chinese phrases like thank you, etc. or did everyone speak English?

[RJG1011]

Hello Mrs. Garden,

 

I'm sorry that I didn't get to read your post sooner. It is quite helpful and I am sure I will use several of the "tips" (no pun intended). Thank you very much for getting back to me to answer the questions.

 

We don't use a debit card, but we may get one just for this trip. Did you have to enter your pin each time you used it? I am a bit leary of doing that because of identity problems, but I suppose we could change the pin when we return. Our bank charges us for foreign ATM transactions ($5) so I wonder if they will charge for using the debit. I'll have to ask. We usually use our credit card for larger purchases because you get the best exchange rate (or so we have been told), but with the 3% fee, it may not pay. Actually the fee was always there, but now the credit card companies have to show it separately.

 

I met with a customer today who was in China 2 summers ago. She said it was very hot and to dress accordingly. We are going on the July 19 Viking Cultural Delights trip with Hong Kong extension so the good thing about hot weather is that cool clothes weigh less. My customer also said to take lots of dollar bills for the street vendors because they have good postcards and trinkets like fans and chopsticks.

 

How was the shopping in Hong Kong? I understand that you can get wonderful pearls there. We were thinking of doing most of our shopping there because of the weight restrictions within China, but now that I read about Viking travelers not having difficulties with their luggage weight, we may do some more mainland shopping if it's cheaper and better.

 

I definitely want to get warriors; they will look great next to my nesting dolls from last summer's Baltic cruise. I am sorry now that I didn't buy more dolls when I was there, so perhaps I'll buy some extra items this trip. It seems that one always regrets not buying enough, however we were with a group and two of the women shopped non-stop, causing our guide much distress due to their tardiness. They truly embodied "shop til you drop!" My husband loves to bargain and he is amazing at it, so he'll be very happy with the vendors; they won't know what hit them.

 

We got better prices in Russia from street vendors than elsewhere. Our guide warned us against them, but I think that was because she got a kickback at the shops.

 

Again, thank you so much for all of your wonderful information in your reply to me as well as in your other posts. Cruise Critic rocks! I have been trying to let as many people as possible know about it. We found loads of useful info for the Baltic trip and the same seems true for this trip.

 

Regards,

Barley's Mom

[smeyer418]

There is a pearl market in Beijing. I am told the prices are better in Beijing than Hong Kong. We were with someone who knew someone in the trade and was taken into a private room where the best pearls are kept. The only place credit cards were taken were in the large government stores. I paid cash elsewhere and got cash from ATM's in both Beijing and Shanghai(in Shanghai at a citibank branch). US currency was widely accepted get allot of samll us bills- new if possible. As I said I bought a 1/3 size warrior at the museum store and it was sent and I paid with a credit card. Arrived without a problem.

[MrsGarden]

Hi again,

I was not interested early on in purchasing pearls.. I got a whole lot more interested as I saw along the way what my tour-mates were getting.. On the second or third day..we stopped outside the Summer Palace for lunch and pearl shopping.. I browsed but didn't buy anything but regretted that later! It was a large store with a diverse selection, but... again.. hindsight.. I didn't know we would have to wait so long for such a wide selection... :-(

 

I did not comparison shop for pearls between Beijing and HongKong .. by the time we got to HK, nearing the end of our trip.. I was finally interested in some nice fine jewelry to take home... We went to the Aberdeen factory store in HK and they had absolutely beautiful pieces with warantees ... I finally let my DH buy me a gorgeous jade and pearl bracelet with 14K links and an 18K clasp engraved with the longevity symbol. I had it appraised at home.. and our local jeweler (and we do live in a small resort town with somewhat inflated prices) gave me an estimate value of over TWICE what we paid!

 

Debit card usage -- I used a VISA logo debit card that is tied to my checking account. With that kind of debit card you just present it and use it as you would a VISA credit card. Once in a while at home I use it (ie, at WalMart) and it comes up as a debit card and I have to key in my PIN at the POS purchase but most often, and always overseas, it's treated the same as a credit card... but because it's tied to your checking and you are using your own account money, there is no fee as occurs with a credit card. You might want to ask at your banking facility (mine with the VISA debit is a credit union acct) and see if you can get the checking acct debit...You might want to bulk the balance up maybe to cover purchases.. but it is simpler and easier than writing a check most of the time, even in the US. I would say "yes" that you could use the VISA debit to pay you Viking onboard charges... I used my credit card, tho.. And just a point to note.. several people on our trip presented AMEX cards to settle up their bills and had trouble.. Not that their cards were bad, just that the morning of disembarkation the ship had trouble accessing the AMEX credit card service so some people were left scrambling. Most just used a different card but some had to break out their cash stash. The ship takes all kinds of currency and cards but NOT travelers checks to pay at disembarkation.

 

Again, I will say.....we had the most wonderful journey... And if you want to take me with you... :-)..

 

Joyce