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Handy Tips for Traveling to China by Suzanne Beck
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Handy Tips for Traveling to China |
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Travel & Tourism,Female Entrepreneurs
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As a regular, solo worldwide traveller, I'm generally quite confident travelling by myself so was taken aback when unexpectedly daunted by the prospect of visiting China, possibly because of preconceived childhood impressions which I was to discover were somewhat unjustified. But I only understood the extent of those thoughts after travelling there. The first time I needed to travel to China I had no idea what to expect and was probably quite casual about getting my visa as when I travel a visa is not necessary, but I was soon to discover I had better get my act together otherwise I'd be sitting in the Shanghai Airport for 5 days waiting for my next connecting flight to Milan. What follows is an extract of my book 'IMPORTING FROM CHINA TO AUSTRALIA' . …..........I knew I had to get a visa to enter into China, but now having known anyone who had travelled and could offer me advice, I set about researching what visa I would need and how exactly I was going to perform that task. One of the things I didn’t quite understand is that if you're entering China on a tourist visa, and I can only speak as being an Australian as I’m not sure for any other nationality, you fill out the papers which can be downloaded online, then send or take them in to the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre, once approved, armed with your visa stuck in your passport, you pack your bags and off you go. BUT….. If you chose to fill out the forms and be honest about applying for a Business visa, which I did as I didn’t want to end up in jail or arrested, (paranoia of the unknown maybe because as confident as I was I still had never had any dealings with the Chinese government) you fill out the form as a business trip stating where you're going and to which cities. But what I didn’t know is that you must be invited by a company, it must be in writing and have their Chinese stamp and logo on the letterhead. No faking this as far as I’m aware. My observation is if you're applying for a tourist visa there are no great problems. The thing is I don’t know if some people use a holiday visa to do business in China, but it was not something I was willing to risk. If you have never travelled to China before, your eyes are scanned at the airport, passports are photocopied at hotels, and I can’t honestly say whether you’re tracked from airport to airport or location to location as I suspect you are, but for me I was not willing to risk breaking the rules. It’s not my country and I have a respect for protocol when travelling no matter which country I’m in. So my paperwork for a business and holiday visa was posted along with my passport to the Melbourne application centre. This is where it got a little tricky.....After posting my passport, imagine my surprise when ‘Harry’ emailed and asked for my letter of invitation.” What? What invitation, I don’t know anyone how can they invite me?” Harry must have made a mistake! Simple…..I’ll email him back and tell him that initially I was going over to go to a trade fair, but due to time constraints I am unable to go as I want to visit 2 factories in China which are quite a distance apart and can’t possibly visit the trade fair, so, is that everything you needed to know, great, just return my visa in the mail. Dear Harry must have laughed to himself. I’m sure he thought “crazy Australian woman, what on earth is she doing?” Is it any wonder Harry, by return email, again requested the letter of invitation documents to support my business visa application. which, by the way I never ever pay for until I get to the hotel as there are ways to do this, and still no visa. At this rate I was going to be sitting in the Shanghai Airport for 5 days waiting for my next connecting flight to Italy. I decided I really needed to sort this out as I was flying to China within 2 weeks, so I called the centre and booked an appointment to ask Harry exactly what it is I needed. And yes, he was a lovely fellow who set me straight and showed me exactly what letter was necessary. He also told me I needed to make the decision which visa to apply for. If I applied for a tourist visa, I could not do business but would more than likely get the visa. If I continued on with my business visa, I must have a letter of invitation from one of the companies I was dealing with, inviting me to China to view their products, and it needed to get to me in a hurry as I was running out of time. If I didn’t get this letter I couldn’t then go back and apply for a tourist visa because they wouldn’t trust me not to do business. Just a side note, I’ve also learnt since my first initial trip, just because you fly to Hong Kong to travel to China even by train, it's not always the case of getting a visa to enter China when you arrive at the border even if you're there for only a short time. It can take 3-4 days to arrange so would recommend always having visa in hand before leaving your country. Now it was time to desperately email one or more of my contacts in China and pray they were happy to send this letter of invitation. In asking them to do this, my concern was “did they know what this letter was?” Again I understand how naive I was because it’s a business requirement and I’m positive I’m not the first person to ever do business in China! Luckily for me it happened. One companies sent me ‘the letter’ by return email. I flew into Shanghai, totally unaware of what to expect. Going through customs was nothing out of the ordinary, precious visa in hand. When I travel I do all my own hotel bookings and transport arrangements as again I don’t leave chance or responsibility to anyone but me. I understand not everyone is comfortable doing this but I can choose the price I want to pay, the location, and I’m not paying out money before I have to. The site I use allows me to see the different accommodation prices, gives reviews and location maps which makes it easy to be near a train station from the airport which is my preferred way to travel until I get to know my location a little better. This site also allows me to choose a hotel I don’t have to pay for immediately and can change if I need to. Before departing I usually change some money over to the currency of the country I’m travelling to, which in China is the Rennin. Also be aware you may need to ask if it’s necessary to order this currency in at the money exchange prior to exchanging your money. Not everyone carries the money or the amounts you are wanting so don’t get caught leaving it until the day before you leave. I don’t change a lot of money, just enough to pay for airport transfers if I’m not taking a train, and maybe something to eat and get me around for the next day or two. Most hotels are able to change money if you can’t find an ATM but the exchange rate will almost always be higher. I choose to pay for my hotel with a card as I don’t like to carry a lot of cash due to a possibility of being mugged or overcharged which is something that can happen if a local sees you carrying a lot of cash or purely because you are a foreigner. In my opinion personal safety is of utmost important when travelling and because I travel by myself I’m constantly aware of my safety. Another reason I exchange money before I went the first time is that I’d never travelled to China and didn’t know anyone who had so couldn’t ask how much to expect to pay for things. Daily living costs vary greatly from country to country and I suppose it depends whether you want to sight see or just go straight in, do business and leave again. I prefer to position myself in a hotel to be able to walk almost anywhere or at least catch public transport. I think you capture more of the culture of the country this way and see the small things you wouldn’t necessarily see. Another reason I don’t take a lot of exchanged cash is because what you don’t use needs to be exchanged back to the AUD upon your return and remember every time you change money you incur fees and charges and lose money from the exchange rate. Another problem that can occur if you don’t exchange money before going is arriving at an airport and the ATM is out of order. This has happened to me and depending on which country you travel to, not all have an abundance of ATM’s in the arrival hall. I rarely use money exchange outlets, which is a personal choice, I’m not for or against them I just like to do it my own way of knowing how much I pay. After arriving at the airport, if I can’t take public transport, I prefer to pay and use an airport to hotel shuttle service. Be aware of the price they ask you to pay as they may inflate it, but you can barter the price and remember sometimes you’re just so tired you just want to get to where you’re going. Personally, as I travel by myself I don’t like to get into taxis’ alone, as bad experience in the past in Dubai which cost me $80 AUD for a 3 kilometre trip and scared witless so just paid it and got out of the taxi at the airport, racking it up to experience. Being in a foreign place I have learnt to accept the fact when entering a new unknown country I am going to get ripped off at least once. Whether it be food, or transport, or drinks, or me being tired from flights, it usually happens, I just try and keep the amount to a minimum, reflect on it the next day, tell myself what an idiot I am and move on knowing it reminded me again what can happen and then staying aware for the rest of the trip. Some of the cultural ways of the Chinese people are a little different to what I expected. To be honest I hadn’t really thought about it but did do a little bit of ‘Google’ research on what to expect. So here are a few tips. When a person gives you a business card it is always passed with 2 hands holding the card and offering slight bow. Sometimes Australians tend to think when change is not given directly into your hand but placed on the counter top it is rude. But mostly it’s just a cultural habit. I suppose the same people would also question why we put money into their hands. It works both ways. I found the Chinese people to be extremely polite and considerate. I couldn’t see a great range of restaurants to choose from and as a non-Chinese food lover, found the diet to be a little difficult to handle and mainly ate in my hotel. I thought I could always eat rice! Prawns deep fried with legs attached, frogs or chicken feet are not quite what I like to eat but closing my eyes when eating and keeping my facial expressions in check, it was surprisingly tasty. You may need to master the art of using chop sticks though if you don’t know how to use them, which I obviously don’t, as I looked quite the idiot when food I was attempting to eat didn’t quite reach my mouth. When in China do as the Chinese do! Tea is also a big tradition in China, I hope you drink tea! They drink different varieties of tea depending on the time of day and I found it can take an hour to finish what I would describe as a ritual. The coffee tables are attached to the plumbing and that is your tea service. No matter where I've travelled there are always people trying to scam you in a similar way, and I suppose I have grown use to the untruths of the locals. When in Shanghai I was approached by 2 girls and 1 male pretending to be tourists. This is where the scam begins. They asked me to take their photo then started inquiring about my country, pretending to know all about it. I suspect these kind of people may learn one things about each country and then run with it pretending to know. After conversing for 15 minutes they told me about a 'Government declared National Tea Day', inviting me to a tea ceremony. I suspected it was a scam but decided to go anyway because sometimes travelling by myself opportunities don't always present themselves. I figured if we headed down dark alley ways I would run or scream or both. We entered the tea room which seemed quite legitimate, where I was encourage to try 6 different teas and even use the leaves as beauty treatments. After the demonstration and my male friend declaring his undying love, the scam raised its head as two of 'my friends' encouraged me to buy different products available, pretending all the while to buy for themselves and family members. When the bill comes, you get slugged with it. Fortunately I am not intimidated and presented the bill for their 'gifts' back to them, at which at such time decided I should make a speedy departure much to their surprise. So if you're ever approached, please always be wary because they have an agreement with the restaurant or hotel or in this case a Tea Room to bring customers and charge their credit card exorbitant prices. I have known while living in Turkey for tourists to be charged $3000 at night clubs for alcoholic drinks. China really is a beautiful place where an abundance of people thrive. It's so pleasurable to see Tai Chi classes in the park that anyone can participate in, birds in cages hanging from trees, people exercising by walking backwards along the river or just laughing and enjoying the day as it presents itself. My final word is if you ever get the chance, relax and enjoy the many sights and sounds to be seen. Suzanne Beck the solo traveler the solo traveler
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