China Romance
General Discussion and Useful Links => Ask An Experienced Member => Topic started by: Longhair1959 on November 08, 2009, 01:52:13 am
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Hello follow members, I am finally planning my trip to fly to Beihai in Decenber to meet my beautiful Lao po, Xiaojuan Lao, YEA. Of course I am very excited and but a bit nervous about traveling so far from my home land for the first time. So here is my question or rather request. For all that have made the trip there to China what tips on traveling there can you give the dos and don’ts? Now I am not worried about us we are just fine, can’t wait to get each other in our arms, I am more concerned about the travel it’s self, the airports and what to expect when getting into Guangzhou and waiting the few hours to fly on down to Beihai and what to expect there as well. What kind of items should I not take to keep from slowing things down?
Help guys my time is coming soon. Oh and here is a picture of my love, might as well see why I am going, right.
Thanks, Ken
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Ken,
congratz. Pretty lady. I've not been just wanted to say congratz. Don't for get to write about your experience and plenty of pictures. I'm not speaking for myself you see I just know the other brothers on this site want to see them.
Shaun
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Ditto mate...Very nice looking lady:icon_biggrin:
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Hello follow members, I am finally planning my trip to fly to Beihai in Decenber to meet my beautiful Lao po, Xiaojuan Lao, YEA. Of course I am very excited and but a bit nervous about traveling so far from my home land for the first time. So here is my question or rather request. For all that have made the trip there to China what tips on traveling there can you give the dos and don’ts? Now I am not worried about us we are just fine, can’t wait to get each other in our arms, I am more concerned about the travel it’s self, the airports and what to expect when getting into Guangzhou and waiting the few hours to fly on down to Beihai and what to expect there as well. What kind of items should I not take to keep from slowing things down?
Help guys my time is coming soon. Oh and here is a picture of my love, might as well see why I am going, right.
Thanks, Ken
Hi Ken, welcome to the forums.
We'd need a bit more details (as in the airports you will have to go through and if you've been overseas before). Not sure how much help I can give you about Guangzhou as I've never been there before, however some travel tips I tell people when they tell me they're taking their first trip out of the country,
1) Have your travel documents ready and accessable (ticket, passport, etc.) in your carry-on baggage.
2) Check out the web sites for the airports and your airlines to see if they have any restrictions (liquid limits, stuff you carry on) and to find out how early you'll need arrive to get through immigration (typically 2-3 hours before the departure on international flights)
3) Dress comfortably but tastefully (you're in for a long flight). So golf-tee and jeans (personally I prefer khakis, but that's personal opinion) is fine, however shorts and flipflops are not. This one is important as it gives the inbound immigration agent an impression...but on a long flight, you should be comfortable too.
4) Carry on a few light snacks (I prefer some candy and a few chinese buns). There's food on the plane, and you can buy food at the airport, but sometimes you need something quick and depending on the airport, you could be paying through the nose for the food.
5) A form of entertainment... A frequent complaint I hear is that the in flight entertainment sucks (it's improving, but it still sucks). So when I go, I have my laptop loaded up with TV shows and movies and e-books. I also usually have two books with me... one for the trip there and one for the trip back...keep one of the books in the checked-in luggage and one on me for the plane just in case I don't want to watch a movie.
6) Have fun... you're about to embark on a really amazing trip.
Anyway, hope some of this helps...when you can, give us some details and what type of info you're looking for and maybe we can focus this for you...
And as the others have said, give us the story man. :)
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There is a amount of money to take with you. Have a few RMB for inside China travel (taxi, bus, etc) Read through some of these posts for the experiences with money. And have the directions (hotel name etc) written in chinese. It will help if you get stuck in the travel.
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I had to look up as to where Beihai was - I see that it is in the autonomous region south on Guangdong.
I think that there you are going to get more stares than anywhere else in China.
Willy
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Hey thanks guys thank you for the complements, my little love is twice a beautiful on the inside as she is outside. Well no need to wait to start till I get there, this journey started last year in October we had both joined Chnlove this same month. I had looked around on the site for a few days and always came back to her profile over the rest. So I decided to send a cupid note to see what would happen and wow got this long letter back and here we are over a year latter waiting for my trip to Beihai. There have been so obstacles, lost my job, finalizing the ole D papers that has gone on for two years, but she has stood by my side waiting patiently. We talk twice a day during her lunch time and then when she gets home going covering English words and sentences as well as Chinese, we are both learning and it’s a blast, as well as writing every day to each other. I get the warmest little voice every day I call and I always get “hello hubby” and she loves to be called baobei. Her language is a little tough as they have their own dialect, can't learn that on line.
Thanks Mustfocus for the info. You have already touched on some of the things I was wondering about, no I have not been overseas since I was a child, went to Jamaica. Well what about prescription meds and more about vitamin supplements I take daily, don’t want to get in trouble taking the wrong things with me.
Okay guys that just the short summary, promise I will send picture’s and keep you all informed on how the trip goes to finally meet my Lao po.
Take care, Ken
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Thanks Mustfocus for the info. You have already touched on some of the things I was wondering about, no I have not been overseas since I was a child, went to Jamaica. Well what about prescription meds and more about vitamin supplements I take daily, don’t want to get in trouble taking the wrong things with me.
Okay guys that just the short summary, promise I will send picture’s and keep you all informed on how the trip goes to finally meet my Lao po.
Take care, Ken
Hi Ken,
Always glad to help. I would take a sufficient amount of whatever prescription medication you need to last the trip (+ a few days if possible) as there is no guarantee that you'll be able to get them over there. I would also try to get a doctor's letter (and make copies) stating that your medical condition as well as the medication and dosage you take. Make sure that you also have his contact information in case someone needs to contact them. Since vitamins aren't critical (you can last a short without them), consider leaving them if possible. If you feel you need them, take a small amount and preferrably in an unopened bottle.
The point is to avoid as many problems as possible. I've taken small amounts of allergy medication overseas before (usually capsules like Reactin). As they were in those blister-pack foil things as well as in the box, I never had any problems. But I do know that one of my former bosses took some medication with him...on this end (in Toronto), no problem. But when he got to HK, he had to explain those tablets and had problems explaining why he needed it.
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Ken , prescription medications , keep them in original box in your carry on , my vitamins I always put into my main bag , also get your bags checked from start through to Beihai so you do not have to go hunting when changing planes , make sure you have a pen on you as you will be given forms to fill out on the planes one of which may still have a contact phone number and your address where you are staying required , any other questions just ask , regards Ying and Robert .
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Hi Ken,
When I travel I always take 2 photocopies of my Passport and Visa, Travel insurance, Flight Internary and other documents relating to my travel, if you have any medical conditions or prescribed medications write them down as well. With one set of the copies I pack into the bottom of my suitcase as a spare. The other set I give to trusted family member that is contactable easily. If anything goes wrong like your luggage is lost or stolen you can produce copies. They will also speed up the process of getting them replaced. Instead of carrying my passport around I carry the photo copies to produce if asked or if you’re injured. The original passport and documents I place in the hotel safe, and get a receipt of them.
Good luck on the trip, I found the Chinese people to be very friendly towards westerners.
Regards Alan
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Nice lady you have there Ken!
I'd say the most important thing is to take a good stock of any medication you need as it can be hard to find out there. Immodium is useful and it also helps to avoid the places that wash their vegetables in the street!!!
If meeting her parents/family bring a gift from home and maybe photos.
If your lady's english isn't great then make sure she has a human or machine translator. I also got a phrasebook/dictionary for my phone which was useful.
I found the baggage thing at the airport confusing, but the thing to remember is that you must collect your bag when you arrive in China (so you can go through customs with it), then you have to check it in again for the internal flight. On the way home your bag should get automatically transferred in for the international flight.
Planes can be freezing or boiling hot, so carry plenty of clothing layers. Most airlines have plenty of entertainment for long haul flights, but I found Air China had a pretty bad selection of movies.
Check if your mobile phone will work in China.
Also take some RMB as getting foreign currency changed in a small city can be a nightmare.
And yes, dress well in China (but no suits hee hee).
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Nad / Ken,
Yes, always but always carry a copy of your passport on you, whenever you venture out from the hotel, never carry your actual passport on your person..... If you lose it, or it is stolen, you will have a whole heap of problems to deal with!!!!!
As far as the copy of your passport, ....better if you get the hotel your staying at, Stamp the copy with there hotel business stamp, and have them write in Chinese, That the original passport is held in the hotel safe for safe keeping. That should satisfy any general request for identification by a the police. It will also give authorities information as to where your staying in the unfortunate event of you having an accident etc!! This is good advise when you visit any foreign country, not just for China visits.....
David....
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Ken,
You're lucky ... Behai was voted as one of the four best cities to live in China. The city is noted for it's air quality and seaside atmosphere. Have a great trip. If you have a chance to "Google" 'Behai', there are lots of wonderful things mentioned about the city ... besides your lady. :icon_cool:
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Guangzhou airport is just like any other one, you don't need to worry about that. Only real adivce i'llk give you here is, bring with you your hotels address and phone number and a pen on the plane
You will have to fill out a swine flu form and they will want you fill in the address you are staying at and your flight number details. They do kick up a fuss if you have left the address field blank.On your flight into China they will give you these forms to fill in but nobody ever has pens and its a pain in the ass to get one at immigration as there will be loads of others penless too.
When you arrive at your final destination i strongly recommend getting a sim card (the ones sold at the airport will work in any phone ands are pay as you go, I paid 100RMB for a sim with 65RMB credit on it in Guangzhou airport last week, but get your sim in the local airport as your girl may be charged higher to call you Guangzhou sim number if you get one of those.
I would count having a mobile phone/sim as an essential unless you are going to be with your lady 247 and unless you are lucky there will be times when she is away in work as they get very little holiday time compared to us in the west.
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I must admit I found my notebook computer really useful as well, I'm glad I took it. Both the hotels I stayed in had free Internet access. My lady showed me how to install QQ and the thing she uses to type chinese characters. We could also look at all the photos I took, and of course I could keep the guys here updated about my adventures.
It was also good as an entertainment device. I couldn't venture far in Wuhan, and the TV was mostly rubbish.
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I must admit I found my notebook computer really useful as well, I'm glad I took it. Both the hotels I stayed in had free Internet access. My lady showed me how to install QQ and the thing she uses to type chinese characters. We could also look at all the photos I took, and of course I could keep the guys here updated about my adventures.
It was also good as an entertainment device. I couldn't venture far in Wuhan, and the TV was mostly rubbish.
Too right brett, it keeps me sane during the time I'm not with Sunny here n Guangzhou and gives me information about stuff I want to do as well as being a link back to home and of course the forum here. Chinese hotels have free Internet as standard so if you have a small laptop or preferably a netbook - bring it.
I wrote this on my NC10 Netbook which has been to China now three times by me and i note the sticker on the bottom says Made In China!!
My 32" widescreen TV hasnt even been turned on here.
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1. Bring any medication with you in the original bottle. Get your doctor to write you a prescription if you need anymore. You can get them easily.
2. Bring a laptop if you have one. Most hotels have free internet in their rooms.
3. Wear comfortable clothes but not too casual for your plane trip.
4. If your carrying alot of cash with you get a money belt.
5. Leave your passport at the hotel in a safe if they have one and use a photocopy.
6. Get a gift that is made locally in your area to your new in-laws. They might not like it but its the thought and you respecting them that counts.
7. Make sure you have all the paperwork done to get married before going to china.
8 Make sure your single certificate is translated by an authorize translation company in China. You soon to be wife can call the marriage office and ask where to get it translated.
9. Never drink water unless its been boiled or its bottled.