CHINA VISITS

[Pineau]

Hi guys, just wanted to add my name to the list of guys who will be in China soon. I will be in Shenyang from September 24th for a few weeks or less, then in Changsha until the 18th October visiting a lady I am very keen on.  Am I excited or what? So I will touch base and definitely be asking for advice in both practical and matters of the heart. Thanks for a great website and forum, Peter from good old Oz.

Hey Peter, Good luck to you. Maybe we will cross paths once or twice. I am leaving for China on Wednesday. I am in Beijing until the 24th then   I'm going to Shenyang for about a week then to several other cities along the coast, and I will cross your path again in Changsha about mid October.  I hope we are not meeting the same ladies...haha

IM me if you want to meet and say hello in Shenyang.

Its a small, small world.  Pineau

[David E]

Hi Peter from OZ

Welcome aboard this wierd roller coaster ....fraught with danger and minefields...but ultimately worth all the pain !!!
Everyone here is standing by with help, advice and wise words.....but dont let that fool you (haha).
Seriously...just ask, we will all dig in to help in whatever way you need it

Cheers...David from OZ

[RobertBfrom aust]

Peter , safe trip and have fun , as they say , you aint seen nothing yet , but everyone knows someone who can help you out , never spend more than 5 minutes moping about if things don't work out , cause there is another 1 million ladies awaiting , regards Sujuan and Robert .

[Scottish_Rob]

I think there are a few of us who can tesitify to that mate...

Above all else 'Enjoy'

[Jimmy]

Like Ted said Just use your regular bank card. I go to Bank of China and get usually 2500 rmb at a wack cost $370 I do that twice a month.
Now be sure to call the 800 number on the back of your card before you leave tell them what you are up to. Otherwise they will shut you down after a couple transactions to find out if it is you or your card has been stolen. And if you have a low daily limit you may want to go to the bank and ask them to raise it for you.
I had mine raised to $500 a day without any question. This has been the easiest road for me.

[Pineau]

BEWARE CHEAP TICKETS

I thought I got a bargain getting from Denver to Beijing and it would have been if they had put me on different airlines. They (cheap-o air) booked me on frontier from Denver to San Francisco and Air China from San Francisco to Beijing. The only problem is that Frontier and Air China dont have recprical contracts. That means Frontier cant check my bags through to Beijing. I need to exit security, goto baggage claim in San Francisco and collect my bags and take them to Air China ticket counter then make my way to the Departure gate. All in about one hour.  Idiots !
So I will forgo the large suitcase and cram everything I can into my carry on items. Ill purchase what got left behind when I get to Beijing.

Sooo, if you get one of these type of flights, beware and make sure you have enough layover time to collect your bags and recheck them 30 minutes before your connecting flight is ready to board.

[Mikael_Shim]

Jimmy

Last time i was in South Korea, both my bank and mastercard  were informed. Also a client in back in Sweden had asked me if i could find a brand new super camera from Canon there, because it was several months shortage worldwide. So, i happen to find it. It costed about 5000 US $ with the extras he wanted.  So i told him to transfer money. He did. I then called bank and told them im gonna make a big purchase in South Korea. I then call the card center at mastercard and tell them the same thing, that tomorrow bla bla..

I have always only relied on my card there , never had cash. Best exchange rate is the ATM. So i buy the camera the following day. 1 hour later my card is blocked.

We were in the middle of Seoul, and lived in Gwangju thats like 4-5 hours busride. Cant even take the bus home. Have to make tons of phonecalls and finally they solve it.

About 4 days later, we go to the supermarket to do some bigger shopping, they also have nice clothes there so u easily buy more then you need. So imagine the embarassment when we are through with everything at the cashier, i swipe the card and its blocked again.

It took a while to solve but the embarassment was pretty shit.


When i came back home to Sweden i called them up and demanded compensation for their idiocracy. And guet the answer that these are all automated security measures that are in place to protect ME. Haha... so i said, who did it protect, me or YOU? It all ends with a formal forgiveness, And a week later they sent 5 cinematickets in the mail. lol


Is it no-go to get a bank acc with Bank of china?

[RobertBfrom aust]

Mikael , if you have a B o C in your capital city should be no problems , we have one here in Melbourne and no hassles , but even then I think there is a limit , so I always withdraw 2000 yuan at a time in China and you can do this if need be am and pm , but I don't spend more than 4000 yuan per 7 days , regards Sujuan and Robert .

[Mikael_Shim]

Thanks! i will check, but i actually doubt we do here.  And this is one of those things you easily forget before u head away. Since im planning to stay for a rather long time i do need to find a working system for this.

The debit cards (visa or master/eurocard) that you can "prepay" or just transfer to have been 50/50 for me, just like someone else mentioned here. I can get an account in HK but thats gonna cost about 300$. What do everyone else do that are longtime "vistors" ?

I suppose that means you get payed cash when u work? Or cheque? Gerrys solution isnt that bad after all. Its alot better then having it all accessible on your CC. Or worse , under the pillow.

[David E]

Bank Of China accepts Visa and Mastercard Credit Cards and Debit Card (your own money).
There is a daily withdrawal limit per card of 2500 RMB from the automatic tellers, but you can get more if you go into the Bank and deal with a human Teller...but be prepared for a VERY long wait.
Next to eating, Chinese people love to spend hours and hours in the Bank...must be the smell of all that money !!!!!

[Jason B]

I would check out about daily limits, some people have mentioned about reaching their daily limits in one withdrawal.  When I was there in July I don't know if I had a daily limit but one day I did withdraw 7500 RMB in 3 transactions of 2500 each time (2500 being the maximum allowed to withdraw). 

[Mikael_Shim]

I think the concern, or main issue if ur gonna practically live there was to not have all your cash accessible on your CC. And not to much cash in the pockets. But as long as i can access online banking it shouldnt be a problem, just leave the fundings on the account which does not have a CC connected to it. However, if i then were to loose my CC it will probably be abit pain in the arse getting a new one. Amex will fix u up no matter where u are but i doubt Amex would be very popular there. In Korea only expensive shops would accept it even.

Safest for me would be BoC, but then Forex or WU would probably work fine too.

[Jimmy]

Bank Of China accepts Visa and Mastercard Credit Cards and Debit Card (your own money).
There is a daily withdrawal limit per card of 2500 RMB from the automatic tellers, but you can get more if you go into the Bank and deal with a human Teller...but be prepared for a VERY long wait.
Next to eating, Chinese people love to spend hours and hours in the Bank...must be the smell of all that money !!!!!

Actually it's not a daily limit, It's a transaction limit. If your bank has given you a higher limit than what 2500 will buy.
Get the 2500 put your card in again and get more. If your limit is $500 you get like 3300 rmb and you come under your limit just a few bucks.
But you do pay the transaction charge every time money falls out of the machine for you.

[Mikael_Shim]

I guess u could get in a potential problem if you needed a larger amount quickly for something. Is it really that common with breakins? i saw someone post that it could happen anyone anytime... more then once.

I guess that probability depends abit on how and where u live too. But i need to put my stuff somewhere hehe, and some of it is pretty damn expensive to loose. But .. well its China.  I have a whole box leftover with wireless motionsensors from a job i did a year ago. They are pretty nasty screamers when they go off @122db. But dunno if it would be a particularly wise thing to setup in ur apartment either. Hella nice if they go off by something else and ur not home 

I will just quit worry that for now and see what happens hehe

[Jimmy]

As far as more money.
I have a second account at the same bank along with credit Union Acct. And it works for me.
even If I could get more I don't have so it works for me.

Break-ins Myself I have heard much about I feel pretty safe in the building we are in.  And like any place if they don't know what you have, I would think you are less of a target. Keep a low profile.