Thinking outloud....

[fivetrout]

I'm shopping air tickets and it's shocking the lay-over times on most of them. I did find reasonable total flight times from a site called Itravel2000 at a fair price, problem is...without visa in hand yet, buying non refundable tickets is foolish I think.

Also having difficulty with gift ideas. For Hong's father...a small fly box with hand tied flies specific to the sierras with translated explanation about the sport of fly fishing?
I've picked up some Reno/Tahoe travel brochures full of pictures and looking for a video. For her son (16) maybe a baseball jersey from our local minor league baseball team the Aces? A Swiss army knife? Booze? No smokes, as father has cancer.

Any successful ideas are welcome!

Chris

[ChinaBound]

   Don't take knives as they mean breaking a relationship.

   Here are some ideas:    high end chocolates
                                      brand new money ( stack of 1 dollars bills bundled
                                      table book about Reno
                                      things that say Reno (keychains ect ect)
                                      Beef Jerky (they ate the jerky Shaun brought me and loved it)
                                      Nevada state quarters
                                      old silver dollars (morgans)
                                      good micro wave popcorn

                            or you could go all out with this little item
A 1969 Chevelle SS396, 2x4bbl, 4spd, posi with a 6-71 blower and 4.11 gears. Hahaha

 These are some of the things that went well for me (except the car)

 Also multi vitamens also are requesting on the trips there by mom.

[IrishGuy65]

These are the things I brought with me...

For women:
Chocolates, tshirts with some kind of American saying (for me, I went right after July 4, so I had a bunch of July 4 tshirts), face cream (went over great!).

For men:
American cigarettes (non menthol!), $2 bill, basketball jersey (basketball is the most popular American sport in China, from my conversations).  Lisa's brother loved this.

I got various candy items for the children.  M&Ms are available in China, but the kids really liked them of all the different stuff I took with me.

Basically, I knew things that Lisa would like from talking to her.  I just asked her what good gifts would be.  When she told me not to worry about it and don't spend any money (I think I've said before how I love the frugality of Chinese women!), I just started talking to her about the people I was going to meet.. I got ideas from that.  Just steer the conversation in the direction of what these people do, what they like, etc.

[Arnold]

Things requested most by my LaoPo's brother and his wife;

Western/European Coffee's (for coffee makers)
Flavored Instant Coffee's (for Mom)
Beef Jerky
Chewing Gum
Powered Milk
Skin Lotions/Moisturizer (loves Vaseline w/aloe)
Vitamines (with natural ingredients) picked by age/man/or woman

Clothes, if known sizes;

Shirts "Polo" (Ralph Lauren-single pony lg -- not American dbl pony)
Pants "Levi's" (American made)

[Pineau]

You don't have to have tickets. Just tell them when you intend to go and your invitation letter. You will get the VISA When in doubt then ask the folks at visarite.  In the past 15 years I have never had tickets in hands when applying for my VISA. That is just a point of reference for them. Most times I don't even have the invitation letter. I just tell them I am going to visit family or for a holiday. 

[IrishGuy65]

Powdered milk... yes, a big one that I didn't know about beforehand.  A definite on my next trip!!

[fivetrout]

Damn! I'll have to put the "1967" Chevelle SS back in the garage.

I think my invitation letter is fine. I have all her info and photo of her Chinese Id, and itinerary dates with Hotel confirmation and contact. I hope to have the visa in about 10 days.

Many great and imaginative ideas here, THANKS! I'll need a bigger suitcase and add about $400 to the trip cost though! LOL

[fivetrout]

Oh! and do you wrap gifts? Name tags? Or just open the suitcase for a free for all? Hahaha

[IrishGuy65]

I had some of those cheap gift bags... all red.  I remember reading somewhere red was the best color to give gifts in.. something about luck...

I didn't give anything out the first night I arrived.  I got to the hotel and got comfortable.  The following morning, I got all the gifts sorted and put into bags.  I gave Lisa and her daughter Amy theirs the next morning at morning tea.  I reused their bags, so i'd have enough.  They helped me decide who should get what.  I laid out all the gifts I'd brought, and they helped me, as they know their friends and family better than I do. 

I think it also made them feel good about the gift giving, as they were part of it.

[maxx]

Calcium tablets.The biggest one you can find.Flintstone chewable vitamins.The Flintstone vitamins.Are a huge hit with the kids.

[Pineau]

Fiona says that an  iphone 5 makes a good present.

[fivetrout]

Fiona is one funny girl!

[Willy The Londoner]

Baseball caps.

They go down well here. My step son has a good online market in China for them and he manages to get a 200% mark up on ones he buys.

Willy

[IrishGuy65]

What You Should NEVER Give to a Chinese Person

[shaun]

Cute!