[m] Notes about Staying at Shanghai

My staying at Shanghai, which was between Jan. 13th and Jan. 21th, was definitely involuntary and unexpected. The U.S. consulate general in Chengdu sent my visa application for background clearance and I could do nothing but just wait. Although the checking process was annoying and the hotel cost was expensive, I did found something interesting and worth writing down. This could act as a memorandum for my next Shanghai visit, however readers should warned that China is changing so rapidly and any experience notes could get outdated quickly.

[trip-planning]
e-trip is now becoming popular in China and a site to recommend is ctrip(www.ctrip.com). Ctrip is like a Chinese version of hotels.com, and provide lodging searching and booking services in major Chinese cities. Another convenience it is providing is booking ticket over the phone and picking it up at the airport. This service is especially in China as electronic tickets are not commonly provided by the flight carriers yet.

There are also several Chinese hotel chains that have online service. To name a few, Motel168(www.motel168.com) and JinJiang Inn(www.jj-inn.com). To save your cost instead of browsing Hyatt, Marriot and Ramanda sites, you should defintely give them a try first.

[on-site at the airport]
There are lots of services at the airport. You can find lots of small travel agency counters that could help you for lodging and ticket booking. But remember to bargain! Almost all quoted prices are negotiable and the final deal could be 40% to 50% less in price. I found my hotel at one of the counters, and get a RMB160/day price with free airport picking up. There are also car rental at the airport, including lots of international brands as Hertz, Budget etc. However, to rent a car, you need either be a foreigner (with non-Chinese passport) or company-endorsed.

There is an outlet mall at the airport, which consists of 40-50 stores. Most brands are European and North American and the prices are a somewhat higher than at Chicago. Be careful to read the "Made in" tag, as lots of the mechandise are actually made in China.

[monetary matters]
Although credit cards are now commonly used in Shanghai, cash is still the king. Don't count on traveler's cheques unless you could find a nearby bank. At the same time, there a lots of limitations to use credit cards, such as inconvenient refunding. I used to pay the hotel bill with Unite Visa and found a mischarged item later. When I called the hotel, I was told that my card is needed again for refunding, even if the card number was known.

Despite of the temporary inconveniences, I could expect credit cards to be in majority of Chinese's wallet soon. There are so many credit card advertisements on the news paper, and the offers vary from reward points/miles to VIP travel service. I also saw quite a few chain stores issuing their own credit cards, with a bank partner.

[other things]
1. Ask and keep all the receipts as possible as you can. The cash-transaction nature makes purchases hard to manage, unless you keep all the receipts.
2. Be cultural "billingual". When you are back to China, think and act as normal as the local people there. This is especially true for daily life.
3. Be ready for new stuff and make quick decisions under new circumstance. At least for me, China is now is somewhat as fresh as I arrived U.S. three years ago. Never hold prejudices of the local environment, but be open minded and willing to learn.