Travel Alarm Clock
Bring a travel alarm clock (or a watch with a good, easy to use alarm). None of the hotel rooms had a clock, let alone an alarm clock. We found ourselves waking up earlier than we wanted but fearful that if we went back to sleep, we would oversleep and miss our daily scheduled meeting with our travel group (and possibly miss an important appointment). So we found ourselves waking up earlier than necessary.
Join The Chinese Adoption Community On The Internet (for discussion before and after your trip)
The internet is great for meeting others who are in the process of adopting from China or who have already adopted from China. Yahoo Groups, a collection of bulletin boards run by Yahoo, has many bulletin boards related to Chinese adoption. For instance, there is a Yahoo bulletin board for Chinese adoption in general (called a-parents-china, short for adoptive-parents-China), people who share the same DTC month (our group is the September 2001 DTC group, every other DTC month has its own group), and people who’s adopted children came from the same Chinese orphanage (in our case, our group is called JianxinFamilies for the Jianxin Social Welfare Institute). There are also Yahoo Groups that discuss traveling in China for adoption purposes and a group for parents who have adopted from China and now are experiencing raising Chinese adoptees (the group is called RaisingChinaChildren). Go to http://groups.yahoo.com where you can search for what groups exist. You can post comments or questions on the group’s bulletin board and get responses posted on the board. You have to register with Yahoo to be able to join their groups. However, registration is free.
Cheerios
While in China, Emily loved eating dry Cheerios (the breakfast cereal) as an in between meals snack. In fact, we found many other parents feeding their new children Cheerios and the children having the same reaction. We brought a small tupperware container with us to China which we used to hold Cheerios as we traveled around China during the day (the container was small enough to keep in a purse, backpack, or even a winter coat pocket). Having the Cheerios came in handy when Emily got hungry or otherwise cranky. We found one regular size box of Cheerios was just enough for the two weeks in China.
Camcorder Shopping Hint
If you are considering buying a camcorder for your trip to China, a feature you may want to consider is how well does the camera do in low light situations. We were taken to a dimly lit conference room in a hotel for the official handoff of Emily to us. While our camcorder does well in good light (indoors where it is brightly lit, outdoors in the day time), it did only a fair job in the dimly lit room. I have been told that other camcorders do very poorly in dimly lit situations.
Take Advantage Of The Restaurants Around The White Swan
If you stay in the White Swan Hotel, there are many small, inexpensive restaurants within a short walk of the hotel. Other than the free breakfast buffet that comes with the room, the restaurants inside the White Swan are expensive (even by U.S. standards). We ate outside the hotel a lot while in Guangzhou. We didn’t experience any language problems ordering food in restaurants. You may also want to try a food delivery service that delivers to Guangzhou hotels called Danny’s Bagel (based on my experiences in 2002, I would recommend them). You may want to print and pack a copy of their menu (available on their website) before you go. The person who answers their phone speaks English. The person who delivers the food probably won’t speak English. But he’s basically there to just give you the food and take the amount of money quoted to you in the phone call.
On the other hand, the restaurants in the hotel of our adoption city were very inexpensive (there was a restaurant that served buffets (half American food, half Chinese food) three meals a day, room service (that include American dishes), and there was also an upscale Chinese restaurant). We ate in the hotel most of the time while in Nanchang.
If you do eat dinner at the White Swan Hotel, try the Japanese restaurant and the barbeque restaurant. The barbeque restaurant is outdoors and it is all you can eat. You go up to a table of meats on ice. You place meats on a plate. You hand the meat to an attendant and you tell her your table number. Your meats are barbequed and brought to your table. There are also precooked side dishes (salads, french fries) you can get that is part of the all you can eat buffet.
Inform Your Credit Card Companies About Your Trip
Before your trip to China, call your credit card companies (the companies who’s cards you plan to bring to China) and let them know you will be using your cards in China. I failed to do this. On the second day of our trip, my sister left a message at our Beijing hotel telling us to call her back. One of my credit card companies called my house stating I needed to call them back as soon as possible. They were concerned because charges were appearing on my credit card account from Beijing and San Francisco on the same calendar day. They spoke with my sister who was housesitting my house. She explained that we were in China. But the credit card company insisted that I needed to call their fraud department back. If I hadn’t called them back, they would have placed a hold on my account.
Try Not To Overpack
Disposable diapers are available in most Chinese supermarkets/department stores. So don’t pack a two week supply of diapers. Maybe pack enough for a day or two in case it takes that long for your guide to take you to a Chinese supermarket/department store. In Guangzhou, there are 7-11 across the street from the White Swan in Guangzhou and another one near the Victory Hotel. And there is a supermarket (bigger than the 7-11) just a few blocks away from the White Swan (short walking distance from the White Swan and very close to the Victory Hotel) that sells Western items such as diapers, wipes, and Western snack foods.