Well, I'm off the China for a business trip. A quick week. Amazing number of things that you have to do:
- Visa. You have to mail away for this.
- Destinations: East Asia | CDC Travelers' Health. Check here to see what shots you need. The big one for China is Hepatitis A. I didn't get this, John Zagula did. Also, need a tetanus booster. In some areas you need malaria. Don't need yellow fever thank goodness.
- "Calling Cards": . My favoriate Cognicall.com doesn't support China well. Costs $0.36/minute to call it and $1.05 minute to call from China. Ming Lei says the best rates are at OneSuite, so I'm signing up. This is an IP phone service that lets you call China from the US for $0.022/minute. You use this by calling home and then having someone call you back. Or if they are calling from a cell phone, then they can just put into the autodialer and they are set.
- "Cash". Its still a cash economy there, so when you land, you need a bunch of money.
- Cell phone roaming. Well, for sure, don't take a call. T-mobile roams with China Mobile. Customer care is +86 1860 and the rate is $3/minute (!!!) for all calls. Also says that wireless data works at 1.5 cents/KB so maybe the Blackberry might actually function.
I still remember when I used to spend $50 in phone bills alone. The biggest chunk was for calling international calls usually to China and Japan. Then a couple of years ago, a chinese friend introduced me to Onesuite and my average monthly phone bills now is less than $20 plus the fact I can see all my calls online.