Peregrina651

Our cruise is getting close, so I asked at our bank, Capitol One, if they could order some brand-new one dollar bills for me. They said no. They never get new money (????).

 

How new do the bills need to be? I have been saving ones that I think look new, but not brand new. Can I try other banks, even though I don't have accounts there? Any other ideas on getting new money???

 

Thanks!

Bills don't have to be unused, they simply need to unmarked and not overly worn out. Even new bills that are marked or written on can be rejected.

I can't remember if this question has already been answered...but here goes. I need to find some comfortable shoes for the trip and excursions. We are going May 1st. Any suggestions? Type?

Possibly brand? Here in Texas I wear sandals most of the time.

 

Thanks for your help?

 

Susan

Susan, we arrived May 9. I wore Teva cork-soled sandals (with ankle-straps) most of the time and had a pair of Keds for rainy days. I like an ankle-strap because I feel more secure when walking. I went for comfort more than anything.

How do you clean them, is there a problem with the colors running? I can just hear DH, if you don't know where it will go (in the house) or where you will wear it--you won't get it!

OMG! He sounds just like my husband! Where are we going to put it? If we can't figure that out then we aren't going to buy it.

Are those napkins and table runners on the right of the picture? I always try to buy things like that. Did you see any pot holders or dish towels like what's on the table.

GCV, sorry I don't have an answer for you. I do believe that what is on the table are napkins, runners and maybe place-mats but I wasn't shopping for such items and did not tend to pay attention to what was available. However, we saw embroidered items everywhere we went.

Some of the items available in the ship's giftshop:

So far, it doesn't seem like anyone here is traveling on the same cruise. Oh well, we will have fun!

 

You never know who is reading this thread. Maybe there are other members in our reading audience (is that an oxymoron?) who will be sailing with you. Is there a roll call for your cruise? If not, why not start one? There is a link to the river cruise roll calls at the top of this page. There is still plenty of time to find fellow passengers.

BTW, China was our first river cruise. Now we are spoiled and compare every cruise to our China experience. It's our new gold standard!

Unfortunately, the visa service recommended by Viking services Americans, not Canadians. Obviously there are many visa services in Canada (similar to Generations Visa) to help Canadians obtain their China tourist visas.

 

At the same time, to make things more efficient and to reduce line-ups at the Chinese embassies, they have recently established "official" China Visa Application Service Centers in key cities dedicated to processing visa applications (and possibly to compete with these other visa services!).

Is there a link that you can post for the CVASCs? Something that would tell where they are located and other helpful information. TIA.

Is anyone else travelling on April 4 Viking Emerald - Imperial Jewels of china

I have not yet got my visa, how long of a process is this to get. Should I be getting worried about it yet .. I have to travel a ways to get it ...or send it in the mail.

Don't wait until the last minute. Allow at least three weeks for processing when sent by mail.

Many of us here have used a visa service to get our visas and have had no trouble doing so. In most cases, it is cheaper than actually going to the consulate. Check the consular website but I think that you will find that you cannot mail your visa request directly to the consulate. Those who live near a consulate have walked in with their application. The consular website will tell you which office serves your part of the country.

The name of a visa service and the needed forms should have been included in papers from Viking shortly after you booked your cruise.

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If I didn't say it earlier, I want to comment how much I really enjoyed Lilia, our Viking guide in Kiev (on our post-cruise extension). She did a very good job. She showed us lots of places and she was very knowledgeable about the city and its history and about the places she was showing us.

We should have our passports back next week in plenty of time to send the info on to Operations at Viking - hope this is helpful.

Betty, when you say 'send the info to Operations at Viking,' are you talking about filling out the Passenger Information Forms (PIF)?

:D

 

Another great shot! I'm jealous (of your camera, that is).

Okay, but carving the outside is easy. I want to know how they do the concentric spheres. That's the action I want to see.

I should post the link so here is a link for everyone to read. It is pretty comprehensive. http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/kbyg_regulations.ctt/kbyg_regulations.pdf is the link. Read before you try to bring back those "Gucci" handbags or "Rolex" watches :)

Thank you for following up on my laziness! I just did not want to go searching for the link. I guess our job is done here. ;)

Your wish is my command. This was taken at the workshop part of that stop.

Wow, caribil, you were lucky! I took a similar shot but it is completely out of focus. Watching the artists--any of the artists--at work was fascinating.

Do youi think the Petrov. dolls, nesting dolls will be cheaper THERE or online? I'm seeing them for about $10-35 with shipping. Thanks!

Ocean, I have no idea. We did not even price nesting dolls since we had bought them on a trip to Russia. There are some style difference between the Russian dolls and the Ukrainian. They talked about it when they did the shopping lecture. Let me see how much I remember. One difference was that, in the Ukrainian dolls, each doll is different while for the traditional Russian dolls each doll is the same.

An exhibit at the jade store

 

 

 

aka Jade Family Ball that we were talking about back on page 70. That is a great picture. You can really see how the balls nest one within another. I would have loved to have watched it being carved.

Thank you, HDS. I posted a link on Ann's thread to help her and other readers find their way here.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to that forced shopping stop--not the others so much but it will all be an experience I guess. :)

Some of the places, if you aren't shopping, you just have to treat like another museum or educational stop. I could have cleaned out my bank account at the embroidery store in Shanghai the work was so good but I didn't buy a thing. Same goes for the silk rug factory. I loved watching the ladies work even though I knew I wasn't buying anything.

When it comes to shopping, it is so hard to strike a happy medium. There will always be those who say there is too much shopping and those who complain about not enough.

As to the fake market, he didn't buy any of the illegal stuff there--others do that we know of but I have read the booklet that the customs puts out (which is what prompted my question as there was no mention of jade) and don't want to get stopped (and maybe fined) for buying a fake Gucci or something--it's not worth it! I'll stick with the waving Mao watch :)

Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that he did. I was just taking advantage of your mention of the fakes market to talk about it. I have heard people talking about their plans to buy fakes and just wanted to give a general heads up that if one is planning on buying such things that one should check the restrictions before leaving home. Some people don't know that there are restrictions on such goods.

Does Viking take the Imperial Jewels passengers to a jade store? I didn't see that in the online itinerary but I might have missed it. I hope so. We get our documents tomorrow or the day after--TA has them--and I'll be reading them with close attention to that detail. Thanks again for your answer Peregrina!

The jade store is the lunch stop after the Great Wall. However, jade is available at other places as well including at the Great Wall and in the gift store at the Xi'an warriors.

My husband traveled to China 3 years ago and bought me some (fake) jade earrings at the fake market in Shanghai. When he got to the U.S. customs agent he told him that if it had been real he wouldn't have been able to bring it back. Looking at the Know Before You Go booklet I can see no reference to jade. Anyone else encountered this issue--or not if you had jade? Thanks!

Would Viking be taking us to a jade store to shop if bringing jade into the country was a problem? A goodly percentage of its clientele is American. Also, I don't remember a single comment on this thread about troubles with jade and surely by now someone would have commented.

Many people on our cruise bought jadeite (the better quality stone) and jade, including my in-laws and my in-laws did not have any issues bringing it in.

Perhaps the agent was trying to make a comment to the effect that if it had been real jade then he would have spent so much on a similar item that he would have had to pay customs duty on the purchase?

However, since you brought up the fakes market, there are regulations about bringing fake name-brands into the country and if anyone is planning on buying counterfeit merchandise (like handbags or watches) then they should read up on the topic. You do risk having such merchandise confiscated as such items are considered illegal in the US under copyright and trademark laws. You can read about it on the Customs website.

Chengdu

 

Lotus Market

(fabric, crafts, notions)

Only Explorer will visit here--and you, homerun, will be among the first to visit with Viking. No idea how much spare time you will have but if other cities days are any indication, Viking will keep you busy most of the day.

Chongqing

 

Fabric Market

In Jeifangbei near Chaotianmen

Can't say about Explorer's time here but other itineraries are rushed through the city with no opportunity to leave the group because you have connections to make.

In other words, these are probably not good places to try to shop for fabric.

I understand there are many shops in both Hangzhou (supposedly 600 stores) and Suzhow. Each within abt an hour of Shanghai by high speed train. We are considering adding an extra day in Shanghai.

 

Homerun

Suzhow is a silk making city. Cultural Delights makes a stop here at the No.1 Silk Factory, however as I said I never did find if it was possible to buy lengths of fabric here; everything I saw in the factory store was finished goods.

Also, don't forget to check out Trip Advisor. You may find a bigger audience and hence more of a chance of finding someone who has bought cloth in China.

Last night I (finally) finished reading all 72 pages (!) of part 2 (whew!) and now I'm going to go to part 1 and read the suggested year or so of prior postings. Thanks so much to this community for all of the wonderful sharing.

At this point, the fun part of Part 1 are the posts from the first year; you will see how much the cruise (and the river) has changed since they inaugurated the cruise.

 

What is the pier at Wuhan like?

LOL, not nearly half as memorable! There are steps to go down but not quite as many and I think someone commented that they are narrow but honestly I don't remember.

I see your steps (great photo by the way) and raise you one photo of the gangway out to the pier as seen from the bus. Not so bad if it's dry but the more rain, the worse it is.

Your tour group guide should be able to help you with this, especially with communicating with vendors if he/she is with you when you are at an appropriate shop.

I tried to ask our group leader where to buy fabric and it was complete a complete bust. He had no idea what I was looking for. I looked for bolts of fabric when we went to the silk factory but did not easily see any. (Do all of the tours go to the Silk Factory or just Cultural Delights?)

Did anyone else see fabric stores along the way or hear about where to buy fabrics? The only bolts of fabric that I saw were the ones in the tailor shop on board the ship.

Thank you Caribill. Good information to know and I will pass that along to our group. I also usually just pay for as much as I can with my credit card but I know vendors etc may not take credit cards.

And shopping with the vendors is a hoot. Even if you only buy a couple of things, you have to give it a try.

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