Viking China

[Peregrina651]

A good thief can get into your luggage in spite of the locks, so while I do lock my luggage, it is more to keep the zippers from unzipping than as an anti-theft device. Anything of value goes in the carry-on.

[caribill]

OK, new question. I see Viking is recommending luggage locks for the internal flights. Did anyone use them?

 

I just use the same TSA approved locks that I use for flights in the USA.

[Dale]

A good thief can get into your luggage in spite of the locks, so while I do lock my luggage, it is more to keep the zippers from unzipping than as an anti-theft device. Anything of value goes in the carry-on.

Like you say, the only thing a lock does, is keep the suitcase from accidentally coming unzipped.

Here’s a link to a site that shows how well a lock works.

 

TSA locks help keep honest people, honest.

If someone really wants into a suitcase a TSA lock won’t stop them.

[Romeosc]

It sounds like I will have quite a few chances to send email while on my trip, but now I'm wondering about how to send a photo with each email. I'm also debating about whether to take my netbook or not. For the hotels which have internet access in the lobby or business center, can I use my netbook there? In other words, I guess what I'm asking is whether they have wifi or not. I really don't want to pay to use my netbook, if I take it, in the room at the hotels, so I'm planning on using the free internet in the hotels and on the Emerald.

 

When you're using computers in hotel business centers (or lobbies or whatever), are you allowed to plug in your camera with a USB cord? Is there generally any photo editing software on hotel computers? I don't want to send a large file. Can you use a thumb drive in the hotel's computers?

 

On Viking's Fontane last year in Europe, I was able to get wifi (though slow, and also it (understandably) cut out when we approached a lock!!) in the cabin on my netbook most of the time. Did anyone do that on the Yangtze on the Emerald, or do you have to go use Viking's computers? I don't mind doing that, but again, I wasn't sure if I could pull a picture off my camera, compress it, and send it using a computer on the ship. Also, as I understand it, the ship is Chinese, not owned by Viking, so things may be a little different from the Viking ships I've cruised on in the past.

 

Are there any techies reading this (and/or serious photographers!) who can help me out here? I don't want to bring more "stuff" (netbook, thumb drive, cords) than necessary, but I'm a pretty serious photographer, and would love to be able to share a picture every day or so with a few friends. (Turtles, are you there?! Aren't you a photographer?)

 

If it makes any difference, we're staying at Westin Chaoyang in Beijing, Pudong Shangri-la in Shanghai, and Golden Flower in Xian. My netbook will accept a thumb drive but there's no disc drive. I have Adobe Photoshop on the netbook.

 

I used my iPad and iPhone everywhere! I uploaded pics to iPad and when on free Wifi (some hotels) I sent pictures. I also had a jail broken iPhone with a Chinese sim to make free local calls and cheap calls back to US. I didn't use much data on the Chinese sim.... It may be cheaper now.

 

 

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[Kodi'smom]

Does anyone know if you can watch movies in your room on the Emerald. Are the cabins equipped with a dvd player? Do they have a library of DVD's or do you have to bring them with you.

[westcoastdjtoo]

Returned from our trip to The Roof of The World tour on 9/14. In response to the question re: wifi access and computer access...both are available on the Emerald. Sometimes a little line to access the 8 computers on board. Also wifi access in the large bar areas. Yes email and attachments will work...maybe not as fast as you are used to in the States. Wifi avilable in some hotels as are computers. Some computers are free others charge nominal amounts. Take your i-devices.

 

Room TV on the ship does provide movies depending on how good the satellite is working at that time. We didn't watch much due to our schedule with long dinners and ship/tour activities. Watched CNN in the mornings while getting dressed.

 

Hope this helps:)

[Peregrina651]

Does anyone know if you can watch movies in your room on the Emerald. Are the cabins equipped with a dvd player? Do they have a library of DVD's or do you have to bring them with you.

 

I don't think we even ever tried! If it was daylight we were outside watching the scenery and in the evenings' date=' we couldn't even stay awake long enough to watch the entertainment on the ship.

 

I don't remember any mention of a dvd library.[/color']

 

 

ALSO: Having seen the movie version earlier this year, I got my hands on the original bio that it was based on. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!!!! If you want to understand what life was like in China under Mao, read MAO'S LAST DANCER by Li Cunxin. If you only have the time or the patience to read one book before you go, this is the one.

[Peregrina651]

In response to the question re: wifi access and computer access...both are available on the Emerald. Sometimes a little line to access the 8 computers on board. Also wifi access in the large bar areas. Yes email and attachments will work...maybe not as fast as you are used to in the States.

 

WOW!! That is quite an improvement over what was available on the Century Sun (4 computers, no wi-fi, very intermittent internet connections).

[Lori Dobson]

Back to the question about buying fabrics. I asked our guide Larry and here is his answer. "The fabrics should be available in market in Beijing. There is one called Ya Xiu Market. They can take a cab to go there from the hotel." Hope this helps.

 

We haven't taken our Viking cruise yet but my husband just returned from a three week business trip to China - he was outside of Laiwu and went into a very large store, sort of like a super Wal-Mart (sorry, he didn't get the name of the store) - they not only sold groceries of every kind but clothing and houshold goods. He saw hundred of bolts of fabric there but didn't stop to look at prices. I'm sure this is not the only store like that, they must have them in all the cities. Hope this helps!

[tommui987]

If you want to understand what life was like in China under Mao, read MAO'S LAST DANCER by Li Cunxin. If you only have the time or the patience to read one book before you go, this is the one.

 

Should you have the time or the patience to read another book, you might even take along books written by Professor Qui Xianlong featuring a Police Inspector in post-Mao Shanghai.

 

The Professor teaches at Washington University, St. Louis and his first book was introduced to me by Sue, from Down Under, prior to our cruise in Shanghai. I subsequently read all of his books - which has won all sorts of awards and praise - and you can Google it.

 

But one NOT in the series is "Years of Red Dust" which I recommend highly - a collection of short stories or events year-by-year (Mao to present) as seen or observed in a lane in Shanghai.

[Turtles06]

Well, since we are getting into "must reads" before a Viking trip, I strongly recommend Peter Kessler's River Town, about his two years in the late '90s as a Peace Corps volunteer living in Fuling along the Yangtze (a part of the river encompassed by the Viking cruise), before the dam was finished. (Kessler was teaching English to colllege students.) Much of Fuling is now submerged. Kessler's book gives you an incredible feeling of what pre-dam life along the river was like not that long ago, and what it was like for people knowing that they were going to lose their homes, etc. when the dam was completed.

 

It is a fascinating, wonderful read, and especially so for anyone about to embark on a trip along the Yangtze.

[recyclelady]

Well, since we are getting into "must reads" before a Viking trip, I strongly recommend Peter Kessler's River Town, about his two years in the late '90s as a Peace Corps volunteer living in Fuling along the Yangtze (a part of the river encompassed by the Viking cruise), before the dam was finished. (Kessler was teaching English to colllege students.) Much of Fuling is now submerged. Kessler's book gives you an incredible feeling of what pre-dam life along the river was like not that long ago, and what it was like for people knowing that they were going to lose their homes, etc. when the dam was completed.

 

It is a fascinating, wonderful read, and especially so for anyone about to embark on a trip along the Yangtze.

I wanted to echo this recommendation.

 

I read River Town at the suggestion of my son (an ex-Peace Corp volunteer in west Africa) and found it fascinating. This was before I had even considered taking a Viking Cruise. Read it!

[CC Help Jenn]

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