A travelling intern to Xiamen

I just returned from a factory visit in Xiamen, and I must admit it was rather educational, especially for an intern like me. Regardless of how frequent your travelling is, being abroad means that you must ensure the following are in place:

• Flights
  
• Accommodation
• Contact person when you arrive
• Foreign currency (Chinese Yuan in this case)
• Visa (if you require one)
  
• Objectives to achieve
• Local SIM Card
• Camera

If you are looking for affordable flights into China, try www.ctrip.com!

If you are looking to go into factory visits into China, most factories will arrange to pick you up personally at the airport. Most will also arrange your accommodation and willingly pay for it (after all its part of their entertainment expense) Here is a picture of factory staff bringing me to the hotel..

Note: Client treatment vary in China, not all factories treat you the same way..

The hotels in Xiamen and for the rest of China are relatively economical in price. For the hotel I lived in (refer to picture below), Jinjiang Inn, the factory staff even dished out their privilege card to enjoy discounts. Only logical to do so especially they receive many clients..

They are also open to bring you around Xiamen for dinner and entertainment. In China, most business meals involves drinking. I was lucky enough to get away twice from drinking with my face red! All business associates I met in this trip also offer cigarettes during meetings.. Their casual gesture, but kindly rejected as I wasn’t a smoker.

I will elaborate on the practices of tea drinking during business meetings and the importance of tax invoices (发票) next time. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, drop by the ODM Group for some information on factory visits!