If you plan to go to China... must read

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Hello everyone,

With the Olympics approaching in China, I anticipate more people will be reading this blog. I want to provide some info one last time before I close out this blog.

I call this the "must read" post, because it deals with something most travelers may have with them: portable electronic devices.

In the hotels in China, it seemed there was about a 50/50 chance that the electrical outlets worked properly. But even in the better hotels I stayed at during my 6 weeks in China, I was VERY glad I had a few basic pieces of gear with me.

First, NONE of the outlets you will encounter will have a ground plug on the outlet. This means that you cannot plug in ANYTHING that has the 3rd prong on the plug.

I happened to, on a fluke, pack a small, orange three-outlet splitter that came in VERY HANDY practically everywhere I went.

Now, I know the electricians out there are going to cringe when I say what I did, and I take no responsibility for what you do with this information. In fact, I am going to call this whole blog a little fantasy that has nothing to do with reality, and if you do what I suggest and you burn down the village you are staying in I will tell you it was all a joke...

Okay, enough with the legal formality.

Take your little orange three-prong splitter and break/cut off the ground. Also, the first chance you get while in China, buy a little power strip made for Chinese outlets.

I don't have much time to finish this blog, but I want to post a few pictures so you can see what I am talking about.

Good luck, and sorry for the disjointed-ness of this post, but I wanted to get this info out there and it has taken me 2 days to get this far.

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Photos

3-outlet splitter - MUST HAVE GEAR
This is the item that saved my bacon. It allowed me to plug in my laptop AC adapter without having to damage it by breaking off the ground prong. Instead, I broke off the ground prong on this and used it whenever I needed to plug in electronic chargers/etc. that had a ground prong.

A Chinese Power Strip - a SHOULD BUY
I was very happy when I found this in an electronics store. Chinese outlets in hotels are very touchy, at best, and at worst they don't work. This little strip saved the day, and was light and easy to carry.

Close-up of a Chinese outlet
This is what you will see in the wall in your hotel. It accepts most electrical chargers, but can be very touchy, and may have a switch on the nightstand in your hotel room to turn the power to it off and on.

Nice Gear to Have
I used this little do-hickey more than I thought. It allowed me to run a small extension off of my 3-outlet splitter to make plugging in things easier, in the event the wall outlet was hidden behind a piece of furniture or something.

Suggested Electrical equipment to pack
I suggest you pack all 3 of these things if you will be relying on plugging in anything to your wall in a Chinese hotel. I.E. laptop A/C adapter, camera battery charger, electric shaver cord, etc.