Living in Guangzhou

Banking

ATMs that accept foreign credit or debit cards are common in shopping malls and tourist areas. Withdrawal is available in Chinese currency only. Most banks also accept exchanges from your local currencies to RMB. Your passport is required for this service. However, they do not change it back to your local currencies.

• Bank of China (中国银行) [66] There is a branch inside Garden Hotel. ATM is available on the ground floor of White Swan Hotel, and over 100 locations in Guangzhou. Their ATMs are the best bet for using foreign cards.
• Bank of America [67] Rm 2506, 555 Renmin Zhong Lu. +86-20 8130-0888. The bank has alliance with China Construction Bank.
• Citi [68] Unit 101, Fortune Plaza No. 118 TiYu East Road Tian He district. +86-20-38981688. This bank has a full service branch, foreign currency exchange services, and a 24 hour International ATM Service.

Laundry

Few lower end hotels and hostels have coin-operated self-service laundry room. Self-service laundromats are not available on the streets, although dry clean and laundry stores are available to clean your clothes. Normally you can drop your clothes off and pick them up the next day. One laundry chain is TianTian (天天洗衣), which is conveniently located in all Metro stations. There are many stores on Shamian Island that have laundry service. An average load of laundry costs about ¥100. In other parts of the city, there are laundry/dry clean shops sprinkled throughout neighborhoods. An average load should cost no more than ¥40 (couple pair of bottoms, one or two skirts/shorts, 6 or so tops). If you are doing sheets and blankets, they should charge no more then ¥10 for a blanket, ¥30 for a comforter. Dry-cleaning a sweater is about ¥8.

Television

Guangzhou Television (GZTV) [69] has an English channel, offering entertainment and cultural programs. There are two English channels from Hong Kong, "Pearl" and "ATV World", available in most hotels, offer a great selection of prime time shows from US and UK.

Places of worship

All the religious sites listed in the See section are open to worshippers.

• Christian: Guangzhou International Christian Fellowship [70] holds weekly service on Sundays at 10AM for expats from around the world in English. You must show your travel documents to enter since residents are not allowed there due to local laws. The meeting location is Star Hotel (景星酒店) near the East Train Station. Phone: 1366 234 6904. Hotel Address: 89 Linhe Xi Lu (林和西路89号). [Metro 1 Dong Zhan]

Gym

Guangzhou has several branches of Total Fitness. One of the locations is at the 8th floor of Zhengjie Plaza (正佳广场).

Health

• Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital is near the Garden Hotel. 106 Zhong Shan Er Lu. +86 20 8382-7812, 2062-2031.
• Kaiyi International Dental Care [71] Ice Flower Hotel, 2 Tianhe Bei Lu. +86 20 3886-4821, 3387-4278.

Mail

• Post Office There is a post office on Shamian (Shamian 3 Jie 沙面三街) 9AM-5PM, closed on Sunday.
• DHL There is a branch in Garden Hotel.
• UPS 1121 Guangyuan Zhong Lu. +86 20 8657-9898.

Translation Service

English to Chinese; Chinese to English ; oral and writing. Call Voice in China: 40071-60072

2008-3-14 15:52:26