|
Stamps that do not self-adhere. Rice glue. I'm in China! |
|
Written by Rain Che Bian
|
|
Friday, 22 August 2008 |
In China on summer vacation means postcard obligations to your eager and sometimes nagging loved ones. Being in a Chinese city famous for a dreamy coastline and fashionable women doubles that responsibility. Finally giving in to conscience, I scouted out a post office on the first day of the Olympics.
Well, finding that office was first of all, difficult. The almighty World Wide Web doesn't get you far this time. The State Postal Bureau of China's got a simple and easy-to-navigate site, so easy to navigate that its sparse links lead you to either pages of long-winded "government speak " dated 2003, or a list of services featuring Chinese characters and enigmatic numbers. A search on Dalian postal service generates nothing. The Chinese version of the Dalian post service site gives no "search by zip code" option.
Disillusioned, I decided to do things the dumb way - comb the streets. It worked. I found a branch located to the south of Olympics Square and east of the 210 PLA Hospital. It was a clean and well-lit place. Large glass doors and windows, spacious inside, overall pleasant. There were three postal savings service windows and two general postal service windows, with the former closer to the entrance. A row of green seats lined the side wall. One tall table in the middle of the room offered rice glue and safety pins - don't ask me.
The postal lady was nice. The state-issued postcards were pretty enough and cost 2RMB apiece, with a pre-paid .80RMB stamp. Postage to the U.S. was an additional 3.7RMB. Estimated arrival 10 days to major American cities. Here's a tip: If you are writing a long note on the postcard and need the space, buy the 4.2RMB stamp. It costs a tad more than the required postage, but you are getting one stamp instead of three.
Final words of postcarding wisdom: Don't expect to buy postcards in the streets. Yes, most tourist stores do sell postcards, but almost always in packs of 10. And most importantly, don't comb the streets. Go to the Chinese version of Google Maps, and enter "邮政局 dalian" ("post office dalian"). That finds you branch locations. On hindsight, the internet is useful after all.
|
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 22 August 2008 )
|
abhijeet
jim
