Hi,

I would be grateful if you could let me know some information about
the orientation tours you did when you arrived in Shanghai. I have a
few questions which are listed below:

1. Did you do an orientation tour when you came for your look see or
when you arrived?

2. Did you do it through the real estate company that found you your
house? If yes did they show you everything you wanted to see?

3. Was it comprehensive and did you find it useful?

4. Would you have liked anything else included with the tour, any
information you were not given that you now know would have helped
you?

5. If you were not given an orienation tour in anyway would you have
liked one or paid for one if it were available?

6. Does anyone know if there are orienation tours that you can book
onto?

Thanks so much for your help.

Residential agents usually will give you a free one day tour and hoping to get your leasing business.
Relocation companies do it too but not sure if they charge. e.g. Crown, Asia Tigers, Allied Pickerford etc
Or you can get local staff of your Shanghai office to show you around.

I would say if it's the first time living out of your country you would probably want one.

A survey tour for a first timer is ABSOLUTELY necessary. A good relocation company should arrange this to allow you to see different areas of the city close to your work, close you your kids' schools, or closer to town/ activites; break down the demographics so you can get a feel for how "local" or how "expat" an area is and if expat oriented services are readily available, etc. tour should include intros to schools for kids, local areas for recommedned residential areas, a tour of publi transit including use of the Metro system; how drivers and maid service typically is handled here; and maybe a list of FAQ's.

You can then come online here and compare answers to see how well they did as in reality, relo companies for for your company, not necessarily you.

Sydneymama wrote:Hi,

I would be grateful if you could let me know some information about
the orientation tours you did when you arrived in Shanghai. I have a
few questions which are listed below:

1. Did you do an orientation tour when you came for your look see or
when you arrived? The relocation company we had took us to see hospitals, supermarkets, post office, banks etc in between our house/school hunting.

2. Did you do it through the real estate company that found you your
house? If yes did they show you everything you wanted to see? Yes. You can also give them your specific request of what you want to see.

3. Was it comprehensive and did you find it useful? It was somewhat useful to get to know what is available.

4. Would you have liked anything else included with the tour, any
information you were not given that you now know would have helped
you? I feel that the look see time was a rather stressful time with lots of decisions to make. So I did not remember most of what was shown but had retain an idea. It takes quite a few exploation to have things pack down for me after we moved here.

5. If you were not given an orienation tour in anyway would you have
liked one or paid for one if it were available? The reputable relo company we used gave these tours as well as a "after move in" basic shopping trip for free since they already made the commission from our landlord. No, I would not have paid for one if it was not provided. But for some expats friends, they engaged relo company to help them hire drivers, ayis and also for translation services such as going shopping with ayi for the first time.

6. Does anyone know if there are orienation tours that you can book
onto? Yes there are. Most reputatble relo companies have this service at no charge if you find a residence with them.

Thanks so much for your help.

See my input in blue ^^. You should have your company set you up with a relo company for the look see trip. It does make things easier espcially if you have never set foot here in Shanghai before.

All the best.

you are lucky. i took a map from the hotel and a tried to figure my way about. my company would not even pay for the real estate agent's commision but then they gave me a lump sum to move over. so every cent saved was a cent earned. things were not difficult as i could read chinese and if u use the subway as a guide, u can figure ur way about easily.

When we were in Beijing, after we moved and children settled in school, the relo company sent an agent to take me round the area where I live, took me to lunch, took the subway, apply for cell phone, etc etc. Later, she emailed me a list of food which I can order in Chinese complete with pinyin & Chinese characters and approx price, writings in Chinese to show the lady at the news magazine stand to buy recharge cell phone card, open bank account, how to send money/receive money etc etc. She also gave me a map which she marked down clearly where we have been such as hospital location, supermarket, post office, metro stop closest to me, the direction to walk to school from home. It was extremely helpful since it was my first time in China and certainly took off a lot of stress.

I think I would be able to handle the situation like kumlong if I can speak/read/write Chinese and if I came here without children. But coming here with a family, my first priority is to find a school for them, then find a place to live close to school and then try to figure out the rest. Needless to say, it does get easier and also doable without relo assistance if one is adventurous and particularly resourceful.