Protecting personal items in University Dorms environment

[woliveri]

Hi all,

(Question 1)

I'm planning to stay at the "Foreign Experts' Building", Shanghai - One of the listed dorms from Shanghai International Studies University in Shanghai.

Having not lived in this environment before, I would like any information, suggestions regarding protecting personal items (laptop, camera(s), electronic dictionary, etc) in a dorm environment.

Should I buy a trunk with a lock on it and if so, can one be bought in Shanghai for this purpose?

(Question 2)

Also, Anyone have any information on this dorm ("Foreign Experts' Building", Shanghai) and why it's less expensive than the other dorms?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Bill

[malinuo]

I wouldn't worry about buying trunks beforehand. I don't know where in Shanghai to buy any, but it is a city where you can buy about anything.

If it is a unguarded dorm, a trunk would probably do little good anyhow, as someone can walk away with it with everything inside.

When I travelled in China I kept all really important things with me. I could for example leave the laptop in the hotel room, as I had a backup on my iPod, which I carried around. I bought a laptop lock cable, but I hardly ever used it.

During my five months in China I didn't loose any single thing at all.

[woliveri]

I found out some information regarding the dorms at International Studies University in Shanghai.

There are three dorms, The cheapest ("Foreign Experts' Building") is an older building with older furnishings and window AC units. The other two ("International Education Center" and "International Cultural Exchange Center SISU hotel") are newer buildings with newer furnishings and central air.

Also, I found out the buildings have paid security.

[StealthyBurrito]

Paid security doesn't mean anything in China. Security guards will sometimes question you, and if you are any bit clever or assertive (depending on the situation/guard) you can get past.

In BNU over summer, three rooms on our floor were burglarized. I've told this story before, but basically the doors in our dorms don't lock if you don't push them all the way in and hear the "click," so I assume someone figured this out and came in the middle of the night while everyone was sleeping and stole something like 3 laptops, 2 cameras, and some MP3 players.

So I guess the lesson is, always lock you door. I would recommend you buy a laptop lock cable because they are pretty easy to steal. You can buy western-quality safes (at least they certainly look like it) at Wal-mart if you really want to, but I personally don't think it's necessary. Our dorms at BNU actually had 2 safes per room, so that may be your case too.