BNU and others Payment

[Jamoldo]

So how do we pay once we are in China? Do we go to banks and make massive withdrawls in cash and just give them stacks or Renminbi or get a check or what?

[adrianlondon]

As I can't draw out enough in one day to pay the course fees I'm going to bring travellers cheques and cash them at whichever bank is nearest to the BNU office.

[Jamoldo]

TC.. hey Adrian, thats a great idea. I have a bunch of TC from last year.. maybe I will just do that...

[roddy]

I think I've mentioned this before, but there's a Bank of China a little south of BNU's east gate, which is very used to dealing with foreigners - half their customers seem to be Korean every time I go in. If I'm passing I'll see if I can drop in and confirm they change traveller's cheques.

[Jamoldo]

Roddy, that would be fantastic. Let us know man...

[enceeno]

yeah, haven't really dealt much with TCs..but if that doesn't work, probably will just bring US dollars and exchange them to pay for tuition..

how much are we supposed to pay for dorms again? or do we just wait after that 2 week period?

[zhwj]

BNU accepts both US dollars and RMB, so there's no need to change if you have dollars (unless you know someone who can undercut the BNU office exchange rate). The Agriculture Bank across the street from BNU's east gate also deals in foreign currency, but remember than most places won't do exchanges on the weekends.

Make sure that you sign your cheques to *exactly* match your original signature (especially if you're using ones that have been sitting around for a while - I had to sign several times the last time I used TCs, which were around four years old at the time, and my signature had changed). In a pinch, hotels will change them for you, but you'll have to pay a rather unreasonable fee.

[adrianlondon]

Thanks Roddy, much appreciated.

I'm sure waving sterling TC's at the BNU staff will prompt them to direct me to the nearest bank so they can get their hands full of RMB

As to paying for the accommodation - I don't know how that works. I also don't know what happens if we change or move out after the two weeks. Do we end up paying their daily-rate (instead of the cheaper long-term rate) or is it completely free? One can interpret their website that way, although I'm sure that's only due to their sloppy Chinese-English translation.