Getting Your Chinese Visa in The Philippines For Your Travel to Xiamen

I don't know if you are aware of this place, me too, until i was able to booked a ticket bound for Xiamen. Together with my sister and her boyfriend, we have explored this majestic city and tasted there local delicacies. Now that's what we called food exploration!


Wikipedia:

Xiamen (Mandarin pronunciation: [ɕjâmə̌n]), also known as Amoy /əˈmɔɪ/, is a major city on the southeast (Taiwan Strait) coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of 1699.39 km² and population of 3.61 million. Its built up area is now bigger than the old urban island area and covers all six districts of Xiamen (Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, Haicang and recentlyXiang'an). It borders Quanzhou to the north and Zhangzhou making this a unique built up area of more than five million people. The Jinmen(Kinmen) Islands administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan) are less than 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.

Taken at Gulangyu Island, Xiamen, China

How to Get There - Visa Application for China

First of all, China requires Visa to travel, so we head up to the nearest Chinese embassy in Cebu City. The requirements are easy to find and it will only take 4 days to process. Head on to http://cebu.china-consulate.org and download visa application for China  V.2011A. You need to fill in the highlighted area up to section 6.1. if you don't know what to put or write just type NA for that item.  Don't forget to secure a passport size photo and paste it on your V.2011A form.

The other thing you need to show for your Chinese visa application is your bank certificate. They need to see some cash in your bank account. It is easy to get one, just go to your nearest bank and ask the teller or the customer representative to secure you a bank certificate for your purpose of travelling to China. It will only cost you Php. 150.00 not a big deal. 

Another thing is you need to bring your latest or unexpired NBI Clearance (1 year expiration) which will take only an hour to get (depends on location/region). 

Bring your valid passport, NBI clearance, bank certificate, and filled-in printed copy of  V.2011A form and a processing fee of PhP1,400.00 to your nearest Chinese Embassy. Wait for 4 working day for your Chinese visa to be process. They will issue a receipt and use that to claim  passport back together with the Chinese visa. Anyway, if you didn't pass the requirement or they need more from you,  they will initiate a call within 2 days after submission of your requirements.

Where to Stay in Xiamen

One of the major thing on your Chinese visa application to get approve is the hotel booking/place to stay prior to processing. If you dont have a relative in China, i think the best thing you would do is search the internet for the cheapest hotels. I recommend Hostelworld.com for finding cheap lodging houses. Aside from that, you only need to pay 10% of the total cost for your stay, the remaining balance is to be paid when you get there. 

Ones you had the booking, print it out and copy the location address to your Chinese visa application form. 

You can find cheap hostels in Xiamen at an average cost of 80 Yuan per person per night, we had booked a hostel somewhere in Huangcuo Road, there are also lots of lodging houses in Zengcou'an District at the same average prices. 

How Much Money You Need to Bring

Hahaha, someone asked me how much did i brought, i told him, No im not rich, so i just had a small amount on my pocket and on my credit card which is enough for me to live the remaining 4 days of my travel. This leads to the question, how much are we gonna budget for the whole trip including the hotel accommodations. 

Believe me! It is cheaper in Xiamen. Here is an idea. Hotel cost an average of 160 Yuan per night (hostel type) which is 6.01 Php at the moment. So for 3 nights average stay, that is only  480 Yuan or Php 960.00 good for 2 persons in one room or 80-90 Yuan each per night. 

Riding a taxi from Xiamen Gaogi Airport cost 4 Yuan per kilometer. Also there is a cheaper alternative to that - Xiamen's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which only cost 1 Yuan per ride. That will be enough to get you to your next location. But if you are a first timer in Xiamen, i recommend riding a taxi to bring you to your hotel accommodation.  Just make sure you know a bit of Mandarin or be creative with your sign language. 

BRT Station at Siming District, Xiamen, China

Other major cost will include most of the entrance ticket to Gulangyu Island. Breakdown of  is shown below:

Ferry to Gulanyu Island - 8Yuan (roundtrip)

Attraction sites in Gulanyu - 100 Yuan (all sites including Sunlight Rock, Shuzhuang Garden, Haoyue Park, Piano Museum, and Statue of Zhen Chenggong)

Hulishan Cannon Fort - 25 Yuan

Xiamen University - Free

Nanpotuo Temple - Free

So to answer that question, how much money should you bring, i think Php 10, 000 will do or CNY 1500 at the current exchange rate. That is for your allowance including entrance fee and bus/taxi tickets unless you love shopping and going lavish on your dream vacation.

What to Wear

Philippines is located in the tropics and we had like 2 seasons;  rainy and sunny days. Anyway, im not used to wear heavy clothing ei jackets, boots, globes, hoodies, and a lot more. To give you an idea, the temperature in Xiamen is something around 9-16 degrees during winter, so it is appropriate to bring your best trench coats and boots for fashion and for your own protection. 

Average Xiamen Fashion, taken at Gulanyu Island.

 So that's it for tonight, im a bit tired and its getting late here in the Philippines. If you have some questions don't forget to comment or shot me an email, ill be glad to help you. Also, please subscribe to this blog, i have lots to share and also pardon me with my English writing skill..im not a native English speaker :).