Digital camera memory storage in China
 

I always travel with a digital camera and 2 or 3 cards and have been able to stop at internet cafes, photo shops, etc. and have CDs made so that I can reuse the cards.
In late October, we are off to China for three weeks for a first trip and want to know if this will work there or do I need to bring some type of portable storage device from home (I would have to buy one). I want to travel as lightly as possible because we will be doing a lot of air travel from cities like Beijing, Xian, a Yangtze Cruise, to Shangai, Honk Kong, Bangkok to Singapore and home.
Can anyone out there advise me, as I do take a lot of photos. Thanks.

Thanks everyone... I will assume that no one else takes pictures and has no experience in China with a digital camera. Now if I can just figure out how to pack light enough, maybe I can crowd an image storage device into my suitcase. I have learned a lot from this forum about numerous other things...

What about uploading your photos at one of the internet cafes? You would need to attach a cable to the PC. I don't know if you would be allowed to do that. But, send your photos to Ofoto or one of the others. Interesting question.

I think it's safe to assume that you will be able to record CDs at an internet cafe in China. Supply has a way of meeting demand. You are already assuming that the computers will have USB ports that you can use to download your photos.

Take the appropriate USB cable, of course, and you might also want to take a few blank CD-Rs (I had to pay 4 or 5 dollars for a blank CD in Bali). Another option might be to get a couple of 512Mb USB flash drives (about $110 each). Move the photos from camera to hard drive and then to flash drive. Another option is to take an external USB CDRW drive. Those devices are advertised as USB 2.0 but can also be used with USB 1.1 ports. A laptop with a CD burner would also solve the problem.

Uploading the photos over the internet, as Elainee suggests, would be the most secure (i.e. it is safer on somebody's server back in the US than it is on some media that you can lose or destroy). It would have to be a very fast connection, though. Two hundred (or so) 5 megapixel photos is a gigabyte, after all.

Or if you have a newer iPod with dock connector or if you're planning to get one, you can get a Belkin Media Reader (list $99) and transfer as many photos onto your iPod when traveling.

We did our China tour of Beijing, Xian, Shenzhen & Hong Kong in May of 2004. I had a 128Mb USB Flash drive with me. That was enough for my 8-day trip. End of every day as I returned to my hotel, I went to their business center, and downloaded the day's pics on my USB drive. At some hotel the PCs on the floor did not have a USB port, but the girl at the business center had USB port on her PC. She was nice to let me download using her PC.

Is there a less expensive device than the Belkin Media Reader (list $99) to use to download photos onto an Ipod?

Thanks, everyone for your info and advice. I am so paranoid about my photos. I am not a computer geek and I want to make sure they are there when I erase the card. I trust the CDs. One card will get me about 250 photos and I use two or three cards...I have always gone to a photo shop and had a CD burned when one was full. It worked in Germany, Hungary, Australia, New Zealand,etc., and I am sure I can get it done in China. Most places charge around $20 for the service. If not, I will just buy another card (most are made there anyway). Now, I have to decide which camera to take...Thanks, again.

Just in case anyone else is contemplating storage for their flash media cards, I elected to buy an MFR (Multi function recorder)that burns CDs and DVDs... I can plug it in(or use the rechargable battery), stick my flash card in, and have a CD in minutes. I wanted to be sure that I could reuse my cards and not go to the expense of buying a lot of cards or a large card that could get corrupted. I think it will be nice to not have to worry about the language problem in locating a place for burning a CD.
I will let you know how it works out... if I have any problems.