My mom is going to China what should she bring ?

Hey there =)

I'm here to ask someone that might already visited China and know how prices are there to recommend me something.

My mother is going to a congress in China and she asked me if I want her to bring some goodies from there. Video game or electronic.

She's going to stay in Macau but will visit Hong Kong that is near by.

What do you guys suggest ? Are HD there cheap ?
I need several 2TB HD to use here, so it might be a good idea.

Any video games worth buying there ?

 

Video games in general are worth buying in Hong Kong they have the best prices in the world on games.

 

take a shotgun with you, i dont ever wanna go back to china in my life... but shit was cheap

 

LOL

Do you guys think HD are worth buying there ?

Maybe a nintendo 3DS ?

 

I just been to China this summer, but I only visited Xi'an, Shanghai, and Beijing. Everything is dirt cheap except for authentic electronics (I heard that Hong Kong has them cheap though). You must be aware of knock offs but some people are into those stuff. I got Dr. Dre Beats Studio for $50 but I had to test them 3 times before finding a decent one.

Also, a lot shady business. For instance, dealers would give you change in rubles (russian money) that looks fairly similar if not checked. Rubles are worth less than Yuan so have an eye out but try to have exact money. However there is a lot of haggling can be done. I've done it many times except in "classy" areas, such as a dedicated building for diamonds or something.

 

Get a bunch of Chow Yun Fat movies!

 

What ever she buys, have her do it in HK. Might run into haggle issues in HK though (I found it easier in mainland). You can find some great deals in Oriental 188 Shopping Centre in HK for video games (even slightly cheaper then many import sites, but be willing to walk around finding which vendor is cheaper). Also make sure she brings cash. China is shit for video games (I had no luck finding much except for some really small pockets of stuff).
http://www.hongkongtripguide.com/oriental-188-shopping-centre.html

Don't have her buy any PC parts unless she fully is aware of what it is or she might get ripped off.

Why? I enjoyed my time there (sure a little creepy in my wife's city since there aren't many foreigners but people where still very friendly). Looking forward to when I go back next year.

 

It is probably more the question of what all she should bring with going to china, rather than bring back from china.

 

You wouldn't really need to bring anything with you to China. Provided your going to major cities like HK, it's just as modern as any other city in the world.

If your talking about bringing stuff back, I wouldn't recommend bringing back PC parts. You need to be extremely knowledgeable about what your buying, and you'll want some kind of guarantee the stuff works before you take it back. You could
import regular gaming related stuff, but I'm not sure what kind of deal you could get on that. Naturally cheap knock-off's for DVDs, Games, etc are what most people sell. But then again, those are a dime a dozen in China. Plus if your caught exporting them China has pretty stiff fines (Like $700+ range per violation found). You can just imagine how much one would owe if you were caught with a book of pirate 360 games or movies.

 

I meant bring stuff back

I was thinking if maybe she could find me a top loader nes.
This nes version goes for a high price here but I want the real deal not a cheap copy.

What do you guys think ? It's possible ?
I'm still missing a few consoles in my collection too:

Turbo GraFX Duo
NeoGeo AES
Game Gear

That's what comes to the top of my head, is it possible to buy one of those there and not get ripped off ? By the way, my mom has 0.00001 of electronic knowledge so it must be something to see a picture and buy it.

 

In terms of retro consoles, I would forget about it as she is unlikely to find anything. I saw a few overpriced AES games as well as a couple of overrpiced PC Engine games whilst in Hong Kong but that was about it.

Clone Famicoms in china are 10 a penny and are worth picking up if they are cheap as they are nice collectibles. In Hong Kong, more modern stuff is easier to find as is Playstation 2 but anything else and you'll be out of luck.

I lived in HK for about a third of a year and bought very little, a few joysticks, a couple HK PS2s (NTSC-J and 240V!) and a few games that worked out cheaper then buying them in Japan but that was about it. In China I bought a couple of Famiclones and couple of nasty FC original(!)= games, but that was in Shanghai and I had to go off the beaten route to get them.

 

I've thought she's going to China?

 

*insert "Your mom is going to China" joke*

I think it would be best to stick with the usual fake shoes/purses/sunglasses and maybe find a cool Famiclone or something. Keep it really simple for her.

 

Go with what Jamtex said.

She is not going to be able to find many (if any) classic stuff in China or HK on a short trip. Even for new age stuff HK is the better place to pick that stuff up and the prices with be somewhat better. Last time I went a new DSi in china was more expensive then in HK, plus HK had just gotten the brand new colors released in japan only 3 days prior.

For Clones, Even that I think will be hard for your mom to find while in china. I drove my wife (and mother in law) mad even asking for them to simply find me an iQue (licensed N64 for china) one time. =(

I still don't get it. Sounds like she is going to a pretty big city so not sure what she would need to bring other then what's required (passport/clothes/necessities). Hotels are pretty good about giving you a few new bottles of water every day.

 

Forget finding Retro stuff in Beijing. I trawled the streets for three days and came out pretty much empty handed.

 

Yeah, so I think I'll not ask anything for her.

My last wish was computer hard drives very cheap but seems everything there is a rip off.
Do you guys think even internal hard drive with the samsung brand on it could be a clone of some kind ?

 

Possible. Are HDD very expensive in your country? I'd personally just not risk it and buy locally. Sellers prey on tourist/visitors.

 

They are not expensive but I would like to buy a few, like 5 at once and in a big quantity every penny saved will be a lot in the end.

Well.. I can't think of anything else I would want.
Maybe PS3 games ? Since there's no pirating for blu-rays yet, this would be a safe choice, I'm just not sure about the price in HK.

 

Current Gen stuff is fine to get when buying in HK, it's easy to find.

As for prices just check out import shops like buygame2.com, When in HK I found prices to be just slightly below theirs (and they give far better deals then play-asia and the likes).