doing laundry in China
 

I'll be travelling in China for a couple of weeks and will need to do my laundry at some point. I assume my Western chain hotels would charge an astronomical sum. If I'm in a well-travelled large Chinese city like Hangzhou or Suzhou, will there be a place that could do my laundry (or are "Chinese laundries" only an American thing? :) ). A self-service laundromat would be fine, too, but I'd assume that's less popular or pointless (cost-wise). Would there be same-day service? And would my hotel concierge likely be able to point me in the right direction?

I've had no problem getting my laundry done in Hong Kong before, but I would guess that the mainland could be a whole different story.

Thanks!

I almost never stay in western hotels, but IME hotel laundry service on the mainland is quick, efficient, and relatively inexpensive ($15-20 for a week or so worth of laundry). Nearly everything is pressed and folded very neatly and in some places your clothes are placed in resealable plastic bags (which makes packing very easy).

while i certainly endorse the use of (non-hotel) laundry services, it is worth mentioning that your hotel sink will do a pretty good job on things like socks and underwear. ~18 hours drying time is sufficient ime

You are right, hotel laundry services are usually pricey. I usually recommend my visitors to do their laundry on the street. There is some variation on the street shops. Some charge by piece, some by weight. The ones that charge by piece are usually more expensive. Also keep in mind that usually when you drop your laundry off, especially if it is a charge by piece shop, they will likely pull out your laundry one piece at a time and hold it up to look at it, and everyone else who may be watching too :) . So, if this makes you uncomfortable I would recommend doing underwear in the sink on your own or anything else that you don't wish the whole world to see. I once was helping someone at one of these places and they were mortified as their underwear was put on display piece by piece.

Thanks for the tips. It sounds like finding a laundry is doable -- albeit interesting. It seems to usually be that way when you travel abroad. I often forget some of the sights I've seen, but usually remember the strange laundry procedures! In Hungary, for instance, I could get them to wash my shorts but not my regular pants. I'll probably never figure that one out. :)

I'm a contrarian when it comes to packing light, I pack heavy. I pull out a freshie out of my suitcase on day 19.

That being said, I feel that I need to change for my upcoming China trip, mostly to handle irregular airline ops easily. So I appreciate this thread!!!

In genreal, can one expect 24 hour turnaround? If not, that's pretty limiting for non-hotel services, unless I want to make it a priority my first morning in town. Most of my stays are 3 nights, with early morning departures, except right at the beginning and end..

my strategy is to load up on socks and underwear, rely on blue jeans and khaki shorts to fill in the pants category, and buy shirts as i go along. of course, i bring a nice outfit or two as well, but for the most part, i can go anywhere in china for 3 weeks with an 18" rollaway.

clothes in china are cheap enough that you can pitch them after a few wearings and not feel guilty about it. but, i still try to keep my own supply of socks and underwear because finding quality product can be challenging.

Yeah, the odds of being comfy buying just any underwear you see are not high. But they're easy to handle in the hotel sink. :)

But travelling around Guangdong province a few years ago, we didn't find it particularly easy to buy adult clothing. Basically, unless you wear size medium or smaller back home, you're not going to fit into a lot of clothing geared for the domestic Chinese market! I recall buying some stuff in Hong Kong geared to foreigners and ex-pats, but would such a place be easy to find in the mainland?

It depends which bit of the mainland you're talking about. Beijing, Shanghai, Guanzhou = easy. Obscure town in obscure Province = not easy.

As far as socks go - you can buy them anywhere for RMB2. At that price you can treat them as being disposable.

And with it being summer drying time is pretty quick.

imo, any of our readers with active sweat glands would do best to shy away from chinese socks (regardless of how cool they look)

For my size to be commonly available, I would have to be in Samoa.

You'll be buggered in China then.

Though in fairness most of the tax collector folks that I know are are of Somoan proportions. A hearty dinner seems to be worth about RMB10,000l. :) Such things are 'negotiable' here. I think they use tailors though rather than regular shops. Obviously tailros offer a discount as well. If I were to suggest a discount on the tax-bill I'd obviously be being scurrilous (sp).

That said you convince the locals that you are an important Samoan they may build a nice new office block for you. Do a 'find text' for China on http://www.frommers.com/destinations/samoa/3037020543.html Such officials would, of course, be horrified if you were to suggest that China's foregin aid policy is trying to buy the vote of small nations when it comes to Taiwan related UN votes. I certainly would never adopt such a cynical attitude. :D

Dealing with your question about laundry turn-around time.

Much of it comes down to the drying issue. Solely in the interest of FT (honestly, I'm otherwise happy to have dirty socks :)) I have just conducted a scientific experiment, I hung my washing out 2 hours ago and it is now dry, which leads me to suggest that a same-day turnround should be quite possible.

Seriously same-day laundry should be no problem. You may well have to push for it but if you do it will be done. And no extra charge or tip will be due. ;D

PS - Peter N-H = I can't access the websites you link to in you signature. Is thsi a Great Firewall of China issue or a problem with my computer? From what I've seen of your posts you really know what you are talking about and I'd be really interested in whatever else you have to say

I realize my 18 hour estimate was way too conservative, but I was hoping to avoid a situation in which the OP was forced to leave a hotel with wet laundry.

IME two hours is usually sufficient. However, quality socks can be stubborn creatures (i.e. they tend to take [much] longer to dry).

You underestimate me. Not too mention it's a sunny day. :D My (er, high qualtiy 2RMB from the railway station socks) are pretty well dry as they come out of the washer.

In fairness I had a few very thick and heavy Western T-Shirts in my '2-hour selection' as well and they have dried.

Phillipas wondering just what he got into with this FT thing - I thought it was about discussing miles rather than my socks :D

The fix is to buy travel socks and underwear. I personally swear by the following -- not only does in dry in a few hours or less, but they take up far less space in your luggage as well.

http://www.foxsox.com/Catalog/SockDe...D=2115&c=BLACK

http://www.exofficio.com/product_det...b-026a9ca8e170

Gee, I don't know how many pieces of clothing you use per week ;) , but I think $15 to $20 per week (or $2 to $3 per day) is just too conservative. I don't usually stay in non-western hotels, but from my limited experiences from Chinese hotels in Zhongshan and in the Silk Road area, a single shirt (regular or Polo) costs between 15 to 27 RMB to wash.

Even in Turpan and Kashgar in the relatively cheap Silk Road area where our group tour stayed in supposedly "the best available" hotels which rated themselves 3 stars (which I rated negative one to half a star!), the cost of a shirt was around 22 RMB. After seeing the gray colored white towels, I decided to wait until we got to a better hotel to do some laundry.

I've never seen any self-service laundromats in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, or in the Silk Road area and I'm always on the lookout for these type of shops as I too take multi-week trips. Never found a "wash and fold" shop either that charged by weight. Only saw one shop in Hangzhou that charged by the piece and turnaround time was three days. Maybe it's because we're usually only in the tourist areas. A friend in Shanghai told me that there are shops that charged by the weight in the residential areas, but then it would be too inconvenient to lug our dirty clothes.

Hmmm, tbear, not too encouraging. At the prices you quoted, I could probably BUY a replacement polo shirt in China instead of getting one laundered (if I could find my size, of course!).

Better throw in a couple extra socks and underwear!

BTW, I'm staying in one Shangri-La hotel and I know they often offer a package that includes unlimited free laundry. It's usually not much more expensive, so can be useful mid-trip. Unfortunately, in my specific case this time, it would have added about $50/night to an otherwise available promo rate. Hard to spend that kind of money just for laundry.

tbear: While it's possible that I overlooked something, I don't think a single poster here advocated using hotel laundry services. Even podunk places like Turpan and Kashgar have laundry stores (though I mainly went the sink route out there on my May trip cuz it was so dry). What's more I've never run into the 3-day turnaround problem (well, those words have been uttered to me, but always rescinded when I started to walk away).

as with other clothing, if you're a large or bigger, there's no way you'll find your size in China.

Yeah, it really bugs me about the cost of laundry services in a hotel when it ends up more than the cost of a new item such as socks. In China you can probably buy some replacement clothing for less than some hotels' washing charge. I may be extreme, but I always wash new clothing (even it comes bagged in plastic) before I wear it. :o You never know what type of chemicals or how many hands have touched it during or after the manufacturing process. So this alternative doesn't work for me.

About your upcoming stay at a Shangri-La property, can you ask them what's their definition of "unlimited free laundry" on that special package rate. Does that mean a reasonable amount or can I really hand them a few suitcases worth of dirty clothes (after a few weeks of travelling) and expect them all back the next day? This might then be worthwhile to stay one night just for the laundry or booking only a single night at that package rate while the rest of your nights are booked at the cheapest rates. ;)

Huh?? :confused: (Without trying to step on anyone's toes) I thought I was replying to a poster who did.

Did you actually see any there on your first and only trip there in May? I sure didn't, but like I said we only walked and passed by tourist areas and maybe rents are too prohibitive for cheap laundry shops to exist. Maybe in residential areas, though.

Maybe that's true in some shops which have their own equipment. But at the shop in Hangzhou, it was more of a dry cleaning shop that did regular washing as a convenience for the customers. It didn't have any machines and all laundry was probably done in a larger plant/shop somewhere else.



Hey, if anyone knows of any self-service or drop off wash and fold shops in China's major cities, please post names and addresses here in this thread as I'm sure some of us cheapies (me, of course :) ) would really appreciate it.

I think they'd be pretty cool about it, as long as it was your personal stuff. I've found the Shangri-La hotels to be quite helpful and accomodating. If you wanted to book one night at the "laundry rate" and the others at a different promo, I'd just email the hotel and explain the situation. It sure would be nice to be able to get your laundry done at your own hotel without it costing a fortune. If you had 10 days worth of stuff, $50 would be pretty fair (especially since I'm sure the Shangri-La would do an excellent job washing the clothes).

Minor clarification. Since most of the socks in the world are made in China I think what you mean is one is better off buying the chinese socks in their home country.

Hangzhou IIRC. Something like an 85% market share.

Are you sure? I thought the cotton quota system had really taken a bite out of the (cotton) sock trade. I know this is the case with denim because I know a guy that has a large denim factory and his business has been turned upside down during the course of the past 5 years (pretty much synthetic fabrics only to the US).

Whenever I shop in the US, I always check the labels on clothes and most of the cottom stuff seems to be made elsewhere (though I must admit that I don't inspect socks very closely).

Regardless of whether there is any truth to my theory, the fact remains that it is hard to find nice socks here without paying full retail.

As a follow up, I did try to find a laundry in Suzhou. I met with only limited success. The Sheraton's concierge (an excellent hotel, btw) said he knew of a laundry a mile or two away. I stopped there the next day. It was a "Ilsa" laundry, and they seem to have 3 or 4 branches in town (I could dig up the street address if anyone needs it). It worked, but the problem was that it was more like a U.S. dry cleaner than a US "chinese laundry," so you had to pay by the piece. At about 75 cents for underwear, $1.50 per shirt and $2+ for pants, it was pretty pricey (at least by the standards of what services generally cost in China, and what "replacement goods" might cost me there). Frankly, next time, at those prices and given the inconvenience of carrying my clothes across town, I'd be inclined to rinse them out in my hotel tub.

I did catch a passing glance of another "laundry" in Suzhou (I tried writing down the street name, not sure I still have it), so a cheaper option MIGHT be available. It sure would be nice if Lonely Planet or somebody researched these laundry options in each major Chinese city and listed them. Otherwise, it's a modest pain to do laundry in China.

I have a convenient laundry around 20 metres from one of our Suzhou offices in the northern part of the city. They charge 10 yuan per shirt and 20 or so for trousers etc. Always busy with Chinese customers, Suzhou is a boomtown so people tend to have no problems at all paying for good service.

The Sheraton is on the south side and this particular laundry was a block west of the "center city" pedestrian mall. The prices sound a little higher than "your" laundry, but they did agree to a 20% "discount" for us (as you know, just about everything is negotiable in China). It didn't seem like many of the locals could really afford this place, though. They were bringing in their "special occasion" clothes -- kind of how Americans use dry cleaners. Laundering a week's worth of clothes for a family of 4 would cost about $70. I certainly would buy my own washing machine for that price!

Laundry in WANGFUJING/ DONGCHENG area
 

FWIW: Those in the WANGFUJING/ DONGCHENG area can find laundry services less than one block from the Crowne Plaza. Locate the department store across the street from the hotel (has a KFC on the ground floor w/ singage), walk past the KFC to the small shops about 100 meters, and there it is - laundry.

I did not use this laundry, but noticed it while walking, and am posting the location just in case someone searches for beijing | laundry | wangfujing | Dongcheng.

[QUOTE=FatManInNYC]FWIW: Those in the WANGFUJING/ DONGCHENG area can find laundry services less than one block from the Crowne Plaza. Locate the department store across the street from the hotel (has a KFC on the ground floor w/ singage), walk past the KFC to the small shops about 100 meters, and there it is - laundry.

I've used this very same laundry place. About 5 RMB for shirt/pants and 2-3 per pair of socks underwear. This is still double/triple the cost of places that charge only on weight, but in the area I didn't find anything better.

Chongqing

Could not find a laundry ANYWHERE. Asked the locals and they said they have never heard of such a service.

One drycleaning shop was willing but they had a three day turn around and they were more expensive then the hotel.

Beijjing

Can someone give me an EXACT address in Chinese where one can get his laundry done by weight? It would be greatly appreciated.

Going there right now and I have soooooooo much laundry I am scared to work out the cost at a hotel.

I just tried the people at Sophisticated Cleaners, they are cool. They call themselves Shanghai CLothes Spa (not sure why) but they came and picked up my laundry yesterday morning and now Ialready have it back. 2large bags of underwear and socks and 9 dress shirts came to like 230 RMB. It wouldhave cost me over 500 if I were to use the hotel laundry service. I am staying at the Regent on Yan An Lu. Shanghai laundry doesn't scare me any more.

CG

If you know any expats, ask. Hotel concierges check. The hotels will say they do laundry, but then look at them, smile and say, that's far too expensive (this tactic works better when in Mandarin). Usually they'll smile and give you a heads up. If you write "Forenet" its a chain, they might know.

There's a Fornet or two on Xinjiekou Wai street, near where I used to live near xiao xi tian. I know they do pressing and dry cleaning, and am sure they could do laundry too. If you're coming from a most eastern part of town, take a right onto Xin Jie Kou, if you're coming from a more western part of town on the second ring, make a left onto Xinjiekou. Drive along XinvJie Kou for 300+ yards and there should be a Forenet on your right side, the sign will be in a blueish green and "Forenet" will be written in English.


洗衣 - are the characters you want to look for otherwise.

During our 4-week long July trip to north and south-west China, we found laundry in all small towns (pop 50K+).
As said by several prior posts, doing your own socks and undies was our normal practice (if time allows).
Due to 93F+ temp and 100% humidity, I changed cloth twice each day. We sent out wash-and-wear stuff daily. Found outside laundry service efficient, 24-hour turn-around, and folded. Pay when you drop off clothes. Average cost (samples only): 2RMB for socks and undies; 4RMB for pants and shirts; 7RMB for jeans. These prices are samples in smaller towns only. Bigger cities tend to cost a bit more.
Sorry, no personal experience for Hangzhou or Suzhou.

As I've posted on the Priority Club (Intercontinental, Holiday Inn) forum, at least some of the Holiday Inn Express hotels in China have self-serve laundry (website lists it as an amenity). I am going to try to use one next month (the new HIX Beijing Temple of Heaven). If it works, it will definitely be a good reason to consider these hotels.

Just don't use the dryer. I made that mistake last time I used it. The exhaust pipe was not hooked up, so the steam stayed inside the dryer & after 90 mins the clothes were still damp.

We'll that will be a problem! :) I can see every nook of my room covered with air-drying clothes.

Sorry, it should be "FORNET" not "FORENET"

Figured I'd make another post since it's been a few days...

HA-HA-HA-HA. Nearly all smaller, residential-size dryers in China are condensing-type dryers similar to many of the ones you find in Europe, not exhaust type dryers such as the ones sold in the USA. They didn't forget to hook up the exhaust pipe, this kind of dryer doesn't have one as it condenses steam and heat into the room itself. They are generally less efficient at drying, so you have to put about half the load size in that you put in the washer. Or if it was a combo machine, do the wash load then take out half the clothes before you dry the other half. And it takes longer. While it doesn't work so well in humid southern China, up here in Beijing, I air dry clothes on a rack, and it's usually so dry I can have most things air dry within 4-5 hours.

In my experience, self-service laundromats are next to impossible to find anywhere in China, but in major cities, drop-off shops that have quick turn-around and cheaper service is somewhat more likely to be found in university districts than in business districts.

In Zhangjiajie now, a small city in Hunan. Just got 13 pieces cleaned and ironed for RMB36 in a local dry cleaner. I seem to remember that's about the price for 1-2 pieces in an upscale hotel. You have to be mad to pay those prices

"gan xi" = dry cleaner....pronunciation is "gan she", have fun