[KarenInCa]

The most appreciated tip that we received from some friends when we went to China for DD #1, was this:

Get some of the half sized ziplock sandwich bags. They're just the right size for dollar bills.
Your agency should provide you with a list of the individual fees prior to leaving for China. Seperate the fee amounts in each ziplock, and label them with stickies attached to the first bill in each ziplock. This makes it so much easier to hand over the seperate fees without having to wonder which amount is for what fee. We each carried a fanny pack with us, tucked under our shirts while traveling. Each of us had half the loot. It was also convenient to have a ziplock in the front of the stack, with petty cash so that you can just reach into the first part of the pack when paying for Airport food, etc.
We also did this with the spending money. DH carried a ziplock baggie of cash and I carried a ziplock baggie of American Express Travelers Cheques. The cash was only around $300 And the TC's totaled around $1,500. We found that we didn't need that much money, but it was nice to have.
If you take TC's be sure to write the ID numbers of each individual TC and keep the list seperated from the TC's ...We kept the list of the individual TC IDs in the suitcase, and crossed them off as we use each individual one. That way, if we had lost them, we could call AmEx and advise them of which ones were lost or stolen.

Next tip???