Each hotel room we stayed in featured the common mini-fridge we are familiar with in the West.  And like so many hotel chains back home, unfortunately these ones have also picked up on the nasty habit of loading the fridge with exorbitantly priced bottled water, soft drinks, alcohol, and snacks.

Little room is left for you to store your own purchased food and water.  And the fridge is a tempting target for your new child, who has no idea that RMB 20 is an insane price for a can of Coke.

The other problem you may face is that your mini-fridge may be connected to your room’s master control panel which controls all its lights.  In such a case, when you leave your room for the day and take your keycard from the control panel, your fridge would shut off. So when you return, instead of reaching in and treating yourself to cold water, all you will have is a tepid bottle of disappointment.

If you are taking prescription medicines requiring refrigeration, this could be a problem, and better that you know now.  Talk with your doctor about options.  When in China, adoptive families often need to exercise their creativity and improvisational skills – think now about how you would go about keeping something cool in a fridge that has been unplugged for the day…