China is an endurance journey where you will be thrown from one extreme to another. But what you will see, experience, feel will give you the opportunity to fall in love with this diverse, multifaceted, populous country.
To make the journey go smoothly, we have put together a pack of life hacks for you.
As with any trip, pack a first aid kit, which will definitely include medicine for stomach upset and allergies (there is a possibility of a reaction to unfamiliar food), napkins and antiseptic (it’s not difficult to get into unsanitary conditions in China). Get insurance. All medications can, of course, be bought at local pharmacies, but they will be unfamiliar.
Make a copy of your passport, visa, residence. Take a photo of these same pages on your phone and you don’t have to carry documents with you all the time. All you have to do is show the photo to the police.
Prepare the name and address of the hotel – not only in English letters, but also in Chinese characters, so you can ask the locals. Don’t copy the hieroglyphs by hand, it’s better to print them out or show them on your phone! No matter how wonderful your handwriting is, there is a high probability that the Chinese will not read your characters.
Take your usual cosmetics with you. In China, all personal hygiene items are imported and therefore expensive.
If you are traveling for a long time, you can take cereals, coffee, chocolates – they are imported to China, so prices locally will be higher. However, they are easy to get: in any large city there will be stores with departments of European products.
Download offline translators Trainchinese or Pleco, install offline maps of China.
Dress according to the province where you are going. If you come to China in the summer or are going to the mountains, don’t forget sunscreen. Or you can buy an umbrella: not from rain, but from ultraviolet radiation. They differ from normal umbrellas in that they have an inner side made of dense black material that does not transmit ultraviolet rays.
