this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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If you go to a very urban area, and find a hole in the wall restaurant among well renovated shops, then dining there is a must.
Shopping centers in China are just built different. The top floors usually contains a daycare and restaurants.
Chinese national parks are also built different.
Highly recommend that you download an offline map. I use OSMAND. When you get back, use it to plan out your trips. (This isn’t China specific) Also, Baidu and DIDI is your friend. Actual friends are also your friends.
There are some extremely high tier super elite shops, restaurants, and services, with quality above and beyond anything you can find in NA. It’s worth a visit if you can find them. It’s expensive AF, even in foreign currency, but unlike expensive luxury shit in the west, it’s very much worth it. Like, I bought a $10CAD cup of black coffee brewed from Colombian Sakura beans and it was literally the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I came back to Canada and I couldn’t drink the coffee here for 2 months because of how bad it tasted in comparison.
Coffee is very expensive in China. But try out the local soft drinks. All the local soft drinks. China is the best place to go to quit coffee.
You generally don’t need to pack your own food. You can just buy food anywhere. But it’s kinda a ripoff if you specifically buy food at tourist traps, like $10yuan for a sausage on a stick.
Older people will tell you to watch out for bandits and kidnappers. But the most danger that you’ll be in is in danger of being ripped off.
You can’t drink tap water in China. You’ve got to boil it first. Stick some tea leaves in there while you’re at it.
Depending on where you’re shopping, you can haggle.
~~If there are signs saying not to take pics of military installations, then that’s just a suggestion. I have a pic of China’s stealth battleship in dock somewhere on my phone.~~ But there areas that are military bases / military ground that you should avoid. (Hainan specific)
Update: don’t take pictures of military installations because you might take find yourself photographing something that you’re not supposed to.
Highly suggest that you go off grid and wander around not just the urbanized areas but also the poorer areas and ghettos. It’s gorgeous and it’s got a ton of history.
Learn to ride a Vespa before going to China because you can rent a Vespa in some areas that makes getting around easier.
Was it really that bad in your experience? It seems hard to believe as someone who has not visited China but heard many great things about the nation.
You can drink the tap water, but nobody will let you.
I secretly drank some when nobody’s looking with no side effects. It tastes kind of raw though. I don’t think they chlorinate it.
I know for a fact that China treats their tap water.
Tap water that's drinkable straight out of the tap is a rarity in the world and not really a thing in any developing country. There are certainly parts of China where you could get away with it, but you could get sick in many other places. The issue is that pipes leak here and there, so even though water comes out drinkable from the plant, there's no guarantees what it will be like at the tap. From the perspective of the Chinese, you drink less than 1% of the tap water you use, so why bother making all of it drinkable? But I'm sure things will change as the country develops.