Five Things to Take When Traveling to China
I’ve been meaning to write this one for a while but could never narrow the list down to just five things. Sure, there are a lot of items every traveler should take with them, but I wanted to highlight a few specifics that may get overlooked when going to China for the first time.
1. Tissues
You can certainly buy tissues in China (and buy them cheaply), but fresh off the airplane, it could be a while before you get to stock up. The last thing you want to do is go to the restroom tissueless. The majority of public restrooms in China do not have toilet paper. People are expected to bring their own.
2. Hand sanitizer
Another commodity missing from public restrooms is soap. While nicer restaurants will have a sink and soap dispenser, most of the restrooms you come across will not only lack any hand-cleaning liquids but are so scary and dirty, you can’t stop thinking about the germs crawling on you until you fully disinfect.
3. Hand fan
The best thing you can do if you’ll be doing most of your traveling in the summer is to take a handheld, electric fan. I was surprised by how humid China is. The major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing are particularly hot and miserable, and yet air-conditioning is not always readily available.
4. Printouts
Unless you are already fluent in Chinese, it’s going to be tough trying to explain to people where you want to go. While English is common, there are still many people—taxi drivers included—who don’t know much past hello. An easy cop-out is to print off the Chinese names of the places you plan to visit.
5. Granola bars
Also known as emergency food, these will help you when you can’t find anything else to eat that sounds good. I like Chinese food, but for new travelers, the noodles and fried rice can be really hard to stomach. Go for the high fiber granola bars, though, because… well… constipation isn’t fun to have on vacation.
My Trip to Japan, Courtesy of Delta Airlines
I have the worst of luck when it comes to traveling, so much so that I should probably give up for a while. On my flight to China, I had a layover in Tokyo. When the plane arrived, the captain announced that a few connecting flights (including mine to Shanghai) were delayed and static static static static. Uh… what? I had no idea what to do. Was I supposed to sleep in the airport? When was my new flight? Everybody I asked, though, just pointed in some arbitrary direction and said, “Go straight ahead.”
After about five or six straight aheads, I wound up in the Japan immigration line. Wait a minute… this seemed wrong. I wasn’t immigrating. I just wanted to know when my new flight was! I felt like crying, but after receiving a 90-day Japanese visa and exiting the airport (which, again, felt like I was doing the exact opposite of what I should), I met a group of fellow bewildered travelers. We were taken to a hotel and given a free room and meal voucher. Over curry and beer, we talked about why we were trying to get to Shanghai and how badly this delay was messing us up.
When I was finally able to sit in my hotel room and look at the cute, blue pajamas on the bed, relieved that somebody was finally able to promise me a flight first thing in the morning, this side excursion ended up being kind of fun. I have always wanted to visit Japan, after all. While being sent to a hotel for one night doesn’t exactly constitute a proper trip, I at least have a stamp in my passport now that says I’ve been there. And, hopefully, I’ll be able to go again some day and see more than just one street and a 7-11.
By the way, please keep posting on somethingsihate.com. Kthanxbye.
Flying From Shanghai to Tokyo to LA to Utah
As much as I love traveling and sightseeing, I hate flying. It’s not a fear of flying that keeps me from enjoying it, either, but rather an irritation with the whole process that starts mild then quickly escalates until I’m screaming inside, “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I’M GONNA SOCK THE NEXT PERSON THAT LOOKS AT ME!”
The 9-hour flight from Tokyo to LA is always a doozy.
Trying to sleep in an upright position or trying to eat on a little table while the guy in front of you is fully reclined or trying not to wake the person next to you as you climb over them to go use the bathroom are all valid annoyances. When you’ve taken a 28-hour train in China twice, though, these seem like little things. Nevertheless, I can’t help but glare disapprovingly at the smug bastards in First Class every time I board a new plane.
The aspect of flying I hate the most is the rigmarole you have to go through at every airport. Showing up two hours early isn’t even enough anymore. After checking in at the Pudong airport in Shanghai, we were told we needed to board the plane 55 minutes before it left. We arrived at our terminal 30 minutes early, which, in a normal universe, is plenty of time, but they were already announcing our names over the intercom to hurry and get on so we could sit and wait 40 minutes before taking off.
The number of security checks they send you through has gotten way out of hand, as well. In Shanghai, there was the usual check, but then they went through my carry-on again before getting on the plane. And then I had to do another security check as soon as I got off the plane in Tokyo. I went from airport to airplane to airport. Where did I find time to pick up something dangerous?! It really discourages me from wanting to do anymore traveling. But… then I forget just how bad the 24-hour airport marathon is, and I end up doing it again. I’m a sucker that way.
National Day: A Week of Doing Nothing
The PRC was founded on October 1, 1949. To celebrate this event, everybody in China (and I mean everybody) gets a week off. This year, National Day coincides with Mid-Autumn Festival, so the vacation has been extended to eight days. A new record! It’ll also be a new record for sitting around and doing nothing, because that’s about all you can do. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get train tickets when the whole country is wanting to go home or go see the Yellow Mountains? Huh? Do you? No, I don’t think you do.
I was still wanting to at least see a lesser known tourist attraction over the break, but any plans were put on hold (or at least exacerbated), because my brother’s school took its sweet, sweet time renewing his visa… and you can’t stay in a hotel without one of those little pieces of paper. I had this crazy idea, though, where we would just take an overnight train somewhere (preferably here), arrive early in the morning, see the sights, then leave late at night on another overnight train. Crazy… but I was willing to do it. However, there were no beds available to Pingdingshan and no trains at all on the way back. No way. Not doing that.
Well, these week-long Chinese holidays are still a great way to see your hometown, given that your hometown isn’t a popular destination. Over spring festival, Changzhou felt so empty and void of pushing and shoving. It was awesome! I’ve been meaning to see Dinosaur Park again, too, since my last visit was so underwhelming. My school even offered to give me a few extra days off while the students do some “sports meeting,” but then the school panics at the slightest chance of rain and tells me to come back and teach. Why is it such a hassle to make travel plans in this country?!
China Hostel Review Rundown
Thinking about traveling in China? Well… don’t. Nah, just kidding. But if you’re like me and always aim to do things on the cheap, you’ll probably be more interested in booking hostels over hotels. I’m an advocate of hostels, because their locations are usually fantastic, the staff usually speaks English, they usually provide tour information and services, and their prices are USUALLY reasonable even though they still offer standard hotel rooms. Usually. Now excuse me while I prove myself wrong:
Beijing: Leo Hostel
I’ve stayed at Leo Hostel three times now, and each time I’ve become less and less impressed with it. They used to have a kick-ass location not far from Tiananmen Square, but years of slow-moving construction have made Leo Hostel a pain to access. They continue to charge a premium for their rooms, though, when said rooms are quite bare and never get cleaned while you’re away. The good news is that their tours, which include two different Great Wall tours, are still a pretty good deal.
Xi’an: Bell Tower Youth Hostel
Nevermind the fact that the elevator was broken, and we had to climb four flights of stairs to get to our room. The price was great for what we got: an actual hotel room, quiet, cleaned and restocked on a daily basis, with a shower that didn’t get the whole bathroom wet. The location was perfect, too; we could walk to the Bell Tower in the city center in less than ten minutes. If there’s anything I can complain about, it’s that their additional services, like laundry service, are a total rip-off.
Jiuzhaigou: Grass Roots Youth Hostel
I guess you shouldn’t expect much when your room only costs 100 RMB a night. There was no AC, the toilet stunk, the trash never got taken out, and the staff didn’t even speak English. It’s in a noisy neighborhood, too, but since it’s a quaint Tibetan village within walking distance of Jiuzhaigou Valley, all is forgiven. Plus, the hostel offered many services for free, including Internet and laundry. Considering we spent 150 RMB on laundry in Xi’an, that was a welcome change.
Chengdu: Dreams Travel Youth Hostel
It’s a little irritating when you pay top dollar to get a standard hotel room, but the entire hall is right above a KTV. Obnoxious Chinese pop would start playing at 6:00 every evening and go until 12:00. The rooms were otherwise very clean and modern and were actually better than our rooms in Xi’an. I picked this hostel, though, due to the tours it offered and its location near a famous shopping street. But aside from a Starbucks and a Dairy Queen, there is absolutely nothing to eat in the neighborhood.
Guilin: Flowers Youth Hostel
The last hostel we stayed in was also the worst and is proof that Hostelling International has no standards. The moldy walls and bug-ridden sheets are worth mentioning, but the main attraction was the foul-smelling squatter with the shower nozzle directly above it! I can tolerate a lot of things, but at the end of the day, I need to sit down on a Western toilet. It’s a shame, too, because the staff was very helpful, and the location is great (across the street from the train station and ten minutes from downtown).
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