China travel: Helpful tips for Western tourists going to China (from a solo female traveler)

A few things about China that may be helpful for others.

VPN

A VPN is essential if you want to use Google products at all (or Facebook, etc). A VPN was required to get access to pay my insurance bill online while I was away, which surprised me. So be prepared, have a VPN.

Power outlets

Many outlets here are multicountry, with Chinese outlets and a flat prong/round prong accepting outlet.  If you need a good travel set, this one is one of my faves. The cute little bag it comes in is great for carrying the plugs while you’re out for the day.

Public behavior

Apparently, it is socially acceptable to wear your fuzzy slippers in public. It is also acceptable to play videos out loud almost anywhere. On the train right now I’ve got at least 3 people playing different things loudly on their phones. Bring headphones if you want some quiet time for yourself in public.

People squat all over the place. Not just the girl peeing just outside the Drum Tower, but squatting on the ground looking at a phone, squatting eating food; it’s not really unusual, just you hardly ever see anyone squat in America. We just lose the ability to squat as we get older as we never do it.

Bathrooms

Public bathrooms are everywhere. You will see signs pointing to bathrooms as you walk down the street. Most are squat toilets (which really aren’t that bad, try it – you can also get these, which help when the bathroom is gross). But occasionally you’ll find a “handicapped” toilet, which is what we westerners are used to using. Bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer as often there is no paper or soap.

Hutong public bathrooms, however, are basically holes in the ground that are pumped out frequently. While many Chinese bathrooms are dirty and smelly to American standards, the hutong bathrooms hit you like a wall of odor that makes your brain scream run away. You can smell the bathrooms from quite a distance and it sure makes the food stalls nearby unappetizing. Especially since toilet paper and soap are not often available in the bathrooms.

Money

I was trying to figure out how I was going to always have enough cash on hand since our US credit cards don’t work in Beijing.  However, it seems Discover orked out a deal with UnionPay (a major China CC) to accept Discover cards at any place that accepts UnionPay.  There are instructions for how to do this (and a little card you can print out that tells shopkeepers how to do it) on their website. Having visited China, I can say this was hit or miss, mostly miss.  I successfully used the card with no issues to get my SIM card at the airport.  After that I was able to use it one more time, but every other time I tried to use it, even with the instructions, no one could seem to process it.  So YMMV.

So if you go to China, plan on bringing cash and exchanging it, at least in my experience.

Standing out

I wondered if I’d stand out in China being a solo white woman (and having pink hair). The answer is, I don’t think so. Although I did have one woman pop in to take a picture of me, and others want pictures with me, and had a couple of people walk past and then turn around to look at my face (I think to see if I was Asian or not), I have hardly even felt looked at for that. (I was definitely more of an “attraction” in India).

What clearly made me stand out was that I went around in a t-shirt when it’s 70 degrees. I even ate ice cream in that weather. I don’t understand Chinese, but I think a couple of people pointed out that weird girl who’s clearly not cold. Also that I was several inches taller than most people.  But I didn’t ever feel stared at or anything uncomfortable.

Despite the weather, the locals are mostly in sweaters and jackets, and even have little jackets they put on their hands to block the wind and road spritzing from hitting them. It generally is much warmer here, so they are cold.

Other

One thing that I don’t think I could ever get used to here is all the people hacking up phlegm and spitting it on the ground, and/or blowing their noses on the ground. It just makes my stomach churn and makes me afraid to put anything on the ground anywhere.

Mopeds, bikes and other small vehicles do not seem to need to go one way on roads. Several times I’ve seen one going against traffic and nothing untoward happened.

Children are generally carried around or are on leashes rather than in strollers. I’ve seen very few strollers. Lots of kids on scooters, kids on push-chairs (2 wheels), kids being carried. I did see an umbrella stroller today, but it was carrying a large bottle of water.