[9/3/12 11:11:58 PM] Joanna: sigh
[9/3/12 11:12:14 PM] Joanna: john
[9/3/12 11:12:16 PM] Joanna: is
[9/3/12 11:12:17 PM] Joanna: perfect
Advice:
Always carry tissue paper, most toilets don't supply any. Hotels and expensive/foreign restaurants are often an exception to this.
If you meet art/English students who want to take you to a tea house or show you their art, avoid it, the tea will most often amount to several thousand US dollars. AKA, Tea Scam.
Any place you will most likely go shopping and has many foreigners is very expensive. Most foreigners go there and barter... Even their final price, which the foreigners think is good I'd never pay.
If you see scorpions and start fish on sticks on a particular street, this is not what Chinese eat (none I've met) and is mainly put there for foreigners sake. My Chinese friends all think that stuff is weird and a little gross.
Chicken heart on the other hand can be quite nice when cooked properly, but I never saw that there.
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[9/3/12 11:11:58 PM] Joanna: sigh
[9/3/12 11:12:14 PM] Joanna: john
[9/3/12 11:12:16 PM] Joanna: is
[9/3/12 11:12:17 PM] Joanna: perfect
Oh, and you might get a lil sick, it's not so much about bad food, more about your system adapting to the Chinese environment. Now after being in China for 6 years, I almost never get sick at all, guess I built up some immunities to the common bugs here. The same as you would have built them up to common <your country> bugs. It's pretty normal, so don't get to stressed and think you ate something really bad.
When you're out and about, it pays to have that tissue paper on hand. Since I hope you'll not spend all your time in the hotel rooms.
Don't drink tap water, either drink bottled water or boiled water.
If my post helped please send $2,000,000 via PayPal!
Now that I think about it my goal in life is to take my mom to Hawaii. She has always wanted to go but financially it is simply not an option and never has been so hopefully I can take her on that trip one day.
Thanks. I'm pretty much expecting to get sick between China and India, so that won't be a shocker. Good call on the toilet paper though i guess i will keep some on hand. And yeah, the water thing is pretty standard for a lot of travel, the hard part is avoiding the things that contact unboiled water.
[9/3/12 11:11:58 PM] Joanna: sigh
[9/3/12 11:12:14 PM] Joanna: john
[9/3/12 11:12:16 PM] Joanna: is
[9/3/12 11:12:17 PM] Joanna: perfect
If I may butt in, you don't have to carry a roll of tp with you unless you want to. Everyone there carries those folded 10-packs of tissue, for wiping noses, and wiping butts. But the local brands are a lot thicker and tougher, so you may want to buy some there if you want to be discrete or not have a backpack/bag on you.
Always carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer and try to go before you leave the hotel (or anywhere with maintained restrooms). The public restrooms there are often disgusting, just from the sheer number of people that use them, otherwise they're all cloudy and hazy because people hide in there to smoke. And yeah, the restroom keepers often can't keep up in time, so tp (if offered), and soap may be out.
J (12-15-2012)oh n