My "Visit China" Tips for Commissaires

When traveling for cycling (instead of just pure vacation), your time is often less flexible. There are meetings and deadlines and work that has to be done. On the other hand, when the work is done for the day, it's possible that your time is more flexible than the standard tourist who visits China with an organized tour group. Anyway, as I sit here in the San Francisco airport waiting for my last flight home I thought I'd jot down a few dos and donts, so... in no particular order...

• Bring some granola bars or similar so that you can skip a meal if need be. I LOVED the food, but I had to take it a little slow initially to give my stomach a chance to adjust. Every single thing you put in your mouth is new in flavor and sometimes texture, so I was glad I had something kind of bland to fall back on for a snack. After 72 hours I was pretty much ok for the rest of the trip, but it was nice to have a granola bar for breakfast sometimes instead of the odd Chinese breakfast choices (veggies, noodle dishes, etc).
• Cash is king. Bring your ATM card AND some US currency. Do currency exchanges at Bank of China (there's one on practically every corner). ONLY bring NEW bills for exchange. I had trouble using my ATM card, so I tried to exchange a couple of hundred dollars. But the smaller bank I tried to use closely inspected each $20 bill and then announced that all of my bills except for one $20 were "broken" and couldn't be exchanged. Not exactly sure what that meant, but take the time to go into your bank and ask for new bills just in case you can't find a Bank of China.
• Learn a few phrases before you arrive. I earned a lot of good will with my attempts at hi, nice to meet you, see you later, etc. I recommend the "Learn Chinese" app by Codegent available for Android and iPhone.
• Get a SIM card for your phone. China Mobile has stores everywhere, and everyone in China has a mobile (and expects you to have one, too). Make sure you get the data+voice plan or it gets pricey. You can add credit at any time by stopping at a China Mobile store. Being "connected" also made me feel less isolated, like I had a link to home. This feeling became more important to me the longer the trip lasted.
• Add "tye gway lah" to your vocabulary list. EVERY small merchant expects you to bargain and the first thing out of your mouth after hearing the price needs to be "too much." Rule of thumb is to cut the first price in half and go from there.
• It's easy to restock standard toiletry items, so no need to pack much of these. Most supermarkets are really "super" and carry food, clothes, electronics, alcohol, etc. You'll have no trouble finding what you need.
• Don't tip. Really.
• Don't expect to find wireless Internet in your hotel (never had wireless in my room in three weeks of hotels), but they do all have ethernet cables. So you'll need to travel with a laptop OR bring your iPad plus wireless router. There are some really small wireless routers that plug right into the wall and are very convenient; that's what I used.
• Download news apps to your iPad or phone and use them to get the news in English. There are great ones for BBC, NPR, NYT, etc. A huge conflict between Japan and China escalated during my trip but the Chinese government blocks most of the news sites familiar to US readers, so you're kind of SOL without apps.
• No need for plug adapters. Your US and even Euro plugs are perfectly compatible with all Chinese wall outlets.
• Leave your hotel. Walk the streets. Eat the street food!

I'm sure there are others, but that's what comes off the top of my head.

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