Hi guys so a few months ago
I made a pretty extensive China travel guide
In which I received a ton of questions still and so that made me realize that there was always more questions to be answered
so I'm making a China travel guide number 2 with an addition of
Q&A so it's like an updated version
I'm just gonna add or reiterate some really important points that I said in my first video plus some
Updated information that I found out
from other people the first part I'm gonna be talking about 10 things not to do in China and
Part number two. It's gonna be
Q&A your questions answered so
First of all, I just want to say I got a lot of people in the comment section from the last video saying they're nervous
They're excited, but they're nervous about traveling to China. Don't be nervous
China is a wonderful country to travel to there's so much to see there's so much good food to eat with this video
I hope I can equip you with some knowledge and information. Don't worry don't stress
Everything is gonna be ok, and you're gonna have a great time in China. Ok
So let's start with 10 things not to do number one. It's gonna be don't expect people to speak English
But that's ok
Because what you can try to do is find young students or college students or high school students. Most likely they were
required to take some kind of English class
I believe a lot of people will be very excited to speak to foreigner and practice their English
Do not be afraid to learn a couple of phrases
the reason why is because I always
Notice when I'm travelling to a new country if I can even speak just a couple of things in their language. It's always appreciated
for China specifically
I know I have seen this happen a ton of times Chinese people love it when they see foreigners speak Chinese
It's very amusing for them
So I think it all or maybe some major points when you're traveling first thing is hello. Very simple, Nihao
Nihao
Number two is thank you
xie xie
And we're just gonna tack on a number three because it's kind of like that. Excuse me
In China, it's basically you're saying please can I ask?
You can use this to get someone's attention. For example
So if you're out and about and you try to get out of attention, you can say qin wen
That's kind of like please. Can I ask you something number three is don't be offended and just know that
Personal space isn't such a concept in China
This is just because there's such a dense population
Especially if you're travelling in big cities, I think people were just really used to being super close to each other all the time
Especially when you're waiting in line
Especially on the train buses. So but just be aware of it. I warned my partner when we were travelling
and at first he thought I was just joking
But you got to see it firsthand how pushy sometimes people can be but like I said, please don't be offended
but just be aware so that way
When it does happen to you or one if you're waiting in line
Someone kind of gets a little bit too close to you. You know that it's
Just something that happens in China
But number four I have to say this one more time because I got a ton of questions
Don't go to China without a VPN app
The one that I used personally for a few months and was called expressvpn. I'll put it here
I'm gonna link down below
It's an affiliate link that I used because I really trust their product and they do offer
24/7 customer support it worked really well for me. Sometimes I had to reconnect and disconnect but that's expected
So the link down below
If you do use the my link sign up, I will get a very small Commission and at no extra cost to you
So I would really appreciate it. If you could please use my link, and basically having a VPN
Product you can install it the app on your phone as well as I think it's an extension or some thing on your laptop
I used both of them
So whenever you get to China
you just have to go to the app and
Hit connect the same way on your laptop and you can bypass the firewall and it'll reroute you
I believe I'm not that tech
Savvy, but I think it just basically changes your IP address. So it seems like you're using the internet from
Another country and that way you can use Facebook Instagram snapchat
Whatsapp. Google all Google's
Products if you have any other questions in regards to VPN just let me know in the comments below so I do recommend
You to just purchase it just to be safe before you leave
That's what I did number five is
accomodation don't expect Chinese hotels or
Bed-and-breakfast to take foreigners. It's so important that I have to do this one more time
So I went into this trouble a lot because when you check into a hotel they always require
You to have your passport that you may make a copy of it
Even big cities like Beijing and Shanghai I ran into problems where so many accommodations that were within our budget
I looked for did not take foreigners. So it's just the restriction that they have
I'm not sure exactly why if you do know he can let us know in the comments below
But basically if you have a foreign passport and not a mainland Chinese ID
A lot of places will not accept you
So if you're not traveling on a budget and you can stay at the more expensive international chains, that's great for you
But before your booking always always double-check and make sure that it doesn't say
Mainland citizens only so I'm number six. That's the Chinese six
Is don't expect your foreign credit cards to work in China
I believe the only time I ever was able to use my credit card and I really tried
was
One time in a McDonald's and it was like really huge
Shopping mall. So most of the time they'll only accept Chinese bank cards or cash. So cash is the best
currency, of course, but
Keep your credit cards and your wallets because they're not probably not gonna work in most places number seven
Don't be afraid to ask for help
I know you think there's a language barrier and it's gonna be hard to get your ideas across
But once you have your VPN once you get on your Google Translate
You can type out the question you have
And translate it into Chinese and ask someone if they can help you out if you cannot find a student who speaks English
So I had to ask police officers. I had asked random people on the street
I asked shop owners cuz I got lost quite often and everyone was very willing to help if they could and number eight
I can't believe I forgot to mention this in my last video
Do not take the Chinese New Year lightly
So Chinese New Year is gonna be on a different day every single year
So just check the calendar type in Google Chinese New Year
2019 for example is happening on February 5th
So the Chinese New Year is not like the New Year's eve or the  New Year's Day you're used to maybe in your country
It's like a month long event. So
crazy shopping
beautiful red decorations, very festive
Beautiful fireworks happening. However, it really really affects travel. Everybody is going home
It's gonna be really difficult to buy train tickets bus tickets
maybe even a flight so you have to try and avoid
Traveling during the entire week of the Chinese, New York
So just make sure you plan your trip accordingly
And if you do if you do happen to be in China during Chinese New Year month
book way way way ahead of time and also petty crime rates is gonna be higher just as you would expect
for instance during Christmas time, so
Be more aware of
Pickpocketers watch out for your belongings a bit better. It's gonna be more crowded in some places and
plan accordingly for the Chinese New Year
also
It's gonna be beautiful and it's gonna be so festive and happy so pros and cons and I don't know. number 9
Don't pack too many things
I know you feel like you might be safer or
More prepared if you pack everything that you need before you go to China
But you know when you see those labels that says Made in China
You can find everything when you get there
And also it's gonna be a lot cheaper than the prices that you used to at home
So if you need a selfie stick if you need I don't know new shoes walking shoes
clothes
There's pharmacies that you can go to for, you know, regular pain relief or cold medicine or something like that
so I really recommend you not to over packed and you're gonna want to save some space in your suitcase for
Souvenirs or any other kind of shopping once you're there
Okay, so number 10
It's something that I also mentioned in the past in the first video, but it kind of ties in with number 9
Don't take the first price you get so bargain
I'm gonna teach you another phrase really quick here. If you want to say too expensive. It's tai gui le
tai gui le - that means like too much
You can have your phone ready and you can type in the price and your calculator and show it to the merchant
That's the parent the price that you think is fair
they might even have a calculator on hand to negotiate with you about the price but as I mentioned before
That's not the merchants trying to trick
Foreigners or tourists they will give you a higher price than they would give the locals
but even with the locals everyone bargains
But I'm not talking about like big department stores or chain stores with official my fact I'm talking about smaller boutiques
So they do inflate the price quite a bit
Make sure you don't just accept the first price you get okay?
so that's my 10 things not to do one in China and if you want more information about apps
accommodation transportation
different culture shock etiquette things to be aware of please visit my first video
Somewhere I'm gonna link it above we're just gonna jump very quickly now into the Q&A section of this video
Okay. One question that I got a lot is is China safe?
Yes, it's safe
I feel much safer when I'm traveling in China and walking at night on the street than I do in Los Angeles
Why because there's always people out and there's always businesses open. So you're never alone. You're never
Walking down the street in the dark in dim light. So yes, definitely extras caution when you're
walking around at night and
Just don't take weird alleys or back roads, but really I do feel safe in China
because there's more people around because the businesses are open a lot later and
I've never gotten into any trouble but please actually this car should always be aware of your surroundings and
Use your intuition if something doesn't feel right get out of there
What's the deal with WeChat pay? Okay. So this question came up a lot
WeChat is an app that basically
Everybody uses in China because now it's taken over
Bank cards and any payment options so you basically have this app and you can scan a code to pay for everything
So if you have a foreign card it, no, it's not gonna work as of today
2018
September it does not WeChat app does not take foreign cards. However
If you're traveling long-term in China
It is gonna be a good idea to just hop on over to a local bank
Get yourself a Chinese bank card, and you can set up WeChat
And use it just like a local would and you don't need to worry about cash
You don't need to worry about your credit cards
This app takes care of a lot of stuff
But that is my very important tip for WeChat pay if you want to I've heard someone literally say getting a Chinese bank
Account is easier than paying for a train ticket or buying for a train ticket
So if you are travelling long term, I recommend you to just go in and get yourself a Chinese bank card, okay?
This is it for the China travel guide number two with Q&A
I hope I helped make you feel better about your upcoming trip to China or if your planning thinking about traveling to China
It's really not scary
And even though it's gonna be really different and there's gonna be a huge culture shock for a lot of the stuff
It's gonna be an amazing experience
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And I basically just trying to find as much time as I can to work hard on my videos and my blog
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So those links are gonna be below as well again guys
I really take pride in answering every single question and that I get in my video
So don't be shy don't be afraid to reach out and say hello
Even if you don't have a question and you just want to say hi, I'll definitely get to those as well
So until next time a lot of exciting things coming up if you have a question for me
I'll link the video here or in the description for you to leave a comment and ask me anything you want
So I hope you feel more prepared for you're trying to travel and I'll see you guys next time. Bye
