What to pack for China

Miscellaneous: Along with all the other usefull tips here with regards to traveling in China.
I would also recomend taking along a phone card/calling card to keep in touch with the people back home. I found hotels to be expensive and if your in a hotel where the people don't speak good english it can be a hassle. Found one online at 2stepsconnect.com that was very useful. prepaid and rechargable with decent rates. Best thing about it also was when i left china the card was still good from anywhere else.

Miscellaneous: This is an excellent large Beijing guide book measuring 25cm by 26cm with lots of beautiful photographs of Beijing major tourist attractions. The book is illustrated in several languages including English and contains 96 pages. It was printed in 2002 and reprinted in 2008. It costs just 20.00 rmb from many souvenir shops. Make it a point to get a copy before you leave Beijing - an excellent souvenir book as well! You may read the website below for more information regarding Beijing's guide books..

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Deodorant is not available in most parts of China, so be sure to bring a good supply. Most other toiletries and medical supplies are available across China, however some of the prices can be high. Razors in particular can be quite pricey.

Miscellaneous: A good phrasebook is a must! A great little phrasebook is available from China Compass(www.chinacompass.com.hk), which is the only one I know of that is especially suited to missions work. Make sure your phrasebook also has lots of food items in it - China has so much great food you don't want to have your menu limited!

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Miscellaneous: Most newer PRC outlets support 3 types of 220v 50hz plugs
The plug types are:

1. The two round pin like in the EU.
2. The 3 prong flat angle blades like in Australasia.
3. The two parallel un-polarized flat blades. This is like the US but will not support the third ground pin and will not accept polarized flat blades. Polarized is when one blade is a little bigger then the other, vary common in the US.

See the below URL for additional plug/socket information.

I have several cords, batteries and chargers for my electoral items. I want to charge then simultaneous so I do not have to change them in the middle of the night. The following is what I did to reduce the bulk and allow this.

I purchased electrical cords/extensions and non-polarized plug. I cut the cords to make then shorter and wire several of them together making my own, short, compact cords.

I also take extra compact chargers for the above simultaneous charging.

Please rate this and my other tips when you find them interesting, useful, or like the photos.

Luggage and bags: You should have a suitcase that is big and easily can handle 50 lbs. worth of clothing if you're on a trip for over 7 days. Bring a backpack when you're out on excursions with groups but careful with the pickpockets. If you don't plan on shopping a lot when you're around in the cities or towns, don't bother lugging around a backpack.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: I was so ignorant when it came to packing for my trip to China. I ignored the warnings of my parents to bring more warm clothing and I suffered for a bit. My visit to China was in the middle of March. I looked at a weather report and thought I could handle it. My trip would've been even more enjoyable had I brought warm clothing. China around this time of years can be many things. Cold, windy (in Beijing they had a sandstorm my second to the last day there) rainy and mild. Make sure you bring a good winter jacket, sweaters, long underwear and gloves. Good shoes are also a must.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: A bottle of sanitzier is a must. I wish I would've carried the one I packed with me more though. I came back with a cough and it could've been from not sanitizing enough.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: I wore thermal leggins and thermal long-sleeved t-shirt. Over that, I wore two further long-sleeved t-shirts, a sweater and a goretex coat I bought in Eastern Europe. I wore regular jeans over my thermal leggins, but my legs did start to slow down after half an hour or so. I would consider wearing another pair of trousers over your jeans for the Ice Lantern Festival at night. Temps got down to -35C in the wind.

I wore hiking boots with two pairs of socks. My feet still got a little cold at the Ice Lantern Festival, but not at other times.

I wore regular glasses to keep the icy wind out of my eyes. A hat and lgoves are essential.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Skin moisteriser and lip balm.

Photo Equipment: Regular

Miscellaneous: This is a superb souvenir bronze plate "I have climbed the Great Wall" from the Great Wall of China outside Beijing. You may purchase this wonderful souvenir bronze plate from several souvenir shops or stalls at the Great Wall of China after climbing the Great Wall. The plate is carved with the following inscriptions in Chinese and English: "This is to certify that ____ did climb the Great Wall on _____" Of course you can have your name inscribed into the plate with the date of your climb by the craftsman at the stalls. The plate is sold with an elegant red presentation box measuring approximately 12cm x 8cm x 3cm. It costs approximately RMB 100.00 each. It certainly is an excellent souvenir to take home from China!

Miscellaneous: I had never used this card before, but all my research seemed to say that it was the way to go. I had decided to take half AUD cash and half my money on the card, which is a Visa Debit Card.

What I discovered that it was much much easier to access Chinese currency via my Card than trying to exchange my Aussie cash. Only 2 of our Hotels accepted Aussie cash to exchange, and our only other real alternative was to cash it at one of the Banks, this process was complicated, and took a long time with lots of forms to fill out, but it was fee free.

To use the Cash Passport card was dead easy. Just locate an ATM that accepted Visa cards (and about 90% of them did) and withdraw your money. All ATMs had instructions in english and it was very easy to do. Main Banks we used it at was Bank of China and ICBC. If you set your account up on-line (once again, easy to do) then you can log on and check your balances and also what exchange rate you were getting. The whole 3 weeks we were in China, our exchange rate kept going up and up, so that was good.