First days
The first two days are a setup problem
Major Chinese cities are ordinary places to walk around once the payment and the map work. The friction is specific, and it shows up in the first afternoon.
Stay somewhere that can register you
Hotels in China register guests with the police. Some small inns and some short-stay flats are not allowed to register a foreign passport. Book a hotel that says it accepts foreign guests, and keep the passport for check-in. If a listing is vague, assume it may refuse you at the door.
Maps
The map app you use at home may show a blank city. Amap, also called Gaode, has an English interface in its settings and can route the metro. Download it on your usual connection before the flight. Search the place name in English, or paste the Chinese name from your hotel confirmation.
Moving on day one
The metro is the calmer choice in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and the other cities that have one. DiDi is the common ride-hailing app and has an English interface in many cities. Use it when the station and the hotel are an awkward walk apart. Agree the trip inside the app.
Water and food
Do not drink tap water. Hotels provide kettles or bottled water; convenience stores sell more. At a restaurant with no English menu, point at a picture, point at a neighboring table, or ask the hotel to write the dish name in characters. A mild first meal is rice, dumplings, or noodles. Sichuan and Hunan kitchens are supposed to be hot; saying so after the dish arrives does not make it mild.
A short packing list for the snags
- The passport, not a photo of it.
- One wallet app already tested.
- A little cash.
- A data plan you have already opened once.
- The hotel name in Chinese characters, copied from the booking.
- Any medicine you already take. Do not count on recognizing it in a pharmacy.
Questions
Is China safe to walk in at night?
Violent street crime against visitors is not the usual problem in big cities. The ordinary risks are traffic, a scam near a famous gate, and air that some people feel in winter in the north. Cross with the light.
Can I drink the hotel tea water?
Water that has been boiled and stored in a kettle is the normal drinking water in a hotel room. The cold tap is not.