hey guys welcome back to my channel if
you're watching me for the first time my
name is kaya and I used to live in China
I actually used to live in China twice
already can you say that I just moved to
Paris from Shanghai a couple months ago
and it's no secret that I freaking love
living in Shanghai if you've seen any of
my other videos you probably know that
because I like to repeat myself it's
also no secret that I really miss China
and I still get a lot of questions from
people on internet about China but my
tips for China and all that and I did
make a video once about my tips for
traveling to China for those of you that
have never been to China but let's be
honest his videos really bad because I
was really awkward in front of camera I
don't really know if I'm better now but
yeah let's give it a try anyways this is
my 10 top tips for a dose of you that
are traveling to China for the very
first time
number one get yourself a translation
app this is probably the most important
thing the most crucial thing if you're
going to China
unfortunately the language barrier is
still pretty much a thing in China in
bigger cities like Shanghai Beijing
Shenzhen it is getting much better more
and more people speak English but still
communicating in English can be quite
challenging in China so that's why the
first thing you have to do when you're
getting ready for your China trip is to
get yourself some decent translators to
be able to communicate with people if
you watch author YouTube videos people
will give you tips about all these fancy
translators where you can speak to it
where you can touch to put it on the
wall and it translates to be honest
most of these fancy translators like the
ones where you can just scan let's say
you have a text in Chinese and you can
scan it and it's supposed to translate
into English to be honest like literally
99% of the time it does not make any
sense at all so yes my recommendation
would be to just get yourself a very
simple dictionary app always use pleco
it's just a very simple app where you
just put one word in Chinese and it
translates to English or you
we're in English and it translates to
Trini oh yeah and pleco works without
internet whatever you get I use pleco
but I mean get it whatever you want
whatever you get just makes sure that
you can use it without internet number
to get yourself VPN this is really
important if you're going to China you
might have heard that in China Facebook
doesn't work Instagram doesn't work
what's up doesn't work New York Times
doesn't work Forbes doesn't work what
else doesn't work Google Google doesn't
work how do you survive without Google
like I mean who the heck's need Facebook
anymore but you do need Instagram how
are you gonna post
Instagram stories basically BPM is
something you download on your phone and
on your computer most of the time you
have to pay for it I would say if you
know you do have to pay for it if you
want to get legit VPN you will have to
pay for it it's not very expensive those
free ones they usually work but then for
like maybe three or four days so if
you're staying in China for longer than
that you'll have to pay sometimes I see
these travel vloggers on YouTube
traveling to China and making such a big
deal of not being able to use Facebook
and I'm like just get a VPN okay I mean
it takes like five seconds to Google it
and figure out how you can you know
escape the Great Firewall of China
number three make sure you choose the
right time for traveling to China I get
this question a lot people asking me
about whether for some reason I don't
know like who the heck does it like
you're traveling to China and you're
like hmm
I'm going during March I wonder what the
winner will be like let me go on YouTube
and run ask a random youtuber like who
does that
don't you have a wetter app or don't you
just Google wetter China March and the
biggest problem with this question it's
not even that it's a little bit stupid
it's just that I could not answer dad
because I don't know if you've ever seen
the map that China is freaking big it's
a very big country which means that the
wetter in the north is nothing like
wetter and the south or in the middle or
somewhere else you know if you're
planning a trip to China and you know
you're going to be traveling to a couple
different places make sure to check the
weather too
you take the right clothes with you
don't ascribe them youtubers on entry
because random youtubers already get a
lot of random ask questions from weird
people Oh actually at the point of this
point is not even to tell you that check
the weather Apple the point in that
make sure you're not travelling to China
during any Chinese national holiday if
you do you will die no you want to die
but it will make your trip miserable
okay miserable don't travel to China
during Chinese national holiday because
that's when the whole country is
traveling and everyone is moving and you
will basically get stuck numbered for
China is a very very big and very
diverse country so make sure you do a
proper research before your travel to
China I sometimes get messages from you
guys saying like oh I'm going to China
for ten days but I don't know if I
should go to only Beijing or only
Shanghai my advice would be if you're
already making the effort of traveling
to China you're probably getting visa
because majority of nationalities need
visa for China
don't limit yourself to just one place
in China China is such an interesting
and diverse country and Beijing and
Shanghai could not be more different to
each other and even for me it's so hard
to answer this question like which city
should I choose I'm like I don't know
they're so different I cannot tell you
which one you should choose and even
though obviously love Shanghai I live in
Shanghai twice so obviously I do have
more of like personal relationship with
Shanghai I still think Beijing is
amazing an interesting city and it's so
different to Shanghai so I would highly
recommend you to just do both and if you
have time go to the south as well go to
Shenzhen go to Guangzhou to go to guilin
or travel somewhere in the mountains
very nice so much to offer and also
don't be afraid of the transportation
issue like so I think some people sort
of limit themselves to just one place in
China because they're afraid that taking
a train or whatever plane it's gonna be
difficult in China because of the
communication issue and all that but
don't worry if you're taking a train or
plane everything will be written in
English Chinese train stations and
airports obviously are super modern
there
fines in English everywhere you don't
have to speak Chinese just book your
tickets online you show up at the
station
you pick your tickets you get on a train
you don't need to speak Chinese it's all
really convenient modern number five
don't get ripped off as soon as you
arrive in China go to the official taxi
line this again might sound a little
ridiculous this is something that
happens all around the world you learn
at an airport and then you go out you
want to take a taxi and then there are
all these men coming to you I mean
usually they're men let's be honest and
they're all these men coming to you and
they're like lady taxi taxi and you just
say no you don't even say anything you
just go for some reason people are tired
people are jet like you've just been on
a plane for like 15 hours or something a
lot of people were just like okay
whatever it's just gonna be a little bit
more expensive but no every Airport in
China will have official taxi line also
every train station and it might seem
like more of a hassle because you might
see a line with like 30 people standing
there but don't worry
taxis come so frequently and it will
just make your life so much easier not
to get ripped off as soon as they
arrived in China I personally think it's
so much more work to actually wait in
this freakin line for 10 or 15 minutes
then to get scams and you know go for
this whole like stress of getting
scammed and like fighting with the taxi
driver because if you take one of these
people that approach you I can assure
you that they will take your around they
drive you around they will say like Oh
150 yuan which is for example and
Shanghai this is how much you should pay
we're getting from Pudong Airport to
downtown but then they're gonna be like
oh no no not 150 $150 which is like
seven times more that you should pay
number six you might have heard it
before but China can get pretty crowded
there are a lot of people in China and
if you're traveling to a big city or any
other like major tourist attraction like
the Great Wall of China there would be a
lot of tours there not only foreign
tourists but a lot of tourists from
China I know a lot of people that for
some reason choose to go to China
like an organized tour organized group I
mean a lot like I know young people sort
of don't do it anymore
but there are still some people out
there who just find China scary and all
that and they think that going with this
like organized tour organized trip would
be better but to be honest if I've seen
like the plans where they're like you
know they want Beijing and Tianjin bad
day free Shanghai and Hong Joe day for
Hong Kong I'm like oh my god you know
just don't do it to yourself
China can be quite intimidating because
of people because of noise because of
that you know if you go to the Great
Wall of China
in the morning don't choose to goes to
like the Forbidden City in the afternoon
you'll you just get crazy trust me
take some time to just chill to just
walk around the streets what I find most
interesting in China but also wherever
I'm traveling really is to not only do
the tourist thing but also just to walk
around the streets and like absorb the
life and observe people and just enjoy
the place and not only like around from
one tourist attraction to another seven
don't let it concern about your safety
stop you from traveling and exploring
China so that's another question that I
get a lot people ask me if it's safe to
travel to China and yes I would say it's
safe to travel to China to be honest I
sometimes find China even safer than
Baker European cities I live in Paris
now and I can tell you one thing
Shanghai is so much safer than parents
like it's not even comparable like there
are so many creeps in this city and yeah
there are just so many issues that you
don't really have in China so yeah don't
be too worried about your safety
obviously as I said before happens
everywhere and can happen in China
as well but in general China is a
relatively very safe place number okay
I'm gonna stop showing numbers it's
getting too difficult now number eight
be aware of scams there are some like
pretty popular scams happening in China
I would say that number one thing to be
aware of is that be aware of people who
approach you most of the time
like the touristy locations and speak
perfect English and for some reason they
want to make friends with you and
they'll probably tell you that there's
students from like Beijing University
and you have you just want to make
friends be aware of that and if they say
anything about tea house just run don't
believe them
I mean okay don't to run it's not like
they're gonna do anything to you but
don't trust them so it's not very
popular like scam in China people
approach tourists and they're like
casually making a small talk and then
they're telling you that Oh Derrick
should go into this popular tea house
somewhere and then they take you there
and then you basically it's like a money
scam so you just end up paying lots
of money like you know 20 times more for
what you should have paid for a tea
ceremony if you want to do tea ceremony
ask at your hotel research online you
usually have to book in advance it's not
just like you walk in thing if it is it
will probably be a very touristy place
number 9 don't be afraid to try the
small local Chinese restaurants or even
street food that's also another thing
that I get a lot of people ask me if I
eat street food in China and yes I do
eat street food in China
I ate street foot way too much for me
that's like one of the best things about
China trying to cuisine trying the local
dishes like all these small restaurants
and China is just full of restaurants
there are these small local shops
selling noodles and rice and dumplings
and bigger restaurants and Street but
like every word I feel like being afraid
to try out Chinese food is one of the
biggest mistakes that some people might
make when they travel to China and
finally number 10 bring your own tissues
and hand sanitizer wherever you go
unfortunately
toilets in China public toilets often
lack these to Balak toilet paper they
lack soap so it's better to stay safe
when you travel so bring it around well
I feel like been talking for quite some
time I hope this video was helpful for
those of you that are planning a trip to
China if you have any other questions
that I didn't answer in this video I
mean there's so many things I could talk
about this video was
random just let me know maybe I can help
out and for those of you that are
regular to this channel I will see you
soon