Chinese Dos and Don’ts
I have definitely learned a lot while I’ve been abroad in China. Most of what I have learned has been in relation to the language and the customs but I’ve also picked up quite a few safety tips, at least ones that apply in China. They include: don’t eat street food(food from street carts isn’t safe in China), don’t walk around alone (especially at night), don’t drink the water, don’t wear a backpack if possible (put your money in your front pockets or a small purse that you can keep in front of you), and also, know where you are going and how to get there before you leave. Some of these probably seem pretty straightforward, but it’s surprising how easy it is to forget these things when you haven’t had to constantly remember them your whole life. I have to say, being in China has helped me to become more aware of my surroundings and much better at detecting when I’m in a potentially unsafe situation.
The best local traveler secret that I’ve learned while being here so far is that you can bargain for almost anything at the markets. Although the prices are already cheap here compared to the prices in the USA, the vendors at the night markets always set their merchandise at the highest price they can get away with. As a result, you can almost always bargain the price down a little to get a better deal. It helps that I am able to speak some Mandarin and thus can converse with the vendors to lower the price, but that still doesn’t make it easy. Hard or not though, it’s always worth attempting so that you don’t get scammed. And one of the biggest rules: if the price is too high always be willing to walk away. When you can’t get the price down, walking away without buying the item almost always sends the vendors rushing to lower the price because they don’t want to lose a customer. It’s probably the golden rule of bargaining and it works like a charm here in China.
Well, those are all the secrets and tips that I can think of that have gotten me through these past few weeks. I’ll be sure to post more in later posts if I come across any news ones or remember important ones that I forgot. I’ll be back later!
