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Must bring to Kunming - 8 month stay

Danmairen (510 posts) • 0

A good variety of socks can be bought in Walmart, Carrefour and Metro, underwear too but it's definately better to stock up on boxers before going here. As someone else mentioned: vitamins and any other daily supplements like fish oils. Vitamins here are insanely overpriced. Quality cosmetics and other care products are expensive here and sometimes specialized towards the Chinese (they stuff skin whitening chemicals in whereever its possible).

If you don't speak Chinese then try to learn how to read a menu. I wish I had done that right from the start. You only need to learn maybe 60-80 characters to get a decent understanding of what you are ordering and its easily worth the effort. Try Yunnan food,, it's awesome.

If it's your first time in China don't even think about taking a look at the kitchens in restaurants. For a country obsessed with weird advice on health the hygienic standards are appaling. You'll learn to live with it. The bathrooms too (or rather the holes in the ground cleaned once a day if you are lucky). The Chinese sometimes have a very ehm, relaxed view towards bodily functions which foreigners sometimes find extremely disgusting. Again,, you'll adapt.

Open mind and try not to judge too much, it can be hard but Kunming and Yunnan is actually a decent place to live. Plenty of amazing places to go and visit in this province.

saikyo (13 posts) • 0

Hey guys, I depart in like 2 days. The random questions are coming out of the woodwork.

Can I buy Listerine in Kunming?

How about Vaseline brand body lotion?

How about allergy medicine like Claritin-D

How about dental floss?

Sorry these are so random questions, but this will affect my immediate packing needs.

Thanks!

lummerlaoshi (130 posts) • 0

You can buy dental floss at Carrefour and Metro and mouthwash such as Listerine shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure about the body lotion or allergy medicine.

kemeilin (17 posts) • 0

The dental floss here is not so good, and they don't have the nice fat waxed floss like Glide. As for tampons, you can get OB at Walmart, the quality is as good as US and they are much cheaper.

Smillz (31 posts) • 0

I've seen Vaseline brand body lotion around, and a Chinese version of Claritin that contains the same ingredient (Loratadine) is available, but you won't be able to find anything that contains the D (decongestant) part.

PerNordin (50 posts) • 0

As laotou stated: think of the electric current. All electrics you have, you can pick up cheaply in KM.

Things you can get in KM, but need to think about:
KM is very high altitude = very thin air = very strong sun = you need sunscreen and good polarising eyeglasses.

Happy travel!

laotou (1714 posts) • 0

if you don't mind the cost - Parkson (renmin lu) is a HKG chain (as well as watsons) - dunno if they're REALLY HKG but they have 'em in HKG too. Good place to stock up on stuff yanks miss (in addition to the aforesaid walmart carrefour etc. Shop around in the hao you duo chinese supermarket - you can find cheese and dairy products (usually). For groceries - use the omipresent farmers markets - fresh (but to quote monty python...don't forget to haggle).

One of my friends staff lived in Tokyo for several years and married a Tokyoite (woman) and another friend (also Tokyoite) teaches Japanese waaaay over at the old new Yunda campus (yangpu). Drop me a line if you'd like intros. As for Japanese food...dunno - but salvadors has good mexican (especially the deep fried doritos corn chips!...yummy).

for deodorant - we opted out of the aerosols and just use baby powder. If you still have family back home - they can SOMETIMES ship non-perishables such as stick deodorants, etc - just ship it snail mail - it'll take a month...but hey...yunnan life is slow...laidback...and for us - beats beijing, shanghai, and hkg anyday (except for the international food - although salvadors has better pseudo-authentic peasant mexican than most of the places in BJ as of last year).

Enjoy your stay - maybe you'll get hooked and decide to settle here!

PS - yes, you CAN buy toasters and toaster ovens here...guomei - the huge chain electronics dept store. and if you're looking for transportation - look for 2nd hand bicycles and electric scooters (and find a REALLY long extension cord so you can charge the beast)...ask your chinese compatriots to help on this one...minimize the gaijin/laowai rip-off factor.

Greginchina (239 posts) • 0

you can buy roll on deodorant in watsons but its adidas. you're paying way over the odds for the name, 50 yuan for a deodorant. so its probably worth bringing some but its really not such a big deal.
Some of the advice above can be ignored. Eat whatever you want to eat. Feeling a sense of obligation to eat strictly Chinese street food every day is as irrational as seeking overpriced western food every day. Do whatever makes you comfortable. Variety is the spice of life!

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