Hello All,

I'm headed to China in the near future. As in: I have a plane ticket and am actively preparing to go before Xmas.

I will be spending most of the trip in southern China.

I want to travel light, but also prepared. I will always be in urban situations.

Even though I want to travel light, I anticipate bringing 1 checked bag so that I can bring mundane items that are probably not going to make it through security.

I was going to pack
1) one of my many Ritter PSKs
2) my backpacking FAK
3) a small multitool. This will be the squirt or the micra, haven't decided. Maybe I'll take both.
4) bring some bottled water from USA.
5) bring some energy bars from USA.
After I leave the airport, these will be on my person or in my backpack with me at all times (which will have a lock on it).

In addition I will have regular traveler fare, but of course, if my luggage is "lost" after arrival then that's that.

When I arrive, I will be given a cell phone that is usable throughout China but will probably be worthless for calling USA. Not that anyone in USA could help me anyway but I do have contacts in China that I can call in a worst case scenario. Although many of them will likely be 12h away by bus.

I've asked a couple people who have gone to China recently what to take. I am putting their answers here for discussion, but the fact that I put them is not a validation that I think they are the bees knees. Just for discussion. The answers included:

1) Purell
2) A small bottle of iodine (for quickly applying to any small abrasions or incisions)
3) Pocket sized toilet paper
4) Antibacterial wipes
5) Those froo froo buttwipes for adults (individual was assuming that showering "sanity" might not always be possible).
6) Leather gloves, casual looking
7) Money belt
8) Immodium AD

I was also wondering if I should get a face mask and/or a steripen... and well, actually the list of things I could bring could be quite lengthy.

Can I have a roll call of things that you guys think would be good? I can kinda guess what the most important are by the number of times they are mentioned. I would prefer it to be things I could keep in my backpack, just in case my luggage walks off.

(As a side note I have/am getting the full spectrum of vaccinations and have some just-in-case-Cipro on order as well.)