It was my first winter experience and we are going to places that the temperature can drop up to -35°C. We definitely need to prepare carefully to avoid fall sick cause nobody wants that while on vacation.


Clothes


Every site found on google suggested that I had to wear at least 3 layers of clothes. Damn that was a lot of clothes. Tapi memang betul, saya gembira je takde pun kesejukkan melampau. Paling pun stress muka beku sebab muka mana boleh layer sampai 3 habis la tak nampak jalan.
  
I survived just fine with these


1st layer : Long John/Thermal Wear
2nd layer : Fleece
3rd layer : Normal Clothes
4th layer : Winter Jacket
Extra : Beanie/Neck scarf/Gloves/Heat pack
Shoes :  Waterproof with long and thick socks

Extra tu make differences tau. Covering ears, neck mouth and hand help survive the winds. Oh and tampal heat patches everywhere you want.
 
It is definitely better to travel light that brought all those unnecessary items. Menyesal betul angkut beg berat dari kl dan tak pakai half of the baju. Buy winter attire bila dah sampai destinasi je. They usually sell those jackets, scarf, gloves and heat patches a lot cheaper compare to in Malaysia.


Bought the winter jacket at Russian Market in Beijing for only 300cny


When you are in winter trip, you'll mostly inside the buiding and your day will end earlier. Lagi malam lagi sejuk kot jadi mesti nak cepat-cepat balik hotel and rehat. Baju and tudung semua tu boleh recycled tak perlu nak pack banyak sangat sehari 5 helai sebab perlukan 5 layer. I basically brought almost 30kgs of baggage full of i-dont-know-what-clothes but just recycled the same few days worth of clothes in the end. Please do not follow my mistakes.


Beijing - Afternoon : Boleh relax lagi baru 1°C



Beijing - Night : Gloves on, face covered sebab dah reach -5°C


Harbin - Morning : 4 layers of thick clothes to survive -20°C 


Harbin - Night : Stay outside for the picture purpose only cause it's -25°C

 

 

Skincare


I brought along in-shower body lotion, facial oil, vaseline petroleum jelly. Walaupun dah mandi dengan in-shower body lotion, pakai lotion biasa jugak to make sure kulit tak overly dry. Petroleum jelly jadikan bestfriend for lips. Especially when you have sensitive skin. Takut luka sebab terlalu kering.

I have dry face so face oil tu bestfriend. Biasa kat kl pakai one or two drop je. Kat sana pakai macam moisturizer hahaha. Alhamdulillah, i dont really have skin problem throughout the trip.

Suncreen jangan tinggal eh walaupun matahari muncul kejap and tak rasa panas langsung, the uv exposure still can cause sunburn.


Phone


Most smartphone batteries are lithium-ion, which can stop discharging electricity in extremely cold temperatures. Do not surprise to see your phone just suddenly shutting off or has shortened battery life. It is actually normal. Boleh tahan sakit hati la bila tengah syok buat insta-story tetiba battery tinggal 5%. Or tengah ambil gambar, then the phone suddenly freeze and auto shutdown. Restart and voila all the previous pictures has not been saved.

There is actually not much you can do, just engage with real world and enjoy the trip.






p/s : the trip was in Jan 2018 hrmm setahun lebih dah