Originally Posted by
zippy the pinhead
Years ago I went to Korea as an exchange student, and the house where I lived had no screens on the windows (and no air conditioning), so in the summer the mosquitoes-- some were seemingly the size of taxis-- would come in to feast. At the time, it was common to use a mosquito coil to repel them, but I was quite unprepared with any kind of repellent.
A family member will be heading to Shanghai in the summer as part of an exchange program, and alumni who have been elsewhere in China have advised that one should bring DEET and other repellents. Said family member will be living with a host family, somewhere around Jing'an (I believe), but there will be various excursions.
I'm looking to get some kind of repellent from REI or an equivalent, but we'd appreciate some input from those of you who are in, or have been in/around Shanghai in the summer.
I've never had a problem with locally bought (e.g. Chinese) insect repellents and coils. Mosquitoes actually aren't that bad in Shanghai, compared to other humid places I've lived, perhaps because it is so densely developed, but they are still annoying enough to warrant repellent when outside during summer evenings.