The trip
Travel and accommodation
Part of the course can only happen in China: the microbiota test is taken at the clinic itself, and the live preparation cannot be carried across the border. The rest of the treatment continues at home. This page is about the trip — how long it lasts, how to get there, where you will live, what daily life costs and who will be with you.
What happens at each stage of the treatment is not repeated here — that has its own page.
How the treatment worksHow long to stay
What the trip consists of
It is one continuous trip: you arrive, give the sample, wait for the report on site and go straight into the transplant. The clinic does not quote a total number of days — the coordinator agrees the exact dates once the schedule is clear.
- 1
Arrival, consultations and the test
1–2 daysAirport pickup, moving into the apartment, the doctor's appointment and the microbiota test taken at the clinic.
- 2
Waiting for the report
Up to 10 working daysThe sample goes to the clinic's laboratory and the report takes up to ten working days. The family spends that time in the apartment next to the clinic.
- 3
Reviewing the report and deciding
1–2 daysThe doctor goes through the report, the programme is agreed, informed consent is signed and payment is made.
- 4
Preparation is made and delivered
1–2 daysThe clinic makes the preparation to order and ships it in a cold chain.
- 5
Bowel cleansing
2–3 daysIt starts only once every preparation is already in hand, so there is no pause between cleansing and the transplant.
- 6
Taking the microbiota
6 daysOne vial a day. These days happen in China: live bacteria may not be taken out of the country.
Then you fly home
One or two months of maintenance happen at home: the probiotic, dietary fibre and a gentle diet, with the clinic's specialists in touch throughout.
A repeat transplant is a separate trip
The clinic sometimes schedules a repeat transplant within a month. That decision is the clinic's, based on the first stage, and it means travelling again.
The coordinator sets the exact dates
How many days the trip takes depends on how quickly the report arrives and how the clinic's schedule falls into place.
Before departure
Documents
What to prepare at home while you are still corresponding with the clinic
International passport
Needed by everyone travelling, adults and children alike. The visa is placed in the international passport, so there is no crossing the border without one.
Invitation from the clinic
The invitation is what the visa application is built on. We prepare it from the passport details of everyone travelling. If the passport is not ready yet, details from a domestic ID and a birth certificate will do for now — enough to pencil you into the treatment schedule and issue a draft invitation.
Medical records and the intake form
Discharge summaries, examination reports and short videos of the current condition are sent in advance, before departure: the doctors study them and reply in detail, usually within one to three days. The microbiota test itself is taken later, at the clinic.
Print the invitation and keep it with you: border officers may ask about the purpose of your visit.
Getting there
How to reach Shangrao
The clinic is in the city of Shangrao, Jiangxi province
Shangrao airport, code SQD
Its full name is Shangrao Sanqingshan Airport, 上饶三清山机场. All three spellings work when you search for flights: SQD, Shangrao and 上饶.
Which city to fly through
Shangrao airport does not have international status, so from another country you arrive with a transfer — through one of the Chinese hubs that have direct domestic connections to Shangrao.
- Beijing
- Shenzhen
- Xi'an
- Shanghai
The cities are interchangeable: a high-speed train runs to Shangrao from each of them, and there is a domestic flight too — from Beijing it is about two hours in the air. In every one of these cities we help with the transfer, meeting you and seeing you off.
We help you put the route together. Tickets are bought only after the treatment programme and the cost have been agreed — nothing needs to be booked before that.
Packing
What to bring
Collected from what people ask most often before flying out
Documents and photographs
Passports with visas, the printed invitation and two 3×4 photographs on a white background for each traveller — immigration asks for them, and it is better not to lose time taking pictures on the spot.
Medicines
Bring your usual medicines with a margin, plus an antihistamine in case of allergy. Medicines for personal use may be carried across the border. Chinese pharmacies charge roughly the same, but working out the names and translations takes time; inhalation medicines are rare there and expensive.
Everyday items and weather
Insect repellent and sun protection — the sun there burns before you notice. There is no need to carry nappies and medical supplies with you: they are sold in the shops and ordered on Taobao.
Before you check in your luggage
Take one general photo and send it to us: what you are wearing, the suitcases, the hand luggage, the pushchair. It is how they recognise you at the airport and how the right vehicle is chosen. And switch on roaming so you stay reachable on the way.
Arrival
How the pickup works
We meet everyone, without exception
- 1Someone waits in the arrivals hall and recognises you from the photo you sent before departure
- 2The driver helps with the luggage and walks you to the car
- 3Transfer to the apartment
- 4A tour of the apartment, keys handed over, moving in
- 5The interpreter meets you at the apartment — the same person will be helping you throughout the course
Every payment, the transfer included, goes through the clinic's cash desk. There is no need to hand money to interpreters or other staff.
Where you live
Your accommodation
A separate furnished apartment next to the clinic
Next to the clinic
Fifty to three hundred metres away. Some apartments are on the clinic grounds; another option is a ten-minute walk.
Everything for daily life
The apartment is furnished: laundry, everything you need, free internet. In some options the kitchen is your own, in others it is shared — we will tell you which is which when we send you the options.
Options come in advance
You receive the selected apartment options three to five days before your arrival date.
Paid by the month
Rent for the month is paid in advance when you move in, and the deposit comes back when you leave. The amounts are below, under costs on site.
Meals
Two ways, and you can combine them. There is a hospital canteen — you can eat there. Or you can cook in the apartment kitchen, which is often easier with a child and a diet to follow. Shops and markets are nearby, and the first time someone goes with you and helps buy what you need. Cafés and delivery are available if you prefer.
Staying in touch
Phone and internet
Familiar messengers and some services are blocked in China, and without a local number payments, taxis and orders do not work. Here is what to buy and when.
Chinese SIM card
It gives you internet, calls and — most importantly — a local number. Without one you cannot register in WeChat, Alipay or Taobao, and in China those handle payments, taxis and shopping. Do not buy at the airport: it costs more there, and a card from another province runs on roaming rates.
Arranged on site, the interpreter helps
eSIM
It gives mobile internet only — no calls and no registration in Chinese services. In exchange, the internet through it works without a VPN, and familiar services open the moment you land.
Buy in advance at home, through the Trip or Alipay app
Wi-Fi
Available in the clinic and in the apartment, free of charge. Enough for home and treatment, but it leaves you without internet on the street.
Nothing to arrange
Set up a VPN at home, before you fly
Familiar messengers, mail and some websites are blocked in China — without a VPN you will not reach your family or receive important notifications. Install it at home on every phone, check that the apps you need actually open, and keep a second service in reserve. Choose a paid one with technical support and check in advance that it works in China.
Money
Costs on site
The cost of the treatment itself is on a separate page. Here is what treatment does not cover: accommodation, daily life and coordination.
Accommodation and daily life
Apartment rent
3 500–5 000 ¥ per month
Paid in advance when you move in
Apartment deposit
One month of rent
Returned when you leave
Drinking water
17 ¥
Per 19-litre bottle
Groceries and daily needs
2 500–5 000 ¥ per month
Depends on how many of you there are and what you need
Coordination services
This covers the whole of the support: the pickup, the transfer, moving in, help with the SIM card and WeChat, the first shopping trip, and the coordinator and interpreter for the entire course. It is paid monthly, and the month counts from the day you move in, not from the calendar.
First month
2 000 ¥
Second month
1 000 ¥
Third month onwards
500 ¥
For example: treatment starts on 10 January — 2 000 ¥ covers the period to 9 February, 1 000 ¥ to 9 March, and 500 ¥ for each month after that.
How partial months are counted
Partial month
Seven days or fewer in that month — nothing is due for it. Eight days or more — the whole month is charged at its own rate.
Short treatment
Counted from the day you move in: up to five days — 500 ¥, up to ten days — 1 000 ¥, eleven days or more — the first-month rate.
A break in treatment
Under 30 days — the schedule holds, and on your return you continue from the month you stopped at. Between 31 and 60 days after three full months of treatment — 500 ¥ off the first month. From 61 days the count starts again.
How payment works on site
- No prepayment or deposit is required before you arrive
- On the second or third day after arrival you pay only for what has actually been done
- Every payment, the transfer included, goes through the clinic's cash desk
- The cash desk accepts cash, Alipay, WeChat, UnionPay, Visa and Mastercard
- Yuan in cash are easier to exchange at home; a Chinese bank will exchange new-issue hundred-dollar notes and euros
Cost of the treatment
The packages, what they include and the prices of additional tests are on a separate page.
See the pricingSupport
The language barrier will not be your problem
A Russian-speaking coordinator and the clinic's staff interpreter are with you for the whole course — from the airport pickup to the flight home. You do not need Chinese or English.
Going home
What you can take with you
This is the reason the trip is needed at all. The microbiota is live bacteria, and it is not taken across the border. Everything else travels with you.
May be taken home
- The probiotic
- Dietary fibre
The clinic issues a supporting document for them
Not permitted for export
- The microbiota preparation
Live bacteria with a six-day life. That is exactly why the days of intake happen in China
How to take the probiotic and the fibre at home, what to do about the diet and what to record every day — see the page on how the treatment works.
How the treatment worksCommon questions about the trip
Let us plan the trip together
Write to us — we will go through your situation, work out the timings and help you put the route together.