After travelling full-time for over three years, I would have never expected China to be such a tough country to visit. Mauritania, the Western Sahara territories, and Serbia have been a breeze compared to China. Why?
The complete lack of any common Western languages (English, French, Spanish…) coupled with the Mainland’s passion for the internet made everything extra complicated. If you’re about to travel there, here is everything you need to know.
- Public Transportation: How To Move Around in China
- Booking Your Accommodation
- Sim Cards
- VPNs
- Paying In China: WeChat & Alipay
- Attractions
- Communication Issues
Public Transportation: How To Move Around in China
China is a massive country, and you can find all types of transportation options here. Metro, trains, airplanes…
Metro & Bus
Big cities always have a metro and bus system covering most neighbourhoods. While figuring out which line you need to take may be time-consuming and a bit frustrating, we managed to arrive almost everywhere, relying on public transportation alone.
I highly recommend downloading the Amap app on your phone.
This is the Chinese version of Google Maps and is usually quite reliable. The downside? It’s all in Chinese, of course! So, make sure to download Google Lens (It’s probably already on your phone). This app allows you to translate everything written on an image, meaning you can take a screenshot of your Amap screen and figure out everything.
Yes, it takes lots of time, but unfortunately, there aren’t other options. On the positive side, once you understand how it works, you won’t have to keep translating everything, and the process will become easier and quicker.
Make sure to check the ‘Paying in China’ section below to understand how to pay for your buses and metro.
Trains
Trains are the best option for travelling long distances while getting a glimpse of the most authentic Chinese culture.
Here, we saw ladies playing cards, groups of men eating god-only-knows-what balancing the food on a suitcase, others getting drunk, and much more…
The best way to book your trip is via Trip.com. Keep in mind that tickets run out, especially for popular routes, such as Shanghai – Beijing. You are allowed to book your ticket up to two weeks in advance, so do so as soon as you can.
Night trains are available and provide a great way to travel in the country, saving money on accommodation. From my experience, these can be incredibly comfortable or pretty basic. We boarded top-notch trains with power outlets, wifi, and maxi seats, as well as old night trains with a bunch of bunk beds packed in a wagon, giving no privacy whatsoever. People also tend to smoke inside; whether this is legal or not remains unclear to me.
While some have restaurant wagons where you can relax and have a meal for a fair price, not all do. So, you’d better bring your own food. However, you’ll always find hot water dispensers and workers selling basic food such as fruit and instant noodles. Prices vary and can be quite cheap for regular trains but expensive for high-speed ones.
Car Sharing
Lastly, make sure to download DiDi, the Chinese version of Uber. Super cheap, extra professional, and incredibly convenient, Didi are present in most cities and can take you wherever you want whenever you want for a cheap price.
The only time we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere after dark, we managed to ask a local restaurant whether they knew someone who could give us a ride to our hotel and got a taxi in a few minutes. So, this is also an option if you’re desperate.
Booking Your Accommodation In China
Again, we’re going to turn to Trip.com. This app allows you to book not only your trains but also your accommodations. While it does charge a small fee, the peace of mind of being able to do everything in English, plus the fact that most bookings are fully refundable if you cancel a few days before your trip, made our trip way easier. Another alternative, if you prefer a familiar app, is Booking.com. However, we often found more options on Trip.com.
Before booking, ensure that your hotel accepts foreigners, as this is not always the case. On average, prices are quite cheap compared to most Western countries, especially in remote areas. This means you’ll be able to rent a massive house with an incredible vista if you’re a huge group of friends.
VPNs
It’s time to talk about VPNs. As you probably know, the Chinese government banned several websites, most importantly Google and WhatsApp. This means you won’t have access to plenty of apps, from Gmail to Google Translate and so on.
A VPN is not necessary, but it will make your life way easier. An example? You’ll be able to chat with your friends and relatives back home, reassuring everyone you’re still alive without pushing them to download apps such as WeChat (the Chinese version of WhatsApp).
Unfortunately, however, no matter what VPN sites say, there is no guarantee that your VPN will work in China.
I personally used Surf Shark, and it mostly worked, but not always. My personal suggestion is to go with the flow. Tell everyone you may disappear for a few days and accept the fact that the internet won’t be your best companion on this trip. If you truly need to have a VPN constantly working, I would suggest downloading a few different ones to increase your chances.
However, keep in mind that this is one of the main reasons why I decided not to stay in China for a long time, as I would highly suggest everyone working online do the same.
SIM Cards
If your phone supports e-SIMs, make sure to purchase one for China, as it will make your life way easier.
Unfortunately, you will need data for everything here. To talk to locals who don’t speak English, understand your transportation options, and even pay for a soup.
If your phone doesn’t support these, then you will have to buy one on-site. We chose China Mobile, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It took us literally hours to get our SIM cards, and our data lasted only 24 hours. The following day, we went back to the store to complain and found out they made a mistake.
While data didn’t always work on my phone, my friends didn’t seem to have huge problems with it. This is the only operator we tried, so I cannot give my personal advice on others.
Paying in China: We Chat & Alipay
You probably heard that there is no way to pay with cash in China. Wrong!
From my personal experience, people tend to accept it. In fact, not all elderly people have Alipay or WeChat on their phones, and they still use good old banknotes and coins.
So, don’t be afraid to withdraw money. Actually, I would highly suggest you do so; however, don’t expect to be able to pay with cash everywhere you go.
We Chat & Alipay are by far the norm here and even sellers selling fruits and veggies on the streets have this option. So, make sure to download one or both of these apps.
Paying for Transportation
When it comes to paying for your metro, I was able to use my Revolut card, while I highly suggest cash for buses. Why? Because you need to enable your Alipay and WeChat apps for them to work. I can assure you the process is tedious, and unless you have a local to help you, it can be incredibly difficult. For trains, you can book on Trip.com and pay using whatever online payment method you are used to.
Attractions
Before heading to China, we read online that reservations are a must to see the Forbidden City. That’s not true, and we were able to buy our tickets on-site easily. We didn’t even have to queue up! So don’t waste money and time online trying to find a way to reserve.
A LITTLE TIP: Unfortunately, we got scammed while trying to reserve our ticket for the Forbidden City in Beijing. We thought we had reserved a guide who was going to help us get our tickets (something that seemed impossible online), but we only purchased a PDF file explaining how to get the tickets once we got there. Completely useless! We managed to get a refund, but beware!
Another thing to notice is that internal tourism in China is huge! There are over 1.4 billion people in the country, so expect massive crowds of tourists at every major site.
This means thousands of people pushing to see the famous terracotta army and dozens of locals asking you (or I should say demanding you) to take a photo with them. If you hate mass tourism, you should probably avoid these places.
Communication Issues
Last on our list, let’s discuss communication issues. When my friends told me Chinese people don’t speak English, I wasn’t expecting this level. Most people don’t even know how to say ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’, or if they do, they simply don’t do it. Plus, you cannot even rely on young people or English signs and directions.
Expect Chinese to be everywhere and English to be nowhere. This includes transportation hubs, such as Shanghai train station, Beijing metro station, and so on.
While some tourist sites have some English indications, these are limited and often hilarious due to the awful translations provided. The solution? Google translate! Make sure to download both Chinese and English as languages on the app so that you’ll be able to use these offline too.
Don’t forget Google Lens, fundamental to translating Chinese characters, such as those on menus.
Of course, you will need a VPN to use these. On average, people here are kind of used to these, so don’t be afraid to type your questions on Google Translate and hand them to the person you need to communicate with.
On the positive side, as you head south, English becomes a tiny bit more normalised, and you will find more English directions and some people able to understand the basics.
This is all for today.
I hope the article was helpful. If you are about to travel to China and still have questions, don’t hesitate to text me. I’ll do my best to help you out.
Happy trip to China and good luck! 🍀🇨🇳
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