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Traveling Beijing / China (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago by jack@lemmy.sdf.org to c/travel@lemmy.world

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Traveling to Beijing, China soon. Last time I've been there was... over 20 years ago. I loved it then and there's no reason I shouldn't now. But since so much has changed, I'm preparing for a kind of shock - or at least some very strong impact.

Any hot takes, tips, things to do, pay attention to?

For example: Which esim should one use? Are there some esims with unrestricted access to foreign resources? If not, would MulladVPN be a good choice? And what about payment via app?

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Most esims work fine, the data will tunnel to your esim provider without issue. you can have a VPN setup for wifi, but VPNs can stop working randomly so be prepared to change endpoints ot have a backup pre installed.

Cash is effectively dead, your going to need alipay or WeChat setup to be able to pay for anything, including like tiny vendors in the middle of no where. Don't expect anybody to take cash, or make change, if they do take it it's because they are being nice.

Setup your WeChat / Ali / maps / taxi before you go there. Google maps will be wonky because of the map distortion they are required to have.

Take two phones, yes, when you install some chinese only app, having a second phone to do Google lens translate will be a life saver.

Predownload your translation apps and data packs. And test! Put your phone into airplane mode and make sure it does the needful without internet access.

[–] jack@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thanks a bunch that's good advice - I'm actually responding from Beijing right now.

It looks like all major esim providers with a dedicated plan for China (nomad, saily and many others) should work fine. Just compare for a moment and choose the one with the best offer (most data for what you're willing to pay) at the moment. Make sure to edit ASP if it doesn't connect at first.

And yes, cash seems definitely dead and buried around here. I found alipay maybe a little less painful to setup than WeChat, but YMMV and the latter provides chat functionality which might be useful when communicating with locals.

Thanks again for your help!

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 2 points 1 week ago

anytime! have a great trip!