Hi all, my spouse and I are planning a trip to china this year for vacation, in October. I was hoping to field some advice on where to go exactly, what to see, and general advice on navigating while only understanding English. What apps should I install on my phone for payment, translation, etc.

Rough plan currently is to fly into Hong Kong/stay for 1-2 days. Train to Shenzhen for 1-2 days. Train to Beijing 1-2 days. Then fly back.

Not sure exactly what we want to see, yet. For sure, the Great Wall. Also want to take a super fast train to Beijing.

Happy to hear all your thoughts, thanks!

  • KuroXppi [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    7 days ago

    although many foreign focused hotels have a VPN type connection built in to their Wifi and I think all of Guandong province has a similar thing with internet connection there.

    This was not my experience, I was in Guangdong earlier this year and I was reliant on VPNs both on data and on wifi. I stayed at middle-of-the-road hotels. I had three VPNs and mostly used two if the other went down. Mullvad was my main.

      • KuroXppi [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        7 days ago

        Not all US apps are blocked, anecdotally, I was able to connect to a few blocked services and sites (including hexbear) after arrival on my international roaming before the firewall ‘caught up’ and restricted me. It was about half a day before I had to fire up a VPN to access those. I wouldn’t rely on that at all however.