3 month sabbatical in China

May 26, 2024

In the spirit of trip reports in r/travelchina, I wrote down some notes from my recent 3-month, mostly-solo trip along the east coast and northwest of China. I won’t go into my itinerary but moreso just my general tips without spending too much time on common knowledge, hoping these are useful or mildly interesting to others planning to visit. I visited Xiamen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, Jinan, Dezhou, Xiong’an, Beijing, Xi’an, and Dunhuang.

My trip route.

Internet

• I used Astrill VPN which worked fairly well in March and April, but was less reliable in May. Next time I return, I’ll probably try LetsVPN. Astrill seemed to work more consistently on my Lenovo Tab P11 than my Google Pixel 6. Wechat, Alipay, AMap, and Trip would often not work when VPN was on, so having a second phone to minimize VPN-toggling was nice.
• I traveled with 2 phones: 1) my Google Pixel with the T-Mobile International plan (15GB for each 30 days), and 2) an old iPhone8 with a China Unicom SIM (90GB per month for 128RMB/month). The Google Pixel mostly worked, but I often had to close-reopen Chinese apps that would freeze. And the TMobile service was less reliable than China Unicom. Having my home number was valuable for 2FA, and having a Chinese number was extremely valuable for processes like using public wifi, registering accounts on apps, buying tickets, registering with the police/hotels, etc. Though now I am having trouble canceling my China Unicom, they are now telling me it’s 6-month minimum, even though it was clear when I signed up I was only there for 3 months. I also had some unexpected charges come up and I later had to pay an extra 100 RMB.
• Since Google maps in China is mostly useless, Apple maps was really nice to have, though it still has limitations. Dianping (only in Chinese) was extremely helpful for finding food and coffee shops. AMap on Android is useful, and I can favorite places if I have a Chinese number to register an account, though it’s all in Chinese.
• I used an Airalo esim on my Pixel for a month, but I didn’t renew it since it seemed to not add any redundancy with my TMobile service.
• No need to bring outlet converters from the US.

Money

• I mostly used Alipay but also used WeChat pay as needed. It all worked smoothly except when I didn’t have internet, in which cases, cash (or getting a hotspot) was useful. But I probably didn’t need more than 500 RMB across my whole trip.
• A few times, bank blocked my transactions, so having a backup card was helpful.
• I could send/receive money to individuals on Alipay but not Wechat pay because I don’t have a Chinese bank account.
• Alipay charged 3% fee for transactions over 200RMB, but people were fine with me splitting up payments to avoid this. Transport
• Alipay transport feature to get digital metro cards is amazing. Though in Beijing, I could not use my American phone number. And in Nanjing, the QR code scanning often took 5-20 seconds.
• I booked all hotels and high speed rail through Trip. Many popular routes (like to Badaling Great Wall) and times need to book as soon as opens, and even then it’s not guaranteed. At the train station, I always needed to go to the line with a human as most machines don’t have a passport scanner and most that do do not work reliably. It only took 5-10 minutes in every railway station to get through security, so no need to arrive very early, I was only held up at Xiong’an and met some extra officers probably because it was so empty and they had nothing better to do.
• I enjoyed the flexibility of having accounts with all 3 colors of bike rentals, as some bike networks are not available in some areas. Need to verify ahead of time, as there’s a delay in the identity verification. Hello Bike (blue) has the worst quality bikes, but is easiest to set up through Alipay, and has monthly unlimited-ride memberships (note the cheaper memberships are restricted to only the current city).

Standing out as a westerner

• Contrary to the rumors of foreigners being asked for photos, for the first 2 months of my trip, while I was traveling in tier 1 cities, I was never asked for a photo. However, this happened several times afterward across Badaling Great Wall, Dezhou, Xiong’an, and once in Xi’An, including a few Didi drivers. There was even a time in Dezhou where a guy stalked me to take photos in 3 different spots (I snuck up on him at the last one to take a selfie together). Also in the less touristy cities, it’s more common for stares and for kids to scream “hello”.
• I talked to one barista who admitted he was nervous when I walked in. He said many workers would be nervous when they have to deal with foreigners, and I could sense some did not want to deal with me (even when I feel fairly self-sufficient ordering a simple coffee). I felt kind of bad burdening them.
• While most things are harder as a foreigner, some are easier, like ticket offices often don’t serve Chinese citizens who are expected to order tickets online, but will open up to process mine.

Limited Mandarin

• Before studying Mandarin beyond YouTube, it was very hard for me to have basic communication in Mandarin. Mostly just elderly people who were curious and the occasional young adult who doesn’t mind practicing English or using a translation app.
• But after studying Mandarin for a month, I recognized a lot more words and could form basic sentences (though listening comprehension is still extremely hard). This, along with going to less-touristy cities like Dezhou in Shandong, led to locals trying to strike up conversations that we could hold for maybe 30-60 seconds, long enough to remain engaged for a while and use translation as needed. I strongly recommend solo travelers who want to practice Mandarin to visit a less popular city like Dezhou for a few days. Each of the nights I was there, I ended up going out to dinner with someone I met. And I am not an extraverted person.
• Language exchanges were surprisingly hard to find, and the best bet seemed to be to post on the city’s subreddit, if there is one.
• Google Lens was incredibly valuable to read things, though it was frustrating when it wouldn’t connect.

Misconceptions about China

• Based on what I had seen on YouTube, I expected rules to be followed very strictly when I came here. Like traffic laws enforced by cameras. But I was pleasantly surprised that jaywalking is pretty much as normal here as it is in the US, and delivery drivers often ignore rules. I was surprised to see blatant running of red lights, even when cutting people off. Or pedestrians blocking traffic and even crossing in front of the jaywalk camera.
• This extents beyond traffic rules too, to just authority not taken so seriously in some cases. Like the “no climbing” sign on the great wall, when a security worker pointed it out but the person said they just wanted one picture, the security person just laughed and OK’d it, where in the US, the worker would have almost certainly been angry.
• I was also curious about Sesame credit and asked a lot of people how it worked and if things like purchase contents or political activity could affect the credit score, like had been reported in some western media. But I was consistently told that nope, it’s just based on financial credit history payments.

China: Pros and Cons

Traveling through China, I liked to think about the pros/cons of living here.

Pros:

• My favorite feature of Alipay is the “Transport” tab where I can sign up for any city’s metro card in 1-2 minutes, then I just walk up to the subway entrance and scan my QR code. Incredibly smoother than getting and reloading a card for every new city. Though my phone would often freeze or I would get an error when scanning to go out, so I often had to close and reopen Alipay to fix these issues.
• Bike rental is another thing I don’t need to figure out with each new city. I can even use my monthly HelloBike pass across cities. So smooth. Well, many of the bikes feel unstable and may have trouble locking where I want, but still great. I was surprised how often it was faster to bike between places in Shanghai rather than taking the subway 10 stops.
• Public toilet availability is amazing. No need to “go now, because I won’t be able to go later.” Signs everywhere showing how to get to the nearest one. Sometimes, they’re not even that dirty and might even have soap and toilet paper. Some have timers for how long they’ve been occupied, and I even saw a map of one showing which stalls were available before entering. And for cleaner ones, malls are plentiful.
• Almost all traffic lights show countdowns for light changes. I’m jealous. My mind was blown when I saw these accurately depicted in navigation apps too.
• Parks are incredibly clean and well maintained. I often saw workers cleaning areas that are not very dirty or planting very photogenic flowerbeds.
• There are plentiful trash cans in public areas, and they’re not even overflowing.
• Wide application of QR codes to make life easier for ordering food, paying, buying tickets, metro, etc. However, not being able to read Chinese often makes these less useful.
• The efficiency of China’s high speed rail is well known. I can’t recall seeing a single train delayed. I can order food to my seat from a restaurant at a stop for an 8 yen delivery fee. It doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to get through security and to the gate. I don’t even have to pick up physical tickets, just scan my passport.
• Safety is well known. Just have to be wary of scams. In the span of 10 minutes walking on East Nanjing Road in Shanghai, I was approached by 4 scammers. Lots of other threads that go into detail of the different scams. Besides at knockoff mall entrances or the most touristy of tourist sites, I wasn’t approached much at all.
• Wide variety of good food, cheaper than most western countries.

Cons:

• Using Chinese and non-Chinese apps on the same device. Because many Chinese apps (Alipay, Wechat, Trip, AMap) often don’t work smoothly when using a VPN. I had to toggle Astrill VPN on/off often when doing things on western apps that I didn’t want to use up my international data (like YouTube, downloading podcasts, streaming music). This extra step and its frequent delays were just exhausting when something quick ends up taking 10x longer than it should. And even when the VPN worked, apps just weren’t working as reliably as usual.
• Sometimes, even in populated cities, I would have no service on T-Mobile or Airalo. This was the case most of the time in and around Dunhuang, so I imagine that foreign SIMs generally have bad internet in less populated areas. Though my China Unicom SIM was pretty much always connected.
• Not having a Chinese ID. Some things I can’t register for, and many things have higher friction. I also don’t have a sesame credit score, so I can’t use those refrigerators that replace vending machines without asking someone who will then refuse to let me pay them back.
• Pretty much everywhere, there are people smoking and it’s difficult to move anywhere to avoid the smell. Even in some of my hotel rooms, when I would turn on the fan, it would blow in air that would then make my room smell strongly of cigarette smoke. And I’m saying this as someone who is not as sensitive to cigarette smoke as many of my American friends.
• I miss cold water and more plentiful water fountains. But I guess hot water for tea or instant food is amazingly abundant.
• While people are mostly nice, it’s more selfish during transit. Many people push to try to get on the subway before letting people out. Lots of line cutting at high speed rail stations (and some shops). Escalator etiquette is pretty much ignored. Even on domestic flights, people were rushing down the aisle once the plane stopped more than I’ve ever seen to try to get out first. And of course the delivery drivers on the sidewalks and bike lanes.

Other observations

• Over-construction goes beyond the housing we often hear about. Maybe because of government subsidies and/or cheap labor, places can still stay in operation just with the money they make from weekends and holidays. All of Xiong’an is an extreme case. There is a “Solar Valley” in Dezhou that is essentially an abandoned effort at an industrial hub like a Silicon Valley. I was the only one to eat lunch in a large restaurant with a ton of staff. I went to a large coffee shop in Xi’An which again had seating for over 50 people, but it was just me. I went to a friend’s family’s mountain resort that was incredibly manicured but very empty. And there’s a YouTube channel of a guy wandering around abandoned places near Shanghai.
• Places were more dog and cat friendly than I expected. Especially coffee shops, and especially Shanghai. Lots of people feeding stray cats too (I’d recommend buying some of the tubes of snacks and walking around with them). Though someone in Dezhou told me how their dog and 3 others were stolen one time, and they assumed it was for selling dog meat.
• Much of the security appears to be a charade that isn’t done if they sense it will slow down the traffic. As boarding just closed for a high speed rail train, I saw 1 agent just wave through a bunch of running people without checking their tickets. I and others had our tickets fail to scan, and the agent just waves us through. I am glad security can be relaxed when convenient, but it’s a bit weird given the appearance of tight security.
• I usually don’t get sick back home, but in China I got some pretty bad seasonal allergies, a sinus infection, diarrhea, and short fevers.
• I got gifted a lot of random shit, some of which is from a culture of regifting: a rock from some mountain, tomato-flavored potato chips, a banana-shaped sauce dish, a doll (?), jade, but tea is the most common.
• There are very few beggars, but most of the ones I did see were missing a limb.
• A bit surprising how outside of Shanghai/Beijing/universities, I can go days walking around and seeing thousands of people, but 0 other westerners. Even at some popular tourist spots like Gulangyu in Xiamen.
• It’s hard to get some lower priced deals without knowing enough Chinese to navigate the mini-apps.
• At two separate tea shops, the first 2 drinks I tried to order after translating the menu were apparently not available, without any indication they are sold out or anything. It also wasn’t uncommon at restaurants to order something and later be told it wasn’t available. So menus as indicators of availability were less reliable than usual.
• Many wifi passwords are 88888888 or super simple.
• Lots of people separate their Chinese pride from their opinions of the government. They also consciously avoid political activity because it’s just not worth it if they want to live a happy life.
• Still the vast majority young adults I asked said it would be hard for them to accept having a gay child, but that it’s not as bad if their daughters are gay. I don’t think I saw 2 guys holding hands my entire time in mainland China.
• People are complaining of salary cuts or freezes.
• Xiong’an feels like a college campus on summer break.
• No need to pack a toothbrush or toothpaste because they’re free everywhere. Probably don’t need to pack an umbrella either. Though razors, conditioner, and lotion are not guaranteed.
• Foreigners are required to register with the police if they’re not staying at a hotel. I heard this is easier in some places like Shanghai where you can do it online, but in Xi’An, I went to 3 stations. The first told me it’s not required. The 2nd told me they can’t do it and sent me to the 3rd which required documents like a copy of the house lease and approval from the HOA.
• Elevator and train doors don’t stop reliably when I reach my arm through to try to hold it open for someone.

Exploring the run-down Solar Valley of Dezhou, Shandong.

One of the many great pour-overs in Shanghai.