China Travel Guide - Tips & Things to Know Before Visiting China
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- To wrap up our China travel series, we're sharing our top China travel tips! We've broken down things to know before going to China into the following 4 categories:
1. General
2. Transportation
3. Food
4. Culture
When traveling to any foreign country especially for the first time, it's a good idea to get travel tips so you aren't caught in a bind when you get there - especially in a country like China where government rules and regulations are pretty tight and getting around isn't so straight forward especially if you can't speak/read Chinese.
We've made this China Travel Guide video about things you should know before going to help give an overview and prepare you for your China travel with some top tips, speaking all from our personal experiences.
In this China Travel Guide we cover details around things like:
- What apps are blocked in China?
- What are some useful mobile apps you should download before travelling to China?
- How safe is travelling in China?
- Where to get a sim card for China?
- What's the best way of getting around China?
- How to book high speed train tickets for China?
...and more! We also share some Chinese cultural norms so you don't get too big a culture shock when visiting China.
Traveling to China can be pretty daunting for foreigners especially if you can't speak or read he language (or you're not travelling with someone who can) so we hope our tips and China Travel Guide will make you feel a bit more prepared.
There are a lot of mixed messages out there about using VPNs in China (to get around blocked websites and apps). Some will say it's illegal and banned to use VPNs in China, others say it's not really a big deal.
So if you're wondering "is it illegal to use a VPN in China?", the answer lies somewhere in the middle as it's a bit of a grey area therefore we encourage you to make your own conclusions on this topic. We can say that things definitely weren't made easy for us though due to the VPN service we used in China but at least we had a sim card that didn't have website restrictions which helped us immensely.
This is the sim card we ordered before travelling to China and had no issues with it at all except needing to be conscious of how much data we were using. Once the data limit was reached, it switched to a 3g network which was super slow! We found their live chat customer service very helpful with fast responses and you just need to make sure you allow enough time for delivery. They carry a few different sim card options so it's best to find one that suits your needs. For us, we needed just data for 2 months (no calls), so we got 2 of these to last us during our China trip:
simcartonline.com/en_intl/chi...
[ UPDATE 2023: THIS SITE NO LONGER APPEARS ACTIVE UNFORTUNATELY ]
When going between cities, instead of flying, most of the time we were taking a high speed bullet train in China which we really enjoyed and found it a much better form of transport for domestic travel. We used this website to book all our train tickets beforehand and picked them up when we got to the train stations in China.
www.travelchinaguide.com/chin...
Despite the challenges that China has for foreign travelers especially outside of the bigger cities like Shanghai and Beijing, we highly recommend visiting China and seeing for yourself how incredible the country is. There is so much fascinating history, beautiful scenery and it's also a highly technologically advanced country in many ways. Just make sure you're clued up on things to know before travelling to China and you'll be sweet :)
Let us know what you think about our China travel guide and if you've got any questions (or suggestions) about tips for traveling in China. Happy travelling!
#ChinaTravelGuide #ChinaTravelTips #HowToChina #China
===============
SUPPORT US
If you enjoy our videos please remember to hit that thumbs up, share our video and/or leave us a comment, we really enjoy hearing from our viewers 🙂
If you're new to our channel, we hope you'll subscribe and turn on notifications so you can stay up to date with all our latest videos each week. We normally post a new video every Sunday 11.30am NZT with the occasional midweek bonus.
Any donations are also sincerely appreciated as it goes directly into helping us continue to make our videos to share with everyone. Your support means a lot to us and any contribution at all is amazing. A huge thank you from us both! ❤️🙂
===============
FOLLOW US
Instagram
/ peterandyen
Facebook
/ peterandyen
Website
peterandyen.com/
![Things To Do in SAPA - Rice Terraces + Cat Cat Village [ Part 3/3 ] | VIETNAM](/img/n.gif)
I always like before watching. I’m never disappointed with watching your vlogs. Beautiful couple with a lot of love shown through your journey💯 Thank you so much❤️❤️
Seliama Tonks haha I do the same as well lol
Thank you both so much! 🥰 You're both super awesome and we always appreciate your love and support ❤️🙂 Means heaps to us and me especially on these videos that I struggled city edit to put together 😁 Hopefully I can be fast like Peter at it one day but for now I'm just going at it my turtle pace haha 👍☺️
@@PeterandYen You're doing a great job Yen :) dw you'll be speedy Gonzales in no time heheh
Haha thank you Marie! 😁🙌
Love the Chinese skill level breakdowns - reminds me of a video game 😂
Haha old skool games like arcade beat'em ups! "Strength, speed, magic" 😂😂)
Hahaha thanks guys! I was looking for a way to explain it easily coz Peter and I get asked it a bit and I actually had the whole gamers skillset idea in mind when creating that so am glad you liked it 😁🙌
Stay in hotels and you don’t have to register with the police. The hotel takes care of it. But also some hotels are not permitted to have foreign visitors. FYI. Always carry your passport . You need it for everything... register at hotels and buying train tickets for example
That's right all excellent tips James! Thanks for sharing 🙂👍🙌 and yea as foreigners even visiting popular tourist attractions def need to keep your passport on you.
Greetings from Dali, China!!! So glad you guys were able to spend a couple of months here!!! Even though I have been here a few years, it was still helpful to watch this, to give friends tips as they come!! Thanks for posting!
Hello 👋😊 Oh that's awesome to hear! Glad our video comes in handy 😁 Thank you for watching and sharing 💕☺️
I really appreciate you two taking the time to "educate" us about what we need to know about traveling to China! It is great to hear that drivers in Shanghai are following rules! That alone is amazing! However, it is wonderful (pollution) that more electric vehicles are being used but also a little scary because we cannot hear the electric motorbike behind you on the sidewalk!! Wishing you two a wonderful 2020 full of adventures, good food and safe travels!
Hiya Ray 👋🙂 Hope you've been well! Happy 2020 to you too! 🥳 Haha yea that's right those electric bikes are so quiet! Plus they tend not to beep or have lights on and sometimes drive onto footpaths so definitely need to watch out for them 🙂👍 at least traffic is improving though haha 😁 Hope you have an amazing year ahead too! We've got plenty of travel plans this year too, looking forward to them and new adventures 🙂🙌
Totally agree with the difficulty of China if you don't know chinese except in the major cities. In saying that though, China is a beautiful country to visit with so many epic and wonderful things to see and do!
It is right? Totally worth the hassles for sure 🙂👍 Can you both speak Mandarin?
Dream place is def China!!! Can’t wait to go there in a few months!!! Love your accents!!! It’s so classy!!😊✌🏼
Haha thank you 🥰 That's so exciting! Which parts of China are you going to? Hope you found our video useful and that you'll have an amazing time there 🙂👍
This comment did not age well
Thanks for sharing ！
Very helpful. Thanks ever so much!
Thank you ❤
This is so helpful 🙏🏻
Thanks guys 😁👍 hoping it helps anyone looking to travel to China for the first time 🙂
Definitely some real roadblocks with traveling in China with the visas, internet restrictions and surveillance - very helpful tips!
Indeed! But totally worth it to get to visit some of the most awesome historical places and sights 😁👍
Those high speed bullet trains look amazing!
They were super cool. So fast and such great views! Wish we had a chance to go on the maglev though (the magnetic levitation high speed train). Maybe next time 🙂
Thanks, Peter & Yen, the advice is very helpful.
Thanks Thu! Glad you found it helpful 🙂👍
You are such a lovely couple 🌷❤🌷
Thanks for the useful information!
Useful tips for sure!
Thanks Jose! Hope it helps with your planning ☺️👍
whoa.. Yeah def would need that VPN for travelling in China
Yea! Just don't use NordVPN 😅 We were so glad I had my unrestricted SIM card that we ordered online 👍
Alot of good to knows which I enjoy, great video guys
Thanks Charles! Unfortunately not the best time to go to China with the coronavirus and all 😅 hopefully after it passes more people will wanna go again.. it's a tough country to go to travel but such a cool place! How have you been? Hope you're well! 🙂
Thank you for the food info! taking massive (Yen's voice) notes
Hahaha 🤣🙌 I reckon most places would just automatically give you guys a menu and recognise you as foreigners/tourists straight away 😅 for us and our Asian faces they prob expected us to just use WeChat like everyone else 🤣
wow! the scenery looks freaking amazing. Wish we had the time to travel around China, next time for sure! Looks amazing
It's super cool guys! We loved traveling by high speed train coz you get to see a lot of it that way too and it looks like such a different world sometimes! 😍
Super useful video guys. China is definitely on our list for 2020 so this is going to be a great reference point.
Aw thanks heaps guys!! That's awesome you got China on your list for this year! Which cities are you planning to hit up? 🙂
Shoutouts Peter & Yen, been super cool watching your guys journey since you split from your jobs in NZL. Super cool to see!
Hey SliWill! 👋😁 How have you been? Happy new year 🥳 aww thanks heaps for following along our travel adventures! It's been such an awesome past few months since we stopped working 😁 plenty more adventures this year too that we're looking forward to. Hope you been well 🙂🙌
So much packed into this video! Really great tips as always; didn't think about the restrictions in China, so the VPN suggestion is great!
Thanks guys! Wanted to make it comprehensive since there's a ton to cover and be aware of 🙂👍 it's definitely a fair bit trickier than other Asian countries!
Hello my friend. Such a good information your guy❤️
Thank you! 😁 Glad you found it useful 🙌☺️
A very informative video. Very useful tips. Thanks Peter and Yen
Thanks Steven glad you found it useful
Great tips for China! Very useful for anyone heading there. There was even some stuff we didn't know and we've been to China 3 - 4 times lol love the app suggestions.
Thanks guys! Andy am I right? 😁 I'm gonna guess it's the registration thing you weren't aware of? It's interesting that a lot of people who've been before don't know about it lol but yea we heard it from our Beijing friend that the govt was getting real strict with it and saw it on the arrival card too then actually going to police stations there's posters about it up. But yea only a hassle if you're staying at like an Airbnb!
This was so useful! I even Downloaded a few of the apps you guys mentioned as well. I think I’d definitely book a tour guide to take us around so we don’t get lost or stress out too much lol thanks for sharing guys 🙏🏼👏🏼🙌🏽😎🤗😍
Haha yea good idea! Tour guides are def the best way to go if you've got like zero Chinese abilities lolll. It was fun for us in a way fumbling through but can imagine that being a nightmare for people who don't know the language at all 😅 super amazing place to visit though, thanks heaps for watching Marie! Glad you found it useful 🙂👍
@@PeterandYen oh we def learnt our lesson going to a foreign country lol but yes theres some ups and downs but seriously always best to always do research about where you travel to so definitely big handy tips you guys always share and it's extra convenient for us kiwis to learn from you guys as well. Well def know what to do and be more prepared 👌🤞🙏
@@Unukadesign aww thanks heaps and happy our videos can help others!! Hope you're having an amazing start to the new year Marie! 😁
@@PeterandYen it's more relaxing and less stressful. Our Bali was definitely a great start for the year :)
@@Unukadesign so awesome to hear!! 🙂🙌💕
Wow!! This is amazing guys! Not travelling to China any time soon but some super top tips guys! 💕💓 love your stuff xox
Aww thanks Keisha! 🥰❤️ There was a bunch of info to squeeze in lol but hope it's useful for anyone traveling there for the first time 🙂 It's kinda challenging tbh but just so worth it. Got to see a bunch of bucket list items 🙂🙌 Hope you and Arron are both well and having an amazing start to 2020! 💕
Great info here! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
Here goes the Yen's massive!
Massive thanks to you 😘
❤️❤️❤️ hope these tips helped and that it hasn't frightened you off China or anything lol 😅 can't wait to watch your videos from there guys!
@@PeterandYen nothing scares me more than turbulence in a plane, and it will be a 17 hour flight to Shanghai. I'm excited to feel uncomfortable and lost again lol 😆
@@TheMamuchos 17 hours!! Oh my goodness that's a long flight 😯 aww Maria you'll be ok! I always remember your counting technique for distraction. I hope you don't have turbulence on your flight 🤞❤️
Loved the intro! So many great tips I soooo wish this video was out when I went 😂😂 y’all pronunciation was sooo good throughly this trip tho. The whole googles etc thing was my biggest issues and I had no idea prior 😭😭
We figured China has a lot of things ppl needa know before going there it's not an easy country to navigate hence this video 😁 that Google thing is pretty major huh especially for youtubers 😅
Hey Bro, Hey Sis just droppin in to say Kia Oraaaa...🤗🤗.. & what Godsend's you both are for the wonderful content You guys bring out.. esp for those who are planning to travel to where you guys go.. even planting seeds into the minds of those who wouldn't have thought to go but r now somewhat keen 💃🕺.. You guys are back home now? Good to take a breather for a bit with fams & in familiar smaller spaces? He he... Anyway, keep up the awesome work as always & Happy Chinese New Year that is loomin up🎆✨.. Much Love & Light ❤🖤🇳🇿.... 🤸
Kia ora Liv 🙂👋💕 hope you're well! Aw thank you so much for your kind words 🥰❤️ We always love reading your messages! Yea we're back in NZ for a couple of weeks so we could spend Christmas and New Year's together with our friends and family before we're off again for like another 7 months 🙂 We enjoy sharing our travels and experience with others so when it helps people with their own plans or seeing something they haven't before or maybe learning a bit more about other places and cultures.. it's super cool for us 😁 Awesome way for us to store and relive our memories too ☺️ It's nice being back in NZ tho and catching up with everyone but excited for our year ahead too and being back on the road again 🙂 Wishing you and your loved ones an amazing 2020 (and Chinese NY too) 😁🎉❤️ Thanks again for always bringing a smile to our faces! Love from us both 🇳🇿💕🤸🤸🤸🙂
@@PeterandYen aww gr888 to hear all things are smooth sailing 🤗🤗.. thanks for the wonderful messages too, 2020..year of the great Vision & infinite possibilities woop woop!💃🕺..look fwd to your next epic adventures. Take care & be safe. ❤🖤...🤸...🤣
Crazy that ordering system! Good to know and maybe "practice" in advance to get to know a little better :)
Haha we just ended up saying we're foreigners and asked for the old school menus whenever we could lol 😅 just made things easier sometimes!
Great tips! Love the apps tips. So useful to know more about WeChat, Baidu, etc.
Thanks guys 🙂 it's quite a different world when you have those restrictions so definitely need to be prepared when travelling to China 👍
Woooow I did not know that a lot of social media platforms were blocked over there.
Also registering at the police station? That’s a pretty good idea I think a lot of countries should do that.
These are really good tips for those travelling to China♥️
Thanks Gen 🙂👍 Yea China is notorious for governing what people can access on the web! I guess the registration is a security step for the country but don't know how helpful it is since it's up to the traveler to go do it.. and so if you're there to do no good that kind of person def wouldn't go register 😅 maybe it's if something just happens while you're there or perhaps they wanna govern that Airbnbs people are staying at are registered.. not sure tbh 😅
Peter and Yen HAHAHA true that. If you’re doing dodgy stuff of course you’re not going to register hahaha I didn’t even think of that 🤦🏻♀️
@@thisisgenofeve 🤣🤣 you're just too good natured 😁😁👍👍
Great tips! Does sound tricky..lots of things to take note and plan well before going. ;p
Thanks guys! Yea need to be more prepared when travelling to China but totally worth it 🙂👍
Great and informative👍👍 The information I learned made me even more excited to get to Shanghai~ Thanks for a very thorough vid... funny thing is since I started watching your videos, my feed has steadily been filled with couples from Australia and NZ making travel vids... by the way, I stand by my initial statement... you guys are much more pleasant to watch than Simon and Martina😜
Hahaha thanks heaps Seoul Man 😁👍 We appreciate it! 💕🙂 Hope you have an awesome time in Shanghai and the tips come in handy for you. I think it may be off putting for some but we reckon it's totally worth the effort 👍 lol YT and its relevancy algorithm eh 😆
Finally! A vlog about China that addressed the toilet issue. Thank you 🙏
I can’t wait to travel to China one day, all of these are great tips to know before going
Hope they didn't deter you from wanting to go Chris 😆 it really can be a bit daunting but well worth it 🙂👍
Yeah super duper useful to have someone speaks mandarin and lucky Stef does! yay ^^ but sometimes my body language was working quite well hehe ^^ so awesome and very useful tips guys for sure! thanks for sharing it ^^
Thanks guys! That's def handy that Stef speaks Chinese 😁👍 yea we used body language too but also lots of Google translate which was cool 😁🙌
Got some good information. I was in China in 1986 .. So some big big changes !
Hiya Joe Joe 👋🙂 it's pretty amazing how much it's progressed in such a relatively short time ay? Thanks for watching and dropping us a comment 😁🙌
I just applied for my tourist visa. Should get my passport back next week. Fingers crossed 🤞
O that's awesome! 😁🙌🙌
Great China travel tips guys!
Definitely saving this video for future reference if we visit China in the future.
Agreed with language barrier, it can be difficult. Should’ve taken Chinese course when we were younger 😅
Now we felt like our brains go numb when learning new language 😂
Haha thanks guys! I know what you mean ay.. so much more difficult to learn languages when you're older! I'm thankful for the Chinese classes I use to take which helped me learn how to read and write basic Chinese so now when I see a word I can at least write it and look it up (even if it's ugly) 😂😂 Would be awesome if you guys decide to ever visit China one day though, it's worth it despite the challenges in our opinion 🙂
Wow that is kinda scary just listening to all of it. I would have to remember if some day we ever travel. Those are great tips. 👍
Haha yea it can be a bit daunting going to somewhere like China with language barriers and strict controls over internet usage etc but it's really worth it to see some of the most amazing history and scenic sights plus experience the different culture there 🙂 We had a fantastic time during our 2 month stay. Thanks for watching and dropping us a comment 😁🙌
A very informative video and it's well presented !
Yeah, I must admit that I struggled a bit also when communicating with the locals, even though I can speak Mandarin and write lots of Chinese words. I think it's because they don't always pronounce their words clearly and they tend to speak a lot faster than I'm accustomed to. Visiting China is a must, especially for people with Chinese ethnicity. As a minimum, visit Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing.
Thanks dad! Good recommendation 👍 Those 3 cities definitely are the easiest to get around and have a lot of amazing things to see 🙂👍
Hey mate good vid, me and my wife are looking at doing a tour in china in June 2020. So your info has been very helpful, will the weather be cold then.
Hiya Jim 🙂👋 That's awesome to hear, we're excited for you guys! It's a really eye opening place and the deep history is so fascinating but yes a few challenges with traveling around China so it's good to be prepared 🙂 if you're going with a tour group and staying in hotels it should be heaps easier. Depending where you're going in June it should be warm to pretty hot! We hope you both have a wonderful time, thanks for watching and dropping us a message 🙂👍
Kiwi-Asians... Yes I wanted to know the best season to travel to China, nice. I was reading those requirements when traveling there...
Hope you found this video useful Tony! 🙂 Despite the challenges it's well worth visiting plus if you just stay at hotels you don't have to worry about the whole registration thing and if you have a tour guide it makes things a heck of a lot easier too! 🙂 Plus if just visiting the big cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, it's again a lot easier ☺️
Yep we grew up with squatting toilets 😂✌🏻 so i think we won't be shocked with that lol. Helmi told me about how horrific public toilets when she visited China long time ago so good tip about nicer toilet 😅 It's really informative video & definitely mark this before travelling to China 🤗
Hahaha thanks guys! Yea lol those fancy as malls have really super clean seating ones so if we're out in public we often try find those 🤣🤣
Haha no problem with toilet squats for us haha!! The only culture shock for me 20 years back was going to toilets with no doors, I think that's why people bring umbrellas around last time haha!! But it's incredible to see how much China has changed and advanced over the years! Thanks for all the tips guys, China is in our bucket list and we would definitely love to visit that beautiful country in the near future! Awesome video guys!
No doors?? 😱 That's just crazy lol was that common and like in all the public places? @.@ Does Malaysia still have a lot of squatting toilets too or is it mostly changed to sitting ones in public places like malls and restaurants? Thanks guys!! ☺️💕🙌
Ok Baidu - noted!! I can't travel without my map/compass! Hmmmm use common sense in direction... I will definitely get lost, especially if I don't have Puri with me hahaha! The scenery on the bullet train is really beautiful! Yassss the food!
Hahaha I'm like that too.. need Peter to help me with directions.. he can be quite bad sometimes too so I guess if we're both lost then can't help it hahahah 😆 yea the train is such a great way to travel! Felt like we were seeing such different scenery a lot of the time 💕☺️
and yes was quite surprised on the barcode to pay in restaurants and even supermarkets but lucky we had some Shanghai local friends who got the app ^^ China is so great in technology!
Yea definitely becoming a cashless society fast ay!
Welcome back in 2020 guys
.thanks for all your handy info...what no google and you tube !!! Oh my god ....lol
Thank you Dave! Hope you and your family are all doing ok over in Aussie. We got the orange haze from the bush fires all the way over here in NZ too so can only imagine how horrible it is there 🙁 take care! ❤️
We are going to be so lost!!! hahahaha our videos are going to be a mess hahahah
Good thing we at least can learn from you guys. Can you come with us during the days we will be there? Pleeeeease!!
Hahaha you guys are gonna do awesome ay!! Honestly really recommend those SIM cards we mentioned with unrestricted access and also using the Google translate app. That really helped us have conversations with locals and made it quite fun too learning to communicate with tech to aid us 😁 otherwise yea pack us in your luggage guys 🤣 we'd love to go again!
@@PeterandYen please come with us ☺️
Great travel tip guys! Traveling to China is a adventure.. Never knew you need to register at a police station to stay at a airbnb.. Wow! I maybe going to guangzhou and Xian in april.. Who knows!! But these tips are great!! There lots of pickpockets always keep your purse tight and wallets up in front! Also Carry big bills.. Ive had a bank decline my $20 usd bill when i went to exchange money What! Lol
Thanks Vic 😁👍 oh that's awesome if you go! Both places are awesome. What! That's surprising the bank wouldn't change your money @.@ $20 ain't even that small lol seems odd and unfair 😅
we heard about most restaurants have all squad bathrooms and the last one is (probably) a sitting toilet and to not put toilet paper on it because they easily get stuck
You will find sitting toilets in large hotels and some shopping malls only. The Chinese culture embraces squatting toilets and their cleaning standards are not state-of-the-art. Toilet paper is not always provided, not because of clogging issues but because establishments try to save money and avoid customers stealing it. Fancier places will provide toilet paper, and in shopping malls you may also find a dispenser, in which you pay a small fee for it. BTW, you also pay for paper napkins you use in restaurants -- there is a small package on the table and the cost is included in your check.
Thanks heaps again Benny for sharing all your insider info and tips too! 🙏 Super handy information to share that we didn't go into a lot of detail in our video (or forgot to mention) so it's really useful all the tips and info you're helping out with 🙂👍 but yea good luck Mamuchos! Better get your squat practice in 😅🤣
@@1004Benny awesome info! Thank you soooo much
@@PeterandYen Lieles is gonna die hahaha
That's a nice workaround using a HK simcard in China. We used PureVPN in Shanghai and that worked pretty well (~80/90% of the time)
Ooo nice.. thanks guys 👍🙂 will have to remember that for next time. Nord was a total fail after the first couple of days then for the rest of our trip pretty much! 😅 Really glad we had those unrestricted sims! They really cracked down hard especially leading up to National Day/Golden Week 🙁
Peter and Yen oh what do you mean by ‘cracked down hard’? What happened?
@@JohnandMalie as in blocking VPN servers more and more so even something that was suppose to be good like Nord just had all their servers totally blocked unfortunately even though they had so many, everything stopped working 😅
yeah we used VPN too and the connection wasn't quite smooth, but yay we survived ^^ and good info for the sim card, we keep in mind for our future China trip, thanks guys! ^^
Ah nice which VPN did you guys go with? Good to know the ones that actually work in China!
@@PeterandYen we used VPN 360 app but yeah I think buying sim card would be best choice :)
Food was so affordable. We were impressed with all the money we saved. The toilets were definitively a cultural shock, but we were prepared with tissue. Pollution was pretty bad on certain days while we were in Beijing, but that was probably the only other downside aside from the VPN thing. Great tips guys.
Food affordable and delicious! Our kind of dining lolol 😂 Haha yea those toilets my goodness ay. But that's great you guys were prepared for it 👍 Thanks for sharing your experiences as pov too guys! 🙂 Hopefully despite the challenges and cultural differences people aren't put off by visiting coz what an amazing place huh? 🙂
Ah didn't realise the Nord VPN was so bad.... Good to know.... Loads of people seem to be bragging about that! Think we'd prefer an old school menu rather than an app.... Showing our age now haha!! We had read the they are trying to change the spitting culture in China? Love a good haggle 😏👍. Great round up and info guys. Happy New year 🎉😁
Happy new year you two! ☺️🥳 Yea Nord stood no chance against the Chinese government lolol all the servers were blocked which made it a mission for us to upload our weekly videos! We got lucky every now and then like when we were in one of our accommodations and the owner had a Chinese vpn (govt approved version) so we could upload then kinda thing, or when I was able to do the work around coz I had an unrestricted SIM so I could install something onto our laptop but it was just such a hassle for the most part 😅 I hope they change the spitting culture lol it's just pretty gross 😅😅 they've made big strides in heaps of other things though like reducing pollution through electric vehicles, improving recycling efforts, traffic control and letting pedestrians actually cross etc! So there's def hope lol. Everything just takes time 🙂👍
@@PeterandYen Definitely - little steps leads to bigger progress :)
I think the visa part is one of the hardest parts to understand, especially when you are in transit and not staying there for consecutive days. But that is more directed to people who take cruises
Ahh true.. the visa for us was generally easy and straight forward though lengthy application form but it was just the whole "temporary visa" for the whole registering with police thing that was a bit of an inconvenience ay
China has the great wall of China and the great firewall 🤣! It's good to hear that China is safe. I remember going to China in Summer (Sue), it was super hot and I have having high fever, I couldn't enjoy my trip as much, there goes my "holiday" :(
Aw no what a shame Sue! Hopefully you get a chance to go again in the future 💕🙂
hi peter and yen like the comments below by seliama tonks i echo those remarks entirely , keep up the good work,
Thank you Barry! ❤️ Hope you had a wonderful New Year 🙂 Lucky you're not in Auckland right now, we're getting all the bushfire smog blowing over from Australia 😦 It's crazy we can actually smell it in the air!
Are the "whole in the ground" only in public toilets? Or for example...homes have seating toilet? What about restaurants, coffeeshops tea houses...etc?
The homes we were in all had seating toilets but that's also coz that's what we looked for with the Airbnb accommodations and then other places we stayed at hotels so it was all seated but would imagine in many homes they prefer their squatting toilets. In public places though generally so often it was a stroke of luck if there was a seated toilet 😅 especially if the place was older! But even in many that we thought looked pretty new/modern it was all squatting too 😅
Baidu sounds like Naver in Korea. It used to be Korean language only but recently they update with English, hopefully Baidu will be updated soon haha.. Didi is starting big too in Sydney. We love to ride public transport, experience like locals 😊
Ah that's awesome about Naver! Hope Baidu will get an English version too! Oh nice didn't know Didi was in Aussie 🙂👍 public transport in China was really good! Especially the trains 🙂👍
Yes we heard about registering in the police station, what we dont know is, would we have to do it before and after the cruise? or just once since we will be in the same city?
Not to sure what the rules for a cruise are tbh.. don't even know if you'd need to do it for that. Probably best to check with the booking agent for the cruise about what the rules and regulations are for that? Guessing if it's only the one city it's just the one time if even at all! Fingers crossed for you guys it's not necessary!
Excellent and unbiased video! Thank you for posting it. Regarding the Internet access, after having been living in China for 15 years, I would say ExpressVPN is the only provider that manages a decent service. However, during the year, when there are special CCP meetings or other sensitive events, they also experience problems. However, they are fast in making up for the bugs. Normally, two or three days and everything is all right. Another aspect for foreigners to consider is the Chinese mindframe: their brains use fuzzy logic and not Socratic or Cartesian logic. This means they never behave in a straightforwardly way. Expect lots of biting around the bush in dealing with the people.
Hiya Benny 👋🙂 thanks so much for dropping us a comment and your kind words!! It's really awesome having your insider tips too from someone who has lived there so long! We only stayed about 2 months but Peter was born there and use to go back quite often growing up. It was only my third time visiting but I had only been to Shanghai previously so it was a really cool trip for us. Amazing to visit so many life bucket list items too! Definitely gonna try ExpressVPN next time. Have noted it down 👍👍 Thanks heaps!
the language barrier would put me off dont even understand the writing sure I would get lost there too of course us Australians are used to extreme heat but not cold some good tips there guys for anyone who wanted to go there
*got our like 👍Au👍watched in full🔔*
Yea the language barrier can be quite a challenge 😅 there is always the option of going with an English speaking guide though that makes things a heck of a lot easier! 🙂 Thanks for watching Billy 👋 Hope you and your family are doing ok over in Aussie with the crazy bush fires. We got the orange haze carried over to here in NZ now so can only imagine how terrible it is there 🙁
Sorry for the delay guys! Very excited to hear your tips. We wished we spoke some Chinese while we were there. Our nord vpn didn't work for us at all. :-( We got lucky that our hotel provided a phone, but still couldn't do much with it.
Aww no looks like you lucked out with Nord too! Yea pretty tough not knowing Chinese ay? How did you guys find it day to day and getting out and about to do for activities?
Really informative video! Yes, we noticed that the Chinese like to travel in big groups no matter where you go, haha! Can you still use the google translate app in China? I actually like the squatting toilets, especially in dirtier places it feels a lot cleaner, although that took me a while to get used to in Asia. It seems like they're working on improving their pollution there! 2 months wow!! You guys spent a nice amount of time there. Are there any places in China you would still like to see?
Hahaha yes that's so true! They do go in big groups in other countries too. Must just be use to it ay 🙂 We could use the Google translate app coz my phone had the unrestricted sim card luckily! It came in handy many times 👍 apparently the squatting toilets are meant to be better for you too but oh man I just don't have good encounters with them so always try to avoid haha! Yea it was a great amount of time 💕 There's def still a few places we wanna visit like chengdu, yunan, and a bunch I can't spell the Pinyin of properly 🤣 so hopefully one day we'll return and check them all off our bucket list too!
Peter and Yen Oh that’s good I wondered about that since they don’t let you use a lot of apps there. Haha yeah squat toilets are a bit funny, and I didn’t understand them for a while 😂 Oh seems like there’s so many places to visit there!!
Haha honestly you got my respect that you can and even like to use the squat toilets! 😁👍👍 I feel like it requires a level of skill too hahah 😂 yea still a lot of amazing places to see in China.. all in due time of we're lucky! 😊
Peter and Yen Yes it sounds like such an interesting place!! 😄🙌🏼
@@LanaTiare it is! Where are you guys now? :) And where is next?
Apple Maps is the best in China!! it is as good as Baidu but in English! 😃 got around China with only using Apple Maps and it was a lifesaver!
Ooo yea someone mentioned that in the comments too, so good to know! Thanks for sharing 😁👍
Wow guys we didn't know about reporting yourselves to police station if you stay in airbnb so this is really informative! If you stay in smaller hotel especially in smaller city, do you need to report to police?
Yea it's quite an inconvenience lol. It depends on the hotel really so prob best to check first before booking!
Smaller cities and smaller hotels (even in large cities): forget it. Small hotels do not have links to the police and cannot accept foreign people. Therefore, they will not accept you as a guest because they cannot inform the police station you are checking in. That means you will probably stay in a more expensive establishment.
Thanks for sharing your insider knowledge 1004Benny! Super useful to know 👍
Honestly i didnt even knew bout registering at the police sttn, i was in Yunnan for about 9 days traveling around Dali, Lijiang n Kunming ..n really i nvr knew about tht n nobody at the airbnb ever told me too..but thnk godness all safe
😅 yeah it can be quite a hefty fine or even worse if you're caught.. the airbnb host should definitely have mentioned to you
I am Malaysia .I just back from china I using data roaming plan for 5days. Cost usd 15 for unlimited data usage and I can access TH-cam, Google, Gmail, Facebook all day at china . Check ur country dataroaming plan no need VPN
No tipping and yes to bargain!!! yaaaasss!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hahaha 🤣🤣 love the enthusiasm guys!! Yea bargaining for like the souvenir/touristy places that especially have the same stock sold just a few steps away 🙂👍
@@PeterandYen I just gotta keep Lieles away when I'm bargaining
He's horrible at it
@@TheMamuchos haha 😆 I can just picture it.. like "step aside honey, I got this" 😆👍👍 it's ok Lieles, I'm in the can't bargain either camp lolll
you guys should do a scratch map video some time :)
Haha thanks for the suggestion Mark, it would look much better after maybe next year I reckon lol 🙂👍
@@PeterandYen haha okay, does that mean we are getting travel videos from new countries this year !!?
@@thegangnz haha sure does 😁 and next year too ☺️✌️ This year we'll be traveling for about 7 months and next year we were thinking maybe Europe but this year there's a bunch of other Asian cities and countries we wanna hit up first 😁🙌
@@PeterandYen yessss. eastern Europe is my favourite
@@thegangnz aw nice! What's your top 3 fave countries? Peter was really keen on Eastern Europe so we'll see for next year 😁👍
China is a diverse country, the different province has different cultures, foods, and local dialogues,
中国是一个多元化的国家，不同的省份有不同的文化、饮食和地方话，
I was planning to download google maps of shanghai and use it from an offline source, but we don't want to end in the wrong place!!
Plenty of Chinese apps for maps and directions. Some of them available in English language.
Ooo Benny what are the names of those if you can please share? Would be awesome to know! I think most of us are just so reliant on Google maps!
@@1004Benny yes please share the names, we should be there in a month
@@TheMamuchos The simplest would be Google Maps, provided you install ExpressVPN in your phone or laptop. You may also use CityMaps2Go. In addition, check the following website: venturebeat.com/2017/08/06/how-to-navigate-china-without-google-maps-and-your-other-favorite-apps/ for more tips and info.
@@PeterandYen Kindly, please check my answer to the Mamuchos. Hope it helps.
Would y’all say the driving condition is comparable to Bali?
Bali usually has like a single lane with tons of scooters overtaking and no one following the road rules. China is a bit different in that there are like up to 5 lanes each side and in big cities now most ppl follow road rules just the rural area where its more wild wild west 😅
the toilet tips yes indeed! bring your own tissues and maybe small handwash liquid^^
Haha good tip! We carried the hand sanitizer everywhere lolol
So even though Pete was born in China he still needed a visa to visit?
Oh gosh, not sure I could do squat toilet hehehe! Even though I heard they are better to use! Lol.
Yea coz he no longer has a Chinese passport when becoming an NZ Citizen. So his parents same thing even though born and raised in China.
Hahaha yea those squat toilets take some practice 🤣🤣 I really hate them.. it's just so gross and I avoid at all costs! 😅 It's also difficult depending what you're wearing when you think about the logistics of it all hahahah 😆
It is not illegal to use a VPN in China, and no one has been arrested for it. People traveling in China, like most Western countries, can visit any area at will except military bases and confidential units. The Chinese government stipulates that only high-end hotels can receive foreigners. This is to provide good services to tourists who come to China. This is not to monitor foreigners, but I also think that this outdated rule is not necessary.
Thank you for sharing all this helpful information Zimu! 🙂👍
I've heard Baidu is growing massive now. To bad it's only in Chinese.
Yea! Really hope they'll translate it and have an English option one day. It would make things heck of a lot easier 😅
The captions are hard to read, should be black.
Wow that’s crazy you have to register with the police in every new city. That would be so crap for us dragging the kids there each time. I guess we’ll be sticking to hotels when we go to China.
Yea it's quite a hassle but thankfully we mixed it up in our trip with both hotels and Airbnb so we only needed to do it a few times and each time there was a local police station nearby. The extra annoying part was having to obtain photocopies coz they won't do it for you you gotta go like across the street to a photo copy shop 😅😅 You save quite a lot using Airbnbs though but yea might be easier to just stay in hotels for those with kids 😆👍
I cant believe I got fooled by the car beeping sound...
Do you mean when I was imitating the beeping sounds with my voice? 🤣
@@PeterandYen I watched the video again. I think a car outside my house started beeping their horn just as you were talking about it in your vid! 😑
@@Edwin__Official 🤣🤣 surround sound 😁😆
Hahaha - bring your bargaining skills and don’t get finessed like your parents!
The funny thing is mum is really great at bargaining but she just buys stuff that aren't worth it dollarwise so kinda counters it out 😅😅
oh nooo we also use NordVPN!! 😥
Use ExpressVPN instead.
Yea we've heard from another fellow traveler that Express VPN is good in China too! We'll need to remember for next time. Hopefully Nord has sorted their stuff out though Mamuchos by the time you guys go but seriously it was a pain for us with every server pretty much blocked.
Haha I studied chinese for several years in korea and I probably understand 0.2% of the language. Should have paid more attention...
Wow that's so cool you studied Chinese in Korea though.. was it like a compulsory subject in school or a tuition kinda thing? 🙂
Virus?
We were there last year and thankfully no virus then but now might be a lil more cautious 😕