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Just book refundable stuff. Idk if they are mega strict now but most people I knew even as recently as like 2021 would book refundable stuff get visa then get new accommodation if they wanted. You do want to get a hotel tho as in any big city they are very strict about you getting registered at a paichusuo. When Airbnb was still a thing you had to go do it yourself and it’s a pain , hotels do it all for you fart simpson posted:i dont know op, but are you going to hk or sz? Idk. Probably Shanghai and chengdu at least depends how much time I wanna take off.
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Feb 10, 2024 19:18
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JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:thank you You need reservations, but if you change or cancel them after you get the visa they don't really care. I think they just want to know that you have money to get a place to stay and leave the country when you're out. Also at least look around the cities a bit, I'm in Manhattan and Chinese cities are way cooler and cleaner than NYC
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Feb 11, 2024 01:17
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You need to present flight/hotel purchase receipts. So buy refundable ones, get your visa, refund any that you have the slightest doubt about. You'll probably need to pay some small % of the fee for this. Still probably worth doing.
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Feb 11, 2024 03:00
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also that having to buy tickets and hotels before getting the visa thing is pretty commonly how getting a tourist visa works, in general. it’s not specific to china or anything
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Feb 11, 2024 03:07
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Make sure your hotel accepts foreigners. If it's a major western chain, like a Marriott or Hilton, in a major city you can be almost sure that they do. But some independent hotel in a small town may not. I don't know how many hotels still aren't set up for police registration but it doesn't hurt to confirm. For the flight you can buy a refundable ticket, and then after you have a visa buy the cheaper non-refundable ticket and refund the original ticket.
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Feb 11, 2024 06:46
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Guy Axlerod posted:Make sure your hotel accepts foreigners. If it's a major western chain, like a Marriott or Hilton, in a major city you can be almost sure that they do. But some independent hotel in a small town may not. I don't know how many hotels still aren't set up for police registration but it doesn't hurt to confirm. Hilton at the least will reach out if you book them and they can't take foreigners, a Hilton in Shanghai did that for me and I was able to cancel and rebook elsewhere
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Feb 11, 2024 10:47
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wtf that’s wild. Is that a case of ‘Hilton’ in China being a licensed subsidiary and not Hilton corporate properties? This stuff is all fascinating to me Yeah I have a lot to learn. Thank you for regurgitating to me little things I would never think of, like whether or not hotels accept foreigners. I’ve only travelled to countries that are wildly accommodating to Americans
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Feb 11, 2024 14:19
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I've never had a problem booking a hotel through booking.com but yeah just shoot them a message just in case. Some small hotels incorrectly believe you need a special license to host foreigners (this is not true these days) and some hotels just don't want to deal with registering foreigners but in my personal experience it's not that common to be rejected. I've been in some real backwater places and it's always been fine. This person offers a service to call the hotel ahead and support you if they do cause issues in the end. It also lists applicable laws in the article. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sqoMeZIOZ6nORR7PzVAFog a7m2 fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Feb 11, 2024 |
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Feb 11, 2024 16:52
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My family always said that lower quality hotels aren’t allowed to accept Westerners by government decree but who knows.
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Feb 11, 2024 16:58
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Mons Hubris posted:My family always said that lower quality hotels aren’t allowed to accept Westerners by government decree but who knows. This hasn't legally been the case for a long time, but in practice it's different. Anyway, calling ahead and booking with a site mainly used by foreigners (booking.com, trip.com) will probably prevent a whole lot of hassle. Also COVID restrictions are gone. I really wouldn't worry if I were you OP.
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Feb 11, 2024 17:16
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JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:wtf that’s wild. Is that a case of ‘Hilton’ in China being a licensed subsidiary and not Hilton corporate properties? This stuff is all fascinating to me Yeah it was weird to me too, I mostly went with Hilton specifically because I didn't think that would be an issue. Yet: quote:Warm Greeting from Hilton Garden Inn Shanghai Lujiazui ! Another note I forgot that someone mentioned up thread, if you need to book a train, use trip.com. They're the English version of some Chinese company so the train stuff is seamless. They also sometimes have tickets to museums and stuff, but that's also often handled in miniapps that are Chinese only you need to screenshot and translate. Worst case, book a nicer hotel and ask someone at the front desk for help booking tickets. For trains: -sleepers are 4 to a room. Bring ear plugs/sleep mask/a smaller bag to keep with you that has whatever you'll need to get to sleep versus your big bag you'll put away. Also, if you can, try to wash up or at least bring wet wipes for your feet before the train, I felt like a big time rear end in a top hat getting in after a day of hiking through tea plantations and temples -first class seats are bomb, it's a crazy spaceship lazy boy deal. Sometimes you find them for like 30 bucks, worth the experience once or twice -try to book ahead, there are a lot of trains but the cheaper seats can fill up quickly Actually question for the thread, is there a Chinese yelp equivalent? uninterrupted fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Feb 13, 2024 |
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Feb 11, 2024 17:55
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a7m2 posted:This hasn't legally been the case for a long time, but in practice it's different. Yes. The law about minimum quality / permits was changed, but the responsibility remains to register accommodation. Foreigners in China must always be registered to some accommodation. If you rent a place, you go to your local police station. If you stay with a friend technically they should notify their local police station but no-one does. And if you stay in a hotel, they must complete the notification. Obviously, hotels that previously had the permit to host foreigners also had staff familiar with the notification process, while hotels that didn't, didn't. Now that it's no longer restricted the knowledge is slowly spreading, but there really isn't much call for it because in China domestic tourism is vastly, overwhelmingly more economically important than foreign tourism. So when faced with a booking that means having to figure out the (not complex but not commonly known) procedure for foreigner accommodation registration, a lot of places just shrug and refuse. Note that the stance of a particular hotel can change by the year as staff arrive/depart, or even by the day, if one person knows and they go on/off shift. Another amusing situation can be: (Book a room for a popular time / event / festival at a decent price) (Arrive at hotel, fully booked, prices now huge) (Hotel decides they suddenly don't accept foreigners, resell room at high price)
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Feb 13, 2024 05:10
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uninterrupted posted:Another note I forgot that someone mentioned up thread, if you need to book a train, use booking.com. Booking.com is Dutch. I think you mean trip.com
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Feb 13, 2024 10:39
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a7m2 posted:Booking.com is Dutch. I think you mean trip.com
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Feb 13, 2024 14:12
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This is a no dutch thread fyi
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Feb 13, 2024 15:37
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I'm travelling to China next week for a business trip. Any advice or guidance? I don't think I'll have much time to explore. I am a tad apprehensive about how warm the people are.
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Feb 15, 2024 21:25
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Qubee posted:I'm travelling to China next week for a business trip. Any advice or guidance? I don't think I'll have much time to explore. I am a tad apprehensive about how warm the people are. Random people you meet are likely to be friendly and potentially helpful but not at all courteous. In the slightest. People you meet for business... are doing business, so look out. As long as you approach it with a sense of flexibility and curiosity, you should be fine.
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Feb 16, 2024 01:52
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People here are super welcoming and nice to visitors, especially in areas with fewer foreigners. As the poster above said the people you're meeting for business will have ulterior motives, but don't let that stop you from having a good time if they invite you out for dinner and/or KTV. A lot of business is done by wooing or impressing the other party (things are changing a bit so this might not happen to you but it's still fairly common) so that's the angle but there's an assumption that the other party knows this too so it's nothing sinister. If you're having a bite at a BBQ or you're in a bar and some people invite you over to their table, you definitely should join them if only for a bit. People tend to be curious and want to chat with you despite the language barrier and you'll get offered loads of cigarettes, drinks, food, etc. If someone approaches you on the street and asks you to go for tea or visit a gallery or whatever, just politely but firmly decline. I don't know how common they are in 2024 but those are scams. Basically, don't travel with anyone to a second location unless you it makes sense (like the business partners you're meeting or colleagues from the same company you work at), but definitely interact with people if you get the chance. It's also a very safe country. Aside from scams you're extremely unlikely to get into any trouble so don't be afraid to explore off the beaten path. Where are you going to be visiting? I'm sure goons can recommend some cool spots to visit. A general rule for finding good food if you're not being taken somewhere: don't eat in hotels or places that look really fancy. Do eat in dinky places with cheap plastic chairs that have a lot of customers. There are definitely plenty of exceptions to this but as a general rule it works well. a7m2 fucked around with this message at 11:06 on Feb 16, 2024 |
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Feb 16, 2024 11:02
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Thanks for the heads up, I'll be going to Xianyang
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Feb 16, 2024 11:58
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How long does (tourist) visa issuance tend to take? Does it cause problems/delays if you've been to Taiwan before? There are ROC stamps in my current passport, so definitely no avoiding them knowing. I see there's a Past Travel section in the application, but annoyingly I can't see what's in it without filling in everything else first, which I don't really want to do until I have a better sense of whether I'm going to do this trip. (got laid off, want to head over on short enough notice that I'm not staying out of work for months waiting for approval) Also, I'm the kind of person that likes the unusual, distinct or remote regions of countries (I made it to Greenland before Denmark proper, included Christmas Island on my Australia tour, etc). I am guessing it would be frowned upon for an American to say I want to check out Tibet and Xinjiang... Is it even worth looking for a place that will host a foreigner in either of those places? Are there any other similarly distinct but less sensitive parts of the country you could recommend? Alternatively, seems like Hainan has their visa-on-arrival thing going again. Might consider going to a different SE Asian country, but dropping in there for a bit. Is there anything interesting there, or is it VoA precisely because it's a blandly anodyne tourist park full of carefully managed money-extracting bullshit?
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Feb 19, 2024 00:56
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Akratic Method posted:How long does (tourist) visa issuance tend to take? Does it cause problems/delays if you've been to Taiwan before? There are ROC stamps in my current passport, so definitely no avoiding them knowing. I see there's a Past Travel section in the application, but annoyingly I can't see what's in it without filling in everything else first, which I don't really want to do until I have a better sense of whether I'm going to do this trip. (got laid off, want to head over on short enough notice that I'm not staying out of work for months waiting for approval) Lots of other people should be able to chime in, but my visa took like 10 days because I had a criminal charge I had to send paperwork in for. I don't imagine having been to Taiwan would cause you as much trouble. Your post is a little unclear but if you're going there unemployed and they find that out, that would be a much bigger issue. Chinas big on making sure you can gently caress off home once your trip is over.
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Feb 19, 2024 02:14
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Akratic Method posted:How long does (tourist) visa issuance tend to take? Does it cause problems/delays if you've been to Taiwan before? There are ROC stamps in my current passport, so definitely no avoiding them knowing. I see there's a Past Travel section in the application, but annoyingly I can't see what's in it without filling in everything else first, which I don't really want to do until I have a better sense of whether I'm going to do this trip. (got laid off, want to head over on short enough notice that I'm not staying out of work for months waiting for approval) you can just go to xinjiang, it isn’t frowned on at all and it’s a huge tourist destination. if you want to go to tibet, you can, but you need to get a travel permit in addition to your visa and technically you need an official tour guide with you
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Feb 19, 2024 02:16
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The only thing I'd say about Tibet / Xinjiang is, go with an established tour / tour guide. Don't try to go off the map to get the super authentic experience. As long as you go as a tourist and do normal tourist things, you'll have no problems. And even if you decide to ignore this advice, the typical fall-through worst-case with China for anything short of major crime is "you get deported and have trouble getting another visa in future", so the stakes aren't particularly high. Oh, and they won't give a poo poo about anything you did re: Taiwan.
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Feb 19, 2024 05:45
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I’d heard xinjiang gets weird cuz random parts of the cities are blocked off for people without a Chinese id card. This was a couple years ago tho.
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Feb 19, 2024 13:16
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Also hainan is only worthwhile if you’re going on vacation and staying in a resort imo. It’s mega expensive compared to the rest of China and the only real thing to do is “beach” and the beaches are like fine but nothing amazing (a lot better than the rest of China and most of east Asia tho to be fair)
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Feb 19, 2024 13:19
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I wouldn't worry too much about the employment thing and you can just claim you're employed (my friend was never asked to prove it) There are some foreigner-restricted areas but they're usually marked and if you do enter them by accident you'll just be told to leave. Maybe scolded too but that just depends on the cop. Most of Qinghai is restricted due to its proximity to Tibet, but Xining city is fine. Some areas in Xinjiang are restricted too, and anywhere there's a military base. It's not common outside of those two provinces and it's not something to be worried about either way: I've been politely turned back once myself after entering a restricted area near a military base by accident. Atopian posted:And even if you decide to ignore this advice, the typical fall-through worst-case with China for anything short of major crime is "you get deported and have trouble getting another visa in future", so the stakes aren't particularly high. Which is fixed by "losing" your passport and getting a new one
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Feb 19, 2024 13:23
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a7m2 posted:Which is fixed by "losing" your passport and getting a new one does that still work?
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Feb 19, 2024 13:54
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fart simpson posted:does that still work? I don't know for certain but nothing else has changed about how much of a pain it is to update all your info so I'm going to guess so
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Feb 19, 2024 14:33
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Side note about Tibet is there there's counties in provinces that border Tibet that are considered Tibetan autonomous counties, despite being in Yunnan etc, and they have lots of Tibetan temples and cultural stuff but the permit stuff doesn't apply at all. It's a much easier option if you want to check that part of China out for just a weekend and don't mind not seeing Lhasa itself (you'd probably have altitude headaches the whole two days tho lol) It's been a while since I went, I guess, but I doubt that's changed
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Feb 19, 2024 15:40
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Eminent DNS posted:Side note about Tibet is there there's counties in provinces that border Tibet that are considered Tibetan autonomous counties, despite being in Yunnan etc, and they have lots of Tibetan temples and cultural stuff but the permit stuff doesn't apply at all. It's a much easier option if you want to check that part of China out for just a weekend and don't mind not seeing Lhasa itself (you'd probably have altitude headaches the whole two days tho lol) yep, about a year and a half ago i went to some of the tibetan areas in yunnan and i didn't need anything special at all
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Feb 19, 2024 15:52
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bonus that the tibet region is one of the few places in the world (that I know of) where you can just drink a cup of hot melted butter like it's tea, so it's a great place for goons edit: also these places are cool there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Dragon_Snow_Mountain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Leaping_Gorge double edit: I guess that area is Naxi instead of Tibetan, sorry Eminent DNS fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Feb 19, 2024 |
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Feb 19, 2024 17:54
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Eminent DNS posted:bonus that the tibet region is one of the few places in the world (that I know of) where you can just drink a cup of hot melted butter like it's tea, so it's a great place for goons I can do that at my house
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Feb 19, 2024 17:55
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Mons Hubris posted:I can do that at my house its not the same
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Feb 19, 2024 17:56
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I think I'd pay a hundred dollars for one of those giant jugs of butter tea right now. I miss that stuff so much.
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Feb 19, 2024 18:03
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Eminent DNS posted:bonus that the tibet region is one of the few places in the world (that I know of) where you can just drink a cup of hot melted butter like it's tea, so it's a great place for goons Definitely has that Tibet feel. Can recommend the Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Deqen run, with Deqen (Shangri-La) being decidedly Tibetan-looking.
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Feb 20, 2024 01:23
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i dont like the butter tea
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Feb 20, 2024 05:11
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Thanks, all! Good to know to maybe not let on I'm between jobs. But 10 days' processing even with a past criminal charge means this should probably be quite doable on a month's notice! I probably will get a guide for a fair portion of the trip, possibly the whole thing outside of the top-tier cities, as long as it's not exorbitant. I don't know any Chinese, and presumably can't learn too much in the next six weeks (although I'll give a solid try) so I expect outside the major cities (and maybe often within?) I'd start having trouble accomplishing anything complex. Any suggestions on where to search for one? Hainan sounds like a skip since I don't really do beaches. Atopian posted:Can recommend the Kunming-Dali-Lijiang-Deqen run, with Deqen (Shangri-La) being decidedly Tibetan-looking. Eminent DNS posted:edit: also these places are cool there But Yunnan was already on the list of regions I'd like to see, so I'll make a note of that route and those spots! I will probably try to get permission to go to Tibet, as I kinda want to ride the Himalayan train and also would like to see Potala Palace, but it's nice to know the culture has spread further than just the official region so I can enjoy a piping hot cup of butter regardless of whether I make it all the way up there.
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Feb 20, 2024 07:44
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As someone who does not drink at all, is Chinese barbeque marinated in alcohol or something? Because twice now I've eaten it during my stay, and twice it has mildly affected me. It reminds me of when I'd make bolognese, the red wine in the sauce would be enough to get me just the slightest bit tipsy.
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Feb 21, 2024 13:02
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Qubee posted:As someone who does not drink at all, is Chinese barbeque marinated in alcohol or something? Because twice now I've eaten it during my stay, and twice it has mildly affected me. Probably, it's pretty common to have alcohol in a marinate.
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Feb 21, 2024 17:18
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A lot of recipes for bbq/cured meat use baijiu. Most meat preparations of any kind will use some Shaoxing or similar.
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Feb 21, 2024 18:22
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