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Aero737 posted:Welp. About to travel to China for the first time in 8 years. Taking off on 11/4. I lost all WeChat pay capabilities when I converted from Weixin to Wechat several years back. How hosed am I if I just try and rely on cash? Lots of places probably won't have change, you're kinda rolling the dice of a place being epayment only. Can you set up Alipay? They take foreign Visa cards
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Oct 20, 2023 16:37
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 19:44 |
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JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:I’ve been thinking about visiting China. No idea where really, just getting into the logistics of it So: 1. Figure out where the closest Chinese consulate is to you, find the application for a tourist visa, fill it out. Before you go you need to have your flight in, flight out, and a hotel for every place you go to for every day of the trip already purchased (if you're taking a train overnight they seem to be ok with a 1 day gap). If you're going to multiple cities and commuting by train that's fine, you'll just need to sign something saying "I will go between cities x/y/z on train" 2. Print the application and any other documents you need out, and schedule an appointment with the consulate 3. Go to the consulate, bring your application/documents/passport/sukodu or a book to read (at least in NYC your phone needs to be fully turned off when you're inside the consulate). Make sure you have everything you need printed, you cannot email the consulate stuff and have them print it there. Worst case, if you forgot something you need to print, leave and ask around, there's a good chance there's a little store nearby that lets you print stuff (there's a bodega by the nyc consulate that will let you air print for a buck or two) 4. Sit in a litany of lines. Eventually go through every paper like 3 times with 2 different people. Pay like 400 bucks. Hand over your passport, and get a little receipt for it 5. Keep your phone off silent, wait for a call. Sometimes they email, but usually they'll call from numbers with weird area codes to tell you that your visa is ready, or that there's a problem 6. Go back in, get your passport back with the visa inserted Also yeah that's weird I didn't get it ever hear about a random drug screening. That said, do not gently caress with drugs in China, don't buy them, don't do them, don't bring them, don't accept them from anyone. For payments: - p much everyone takes Alipay or WeChat. Alipay you can easily set up with a us card. WeChat is tougher because you need someone to scan your WeChat code when you're first registering. I guess ask around here, see if someone will scan you in? You absolutely need at least one though, because - China runs on miniapps. Basically, you'll scan a QR code in WeChat or Alipay and get sent to a little applet where you can order food or make a reservation or register health data. - download and set up DiDi. It's Chinese Uber, works great, very cheap - Apple Maps works pretty well for public transit everywhere but Hong Kong, because HK is a bullshit maze town - keep a bit of cash around to get subway and bus passes, sometimes they don't take Alipay, or at least not foreign card Alipay - in fact, keep in mind anything you can rent with an app, you probably won't have access too without a Chinese bank account linked Alipay/wechat. This includes those rentable phone chargers and scooters - I don't have a good link for it, but there are HK esims for sale that will give you cheap unlimited unfirewalled data in China. Most us cell providers have a 10 dollar roaming option that's also unfirewalled, but it's usually only a gig or two - like any foreign country where you don't know the language, download a few translator apps, get used to using them, download Chinese to be used offline - try to learn a bit of the language before you get there, even just "thank you" is nice to have. I like HelloChinese if you want an app. - lastly, I swear my phone burns through battery so much faster in China. Bring a portable charger in your pocket, existing in China with a dead phone is hard
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Feb 10, 2024 17:10
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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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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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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:Booking.com is Dutch. I think you mean trip.com
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Feb 13, 2024 14:12
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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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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 19:44 |
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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. You can keep an eye out for halal places, there's a lot of halal bbq stalls and they wont marinade with alcohol
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Feb 21, 2024 18:36
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