u/Historical-Pound-314

Just thought I put it out there to help others.

1. Payments. Set up Wechat & Alipay. Link different bank cards. Turn off VPN when paying. Didi and many other apps are built into wechat and alipay. Cashless and cardless, mobile pay for everything. I still have around 300 RMB in cash from several trips ago for emergencies.2. VPN. I route mine back to my home server, works great.

2. esim, get a esim on trip.com, you can use whatsapp etc on your esim. I'd still recommend getting a local sim depending how autonomous you need to be on your travels. Chinese apps want a Chinese phone number for verification, and transactions get flagged sometimes with a foreign number, often annoying. You can get a physical sim during working hours at the most major airports, data packages they sell are 20-30 rmb more expensive than local telecom shop prices, but worth it if you need data to find the hotel or journey right after landing.

3. Nav. Amap. Baidu. and apple maps surprisingly works too. Google maps is pretty limited, especially for public transportation info

4. Booking itinerary. Trip.com for everything. I've tried taobao feizhu a few times for slightly cheaper prices, the trip.com interface is more foreigner friendly. flight, trains, hotels, attractions, etc. High-speed rail and subway. You go through security, find your platform, and get on the train. At certain station or hours, expect total chaos.

5. Shared bikes. Scan and ride, my favorite way to travel around in China. For the most part, Blue bikes = Alipay, green bikes = WeChat, yellow bikes = Meituan. varies by city, but those are usually the main ones. Some towns have red/orange from mulnicipalities, usually wechat mini app and local sim will get you covered.

6. Meituan, Dianping & RedNote for more adventures

7. Carry passport everywhere. For trains, attractions, your passport is literally your ticket.

8. Don't expect English anywhere. For the most part,

9. AI: Get doubao or deepseek before you go. Chinese version of Chatgpt. Speak into it in English and it will give you what you need. Translate, explain things, etc. Doubao interface is more foreigners friendly, made by bytedance, very helpful.

11.Toilets. The worst part of the experience. Carry tissues everywhere and even wet wipes. Airports or big malls are probably okay, aka clean, but don't expect paper to be provided. If you go on even a little adventure, expect squat toilets without anything. Bring your own toilet paper and wet wipes. That's all I'm saying.

Overall, once you get your phone set up, travelling around China is honestly a lot easier than people expect. It's like everywhere else, there's good and bad, things you like and don't like. It's under a totally different system, so keep a open mind. Hope this helps. Happy China Travelling!