How to travel in China
Here are top tips and tricks and app recommendations that make your travel in China work like a charm.
Caveat when you travel in China
For most of the useful apps in China that makes traveling easier you need to sign up with a Chinese mobile number. If you are not in a major city, this is hard to come by or next to impossible because to get a Chinese SIM card you need to use your Chinese ID. Yes, correct, if you are a foreigner and only have the Chinese visa you cannot sign up for a contract nor can you purchase any prepaid SIMs. I have not explore the major city's supply yet but the work around here is to ask a friend or someone you know in China to sign up for a short term contract or prepaid SIM card for you. If you just stay for a few days I recommend not to get a Chinese SIM card as the hassle outweighs the benefit. Instead try Sim2fly which is in my long travel experience the finest SIM card. They have two versions, one for Europe and the Americas, the other for Asia and Australia. With this SIM card you don't have to change numbers anymore when you change the country you visit, the same plan works like a charm in the other country to set your foot in. The plan included 4 GB of data for 8 days and you can top up by PayPal.
App Recommendations
This is the de facto chat app and app for everything in China. Make sure you sign up for a new account when you are in China using the App Store in China and sign up with a Chinese mobile number. This makes sure that your WeChat is the top notch version that most Chinese people have which include additional features such as food delivery, DiDi taxi hailing, WeChat Pay etc. If you sign up elsewhere the features may not be complete.
Meituan 美团外卖
Use this app to get your food delivered to any address in China within a short amount of time. It's like Just Eat or uberEat but only available in China. The range of food is humongous and super cheap as compared to going to the actual restaurant.
Baidu Maps
Google does not work in China so you have to resort to its Chinese rival, Baidu. Baidu Maps is similar to Google Maps but works better within China. It covers more information on public transport and accurate ETA. I tried Google Maps via a VPN but it is not accurate at all and unreliable in China. Do not use Google Maps there as you will get lost without knowing why.
WhatsVPN
By far the best VPN for Android I have used so far. I signed up for ExpressVPN but the price is too high for it's benefit. Just install multiple free VPN to use up their bandwidth limits. Make sure that you install the VPN on your laptop before you come to China. If you don't do it, it's not almost impossible to install VPNs in China since they also begin to block the VPN's websites. If you don't have the VPN already you are basically locked out forever. It's just a matter of time until all the useful VPN websites themselves are totally blocked.
Google Translate
This is the only app from Google that is useful in China since you can download Chinese and English or German onto your phone and use it offline. The services seem to work fine for now if you use it offline without VPN.
DiDi
It's the Uber equivalent in China. You don't need to sign up to use it.
Airbnb
It's actually not blocked in China, so enjoy your stay.
Booking.com
This is my favourite app to book hostels and hotels in China. It works like a charm.
Ok now let's turn our attention to some basics of payment. You can almost always pay with WeChat. Sometimes this is the only way to pay. Like this massage chair in my hostel.
It has a QR code that you need to scan inside WeChat which takes you to an in-app applet that shows you the options of choosing the time of your massage and how much you pay. It is like 10 CNY for 20 minutes which is a great deal. The QR code and instructions look like this.
You can even pay local street food with WeChat Pay. It's more valuable than cash or credit card in China now. I saw people only taking their phone with them when they go out and use the QR code they have to be scanned by the merchant at a supermarket. It took 2 seconds instead of using your cash that you have to tediously take out of your wallet. China is the first country that I have seen that did mobile payment in the right way.
The next thing is that Chinese people are super friendly to foreigners. They love to chat with you and ask where you are from and what your experiences are at home. But most of the time they cannot speak English so you either have to learn a bit of Chinese or use Google Translate.
So, with all these tips and tricks what are you waiting for?! Go get your ticket to China and have fun! I recommend Shenzhen, Guilin and Zhangjiajie. What are your top spots in China and have you been there? Let me know in the comment section.