this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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Hi all, my spouse and I are planning a trip to china this year for vacation, in October. I was hoping to field some advice on where to go exactly, what to see, and general advice on navigating while only understanding English. What apps should I install on my phone for payment, translation, etc.

Rough plan currently is to fly into Hong Kong/stay for 1-2 days. Train to Shenzhen for 1-2 days. Train to Beijing 1-2 days. Then fly back.

Not sure exactly what we want to see, yet. For sure, the Great Wall. Also want to take a super fast train to Beijing.

Happy to hear all your thoughts, thanks!

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[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Seems like a lot of travel time for a short trip, maybe spend more time in two places instead of trying to fit three in.

DeepL is good translation app.

WeChat pay is going to be helpful, and/or Alipay

Having a good VPN will be useful if you need to connect with people back home, although many foreign focused hotels have a VPN type connection built in to their Wifi and I think all of Guandong province has a similar thing with internet connection there.

[–] KuroXppi@hexbear.net 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

although many foreign focused hotels have a VPN type connection built in to their Wifi and I think all of Guandong province has a similar thing with internet connection there.

This was not my experience, I was in Guangdong earlier this year and I was reliant on VPNs both on data and on wifi. I stayed at middle-of-the-road hotels. I had three VPNs and mostly used two if the other went down. Mullvad was my main.

[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah I was just talking to a friend who was there recently and he was the one who told me about being able to get on US apps without VPN

[–] KuroXppi@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

Not all US apps are blocked, anecdotally, I was able to connect to a few blocked services and sites (including hexbear) after arrival on my international roaming before the firewall 'caught up' and restricted me. It was about half a day before I had to fire up a VPN to access those. I wouldn't rely on that at all however.