A week in China - Where/What?

[SYD]

What's everyone's advice about the water from Chinese taps?

I think "don't drink" is fairly evident (almost anywhere in the world anyway), except after boiling, but would you brush your teeth in tap water, and should you actively avoid mouthing or swallowing water in the shower?

General advice is don’t drink the tap water. Hotel rooms we stayed at provided bottle water. Lots of bottle water. I used that to rinse etc.

 

[anat0l]

Well, pretty much set up.

I'm going to leave my CPAP power bank at the concierge of a Hong Kong hotel which we will be staying at when we leave China (Holiday Inn Golden Mile). This will allow me to use my power bank and thus my CPAP for my CX long haul flights between Hong Kong and Australia. (Just pray for a spare seat next to me so that I have a bit more space to put the machine on)

Set up Alipay and Wechat Pay.

I have a data eSIM with Holafly for data in China. We'll see how well it stands up, but apparently the reviews are good. My Tangerine eSIM will not work at all in China anyway, unless I add a roaming pack (can't even receive SMS without a roaming pack).

 

[SYD]

I have a data eSIM with Holafly for data in China. We'll see how well it stands up, but apparently the reviews are good.

It’ll work fine.

My Tangerine eSIM will not work at all in China anyway, unless I add a roaming pack (can't even receive SMS without a roaming pack).

Not familiar with Tangerine, but if it connects to a network when you arrive in China, it should be able to receive SMS - hopefully.

Edit: check if there’s a setting in app to activate “roaming” - hopefully that’s enough to receive txt for free.

If it doesn’t, you might find some speed bumps using some websites and apps (including AliPay and WeChat) if that’s your phone number linked to those.

 

[moa999]

Not familiar with Tangerine

Tangerine is a Telstra MVNO so should be able to receive incoming SMS's without issue (and calls on VoWifi or VoLTE/5G) with no roaming paid for (but allowed on phone)
Woolworths + an eSim has worked fine for me before

 

[SYD]

Tangerine is a Telstra MVNO so should be able to receive incoming SMS ls without issue (and calls on VoWifi or VoLTE/5G).
Woolworths + an eSim has worked fine for me before

See my edited comment above.

There’s usually a block on all roaming unless pre-activated on most services!

 

[elanshin]

What's everyone's advice about the water from Chinese taps?

I think "don't drink" is fairly evident (almost anywhere in the world anyway), except after boiling, but would you brush your teeth in tap water, and should you actively avoid mouthing or swallowing water in the shower?

Brushing teeth and general should be fine especially in the major cities. Water treatment has improved significantly but as for trusting it to drink from tap - i don't think anyone is doing that just yet.

 

[markis10]

View attachment 454221View attachment 454222

Not surprising, travelling with 20-35 lithium batteries I allow at least 90mins for security each time

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Brushing teeth and general should be fine especially in the major cities. Water treatment has improved significantly but as for trusting it to drink from tap - i don't think anyone is doing that just yet.

Worth noting too that in restaurants, asking for a glass of water will give you a glass of filtered water. Some tourist restaurants charge obscene prices for bottled water, and it’s not necessary!

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Shekou near Shenzhen Bay is a lovely waterfront area with bike paths, parks, modern shopping malls, restaurants and hotels.

 

[anat0l]

A bit of an update.

We flew into Chongqing today... and a bit of a mixed bag overall.

First of all, I have a feeling that WeChat Pay and Alipay with a foreign card will not work when paying for some public transportation. I say, a feeling, because more than likely I've missed something or missed doing something.

I tried to use it to pay for the Cityflyer bus (the A series services between HK and HKIA), and the bus driver said using my "pay vendor" QR code will not work. I have to use "transfer" instead, but this is also wrong because transfer is for sending money to another account holder (e.g. via phone number), not necessarily a merchant. On WeChat I found there is a "mini app" called Transportation. Even though I verified my WeChat account via passport and so on, when I tried to use the Transportation mini-app, it would not accept my foreign debit card (only HK or Mainland China bank-based accounts). In the end, I only had HKD 50 on me (most drivers won't have any change), so the driver accepted that and forgave the other HKD 20 that we owed.

A similar kind of thing happened when we arrived in Chongqing and were purchasing tickets for the metro. The machines only accept cash or QR code payment. When I tried to use Alipay or WeChat Pay, they present a barcode to scan, which I used the Scan function on both apps to do so. It then allowed me to confirm the amount to pay, but when I did this, both apps said that it would not accept foreign cards.

In the end, with my broken Mandarin and a bit of Translate in between, we only managed to buy metro tickets by convincing someone to pay for our tickets (only CNY 10 altogether) using their WeChat/Alipay, then we gave them a CNY 100 bill and they WeChat transferred back CNY 90 to me. So now I have a WeChat Balance of CNY 90. Not many people at all seem to be able to help in breaking a large bill (probably no surprise given the ubiquity of Alipay and WeChat Pay).

Tip - if you are withdrawing yuan or exchanging yuan (cash bills), make a small purchase before you leave the airport to break a CNY 100 into some smaller bills (to be honest, probably a good idea with any currency). Ticket machines may not accept CNY 100 bills (the Chongqing Metro ones don't). Also try to ensure that CNY 100 bills are some of the newest, because some places will not accept older CNY 100 bills as they can't confidently accept that they may not be counterfeits (it's not that they believe they are counterfeits, but they can't be assured it isn't). Most reputable forex places outside of China and I would assume ATMs would nearly always dispense current-use, genuine bills.

Translate is a bit funny. While it probably works relatively well, it took three attempts at speech-to-text for a waitress at our hotspot restaurant to tell me that the condiments were available to take over there. The camera function (while not live all the time) was relatively good at translating the menu, however. I was thinking of paying the hotpot meal using Alipay or WeChat, but before I could contemplate and agonise over whether they could scan my barcode rather than I scan theirs with the possible result the same as when we were stuck buying Chongqing metro tickets previously, Dad said just pay in cash. That's when we realised that some places were hesitant to take older CNY 100 bills rather than newer ones.

I'm still being admonished for my lack of adept Mandarin.

 

[Flashback]

A bit of an update.

We flew into Chongqing today... and a bit of a mixed bag overall.

First of all, I have a feeling that WeChat Pay and Alipay with a foreign card will not work when paying for some public transportation. I say, a feeling, because more than likely I've missed something or missed doing something.

I tried to use it to pay for the Cityflyer bus (the A series services between HK and HKIA), and the bus driver said using my "pay vendor" QR code will not work. I have to use "transfer" instead, but this is also wrong because transfer is for sending money to another account holder (e.g. via phone number), not necessarily a merchant. On WeChat I found there is a "mini app" called Transportation. Even though I verified my WeChat account via passport and so on, when I tried to use the Transportation mini-app, it would not accept my foreign debit card (only HK or Mainland China bank-based accounts). In the end, I only had HKD 50 on me (most drivers won't have any change), so the driver accepted that and forgave the other HKD 20 that we owed.

A similar kind of thing happened when we arrived in Chongqing and were purchasing tickets for the metro. The machines only accept cash or QR code payment. When I tried to use Alipay or WeChat Pay, they present a barcode to scan, which I used the Scan function on both apps to do so. It then allowed me to confirm the amount to pay, but when I did this, both apps said that it would not accept foreign cards.

In the end, with my broken Mandarin and a bit of Translate in between, we only managed to buy metro tickets by convincing someone to pay for our tickets (only CNY 10 altogether) using their WeChat/Alipay, then we gave them a CNY 100 bill and they WeChat transferred back CNY 90 to me. So now I have a WeChat Balance of CNY 90. Not many people at all seem to be able to help in breaking a large bill (probably no surprise given the ubiquity of Alipay and WeChat Pay).

Tip - if you are withdrawing yuan or exchanging yuan (cash bills), make a small purchase before you leave the airport to break a CNY 100 into some smaller bills (to be honest, probably a good idea with any currency). Ticket machines may not accept CNY 100 bills (the Chongqing Metro ones don't). Also try to ensure that CNY 100 bills are some of the newest, because some places will not accept older CNY 100 bills as they can't confidently accept that they may not be counterfeits (it's not that they believe they are counterfeits, but they can't be assured it isn't). Most reputable forex places outside of China and I would assume ATMs would nearly always dispense current-use, genuine bills.

Translate is a bit funny. While it probably works relatively well, it took three attempts at speech-to-text for a waitress at our hotspot restaurant to tell me that the condiments were available to take over there. The camera function (while not live all the time) was relatively good at translating the menu, however. I was thinking of paying the hotpot meal using Alipay or WeChat, but before I could contemplate and agonise over whether they could scan my barcode rather than I scan theirs with the possible result the same as when we were stuck buying Chongqing metro tickets previously, Dad said just pay in cash. That's when we realised that some places were hesitant to take older CNY 100 bills rather than newer ones.

I'm still being admonished for my lack of adept Mandarin.

Which card(s) do you have backed off to AliPay?

 

[anat0l]

Which card(s) do you have backed off to AliPay?

I've attached my ING Orange Everyday Debit card to Alipay. I've actually already used it once because I paid for our high speed train tickets with it (the agent sent us a payment link to Alipay, which opened the app and allowed the payment to proceed, with the usual 3% foreign card surcharge for any transactions over CNY 200).

Additionally, I've now attached my NAB Debit (grandfathered Citibank Debit) to WeChat Pay.

 

[Flashback]

I've attached my ING Orange Everyday Debit card to Alipay. I've actually already used it once because I paid for our high speed train tickets with it (the agent sent us a payment link to Alipay, which opened the app and allowed the payment to proceed, with the usual 3% foreign card surcharge for any transactions over CNY 200).

Additionally, I've now attached my NAB Debit (grandfathered Citibank Debit) to WeChat Pay.

Might be worth attaching it as a secondary card to Alipay.

 

[anat0l]

I'm still being admonished for my lack of adept Mandarin.

I should probably clear this one a bit up.

My dad is mainly admonishing me. Why? I did Mandarin weekend classes for six years when I was a child. The language in our household was English as it was the only language that everyone in the household could speak fluently (all aside from English, my Mum can speak Mandarin and Hokkien; my father can speak Tagalog and some Hokkien; my sister refused to learn Mandarin). Naturally, without a lot of immersive practice (or otherwise being forced), my Mandarin has not been the best (it is accented and inaccurate in tone).

So of course I'm getting a lot of schtick from him because I'm not fluent in Mandarin and not really dealing with interactions as smoothly as they can be.

That said, with whatever Mandarin I can remember, it seems there are a handful of locals who are rather impressed, and (somewhat admittedly) their ability to speak English pales in comparison to my ability to speak Mandarin (whether that is saying something is a whole different kettle of fish). Reading is somewhat OK for me (which is good as I'm trying to use Baidu Maps); listening (e.g. to announcements or even most direct speech) is a nightmare; thank goodness I don't have to write anything.

Loading a good translator app will do anyone who has no ability in Mandarin a great deal of good, but to effectively do that you will want to have a data plan while in China or find yourself connected to wifi as often as possible. Booking whole tours with English-speaking guides and agents will of course be a viable alternative.

Keep in mind I'm writing this from Chongqing. While Chongqing is a major city in China, it's still relatively undiscovered by foreign tourists, so English is far from prevalent across the city. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangdong are more likely to have more people who can speak some English (so long as you speak slowly, in simple words and short phrases). I'm saying all of this rather uninformed and based on instinct, so I'm sure someone else can comment much more accurately.

 

[markis10]

First of all, I have a feeling that WeChat Pay and Alipay with a foreign card will not work when paying for some public transportation. I say, a feeling, because more than likely I've missed something or missed doing something.

Hopefully you have verified your ID in Alipay, as this enhances the services you can use significantly. It under my account, identity information.

To use the metro you need a virtual card in Alipay, go to transportation, select the city, it will then show the card you can use on the bus/metro, accept the card, and then you will have a QR code that works at the gate/barrier of the metro.

 

[SYD]

The AliPay metro cards worked seamlessly for us recently (Beijing and Shanghai). Easy to set up and use. Defaulted to my UBank DC (whereas other spend went to 28° MC).

Never got around to “verifying” our AP accounts. From memory, it’s something like US$5000 transaction limit / US$50k pa before you’re forced to verify?

Didn’t bother we WeChat at all.

 

[markis10]

Never got around to “verifying” our AP accounts. From memory, it’s something like US$5000 transaction limit / US$50k pa before you’re forced to verify?

You cannot use balance payments without verifying, regardless of your spend, given Anat0l now has a balance I thought it would be worth the hassle

 

[SYD]

You cannot use balance payments without verifying, regardless of your spend, given Anat0l now has a balance I thought it would be worth the hassle

Yep, they mentioned upthread that they already “validated” their WeChat - which presumably why they were able to receive a payment?

But to your point, the virtual metro cards don’t require that and are a must if visiting as a tourist!

I found the metro ticket machines overly complicated and didn’t like my 28° MC but UBank DC worked. Did that once before we worked out the virtual cards. Plus we could then add Shanghai before we even arrived.

 

[moa999]

On my last trip I still had a physical Shanghai PTC so used that though had to get it re-activated at a service desk as it hasn't been used since 2018..

But had 24hr in Hangzhou and couldn't work out how to buy the virtual Metro card without a minimum 50 RMB deposit, so just purchased single tickets from machine paying via Alipay.

@anat0l download AMaps and switch to English to make things easier

 

[SYD]

On my last trip I still had a physical Shanghai PTC so used that though had to get it re-activated at a service desk as it hasn't been used since 2018..

But had 24hr in Hangzhou and couldn't work out how to buy the virtual Metro card without a minimum 50 RMB deposit, so just purchased single tickets from machine paying via Alipay.

In AliPay, you don’t “buy” a virtual card. You just setup one up and it’s automatically linked to your AliPay account. It produces a unique QR code to scan in/out of the metro and you get charged the relevant fare on exit.