A week in China - Where/What?

[SYD]

Not really off the beaten track, but maybe a flying day tip to Xian to see The Terracotta Warriors. Unique and amazing. EDIT - I see SYD already covered it

Maybe by train??

The Beijing - Xi’an train is still a good 4-5 hrs. We used points to fly to get a half day in at Xi’an before off to Bill and Ben (and friends) the next day. The train to Shanghai was almost 6hrs.

Spooky, but as I typed that, a report just came on ABC news about the TW exhibition now on in Perth!

 

[Flashback]

Not really off the beaten track, but maybe a flying day tip to Xian to see The Terracotta Warriors. Unique and amazing. EDIT - I see SYD already covered it

Maybe by train??

Don't worry.. I'll still make it from China to Greenland!

 

[anat0l]

For Xi’an, get to the warriors as early as possible. Even mid week, we were there fairly early but with thousands of our closest friends. Start with Hall 1 (the big one) and not as some guidebooks suggest doing them in reverse order. Downtown Xi’an is quite interesting and worth a half day/night.

Damn, too late. We booked the tickets through the portal online on their website, and selected an entry time at around the middle of the day.

Guess we'll be squeezed. Oh well.

The Beijing - Xi’an train is still a good 4-5 hrs. We used points to fly to get a half day in at Xi’an before off to Bill and Ben (and friends) the next day. The train to Shanghai was almost 6hrs.

We're going to take the train from Xi'an to Shenzhen. It works out to be about 9.5 hours. Fortunately we'll be in First Class (which isn't the best accommodations, that is instead Business Class ). Will be a very long day, but the flight there would have been at best just a little more expensive, and it's not like we had a lot to be done that day. Plus Dad has been aching to try a Chinese high speed train.

When Australians travel to other countries with high speed rail of any sorts, we sometimes view them with a sense of romance that native passengers don't have, i.e. the latter know it's all about cost and/or time, and that is that.

 

[BjJames]

Haven't set up Wechat Pay yet.

Was wondering - can one pay for things in China with Alipay without an active Internet connection? What about Wechat Pay? If no, then I guess I'll need to look into a local eSIM.



I look Chinese and I did take some classes when younger, but my Mandarin is terrible - accented, not tonally accurate and lost a lot of vocabulary due to lack of practice. Mainlanders will probably look at me either comically or with contempt because this Chinese idiot embarrassingly can't speak Chinese, and won't be helpful. Have downloaded the Chinese offline language pack for Google Translate; not sure if there's something else better to use.

WeChat Pay can be difficult for a foreigner to set up --- recommend the Alipay App and connect an Australian credit card or two, before you leave Oz. Sometimes a data connection might not work with the first card you choose, so it's good to have a back-up
.
You'll need an active internet connection .. there are local sims, but depending on the deal you can get from your Australian Telco for international roaming (don't forget to set that up!), it can be easier to use that, *IF* they give you a generous data allowance.

Don't worry about your rusty Mandarin (Putonghua) -- you'll get brownie points for trying -- certainly not contempt.

And make sure people know that you are Australian --- not "meiguoren" (American). We are much better regarded than our American cousins.
Phonetically in Mandarin, Australia is "ow-da-li-ya" (the political country) or "ow-joe" (the continent) ["ow" as in "how"] That's the spoken phonetics . in Chinese pinyin it is Aodaliya or Aozhou.
You might hear a local say back smiling to you "Daishu" (die-shoe) - that's "kangaroo" ! With that, you can a make a little charade like fun - and enjoy the exchange!

 

[elanshin]

WeChat Pay can be difficult for a foreigner to set up --- recommend the Alipay App and connect an Australian credit card or two, before you leave Oz. Sometimes a data connection might not work with the first card you choose, so it's good to have a back-up

WeChat pay has been no problems setting up post covid. Basically same requirements as Alipay. The only problem is having cash wallets on those. That need either a local to send you money or you need a chinese bank card. For just payment transactions foreign cards are fine.

Already prepped Alipay backed up by my ING Direct Orange Everyday debit card. Did a test paying for train tickets the other night and it works; after adding the mandatory 3% foreign card fee, works out to be about 3.5% against midmarket (cf. purchasing CNY cash or Travel Money Card debit foreign cash, which is 5%). Haven't set up Wechat Pay yet.

Was wondering - can one pay for things in China with Alipay without an active Internet connection? What about Wechat Pay? If no, then I guess I'll need to look into a local eSIM.

I believe active connection is needed as they verify payments often (enter pin, confirm etc). Look into roaming as well since that sorts out your firewall problems. eSIMs from memory aren't as common yet and getting a local number ws a foreigner is still semi annoying. (Need to go to big branches in main city centres to have a chance at someone that knows).

Main issues for Dad and I in China will be maps and language (especially, e.g. dining out). I've got Google offline maps for all our cities, plus I also got offline maps on Baidu Maps and OSM. So I should be covered there, even if I can't use them for navigation.

Don't rely on Gmaps at all in China. AMaps is ok but GMaps is deliberately wrong in China (Chinese government scrambling foreign mapping services). Apple works because theres such a huge iPhone uptake in China.

Baidu maps however is quite fine if you can work out the Chinese.

I look Chinese and I did take some classes when younger, but my Mandarin is terrible - accented, not tonally accurate and lost a lot of vocabulary due to lack of practice. Mainlanders will probably look at me either comically or with contempt because this Chinese idiot embarrassingly can't speak Chinese, and won't be helpful. Have downloaded the Chinese offline language pack for Google Translate; not sure if there's something else better to use.

I think if you make it obvious you're Australian, the fact you tried is usually pretty good for them.

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We're going to take the train from Xi'an to Shenzhen. It works out to be about 9.5 hours. Fortunately we'll be in First Class (which isn't the best accommodations, that is instead Business Class ). Will be a very long day, but the flight there would have been at best just a little more expensive, and it's not like we had a lot to be done that day. Plus Dad has been aching to try a Chinese high speed train.

When Australians travel to other countries with high speed rail of any sorts, we sometimes view them with a sense of romance that native passengers don't have, i.e. the latter know it's all about cost and/or time, and that is that.

Don't forget to get to the HSR station (and the correct HSR station) early especially for your first time. It took us a little while to figure out where we need go go and trains start "boarding" the platform around 20mins before departure. Basically think of it like an airport but with slightly less security.

 

[RB]

I thought the 2 Trip Reports by woodywren earlier this year were excellent at promoting off the main track. I am not sure how practical it might be to try those areas on your own South West China and Luang Prabang (followed by a cruise from Shanghai to Japan). Another trip within a trip. | Australian Frequent Flyer and Xinjiang adventures. Deserts, grasslands and glaciers. | Australian Frequent Flyer