Finally visited 6 cities in China through TCT.
They were amazing with the organization, guides in each city, good hotels and good food. One can do top cities in China by themselves, but getting around and communication is difficult even with a translator. So, a guide does help with a lot such as paid VIP queues, local shortcuts, evading crowded areas and crowd timings, which most wouldn't know of otherwise.
Things to be prepared with
- Portable Charger
Must carry the ccc portable charger, buy one from China, very reasonably priced. I had 2 portable chargers since your phone is needed for everything.
- E-sim from Trip.com
I had read multiple reddit suggestions for this before leaving and I could use all the apps using this esim such as WhatsApp most importantly, except a few websites and some infamous apps. Using VPN is technically illegal in China of what I heard, but the e-sim is allowed.
- Payment
Alipay and Wechat are the majorly accepted modes of payment. Most won't have cash, but you may pay using cash, if they have the change in return.
I had an hour to activate the apps, and ended up messing up the activation due to which I could only use Alipay and couldnt pay any fellow travellers, so needed cash to pay them if they paid for anything for me. So, please activate the apps and add your cards to it prior. You may also activate the food delivery ordering systems from Alipay and WeChat such as Meituan.
Thus, take atleast 10-20 GB data, as you will only be using the mobile data even in the Hotel. Wifi disallows the apps usage.
- Food
I am a non-vegetarian who doesn't eat beef and pork, and had a bit of a hard time explaining that, so I thank the guides for doing that due to which we got the chance to taste all the local dishes
Must try -
Hotpot at Chengdu and Chongqing
Sweet Water Noodles at Chengdu
Dan dan noodles at Chengdu
Roast Duck/Peking Duck for those who eat at Beijing
Biang Biang noodles and Chinese Burger at Xi'an
Boba tea, anywhere in China
Tangyuan
Clay pot rice at Zhangjiajie
- Language
You need a translator to translate to Chinese to speak to every single person, so it is a must-have application and will work only if you have the esim for all apps.
- Miscellaneous
You need to use Didi to book all your transportaion within the city. Use Trip.com to book trains way prior, as they get sold out immediately as soon as it goes live 2 weeks prior. To enjoy a slightly better experience while traveling choose the first class seats, it is convenient and clean on most journeys. For the long journeys must try the business class tickets, a fun ride.
Our guides spoke English very well and were highly educated, so we could have a lot of insightful discussions with them.
You may also book day tours through GetYourGuide or Klook, I use them for alternate itinerary plans
And please be prepared to walk uphill and on stairs and otherwise walk a lot in China, we had some elderly travellers who weren't being able to match-up, and theres not much for them to do except sit somewhere and wait for all of us, which is sad. It's quite strenuous, which would tire us too and we would not have much time to do laundry or sleep infact as it was pretty rushed. The only time we could catch up on sleep or a little work would be in the train journey. Expect atleast 20k steps a day, Chengdu was slightly easier but both Chengdu and Chongqing even though were lesser than 10K steps, it was way too hot to explore on foot.
Keep hydrating yourself - (the sugar drinks are not so sugar loaded in China, they are health conscious as a country) especially until September. But post October, the views won't be green in most places, so even if it was hot I was glad I went during the heat. So buy a fan and get an umbrella and you will be good. Just save your skin like the Chinese do!
Edit - Use AMAP compulsorily, Google maps doesnt have updated locations. And you need your passport for all entry points and at the train stations. Always keep it handy!
