China is a country I’ve only been to for five days on their 144-hour visa-free regime from 2019. During that trip, I went to Shanghai and even managed to enter Zhejiang province, hitchhike the Donghai Bridge back. That was awesome.
Shanghai left a very good impression on me and I can’t wait to go back. I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to have an impression of this country before the pandemic. I have a very long list of places I want to visit in China in my lifetime. This will probably need to be accomplished over multiple visas because the country is huge.
Next Time in China:
- Hitchhike more. During my five-day stay, I was happy to squeeze in one hitch. I’ve heard good things about hitchhiking in China and the mobile translation technology they have there makes it easy to communicate without having to do years of Duolingo first
- Explore the capital Beijing: the history, the food, modern life
- Witness the tidal bore in the Qiantang River
- See the Leshan Giant Buddha nearby Chengdu. Same with the Guanyin of Nanshan statue nearby Hainan
- If possible, visit the highest meromictic lake in the world: Zigetangcuo Lake
- When entering or leaving China, I’d like to hitchhike across the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe Bridge that connects to Russia. Same for the Khunerjab Pass border crossing to Pakistan
- Go kayaking on a river, or the sea, or on a lake (suggestions welcome!)
- See marvelous architecture, such as the Temple of Heaven in Beijing – yep, it’s the wonder of the Chinese civilization in Age of Empires II – and the Songjiang Square Pagoda in Shanghai (I missed it the first time)
- Find out how to eat vegetarian munchies everywhere. Staying for a long time in Malaysia helped me recognize the character 素 for finding great restaurants
- Revisit Qingdao with Jonas. He studied there for like four months in 2009. He doesn’t remember how he did it without help like Google Translate
If you know cool places and things to do in China, comment at the bottom of this page so I can always find your suggestions again once I start plotting my return! Tips especially welcome if you are Chinese or lived there for a while
Are you a travel blogger and do you have good posts about China? Drop them in a comment below and I’ll read them!
9 Important Apps to Download Before Your Trip to China
These are the applications we downloaded before we traveled to Shanghai, China. We were in Shanghai on China’s 144-hour visa-free policy. We downloaded these apps and maps in advance of our 5-day Shanghai itinerary. I’m using a Xiaomi phone working on Android and Jonas uses an iPhone with iOS. All apps mentioned in this article are available for free. 2020 update: If you manage to enter China during/after the coronavirus outbreak, it’s likely that you’ll need to download the government-approved COVID-19 tracking app called ‘Health Code’ by Alipay (支付宝健康码). If you have any experiences with this app I’d love itContinue reading
144 Hours in Shanghai: My 5-Day China Itinerary
This is about October/November 2019 when I visited Shanghai for a five-day stopover. This happened from Thursday the 31st of October till Tuesday the 5th of November, 2019. That’s when we flew on to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We traveled to China visa-free with the 144-hour on arrival visa. Though it’s our personal itinerary, this article also contains a wealth of information on things to do and see in Shanghai on your 144-hour visa. Here you can find a handy map of our itinerary and the sights. Here’s a list of must-download apps for your trip to Shanghai or elsewhere in China.Continue reading
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Money in Madagascar: the Ariary, Cash, ATMs, Orange Money + MVola
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Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurants in Port Mathurin and Beyond
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