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
- Visit the eight Ancient capitals of China. I’m particularly interested in going to Kaifeng
- Rent a bicycle somewhere. China actually seems to have some good bike infrastructure in certain places
- 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
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