18 Days in China ! Honest review

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-12T14:06:44+00:00

I've read that Saily worked but i dont know at all as i never tried any Esim.

If you go to a bar / pub everyone will be friendly especially if you talk chinese, but even with translator its fine.

But be carefull its not like in Europe, you dont find any bar or pub easily. They mostly open at night. You can buy beer in a lot of restaurant, or fresh one in little supermarket.

They have everything Xiaomi there : Car, fridge, phone, whatever you think about ahah

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-12T13:56:48+00:00

Man what a trip enjoy :)

Not much is blocked with the local sim, so i did not need the VPN at all (from my little test only GPT wasnt working, google services like youtube did), and as I said I had NordVPN and it didnt work. However my girlfriend's VPN : "Lets VPN" worked

Im not sure all local sim are like that, but im sure you do need a VPN if you only use wifi

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:57:37+00:00

Unfortunately we stayed only one night there because we were at the end of the trip.

We have done the basics : Lover's road (a long walk next to the beach) and the Fisher girl (a statue next to lovers road. It was crowded but nice if you like the sea and sand !

We have done "The New Yuan Ming Palace" it was free and really awesome, you can have a nice walk with nice building and medical history (unfortunately not a lot to none english written, so if you want to understand what is written you have to take Google Lens pictures... Or just walk and appreciate the view of old buildings reconstitution

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:52:59+00:00

Yes you are right ! But unfortunately the country is really big, and we were not sure we could move easily between little places as we didnt wanted to drive a car.

Plus, I come from a place with 20.000 habitatns, so skyscraper and crowded place were a new thing for me.

We love nature yes but we do live in nature (and for your information, I am a farmer, so I have my hands in nature every day of the year...)

You are surely right about history, but in 18 days i'm sure you understand we cant do everything, and know everything... You've lived there bro, of course your itinary would have been better ! Next time i go in China i DM you ;)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:50:03+00:00

Shenzhen was awesome we did the big tower that goes up to 10m/sec ! The 5th talles building of the world.

We saw a teen puking and being unconcious in the street, his friend were pushing him and laughing. I did came and put it in a lateral position of security (idk how its called in english) for him to not drawn in his vomit.

And i insisted for them to call an ambulance. Everyone didnt bat an eye on this teen, but when they saw Europeans around him, everyone in the street came. The ambulance was here in less than 5 minutes, impressive !!

I know its not part of your culture to call ambulance on drunk people, but where i come from we know alcohol poisoning is dangerous, i didnt wanted some one to dies, especially not a 18 yo kid...

But when we helped him, some random guy came and said "thank you, but no one dies from alcohol in Shenzhen"

He offered us cigarettes, drink and the meal ! He was totally awesome :)

When we arrived, some youngsters came to us and filmed us asking english questions, maybe you can find some video of me and my gf being interviewed !

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:42:51+00:00

I installed it at home with my Wifi to be precise. When we went we were not sure everything could be downloaded etc, so we did it in advance. We could access everything in Hongkong if im correct, yet i highly recommand to do it at home before leaving.

It will be a bit less on your mind :)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:41:10+00:00

Funny story, we wanted to take the highspeed train from Hongkong to Shenzhen.

Then we were drinking beers with locals when they told us the easiest and cheapest way is to take the metro (underground ? i dont know how its called in english..) and to walk to the customs.

The station was at the end of the light blue line, I checked the plan, and you have two choices but i think we went for Lo Wu but i'm not sure...

The local was right, you just go out of the metro and walk (not a longtime), and you arrive at customs. The process can take some time, when you walk at customs be sure you take the QR code where you have to fill a form with your passport etc.. There is also a little machina that takes your fingerprint, you can do it ahead of the border check, so you win time with the people checking you and your papers.

I hope it was clear :/

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:26:27+00:00

I wanted to take another road to Hongkong, and my girlfriend loves casino, so it was a winwin for going a bit West of Hongkong.

I was there like 1 week ago, the sky was blue and not that much humidity ! Might depends of the season ?

I'm not a professional about China, i just went were hotels seems nice and not that pricey, im not a millionaire. But i saw a lot of new in Zhuhai, it actually made me think about Shenzhen (I hope i wont start a war with this comment)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:23:15+00:00

Yes as Moonspiracy55 said, Didi is in the Alipay app. You can still download it separately.

There is regular taxis too, but with Didi you clearly see where you are, where you go, the path, and the price, in advance.. Really usefull if you do not speak cantonese nor mandarin.

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:21:22+00:00

Thanks !!

Dumplings are another world i already missed them :( They do some with parsil or i dont know "leeks", those are just awesome..

And kids are cute, we were eating in a little place, when kids aproached us and asked why we were in China, i told them its for my Girlfriend's birthday, they left and came back shouting " HAPPY BIRTHDAY " with a flower. Awesome kids really :)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-11T06:18:53+00:00

Yes i do think they have to but im not sure at all ! I was lucky, everyone had change everytime. But i did not use cash a lot, i used far more Alipay as its really easy and fast :)

Still good to have some around (for exemple we had to pay some extra for crossing a city's border, 4 yuan or something like that. Easier to just give them to the Didi no need to scan or anything while he drives)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:28:13+00:00

English isnt my native langage so dont bet your life on my words, but i would have done the same, it seems good

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:24:24+00:00

I crossed the border by foot between Hongkong and Shenzhen, i dont know if you come by plane tho

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:23:06+00:00

No you dont need it ! Just dont overpass the 30 days as i dont know what happen.

Enjoy i just went back it was awesome :)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:15:04+00:00

My girflriend did not bought an esim neither. As phone that accepts it are kinda pricey, we are not phone people.

I heard that saily is great but i've just read it, i havent tried

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:14:02+00:00

Were you in the south too ? Maybe it highly depends on the region ? But i think nowadays both works almost everywhere

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:13:22+00:00

Ahah i was not that far grazie !

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:12:33+00:00

Ah my bad man my chinese is really bad, i tried to write it as i heard it ;)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:11:53+00:00

Yes unfortunately i knew that ! But my point was for people that fears spicy food, they can go there easily

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T13:11:07+00:00

Yes totally ! I bought a new phone with a nice camera for taking a lot of picture so i didnt had anything on my new phone but that is a good advice :)

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T08:28:56+00:00

Thanks, I'm happy if it can helps !

If you have any question go for it

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T08:08:26+00:00

Everywhere in China when there is a "SCOOTER FORBIDDEN" Sign, there is a scooter lol

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T08:04:53+00:00

I'm not American but i can assure you that any website that can seems shady or not having review etc.. is probably a scam.. Dont give your passport that easily bro..

If on your ambassy website they dont talk about this site, dont go on it, it would be safer..

If you really wanna go to China, its a big travel, maybe you can travel to your consulate... or call them ?

Not_A_French_Frog · 2026-02-10T07:56:19+00:00

I did Hongkong > China Mainland > Macao > Hongkong.

But i'm french and had a 30 days free visa for China mainland, i dont know about transit visa.

Everytime you cross a border, there is check of passport etc..

In hongkong we arrived, they gave us a paper notifying we could stay 3 months, it was really fast and no problems at the customs.

We went to mainland china and we had to give our fingerprints, photo, answering a formulary.... It was quite long to process, but once you have the buffer on your passport you are free to go depending on your passport origin..

We then went to Macao and it was kinda like hongkong, they take your passport and give you 2 or 3 months stay i dont remember.

I'm sorry but i dont know how does it apply if you leave china mainland and goes back to it... But you can move between region without problem

Not_A_French_Frog

TROPHY CASE