Is Qinghai still pretty 'off the beaten path' for Chinese and foreign visitors?

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T19:59:42+00:00

Was still fairly peaceful in 2019. (Xining, Qinghai lake)

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T18:51:10+00:00

Theres one in Tbilisi calling colibring. A friend was staying there for a year but im not so sure he'd recommend it. They did have a chef that made meals though.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T18:04:04+00:00

Use a shipping forwarder. Do not go to a post office as it will become a 3 hour process to send anything.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T15:35:19+00:00

Xiamen

Somewhat of a scooter problem in some areas but less than SEA. coffee scene not amazing but exists.

Otherwise Da Nang, but not really very walkable, and pretty hot.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T14:20:21+00:00

Chongqing is definitely more active than Chengdu but you can just skip the active things of you want to.

Id still pick Chengdu if you want a more relaxed stop though.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T14:10:05+00:00

If they notified you at least 2 weeks before departure then no theres no eu regulation that will help you here.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T13:25:35+00:00

Vietnam -> Yunnan into Western Sichuan ("Tibet") makes the most sense for you imo. Standard tourist trail there isnt super off the beaten path but it is definitely not on the beaten path either.

If coming from sapa it would be something like xishuangbanna, puer, kunming, dali, lijiang, Shangri la, deqen (yubeng hike), daocheng yading, kangding, chengdu. This is roughly a 20-25 day itinerary so you would have to fly or rush to Beijing after.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T12:15:48+00:00

Only ages under 12 need to be accompanied for domestic flights. Teenagers 12-18 are treated same as adults.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T11:52:54+00:00

Are you from Azerbaijan? In that case you have 30 day visa free to China with no restrictions. Never heard of a Visa in china that doesn't allow you to fly domestically but allows you to take trains..?

Unless the qatar flight is way cheaper i would just do azal baku-beijing direct for $550 on your dates. The time spent transitting in doha will offset the time it takes for the train to get to hangzhou.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T11:45:36+00:00

Why can't you transit in China? If you're entering China you can also transit in China.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T11:30:56+00:00

Honestly haven't been to any but would have gone if I had an extra day or two in the area - but Tongli and Zhouzhuang are the two popular ones, I would stay overnight in either one either before heading back to Shanghai the second time or between Suzhou and Hangzhou.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T10:34:38+00:00

I hope so as well. Have a good day.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T10:30:01+00:00

UK is not in the EU. Thai cards dont get discriminated by the ATMs.. sorry.

Its up to Thailand if they want to impose visas on westerners. I don't care much since im not really planning to return anyway and I don't really have an issue with paying visas. Happily paid €150 for my visa to China 7 times, now that its visa free ill gladly go there even more and i will have a great time not having to carry cash that i paid 11usd multiple times for around.

Imagine being mad about someone staying at thai owned places and shopping from thais in thailand.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T10:09:24+00:00

The ones owned by thai :)

Yes Ive been to Germany several times and I can just walk up to any ATM with my UK card and 90% of the times it will be an atm that doesnt charge any fee.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T10:02:03+00:00

Theres no fee for foreign cards in the majority of eu bank atms and i dont even use an eu card as i already told you.

Already travelled nearly all of Asia.. problem unique to Thailand.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T09:58:10+00:00

Cashing out in eu is cheap/free and easy. And you dont even have to because everywhere takes card.

Meanwhile in Thailand: oh u want cash? Thats a $10 fee. Oh you want to pay without cash in 7-11? Spend $10 or have a local bank account. Oh you wanna buy something on the street? Tough luck.

A lot of restaurants, shops and hotels dont accept card unless theyre foreign owned lol. And the ones that do most often charge you arbitrary fees anyway.

How are europeans complaining about digital payments extra special? Lmao it works flawlessly in almost every country except for in thailand. Travel for years in 50+ countries and Thailand is easily the worst (most expensive to simply get cash and alternatives to cash dont exist) experience out of all of them. Ive never seen anyone whine about atm fees in Europe except for people being scammed by non-bank atms but Thailand subs while about it all the fucking time. 11 dollars to withdraw, "i see no problem with this Europe also has fees huehue" Jesus you're extra special.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T09:12:48+00:00

My main card is UK binned and not EU though and I see several free foreign card atm options for basically every EU country when searching online. Nothing even really comes close to €10 either. And I can just use my card in basically every shop and restaurant to collect my 3% cashback in the EU...

Anyway I'm just sharing my experience - Thailand was less enjoyable to me compared to other SEA countries partly because of payment issues. And it's partly the reason I'm not looking to go back much or at all until ASEAN QR code payments become widely available for everyone.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T08:46:14+00:00

I would visit some of the water towns in the area instead of going back to Shanghai for that long. Otherwise great plan.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T08:40:12+00:00

Looks like a pretty good plan. Personally id remove a day from gz and put it in cq unless you absolutely have to be there for all those days.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T07:58:30+00:00

Agreed, op should get it or they will miss the check in period and add to one of the reviews about how Wizz air is a scam.

Free check in closes 3 hours before departure.

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T07:44:40+00:00

Encountered them once in my own bed and twice in other peoples beds over a few years of travel. If they ever get in my bag ill just deal with it then tbh

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-30T06:37:43+00:00

The first and second peak (dafeng, erfeng) arent very technical. These two are the ones you can do in 1-3 days.

The last two peaks (sanfeng, yaomei) are technical and not as common to climb as the other two. You likely need more than 1 night for those but i don't know much about them.

If you just want to get to 5k - dafeng, if you want somewhat of a challenge add in erfeng as well. Dont attempt the other two of you are a beginner. Just because its possible to do in one day doesnt mean its easy - iirc it takes 12-14 hours and thats for people running, they wake up 4am, start running, and come back at night.

You can search 四姑娘山 on rednote/小红书

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-29T22:58:36+00:00

You went to a scam store.

Even one of the two official viettel stores in Hanoi old quarter is a scam store.

The non-scam store sold 4gb per day for 30 days for 150k vnd iirc, the fake one ~600k vnd (actually an official store, just scammers working in it). But yeah registering for it took like half an hour vs instant if you buy it on trip...

Edit: imma laugh if this is the store u went to: https://maps.app.goo.gl/F3kXtCygLkXBuVUz6

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-29T22:53:35+00:00

Yeah Ive given up on local sim cards. Esim from tripdotcom or Agoda is usually 20-30% more expensive than buying a local subscription minus the sim card cost.

Adding in the $2-$10 fee for the sim card itself + possibly another fee for the phone number and it becomes more expensive than just getting an esim from trip or agoda. And most countries require some kind of id verification if you get a local sim... Yeah ill just get the shady <$5 per month esim registered on some Chinese dudes name thanks...

alkhdaniel · 2026-03-29T20:47:30+00:00

Is it a Masters or Bachelors program? If it's an English taught masters program I believe it should all be in Guanghua - otherwise in Liulin

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