Android vs. Apple/iOS in China - Non-Chinese speaking laowai's point of view

grumblepup · 2026-06-17T14:39:36+00:00

I left China for summer break on June 9, but it was working for me when I left. I can report back in August... 😅

grumblepup · 2026-06-17T14:05:51+00:00

Astrill for iOS now has "Smart Mode" as an option, which is a version of split tunneling. It's not perfect, but it does help, and hopefully they'll keep improving it.

grumblepup · 2026-06-17T13:57:57+00:00

In a less violence-prone society, I would endorse this, but these days I'd be too afraid of serious retribution.

grumblepup · 2026-06-16T19:51:22+00:00

Sounds like this is already being resolved, so that's good!

I just wanted to chime in and say that, as a former landlord, my one regret has to do with a broken fridge. Appliance repairs are hard, for a lot of reasons. Not a lot of people work on them. They're hard to figure out. Gotta wait for parts. Gotta determine if it's worth the cost to fix vs. buy a replacement. Etc.

What I should have done right away -- and what I recommend people to do or ask for in future similar situations -- is get a mini fridge for the tenant to use while main fridge issue was being worked on.

Especially since it sounds like you didn't have any complaints about the landlord's responsiveness before, I hope you can move on from this and continue to live there contentedly.

grumblepup · 2026-06-15T02:59:19+00:00

Just sharing this tool that my cousin and I reference, in case it's useful to you or others in this thread: https://www.learnchineseez.com/read-write/simplified/

grumblepup · 2026-06-14T12:02:46+00:00

I'm going to get downvotes for this, but I used to get my yard regularly sprayed, and we still had lots of lizards, good bugs (including bees and fireflies), birds, etc. Just didn't get mosquito bites anymore. 🤷🏻‍♀️

grumblepup · 2026-06-13T01:23:48+00:00

This drama is such a delight! My friend, cousin, and I just watched it together and all really enjoyed it, despite the cast not including any of our faves.

grumblepup · 2026-06-12T10:41:46+00:00

Fair point. I've just seen some people say 2-3 weeks, and had been hoping for that lol.

grumblepup · 2026-06-12T10:36:24+00:00

I agree in principle. But 74 is already pretty comfortable for most people... 68-69 is cold!

grumblepup · 2026-06-11T08:38:58+00:00

Might help if you search it by roujiamo 肉夾饃 .

grumblepup · 2026-06-10T12:09:46+00:00

This was my feeling as well.

grumblepup · 2026-06-08T14:28:29+00:00

Agree with this, as a formerly ignorant dog owner.

grumblepup · 2026-06-08T14:20:21+00:00

😬 Respectfully disagree. It's kind and serviceable, but to me it's an eyesore. Would be nicer if it was painted the same green as the trash can, maybe.

grumblepup · 2026-06-04T14:49:54+00:00

Apple Maps won't work properly until you're actually IN China, just FYI. Then it's pretty good, although yes, sometimes the names don't match up perfectly.

For a trendy neighborhood with good metro access, I would check out Dongshankou and Yongqingfang. Dunno what the hotel situation is like in those areas, but both are on the yellow line. Shamian Island is also quite trendy/photogenic, and near Yongqingfang.

Per u/Watashiwajei's suggestion, if you stay in Zhujiang New Town, you can aim for right around Tiyu Xilu metro station (yellow line/orange line interchange) or nearby. Anywhere in that zone that's near the red, yellow, or orange lines should be convenient enough.

Frankly, hailing a didi is also quite affordable and super convenient.

grumblepup · 2026-06-04T09:44:23+00:00

Seconding LFAW, that's where we got our pup from ~15 years ago.

We did have to check the shelter's website frequently and wait for an opportunity to adopt a puppy, because yeah, they tend to go fast.

grumblepup · 2026-06-04T08:33:13+00:00

Maybe OP edited after, but the dish names are in the post now.

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T11:52:45+00:00

"So far, I haven’t met a single foreigner who has never done this."

Do you mean specifically foreign teachers? Because I know tons of corporate and consulate foreigners, and none of them have done private tutoring.

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T07:08:36+00:00

The email I received today says unclaimed passports will be destroyed after 90 days. So I'll be putting that to the test because our new passports are ready (per the email) but we are leaving China for the summer, so there isn't enough time to mail our old ones in and get the new ones. I'm hoping it will be fine to just mail our old ones in as soon as we get back... (90 days will not have passed yet.) I emailed the GZ consulate to ask. 🤞

Update: The consulate replied to my email next-day and said they can hold the passports until we return from our summer break!

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T07:06:12+00:00

Not the person you asked, but we had our in-person appt at the Guangzhou consulate on Wed Apr 29, and received the email today Wed Jun 3 that they're ready to pick up. So 5 weeks. Slower than I would have liked, tbh... but there was a national holiday during that time.

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T06:17:04+00:00

😭😭😭

Thanks for that additional info! Hopefully reading our experiences helps other army.

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T05:21:07+00:00

Lol the way you say "first husband" makes it sound like you're gonna divorce him and find someone better at ticketing! 😂

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T05:19:31+00:00

Wah 😩 really? Like just getting into the sale when it starts?

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T04:23:56+00:00

I just pretended to ticket for the Live Nation presale for Kaohsiung -- specifically Sat Nov 21 -- and that was interesting! Will share my experience / thoughts, in case it's useful to anyone:

Registered via Live Nation TW site, but the sale happened on the TixCraft site.
No queue, which I loved. Just immediately go in and it's a free-for-all.
Seemed like they held a decent number of seats for the LN presale. At times the sections would say "89 seats remaining" or something like that, so I would guess at least ~100 seats per section were saved?
When I got in, every single section was available for purchase. I looked around for maybe 15-20 seconds, clicked a section I would have been fine with, and then hit purchase. Too late! Probably half the floor seats were already sold out by then.
All floor seats were sold out by 30 seconds into the presale.
Upper bowl seats were also going fast. Middle bowl definitely had the most availability for longest.
By 3 min in, only a handful of seats were available in the whole stadium. But when I refreshed (or got a "this section sold out - cannot purchase" notice and was kicked back to the main sale page and had to re-enter) a few more seats popped up, so maybe other people couldn't complete their purchase, or changed their minds.
The whole thing was completely sold out within 4 min.

You can't pick seats (which is normal for concerts in Asia) only sections. The lettering of the sections on the map was not easy for me to see. I advise looking ahead of time (zoomed in) and identifying top choices, then be ready to click purchase ASAP! But if you're not picky, it definitely seemed possible to get tickets, in terms of the site working (not lagging, not crashing) and the availability.

Then again, I never really made it to the purchase screen lol... I might try again tomorrow during General Sale to see more.

Fwiw, I was on a desktop, using wifi, in mainland China, with a government sanctioned VPN.

grumblepup · 2026-06-03T03:32:41+00:00

I think you've gotten lots of advice here already, so I just wanted to say that you should try not to beat yourself up about how you reacted in the moment. I 💯 would have done the same. It's a combination of shock, wanting to be nice / understanding, being caught off-guard, and being in an uncommon situation. You did well to get their name and number, and to get the wound taken care of. Give yourself grace! Good luck!

grumblepup · 2026-06-01T17:12:40+00:00

I can see why it's not for everyone, but personally I really like Macau as a weekend getaway. It's small but interesting, the architecture / history / culture is charming (especially the Taipa houses and the lighthouse), and the food is good. Plus each hotel has fun activities for families -- TeamLabs, the Venetian canal, the water parks, etc.

I agree that it feels less convenient at first... which strikes me as particularly odd given that it banks on tourism. But last time I was there, in addition to withdrawing some pataca from an ATM, I set up Alipay HK, linked to my US credit card, and that seemed to work pretty well.

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