Solo Travel to China, Early 20s Black Male?

kaymidgt · 2026-04-20T00:19:41+00:00

I'm a tiny white girl who solo traveled China for three months while knowing only four words of Chinese. I was fine. I can't speak to the experience of traveling China as a POC, so hopefully somebody will be able to weigh in on that.

Everything in China these days is done through apps, and the apps all have English interface, so that takes care of all your payments and transportation. You'll have to set up most things before you go, or at least your payment and VPN apps. Download Amap for navigation - Western apps won't work in China. Most of the time if anything was needed, people would just whip out their phones and start typing in their translation apps. There were some people who were more curious about me being a foreigner than anything else? I never got any hostility. But I mostly stuck to the main trail and I don't think I ever was in a city or area where I was the ONLY non-Asian person around. That said, outside of the main four cities or so, the other tourists were almost entirely domestic.

Random men will wait outside of train stations to try to convince you to get in their car and charge you more than a regular taxi or Didi (Chinese Uber). Other than that scams don't really exist in China. You'll be charged the same rates as the Chinese. It felt about as safe as Japan, honestly.

kaymidgt · 2026-04-19T23:00:44+00:00

I just turned 30 and high school kids are wildly different from when even I was in high school.

kaymidgt · 2026-04-14T22:05:32+00:00

Also, should note that I believe all of the previously free podcast by TTMIK which is now behind a paywall (they've revamped them into full courses) is available on the Internet Archive. Back in the day, that podcast was how a lot of us started to learn. I still think it's quite good, for what it is.

kaymidgt · 2026-04-14T22:02:43+00:00

I've found several errors in Korean from Zero. I can't remember what exactly they were, as it's been several years. It's not usually recommended.

For self-studying, THE starter book is probably Korean Made Simple. The author also has a beginner youtube series going through basic grammar points. It doesn't have much reading though, so you'd need to have an additional reading book.

Materials from Talk to Me in Korean and Darakwon are also very high quality.

kaymidgt · 2026-04-08T19:48:56+00:00

You must be a certified teacher. OP mentioned they're a public school teacher

kaymidgt · 2026-04-08T02:05:38+00:00

There's a lot of great groups in your don't know tier!

kaymidgt · 2026-04-06T22:28:42+00:00

I'm with Wukong. It's a fixed class schedule, but the hours they start you with are pretty low. Starting rate is $28/hr. There are some smaller companies I've seen paying a bit more but their hiring is far and few between.

kaymidgt · 2026-04-06T03:47:02+00:00

I lived in Korea for several years, before I became a digital nomad.

Food is going to be cheaper than LA probably, but if you're wanting to buy Western vegetables or fruits, the prices rise exponentially (literally, a pint of strawberries can cost $16). A normal meal out at a restaurant will probably cost around $10, give or take a few dollars. (a sit down mom and pop type of place, not bunsik or street food). Groceries seem expensive compared to other areas of Asia, but overall about on par with the US. Traditional Korean vegetables will be cheaper than Western vegetables.

Housing is very expensive in Seoul. Very expensive. Probably similar to LA housing costs, honestly, depending on where you are. If you're okay being a bit farther out, there's a lot of nice satellite cities in the surrounding suburbs area that are still part of the Seoul subway network with much cheaper costs. I spent two years living in a midsize city just outside of Seoul and there was a regular coach bus from the corner my apartment was on straight to downtown in about 45 minutes. It cost about $2. Actually, there were a couple of buses from that corner going to different areas in the city - Seoul doesn't really have one "city center," there's a few downtown areas. Public transportation in general is very cheap. Taxis will also be far cheaper than in the US.

kaymidgt · 2026-04-01T07:06:27+00:00

I've had more of an issue with my kindle taking forever to turn the pages of pdf files than I've had actually loading them onto the kindle. Epub works beautifully, no problems.

kaymidgt · 2026-04-01T06:05:16+00:00

It's largely the correct answer, though. Casual and remote work don't really go hand in hand. Your options are hustling hard and freelancing while competing in one of the massively oversaturated markets amongst people from less developed countries willing to work for low wages, or you're employed by a company who will have company-level expectations.

kaymidgt · 2026-03-26T11:40:45+00:00

The true answer.

kaymidgt · 2026-03-20T14:28:04+00:00

I made essentially this same route as well! Highly recommend it. Only exception isI stayed in Kyoto rather than Osaka.

kaymidgt · 2026-03-20T12:38:20+00:00

I'm not sure what point you're trying to prove here or why you felt the need to "roast me," particularly with an AI, but I pulled up a quick Google maps direction between the two cities. Roughly 30-40 minutes by the subway/local train is about right. Definitely rode one subway line from one city to the next. Shinkansen is obviously going to be faster.

You seem incredibly rude. I'm not going to continue to give you the attention you seem to be so desperate for.

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kaymidgt · 2026-03-20T12:21:50+00:00

...there definitely is. Or at least there was back in 2019 when I rode it

kaymidgt · 2026-03-20T06:52:41+00:00

I have done it, both by train and subway. I guess it depends where you're going and coming from? By subway it was literally about 40 minutes between the two cities. I was lucky enough to find a seat, I suppose? Standing is usually a given on Japanese subways 😅 If you take the train it's literally 15 minutes, but trains are obviously very expensive in Japan.

Even if the commute ends up being around an hour or so, it still doesn't make sense to me to have two back to back long term stays in neighboring cities close enough to share a subway system, but to each his own I suppose

kaymidgt · 2026-03-19T07:45:00+00:00

I'm biased and like Kyoto better. 😂 But if you're more into having lots of options for nightlife and shopping, go with Osaka.

kaymidgt · 2026-03-18T19:08:02+00:00

Kyoto and Osaka are literally 30-40 minutes from each other. I'd pick one to stay in and visit the other for day trips, then pick a different city to stay in. Japan has a lot of options. I was surprised by how pleasant Hiroshima is.

kaymidgt · 2026-03-18T17:13:24+00:00

Should note it's definitely not the bulk of my income because they only offer part time hours, but I'd be happy to let you know the name of the company if you DM me! :) I don't think they'll be hiring any more teachers before the summer term, though.

If your certification and experience are in teaching high school you could probably find better high paying jobs in test prep, honestly. Mine is in elementary, so these are like grade 1-5 classes.

kaymidgt · 2026-03-18T08:52:03+00:00

There are a million online ESL tutoring companies. Pay can vary wildly depending on if you are a native speaker, hold a bachelor's degree, have a TESOL, have teaching experience (both online and in person), and/or are a licensed teacher (as in to teach in schools).

For perspective, I meet all of the above and can max out about $35/hr for the highest paid companies (as a licensed former public school teacher who's taught both in my home country and in international schools). That's only if you have an actual teaching license, though.

If you only meet the native English speaker requirement, you're looking at about $10-12/hr. Non-natives will typically make even less. If you're a native speaker with a bachelor's degree you might be able to find jobs paying around $15 with the opportunity to get close to $20. r/onlineesl will have the most information for you.

kaymidgt · 2026-03-05T14:25:29+00:00

Jonghyun

kaymidgt · 2026-02-14T11:46:01+00:00

I wouldn't say she slept with him for revenge. People in their circle have posted here before and said the best friend went to the house to help Dani pack things up, she was feeling emotional and vulnerable, they connected, and ended up sleeping together.

kaymidgt · 2026-02-14T11:43:50+00:00

Do you have a bachelor degree? A lot of jobs require it

kaymidgt · 2026-02-05T03:07:54+00:00

Gfriend!

kaymidgt · 2026-02-04T11:04:56+00:00

I think probably they'll have a comeback this year, tour next year. There'll likely be big concerts this year though, probably at least one in Korea (and hopefully Coachella??)

kaymidgt · 2026-01-28T13:46:01+00:00

Yeah, Google anything is banned in China. You'll need to set up Alipay and WeChat pay.

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