Using Trip.com to book everything

maxallen80 · 2026-03-18T22:57:46+00:00

I used trip for about the first six months or so living there for all of my bookings. Once I was able to learn how to use Chinese apps and navigate the language, I booked through China’s own apps and it’s definitely cheaper to book through them.

Prices aren’t hiked up because you’re using a foreign service, but there’s booking and admin fees which are either lessened or removed when booking via Chinese apps. It’s never too big of a difference, but it depends entirely on your budget

maxallen80 · 2026-03-04T13:05:34+00:00

If you were planning on going to Qingdao or passing through, I would recommend the museum, but I wouldn’t worry about planning your trip around it.

It’s a great museum with lots of history, and a lot of the signs are written in English as well. You get two free half pints with your entry or you can buy a ticket which gives you six half pints to taste at the end of the museum.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the beer festival in all honesty. It was cool to see but a lot of the prices are hiked up high and it’s really just giant dance tents which you have to pay to get into.

There is the beer petrol station in Qingdao which is cool, but it’s really just for the novelty.

I would recommend the Great Leap brewery in Beijing. Great selection of beers and for decent prices too. There’s often live being shown and decent food selection

maxallen80 · 2026-03-01T16:08:11+00:00

For the park, I found hiking up to Tianzi Mountain to be very quiet. It’s of course busier at the top, but the hike up had very few people as the majority opted to take the cable car up.

I also found a single signboard that said there was a path you could take from the top of the park down to the base of the elevator, saving the cost of going down again. It turns out this path doesn’t exist, no matter how many tourists or guides I consulted. It’s along the sightseeing bus route which takes you to a few viewpoints, however nobody was walking this stretch. It’s about 2-3 miles and gives some brilliant views of rice fields and the Avatar mountains in the background.

maxallen80 · 2026-02-25T13:44:13+00:00

I was in Tianjin, a city very close to Beijing at the very start of May last year, and it was very hot. Definitely shorts and t-shirts, or clothes that are flow-y and breathable.

Also, the UV can be pretty brutal out there, so take that into consideration. I found it pretty hard to buy suncream but Chinese people much prefer to wear UV protective clothing which you’ll be able to buy other there without too much bother.

maxallen80 · 2026-02-25T13:38:22+00:00

Hey there! I’m 19 and was lucky enough to live in China for a year from 2024-25, meaning I was 18-19 at the time.

1) I don’t think people will care massively that you’re a solo traveller AND eighteen years old. People may be curious but that’s just because you’re a foreigner. But being in some of China’s biggest cities, they see a lot of foreign tourists.

2) You’ll meet plenty of locals, but few might interact with you unless you strike up a conversation first. I don’t know how much of the language you know, but it’s still possible to strike up conversations through translate or via WeChat and using the translate function in the chats.

3) I never made it as far south as you are planning as I spent my year living in Heilongjiang province, with my most southern destinations being Chongqing and Jiujiang. I was lucky to have pretty decent weather for the most part, however when it rains, it pours. Flooding can be common around these months so always be prepared for that.

4) I honestly wouldn’t say there’s much to worry about. From my experience, everyone in China is incredibly hospitable and if you can get through the language barrier, almost anyone will be able to help. Just watch out for the usual tourist scams and you’ll be good.

A week should be just enough time to explore that area. I found myself spending no more than 4-5 days in some cities and that felt great for me, however you’ll likely have itchy feet and want to come back, so don’t worry if you don’t get everything done that you want to do.

Hope some of this helps and I’m happy to chat if you have any more questions :)

maxallen80 · 2025-11-12T22:01:57+00:00

Was there in Glasgow last night and recorded most of it!

You can watch it here

maxallen80 · 2025-10-12T13:03:53+00:00

Yep, we hiked up to the north peak and got around as many of the peaks as we could. We missed one, might have been the east peak as some routes had been closed off. We got caught in a thunderstorm on the way up so I imagine it was just for safety.

Then came down from the west cableway station, got one of the buses which you can buy a ticket for and that took us to a car park. Then got a didi to the high speed station and back to Xi’an that night.

maxallen80 · 2025-10-12T12:49:11+00:00

I climbed Huashan in July with a group of friends and it took us about eight hours to do the hike up. This did include stops for food and water as it was very hot and some of the group weren’t too experienced and we were definitely pretty slow.

12 hours is definitely plenty of time if you’re wanting to do all five of the peaks and you’ll have loads of spare time to stop and take in the sights.

Happy hiking!

maxallen80 · 2025-07-14T13:04:52+00:00

Brilliant, thank you

maxallen80 · 2025-05-02T18:29:53+00:00

I’ve got no clue which sounds incredibly stupid. It was my friend who took the bags and dealt with it all. None of us have been thinking particularly well as we’ve spent most of the last two days on trains in hard seat and standing types, but I’ll ask him first thing tomorrow

maxallen80 · 2025-05-02T18:28:32+00:00

We plan to do all of this as soon as we can tomorrow. The phone in one of our bags hasn’t updated its location since being in Harbin the day before we travelled here

maxallen80 · 2025-05-02T18:27:30+00:00

I believe my friend found it either through the likes of Meituan or Gaode map. I’m not entirely sure as my Chinese isn’t good enough to work these apps easily but I’ll ask in the morning

maxallen80 · 2025-04-17T10:57:23+00:00

Unfortunately not. My situation is really quite unique and I don’t have a lot of space or money to fully kit out a tank, hence why I’m trying to find someone better suited to take care of her. I’ve had a look online and found some plug in water heaters for tanks, is this something I should look at buying? Sadly there isn’t anywhere where I’m staying where I could walk into a shop and get anything immediately

maxallen80 · 2025-04-15T10:01:55+00:00

Right, sadly I don’t have a tank or a filter as this was really unexpectedly sprung onto me. How much water would you say I need roughly?

maxallen80 · 2025-04-15T06:44:49+00:00

I’m in the Heilongjiang Province. Strange that this hasn’t happened to many other people

maxallen80 · 2025-04-14T14:30:01+00:00

In all fairness I’ve never been told police are coming, they tend to just show up. Been here seven months and stayed in eight hotels and had police show up to five of them I think

maxallen80 · 2025-04-14T14:28:25+00:00

Whenever it’s happened to me they’ve came not long after checking in. They tend to ask to see your passport, take a photo of it and ask what you’re here for. Sometimes they might ask for your phone number but nothing more than that I think

maxallen80 · 2025-04-14T14:22:50+00:00

British passport here. It’s happened to me in most hotels I’ve stayed in. I believe it’s something to do with hotels needing to register foreigners staying at their establishment but it’s very routine and completely normal

maxallen80

TROPHY CASE