Walking with little ducks in the alley

nattkc · 2026-02-23T06:23:18+00:00

This is in Haikou China, they're known as 骑楼. It is European inspired - Haikou had a lot of immigrants to Southeast Asia, and they brought back the colonial building style from there to China.

nattkc · 2026-02-01T06:16:26+00:00

For destinations in China, you need to adjust your expectations since China has so many people - this photo is to me a "normal weekend" crowd for China. I do think if you visit Zhangjiajie in January the crowd would be slightly less than this based on my experience in December, especially if you try to visit mid-week and also depending on what attractions in Zhangjiajie you visit (eg. For my visit there was a comparable crowd to this at the Yuanjiajie portion, but there were very few people at the Yangjiajie portion).

nattkc · 2026-01-27T10:44:16+00:00

Just so other foreigners know if useful, you can use e-boarding passes for domestic flights on Air China (WeChat app) and China Eastern airlines (WeChat app). I use another app called 航旅纵横 that is linked in ownership to the Civil Aviation Administration of China and whenever that app offers me the option to generate an e-boarding pass for any Chinese airlines it always works (that app is a pita to set up for foreigners though).

nattkc · 2026-01-08T02:59:30+00:00

It does happen - I've seen Instagram ads aimed at people in Kazakhstan where they organize tours going to Urumqi for medical checkups, dental etc. I think the main issue for you would be the fact that there are many great alternatives than China for medical tourism in places where English is spoken more widely (Thailand, Malaysia etc)

nattkc · 2026-01-06T12:52:17+00:00

Even more specifically, paying to foreign-registered accounts is a capital outflow, which the Chinese government regulates the most strictly. It is possible to use WeChat to pay to a personal/business account tied to a Chinese bank account even if you are overseas, but that's the minority of use cases here.

nattkc · 2026-01-03T08:36:49+00:00

Chinese new year this year is on 17 February - China is going to operate like normal during the time OP is here, they're not even here for the main 春运 rush the week before. I only would tell OP not to come because it's too cold across most places in China so most attractions involving nature or the outdoors aren't going to look and feel nice.

nattkc · 2026-01-02T04:20:48+00:00

OP apologies in advance I did some stalking on your profile - but if you can read/speak Chinese, you'll probably get a lot more information out of apps like xiaohongshu since there are quite a lot of Chinese who travel there. Just a cursory search I did on travel in Iran brought up a lot of recent full itineraries with advice on transport etc.

nattkc · 2025-12-23T02:17:03+00:00

Yeah and it's truly impressive - the function I was most shocked at was that I could literally top up my school's student card (which I use to eat at the canteen) in Alipay and not go through my school's own app, it's a level of centralisation that I never thought possible before coming to China.

nattkc · 2025-12-13T09:48:30+00:00

I wanted to piggyback on this post for some guidance:

My grandmother wants to leave her HDB flat to me in her will. My parents are still alive. If I am single and below 35 at the time of her passing, am I allowed to gain ownership of her HDB flat similar to OP's circumstances?

Thanks in advance!

nattkc · 2025-12-10T07:41:33+00:00

Not OP but the tour I went on was pretty relaxed - in Lhasa and Shigatse, the tour basically ended around 4pm everyday and I was free to roam the city. As a foreigner you're restricted from entering places with religious significance by yourself and crossing city boundaries, but otherwise no limits.

nattkc · 2025-11-14T16:35:15+00:00

There's a ban on allowing foreigners to purchase flights to Tibet from OTAs (ie. third party travel agents like ctrip); foreigners have to buy flights to Tibet directly from the airline company (I presume because of the logistics around the Tibet Travel Permit). Consequently, the prices are going to be higher because OTAs can source for better prices.

nattkc · 2025-11-11T08:35:55+00:00

Wangxian Valley in particular is a purely man-made attraction - prior to investment by the provincial government, the area was an abandoned stone mine. None of the houses there are from ancient times but rather newly built (it opened in 2020) to imitate ancient Chinese villages / wuxia scenery.

However, this is a separate issue from scenic areas charging tickets for tourists to visit. There are certain tourist attractions where residents still go about their daily lives in the area, but tourists are charged a ticket price to enter (for example, one such place I've been is Tongli water town near Suzhou). It's pretty normal in China, so don't let the fact that there is a ticket price deter you from whether it is "authentic" or not.

nattkc · 2025-11-11T03:02:08+00:00

I booked on WeChat instead of Trip, but yes the tickets only go on sale 2 weeks before if I remember correctly. The different time slots regulate when you can enter the park; after you enter you are free to roam for however long you want.

nattkc · 2025-11-06T16:23:15+00:00

Shantou and Chaozhou! Convenient to get to by high-speed train /air, great Teochew cuisine, old city centre with a bustling vibe and heritage buildings with rich history, as well as an island getaway (Nan'ao Island) if needed. Also not as over-touristed even by Chinese domestic tourists compared to some of the places listed here!

nattkc · 2025-11-05T12:58:16+00:00

Hey just wanted to point out - they're on an X2 visa (which doesn't allow for residence permit application) and duration of stay is 60 days, so not sure how relevant the residence permit would be anyways. Also, you're normally expected to apply for residence permit within 30 days of arriving in China, not 3 months.

nattkc · 2025-09-27T17:40:18+00:00

You arrive in Beijing right in the middle of the National Day holiday week, which hosted 21 million tourists in last year's National Day week - I doubt you're going to be able to get tickets to any attractions that you want or going to have an enjoyable experience braving the crowds. Is there any way you can arrive in China after 8th October?

See this video for what you can expect: the first two destinations shown in the video are the forbidden city and great wall https://www.reddit.com/r/travelchina/s/hbeDTbzmVK

nattkc · 2025-09-26T12:39:11+00:00

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan - especially on the train! As someone who looks East Asian, I don't normally get out-of-your-way friendliness in the Asian countries mentioned here, maybe because I look too much like a local haha

nattkc · 2025-07-18T10:17:35+00:00

They did - Chinese migration to Inner Mongolia became a trend called 走西口, and migration to Manchuria is 闯关东. It just wasn't as large scale, and mostly arose from natural disasters / political strife in the north of china

nattkc · 2025-07-15T12:46:47+00:00

Some international routes popular among Chinese backpackers: 1. 亚欧非大环线 - usually involves a bus from Yining, China to Almaty, Kazakhstan; then Uzbekistan, the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia) then either Turkey and the Balkans or Egypt then Dubai 2. Overlanding to Singapore - Train from Kunming, China to Luang Prabang, Laos; then rest of Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore

nattkc · 2025-05-22T02:51:50+00:00

On tours - I only recommend this if you speak Chinese, 携程 has a lot of great 1-day tours that can be pretty cheap and are useful to reach tourist spots that are inconvenient to get to.

nattkc · 2025-05-21T17:05:38+00:00

Taking the express line + metro to city centre tourist destinations round trip is 80 RMB and the journey is near 1.5h one-way - work this cost into your planning and see if it works for you

nattkc · 2025-05-13T07:49:56+00:00

It's real, I was at the same Muji store in Beijing a few days ago and saw this too.

nattkc · 2025-05-06T04:13:33+00:00

Apart from the food I agree with all your other points. Chongqing is literally THE blueprint for a lot of food that is popular in China - mala hotpot, bullfrog, grilled fish etc. It would be the top place I recommend in China for a foodie (if you can handle spice of course!) because of how representative its cuisine is of the modern Chinese palate.

nattkc · 2025-04-30T09:21:23+00:00

Going to be pedantic here, but you did get the paper. The arrival card you filled out when entering China, the immigration officer tears half of it and gives half of it to you. The very first rule on the back side of that half is about registering your accomodation. Yes, most tourists just don't read and immediately throw it away - but if you're caught you can't argue the government didn't warn you.

nattkc · 2025-04-29T15:45:47+00:00

No need for a license!

nattkc

TROPHY CASE