China Travel Tips 2024: Insider Do's and Don'ts You Must Know! (Episode 2: Food, Transport, Culture)

Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel, I'm Emma And in the previous videos, we talked about the 5 tips about what you should do while you are traveling in China And in these videos, we will continue to talk about the remaining 5 tips about what you should do while you are traveling in China For most foreign friends, China is still very unfamiliar and many people's impressions of China are still stuck in decades ago So if you don't prepare in advance, you might encounter many troubles and cultural shocks while visiting China But I wonder why there are not so many local Chinese actually on the social media sharing ideas about the tips about what you should do and what things that you should avoid doing while traveling in China So in this series, I will share the practical tips for you to better help you to travel in China and the top 10 things that you should do and the top 10 things that you should avoid doing while traveling in China from a Chinese insider's perspective So let's get started In China, high-speed rail is highly punctual and incredibly fast If you are not traveling long distance such as from southernmost to the northernmost or from east to the west, I believe taking the train is a better option for you because you don't have to travel far to the airport and you don't have to worry about the flight cancellations or delay And the seat on the high-speed rail can be very comfortable and based on my experience, you can order food or even get takeout delivered to your seat exactly And the business class seats allow you to lie down like completely during your whole trip which is so comfortable However, one crucial tip, you must book your train tickets well ahead of time This was a lesson I learned basically every year, especially before the public holidays as the Chinese New Year or national holidays And many routes can be like completely sold out two weeks ahead of the departure time So my advice is that you can easily book the train tickets on train.com and you reserve the seat more than two weeks ahead of time I found the best way was to purchase the tickets as soon as they go live right at the two-week mark because if you leave it just like a few days in advance, they could be completely sold out China's transportation system is quite convenient overall and if you would like to get around within the city, I would personally recommend to use Didi instead of a taxi For those unfamiliar with Didi, it's a Chinese version of Uber and Grab I don't recommend a taxi because in my experience, taxis are way more expensive Didi has a very dynamic pricing system that adjusts based on the daily supply and demand If you avoid the peak hours, you can usually get a discount ranging from like 10% to 50% And plus, if you are heading to a less-known place, language barriers might prevent the taxi driver from helping you to reach your destination But Didi, on the other hand, can solve almost all the communication issues because you just need to key in the address to the apps and Didi will navigate the drivers to the place you want to go Also, for Didi, you don't need to worry about the payment because Didi is linked to your credit card They will pay automatically if you get off the car And also, all you need to do for Didi is to copy the address and post it directly to Didi They will pay automatically if you get off the car And all you need to do is just copy the address and then post it directly into Didi Didi offers various car types and fare options And generally speaking, the more expensive the car, the better the services And the longer the waiting time, the cheaper the price And the wait time also depends on when you are booking a ride Like try to avoid some rush hours like the 9am or 6pm to prevent higher search pricing and longer waiting time And of course, the metros can always be the most fattest and cheapest ways for you to get around, especially in those big cities Generally speaking, it is fairly easy to use because a lot of the signs, at least in the big cities, are all in Chinese If you have Alipay, you are able to get your metro tickets all directly in there as well Because Alipay will automatically know which city you are in And you just scan the QR code and go in and go out of the metro station And it will automatically calculate your fare and deduct it from your Alipay which is quite convenient As everyone knows that the food is always one of the most important parts of any trip in China From like Chongqing hotpot to Peking duck to Guangdong dim sum, the choices are endless But with so many delicious options, it can be very tough for you to decide where to eat, right? For me as a local, there is one essential app that I must introduce to you all If you are a foodie or you haven't planned your trip yet, I definitely recommend you to download one of the most popular Chinese apps called Dianping It is a little bit like the Yelp This is the app that not only tells you about the local restaurant but also the favorite attractions, hotels, shops and activities in each city It has all the places in the area with the reviews so you can find the restaurant, things to do and potential get discounts if you use the app And it's super helpful for you to explore China and look for more local experience Besides Dianping, I also recommend Meituan Meituan is just like the Uber Eats or DoorDash and the food delivery is like insane in China because within just half an hour or even less, you can get the food that you order especially in those tier 1 cities in China And also the delivery fee is just like less than 50 cents or even less depends on the distance of the shipping time However, note that Dianping and Meituan are all in Chinese But if you have noticed my previous videos I talked about one of the translation apps called Baidu Translate You can just take the screenshots and translate the content into English Maybe it takes a bit of time but it's definitely worth it So I highly recommend getting Dianping and Meituan If you are willing to try new foods and see new things that you might not see in just those choice areas, these two apps you definitely need to download it If you are out walking around in China you are more than likely going to have to use the restroom at some point There are plenty of public restrooms around but the thing is that the majority of the toilets in China are actually squat toilets As a westerner, I know that you might find this a little bit unfamiliar and it looks sometimes a little bit scary at first But trust me, they are not that bad because in some Chinese culture, squat toilets are considered a more healthy option But of course, this is not the case in most regular hotels or fancy malls where you can always find western-style toilets And most restaurants in malls do offer at least a few stalls of regular western toilets So if you have the mobility issues you can navigate the availability of the western-style toilets in those restaurants and on malls, you may adjust your travel routes accordingly China is a country with a population of 1.4 billion people and is known for its bustling tourism attractions especially during major holidays when the crowds can be overwhelming and it can be like this like this and like this And this can lead to inevitable close contact with others This contact may sometimes make you feel a little bit like uncomfortable However, if you plan your trip well in advance, you can avoid this situation Remember, when planning your trip, try to avoid major public holidays in China like the Chinese New Year, National Holidays, and the Labor Day For instance, during the Chinese New Year, most people will have a seven-day holiday and every year, about 800 million people travel which is roughly half of the Chinese population So, visiting tourists both during this time can be extremely crowded Alright, those are the top 10 practical tips about what you need to do when you are traveling in China and I hope this cultural analysis will help you to appreciate and navigate the rich and diversified landscape of the Chinese society And in the next episode, I will introduce the top 10 things you should avoid doing while you are traveling in China to keep you out of the trouble If you found this video helpful, don't forget to give me a thumbs up and please subscribe my channel See you next time Bye