Hello there to my loyal readers and to those who are only just now discovering my travels . . .
These Fujian province entries will be a bit different from my normal travel logs, since this trip is more about visiting an old friend and former colleague than it is about discovering Fujian province itself. Also, unlike other similar trips such as when I went to Phuket to visit with my good friend Elisabet, here in Fujian province, especially away from a major city, I am almost entirely dependant on my former colleague, Huixian.
Since Huixian and other Chinese people I have met outside of China all speak quite good English, and I also knew that English was a required subject in school, I had just assumed that all reasonably educated people knew English. As a minimum, I figured they would be able to read without too much effort. Let me be clear right off, that is NOT the case, at least not in Fujian province away from the main city of Xiamen. So, if you do not know some basic Chinese, including being able to read, I don’t think that I can recommend that solo travellers attempt a trip to China away from very major cities. As I know English, Spanish and French quite well, this is the first time in more than twenty-five years that I have felt almost entirely lost when on my own.
Furthermore, all signs and notice boards are only in Chinese, usually only with Chinese characters (no Pinyin) and apps which you have come to rely on outside of China such as Google maps don’t really work here. Yes, there are high quality local equivalents, but they are only available in Chinese. In short, this is not a location for the inexperienced or meek solo traveller. Again, in my case things have been great, since Huixian has made sure that I am always taken care of, but on my own it would be incredibly difficult. No doubt tour groups have a different experience, because then there is someone hired to make sure you are always cared for and shuttled around from place to place.
Furthermore, most of us outside of China have come to rely on our debit and credit cards; good luck with that in Fujian province (and I suspect in most of the rest of China away from the mega cities). Unless you only go to very expensive places, almost nowhere here accepts cards for payment. Supposedly everywhere has to accept cash, but many travellers report that while shops and smaller vendors are in theory happy to accept cash, they never have change, since here almost everyone pays with either WeChat or Alipay.
WeChat is the local equivalent of WhatsApp or iMessage and is by far the preferred option of the two major payment platforms used on a daily basis in China. Like WhatsApp, people use it for messaging, but it also has a payment option built in which is similar to Apple Pay, Google Pay or in the case of India (where I live most of the year), UPI payments. The first hurdle many will encounter, especially if coming in from India such as I did, is how to get a WeChat or Alipay account; again, I recommend WeChat since it seems to be more universally preferred here in China.
In India, the WeChat app is blocked on both the Google and Apple stores, so you will have to sideload the same. This is a fairly easy process for Android devices, but I believe it is significantly more difficult for Apple users. Once installed, you will not be able to activate your account with an Indian number, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for most other countries. This is not because WeChat nor China refuses to verify Indian numbers but rather because India blocks the process. In my case I was able to verify my WeChat account using my Costa Rican number. However, initial verification is only half of the battle, because you will then need a mainland Chinese friend to complete the second half of the verification process. Probably if you have already decided to travel to China, you will have someone available to help you with the second part of account verification, even if it is just your tour guide, but if you don’t, then you can’t use the non-Chinese language version of the app. It may be easier to do if you get a local SIM card, but like many countries, this is a rather onerous process, so most international travellers will prefer to either use an eSIM (my recommendation is Nomad esims but Airalo is also a decent but more expensive option). Of course, eSIM will only work for you if you have an eSIM enabled telephone . . . while this is increasingly common, it is still not a given for most budget or mid-tier devices . . . So, let me go back to before my trip started and give my step-by-step advice for those who are interested in doing a trip to China.
First, unless you have a good local friend who is waiting to receive and take care of you, this could even be an experienced local expat, you might not want to attempt to do this trip as a solo traveller. Linguistically and financially, it can clearly be very challenging. My friend Huixian has told me that it is much less of a problem in a mega city like Shanghai or even Beijing, but it would still be quite frustrating. I assume though that reputable group tours will be just fine.
Second, it is extremely likely that you will need to get a travel visa. This may take several days or even weeks to get. For me, this was quite new since I generally travel with my United States passport, which means I mostly enjoy either visa free or visa on arrival travel. As far as I could tell, the process for getting a Chinese visa is similar to the process for getting a visa to either the United States of America or to most European countries. So, if you are experienced with that sort of situation, you will find it to be annoying, but familiar. For me however it was a first-time experience, so it was very stressful. In summary, don’t expect this to be easy and don’t leave it for the last moment. I would say that you should probably at least start the process of figuring out what you will need to do no later than three months in advance, even though in your particular case it may be theoretically possible to do everything in less than a month.
Third (this is a big one), prepare ahead of time for how you are going to stay connected with friends and family outside of China while you are visiting. Do NOT assume that your previously used methods will work flawlessly. Both iMessage and WhatsApp currently seem to work in China for text messaging. iMessage seems to be fully featured in China but features such as video and voice call and sharing videos/pictures are blocked on WhatsApp. So, for Android users, I suggest you also get Skype ahead of time for your friends, family and of course yourself. While I assume this is not that big of a deal for the average tourist, do NOT assume that ANY of these are either properly encrypted or private while using in China. For your personal use with friends and family, I would say there is no concern, but assume that government entities can see any of your communications.
For those who are interested in going beyond basic communications, you will need to explore VPN options. You will need this if you intend to access MANY common foreign websites and services such as Google services, Facebook, Instagram etc . . . or even to see many basic websites in other countries. Again, there are Chinese versions of all of these services, and they are GOOD options, but they will not be much help when trying to communicate with those outside of China. Furthermore, most of the Chinese options are only available in Chinese. For the common tourist who simply intends to use their smartphone, by far the easiest option is to get an eSIM ahead of time from Nomad or Airalo. These eSIMs use an automatic VPN which will allow you to easily access all of the services which you are accustomed to when outside of China. Buy MORE data than you think you will need, since I understand that you will NOT be permitted to top up your plan while in China. However, even though the Nomad eSIM option in particular for China is affordable, you may want to consider a plan B.
Plan B means actually paying for a separate VPN service. I already had Surfshark which supposedly usually works in China, so I thought I would be covered. Spoiler alert, NO, it did not work. Through my nomad eSIM with the already built in VPN, I bought a month of ExpressVPN, which according to almost everywhere on the internet is the best option for China . . .once again, NO, it did not work. Finally, in an obscure post on Reddit (which of course I could only access using by Nomad eSIM) I found out about a Chinese VPN provider called LetsVPN; this is a reasonably affordable option, and it seems to work fairly well on all the Chinese networks where I have tried. I assume that my communications are not actually protected from being monitored by government entities while using it, but as I definitely have no nefarious intentions, I really do not care. To be clear, like most of you, I simply want to back up my photos and videos to Google photos, post to Instagram, Facebook and here on WordPad, and maybe see a bit of Netflix. Notably, there is another VERY expensive VPN provider called Astrill which many recommend, but I cannot speak to the same. Once more, for ANY of these, if you do get lucky and find that they work for you, assume that they are perfectly good for personal use including having more secure banking when on a public network, but do NOT assume that they are secure from possible monitoring by law enforcement agencies. Still, if you are a simple, honest tourist like me, this really should not bother you.
Moving along to the fourth point, I will assume that you took my advice to get a Nomad eSIM. With that in mind, make sure to turn off background update and backup services ahead of time so that you do not burn through your valuable data. I myself made the mistake of not turning off my daily WhatsApp chat backups and ended up wasting 9 gigas of my 20 gigas of data over a period of four days. I did however want to do daily cellular data backup of my photos before I got LetsVPN activated. If you are REALLY looking to economize your data use, turn off ALL background updates and back up services except for on wifi, and assume that your wifi backups will be blocked (when not on a VPN) with the noted exceptions of anything to OneDrive or iCloud.
Fifth, if you don’t already know Chinese, in which case you probably will not be reading this blog entry, get very familiar with a translator app that you are comfortable with BEFORE embarking on your trip. Also save yourself some headaches by advance downloading any languages you think you might need to use. For China, one of these would be “simplified Chinese” and the other would be whatever you feel most comfortable using. The good news is that Microsoft translator actually works extremely well with Chinese, and since Microsoft services are not blocked, even if you have to use an internet only feature, you will have full access. Google translate also works quite well with Chinese, but remember that it will be blocked if you aren’t using a VPN and need any network only features. In a pinch, I think I could completely manage my actual “needs” with just Microsoft translator, but it would make for a potentially lonely trip if doing solo travel. While you will figure this out on your own, the audio translate features of both of these are good, but only if there is not much background noise and the speaker enunciates well. Also, it does take a bit of patience to have a conversation this way, sort of like doing a walkie-talkie conversation.
So, should you come to travel around China on your own? If you are fully aware of these challenges, and are still interested, then stick along with me for the next few entries. Again, my first experience has been VERY protected due to the incredible support of my friend Huixian, but I am already fully convinced that I now want to try another trip on my own, and I think that my experiences could help you to do the same, while also convincing you that it is worth the effort!
As always, thank you for reading along, and feel free to put any questions in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more details about some lesser-known amazing sites in southern Fujian provinces that you might want to visit.
Travels with Jay 