Відео

What you can access would follow the mobile network provider you bought the international roaming. If that provider block a certain app in your home country, it will still be block while in China. If everything normally works in your home country, then international roaming will allow all the apps to work as well. Google map can be accessed with international roaming but it don't detect your location that accurately. What I do is to look at any nearby landmark such as park or river or building and see if I am near them for reference. Baidu map will be accurate but it is only in chinese. VPN is not necessary if you have international roaming. Take note that NordVPN and ExpressVPN won't work.

Thanks. Glad it was helpful!

Xian is a lovely place to visit. I wish you a smooth and fun trip. Thanks for watching.

Thanks. Hope you have a smooth trip to Beijing.

I didn't use a group tour for the Mutianyu so I do not have personal experience on that. I did use MUBUS for the Forbidden City tour and it was good. But I saw MUBUS Mutianyu tour is closed in Klook. They did have very good review score there. It is still available in Trip.com app. I think any tour provider with >3k bookings and had review score above >4.5 is fine.

Newer versions of Shanghai transportation card which has the T-Union wordings can be used in over 300 major chinese cities including Beijing. Older cards without that wordings cannot be used in Beijing.

@@LoneTravellerX thank you for your valuable informations, can i buy the newer versions of shanghai transportation card in pudong shanghai airport and use also in suzhou and hangzhou , etc. once again, many thanks

I visited Shanghai back in December 2023. The cards sold then are already the version with T-Union. I bought it when i landed at Shanghai Hongqiao airport. Pudong is actually the international.airport and I think it should be selling the same newer version.

@@LoneTravellerX once again, many thanks.....the card can be topped up in any stations?

And also when you buy the card in the airport, can you pay with cash or foreign credit card. thanks

Thank you! Glad that the information is useful. Hope you have a smooth and enjoyable trip to China. It is definately a safe and amazing destination.

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching. I was looking for that information when planning my own trips but it is usually not mentioned in travel videos. So I thought I'll add it in to benefit fellow travellers.

Thanks for watching!

Nice! Hope you have a good trip! Spring and autumn are the best time to visit.

Thanks! Hope you have a good trip.

Thanks for watching!

I would consider the best is Humble Administrator Garden. Then Lingering Garden. These 2 are consider two of the top 4 traditional gardens in China. Yuyuan Garden is much smaller. However do that note that the ponds do get frozen in late december as you might notice in my Suzhou video. Best is Autumn or Spring time. I like Jade Buddha Temple more than JingAn temple. There are no famous temple in Suzhou. Teamlabs all over the world are quite similar. Only two or three things might be different. So it is not worth going again within 2 or 3 years even in different country. But they do change their major exhibit after a few years.

@@LoneTravellerX thank you! This really help with my plan a lot! And yes I’m visiting during autumnnnnn yay

Have a good trip!

Nanxun or Tongli are considered the best watertowns. Nanxun is a bit further away than Tongli if you are staying in Suzhou or Shanghai. You can look at the list in video at time 7.44 for comparison.

@@LoneTravellerX Thanks for such a fast response! Do you think it’s worth it to also visit Tong Li if I’m already visiting Suzhou? I tried to see from the video, but they have similar canals vibe

It depends on what you are looking for. If you like to dress up in hanfu and take some photos, Suzhou Pingjiang street is good enough. It is a busy and touristy place but can find decent angles to take photos with canal and traditional house feel. Along the canals are all shops. This is where i seen most people taking photos in hanfu. Suzhou is a tier 1 city with 5 million residents. So its surrounded by modernity. Suzhou Shantang old street is not as photogenic eventhough it has canal too. Tongli is quieter and peaceful. Still lots of shops along the canal. But side lanes are real resident houses. If you want to see a real watertown, go Tongli. Zhujiajiao is way more commercialised and crowded with tourists. Practically all just shops. Watertowns usually has old area which are besides canals. But they have newer areas that expanded which is basically normal towns. Visiting watertowns mean going to the old traditional areas. If you only have less than 2 days in Suzhou, I think might be too rush to go Tongli.

@@LoneTravellerX thank you! I’ll skip Zhujiajiao for sure seeing how crowded it is, let me try to make time for Tongli then 😊

Hi. I’m only making a day trip out to Suzhou from Shanghai. Is it worth going to Tongi? It seems quite far. Was thinking maybe just do Pingxiang Street and Gate to the East/Jinji lake. Would like to hear your views. Thanks

The company I used is GoBromoTour in Get Your Guide app. It is a private tour since I was travelling alone. And at that time this is the only company doing private tour. Other tours have min 2 pax requirement. I think as long as you have 2 person, other companies will offer similar trip. Do note usual tours only go Bromo, Tumpak Sewu and Ijen. My trip is modified due to Ijen closure. You can negotiate with the company if you like to add some locations.

@@LoneTravellerX thanks a lot

Glad to be of help. Wish you a enjoyable trip!

Thanks! I can't recommend a traditional chinese home type hotel as I stayed at Pace Hotel which is a modern affordable chain hotel brand. You can look at the options in Agoda booking site which I do see some accomodations in your preferred category. Hope you can find what you like there. Overall Suzhou hotels are affordable.

Hope you have an enjoyable trip! As for data plan, I used my own country's carrier Maxis international roaming. It is around USD 20 for 15 days, 2GB high speed data per day. I seen many people recommend Airalo for cheapest eSim. But i see it is more expensive than Maxis. 20GB is USD 49. So i recommend you check your local carrier international roaming charges. Definately get eSim or International roaming as local sim do not allow access to insta, youtube, whatsapp, google map etc.

You need vpn

Vpn is only needed if you are using a China sim card. If you are using international roaming from your own country's carrier, no vpn needed. You can access the same websites or apps as in your own country.

Thank you!

Thanks for watching. Hope you have an amazing trip to Shanghai! And hopefully you have time to explore Hangzhou and Suzhou too.

Both are suitable as day trips since they are closeby. I think you need to decide whether you prefer to see formal chinese gardens (Suzhou) or a watertown (Zhujiajiao). Both are pretty unique sites to see if you are from outside of china.

It varies depending on how fast the train is. From those that takes 1 hour at 48 yuan, 52mins at 58 yuan, to those that takes 46 mins at 73 yuan. You can check pricing at Trip.com app without actually making bookings. The above are 2nd class pricing. 1st class are around 50% more expensive. 2nd class is 5 seats a row. 1st class is 4 seats a row.

Thanks for watching! I am just using a regular handphone. It is a Samsung S23+.

@@LoneTravellerX That's a rather good camera.

I visited in late December. Considered as low season. It is best to go in spring or autumn if timing is right.

@@LoneTravellerX is there any place in particular you feel was especially worthwhile visiting in december

@@ggnore952 December is considered the low season as scenery are more beautiful during Autumn or Spring. If you have 2 days, I would advise skipping Xixi National Wetland Park and spend a full day at various places surrounding West Lake, and second day for Longjing Village, Lingyin Temple, Fei Lai Peak and Qinhefang Street. If there are only 1 day, just spend it around West Lake.

@@LoneTravellerX you gave me a very comprehensive answer, thank you so much!

Nanjing is 1.5 hours, Hangzhou 1 hour, Suzhou 30mins away from Shanghai by high speed rail. All are great destinations and easily can be 3 days at each cities! For a day trip, you will need to decide 2 or 3 top attractions you want to see whichever cities you decide.

Thank you! We are not sure yet if doing a day trip to another close by city worth it or if we skip it ans go to Disney instead… your videos are great and very helpful!

Hope you have a fun trip!

If you like to see where most the attractions are in terms of location, try this www.chinadiscovery.com/shanghai-tours/maps.html. Also download the shanghai metro map and I recommend using metro to reach all the attractions.

Thank you for watching! 😄

Thank you very much! 😄

Thanks for watching. I hired a tour/driver for the whole East Java portion that covers all the destinations. Its a good option if you are traveling in a group of 2-4 person. To save cost, it is possible to rent a car to drive but the roads are narrow and lots of trucks. It will be very tiring due to long hours. I do not recommend renting a motorbike.

I would suggest leaving the luggage at the hotel first. Penang is not too crowded, so you could really start at whichever attraction you like. The places i grouped on each day are closer to each other, to minimise travel time. Weather is either very hot or raining, so do prepare umbrella and sunscreen. I only do not recommend hiking to national park at noon time as weather is way too hot.

Apologies. I am not familiar with Puyou. And i couldn't find it based on google search. From Shanghai, most convenient watertown is Zhujiajiao but very touristy and huge crowd. If you have more time and full day, Nanxun or Tongli are less crowded. You can check out the list in my Suzhou video at 7.43seconds for the full list. Alternatively Suzhou (not a watertown) is 40mins away and excellent as well.

I took Didi to Longjing village. If you see in the video at 0.44 seconds, that is where i got off. Nine creeks is about 30mins walk over flat terrain following straight the road. Longjing tea fields are actually to the right from the village pillar at 0.44 seconds. So if you go Nine creeks for a walk, you have to walk back the same way.

Thanks you for watching! 😄

Thanks for viewing my video! E-payment is always an option of any type of purchases or service throughout my visit. As a solo traveller, i prefer to over prepare, so bringing some cash might be good in case you lose mobile signal. A small amount less than 1000 yuan for a few days trip.

I am happy to answer any written travel related or general questions as I already do in my channel. However I do not read or write in chinese. You can send me the questions to my email chinhien1977@gmail.com in english only. Do specify where my answers will be published in. Thanks.

Yu Garden is only open 9am to 4.30am and last ticket sale is 4pm. You should allocate 1 hour to 1.5 hour for Yu Garden. Some other travel videos wrongly mention Yu Garden and Yuyuan Bazaar and might confuse viewers. Yu Garden is the chinese traditional garden area. Yuyuan Bazaar is the nice looking shops/restaurants just outside Yu Garden. Yu Garden is closed by 4.30pm. Yuyuan Bazaar is open till late (9.30pm or 10pm) and is lighted beautifully at night. Hope this helps.

@@LoneTravellerX thanks

Thanks you for watching! For Switzerland, I recommend staying in Interlaken for most days as it is a major transport hub and have many hotels. Alternatively, Grindelwald is good too. Most important is to book at least 6 months ahead to secure the cheaper rooms. Anywhere within 500m of the train station is good as you are likely using train for travel. I don't usually recommend a specific hotel as I wouldn't have tried enough to recommend one in any location. So far I find booking sites reviews are pretty accurate and especially look for negative comments. And choose those that shows complete photos of the rooms. I personally stayed in Hotel Weisses Kreuz, Interlaken (Single bed, USD 139 per night), Hotel Parnass, Zermatt (Single bed, USD 153 per night), Hotel Montana Zurich (Double bed, USD 183 per night)

Best way to move between Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou is by high speed rail. You can refer to the later section of my Shanghai video to see how you can book on Trip.com. I have always left my luggage with the hotel first even before check in time before go sightseeing. However there are also paid luggage lockers at the main train stations (not the metro stops). You can ask the station staff where they are located.

@@LoneTravellerX thanks this is useful. i think its either leave luggage at the hotel first (if arriving early in the day) or luggage lockers storage at main train stations. i'll try to read out on that option, so that i can incorporate in the itinerary planning

You can catch all the Y1,2,3,4,5 tourist bus from Suzhou railway station in Gusu district. Not the north (xiangcheng) or new area (hushuguan) railway station. Payment is cash only at 1 or 2 yuan. No change is given, so you should prepare the exact amount ready. Bus announcement or signs are only in chinese, so it might be confusing if you can't understand at least some chinese. You can look at where they stops in this link www.chinadragontours.com/destination/suzhou/transportation

Thank you for the feedback. Really appreciate it. I agree with your comment! I definitely will tone down the music volume in future videos. UA-cam doesn't allow to adjust the voice and music for published videos. If you can watch the video on laptop, my videos will have subtitles to help show what I said. My English pronunciation isn't as good as native speakers.

A difficult choice. Most people would pick Hangzhou instead of Suzhou. It is definitely the more famous destination. Westlake is an open outdoor space and it will feel more relaxing. Take the lake cruise and visit the key scenic spots around it. Suzhou is famous for Chinese gardens and may get crowded if you can't go early. Tongli is a quieter and beautiful Watertown. Personally I would pick Suzhou due to my past travels. As I have visited scenic spots in Japan (Lake Kawaguchiko) that gave me the same feeling as Hangzhou. But I have never been to beautiful Chinese gardens and a Watertown.

Thank you for the reply. Appreciate your shared personal experience and thoughts. I was leaning towards Suzhou/Tongli for the reasons you've mentioned. It'll be something a little different to what we've visited in the past.

Whichever you decide, rest assured both are amazing cities to visit. Especially after seeing the modern mega city of Shanghai. Wish you an enjoyable holiday!

Thank you for your support too!

Unfortunately I am not sure as I have never tried going in late evening. Might be worth a try if you cannot go very early. There are few people between 7.30am to 9am. But after that tour groups and student groups arrive. Take note last entry is 5pm (March to November) or 4.30pm (November to February) and you should allocate 2 hours here.