FYI. Just flew out of China via Beijing. A few of us with powerbank without CCC has no problem bringing on board.

Just came back from Guangzhou/Shenzhen/HK/Macau. Here's some pointer to share:

1. Always have a few credit card tied to Alipay just in case one fails. One of my card got blocked after multiple payment via Alipay and luckily I have a spare one.

2. Expect some surcharge for using CC for payment. Rate for my CC is 60.07 and 60.20 for another CC. For comparison, I exchanged my RMB at 58.80. Small price to pay for convenience (if you change 1000 RMB the difference is just RM12). For big ticket item, I paid cash as it is just one off.

3. I purchased a roaming Sim and as I will be using Hotel Wi-Fi for my video consumption, I purchased a one week VPN (else Google, Facebook etc will not work). I figured a Sim+VPN combo will be cheaper than buying a higher data plan.

4. Majority of the merchants accepts QR payment (Alipay and Wechat), so you can basically go cashless. However some only accepts Wechat so be prepared to pay cash if you only have Alipay.

5. Mobile ordering is super common in China, but you can still order over the counter if you are not familiar. Alipay and Wechat app is a must to cover all grounds.

6. QR in China is a different kind of breed and cannot be scanned using your normal QR reader. You have to use Wechat or Alipay to scan the circular QR and it will direct you to the mini program for ordering.

7. Airport in China only checks your Wh of your powerbank so its fine if you dont have CCC logo (International flight).

8. QR payment is less common in Hong Kong and majority of the popular stall only accepts cash.

This post has been edited by victorian: Aug 25 2025, 02:13 PM

i'm planning to attach Wise to Alipay, shd be sufficient?

This post has been edited by ycs: Aug 25 2025, 03:58 PM

should be fine, I don't have Wise so I had to use Credit Cards.

Which VPN did u subscribe?

not all VPN works, my usual free VPN all cannot function in China.

try and error with free trial, and one of the VPN (LetsVPN) works so I proceeded to subscribe for 1 week for around 1.99 USD

Ohh nice! I am going to Guangzhou/HK/Macau in November too! For the payment I will be linking my Wechat Pay with either Youtrip or Wise card, I assume wont be any issue with that. Which Roaming Sim did you bought?

there is only a handful VPN that works in china

this is one that is recommended by chinese local

https://www.simplelink.app/

try this

it has number, data and VPN(if you opt for the VPN)
you activate using an APP and inside the app, u can pay a small fee to retain the number forever
meaning you can reuse the sim card over and over again
https://shopee.com.my/China-SIM-Card-With-V...537.29933833213

This post has been edited by MR_alien: Aug 26 2025, 09:17 PM

Nice, that's really convenient. Thank you!

Do you guys experience hotel at Shanghai shutting down central Aircon?

I went Shanghai on April and the hotel does not allow Aircon in the room and I was asked to open the window

where is this hotel located at and is it like really cheap for this to happen?

never been there yet but i do know their hotels and rooms allowed smoking, there's no way they just ask guest to open window

is there similar review on their agoda's page?

This post has been edited by MR_alien: Aug 31 2025, 09:59 PM

I stay at both Atour Hotel (financial center, Lujiazui) and Four Points by Sheraton Shanghai, Daning. Both hotels shutoff their central aircon to the room at April and we're given a small fan and asked to open the window after complaint...

Same for my mom who went shanghai with tours in May this year... Not sure if there government rules not allow the hotel to switch on the aircon if lower than certain temperature

seem like it is true afterall...you're not the 1st to complain about it

https://www.facebook.com/groups/chinatravel...49195001933493/



This post has been edited by MR_alien: Sep 1 2025, 06:00 PM

Talks about smoking in the room, I choose non-smoking room from Agoda booking but I really don't know if I will get one or not. I don expect much as its just a budget hotel.

My sister kind of booked flight ticket with a random date without much research, only to found out the date we going is just nice Canton Fair 2025 @ Guangzhou. All the decent hotel either fully booked very early or price went up 2x-3x.

Doesn't matter big name hotel or small name or foreign name hotels. I think there is some laws saying to only switch on air cond or heating at certain time. If you find it too hot, they will give you fan or portable cooler or heaters.

if not wrong you will get a non-smoking room
but the whole hotel is smoking allowed meaning the hall way will be smoking allowed so u will still smell it

I prefer to use use Malaysian telco's roaming package, if the price is not too much difference. No need VPN to use FB or Whatsapp and some gives you several minutes of free calls from home etc.

i don't think the price is even near...i cannot speak for other telco
but i've check with my yoodo basically celcomdigi....the roaming alone(not including data yet) is RM120 for 7 days
i had to pay more for data

compare to what this link is offering...this link offered data, number, VPN for RM37
and with that number i can attached it onto my alipay and maybe finally register for wechat
and thn attach that number to dianping and meituan and i can receive OTP

Digi. RM58 2GB per day. 81 countries. 15 mins calls