Nihao Beijing! We are back!
Never did we imagine life would bring us back to Beijing so soon! Happy to be back to a place we call home! So much has changed, yet so much is still the same.
Coming back reminded us of the things we need to be prepared for while coming in, and I thought I should pen them down to help any new comers here...
First up is to set up a VPN Connection before coming here. You require a VPN to access everything including Gmail, Facebook, Instagraml Netflix and Whatsapp. Though there has been a crackdown on VPN's recently most still do work. So do your research on what works in the mainland ahead of your travel.
English / Indian Channels on TV - If you want to watch your favorite channels you may need to set up IPTV. Below is a useful link
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/directory/iptv-installation
WeChat and WeChat wallet - Once you are in China, you will need We chat. This is the local Whatsapp and Facebook put together. So download the app and register with your local number.
Once you've set it up , you'd want to set up We chat Wallet and / or Alipay (it works like Paytm in India).You can use it for paying for grocery, for taxis and for bills. You will need to set this up by adding your bank account. Below are two useful links on how to set these up.
Alipay - http://www.smartshanghai.com/articles/smsh/yes-foreigners-can-use-alipay-this-is-how
WeChat pay - http://www.smartshanghai.com/articles/tech/how-to-use-wechat-pay-wallet-and-link-a-bank-card
For those who are arriving in for the first time, ideally a chinese- english translation app like Pleco would be useful, so would be the app for Beijing subway map.
For taxi services DiDi and Uber are the ones commonly used.
https://www.careerchina.com/blog/how-to-get-taxi-in-china-in-english-didi-app
Some other useful resources to read up before your travel would be Timeout Beijing, Beijing Kids (for families)
Looking forward to our stay here and hope to be back to blogging regularly!
Good to be back Beijing! We missed you!!
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