RyanJ
Great Supremacy Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2015
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Did a short 4 day trip up at Shenzhen from Hong Kong last month during the short school term break.
Connection -
Ever since the one time my roaming failed in china, decided to get an eSim from online resellers that is able to access Google and Whatsapp, no need for VPN.
The Public free wifis we encountered including Starbucks require china phone number before login in so no luck for foreign carriers.
Understandably Google didn't work when I logged into hotel wifi.
Payment -
Linked up WeChat with credit card for payments. Hotels accept Visa Mastercard etc but for other smaller retailers they mostly dun. We changed some RMB but you could just easily go cashless with WeChat Pay / Alipay.
Navigation
- Installed Baidu map on my Android phone.
* Google map was fairly useless.
- My waifu's iphone Apple map was good for navigation too.
Immigration matters -
-When entering HK there is that tiny little paper slip that HK officers kiap into our passports, the SZ officer will check for that tiny inconspicuous slip so do not lose it!
- Need to submit a simple entry form which has to be collected from the SZ officers, fill up at one corner queue and pass back to them.
- Do not go up on Friday evenings / weekends PHs, tiagong can get real busy and may take up to 2 hrs. Apply the same logic as Sg - JB crossing, many Hongkongers zerg rush into SZ late Fridays after work and weekends.
Took 30 mins to cross both HK/SZ immigration on weekday morning.
Transport -
Took MTR from HK , and after immigration the SZ MTR to Futian.
Daily trips we used Didi , which can be launched from WeChat app with the linked up credit card WeChat pay as payment. Didi is their ride hailing platform ( like our Grab but more sophisticated )
We did not go on any taxis/cabs.
Didi pricing was very reasonable. There was a ride that took some 40 mins and costs about S$5, not to mention various vouchers to offset. Surge charges apply but still very very affordable in our sg context.
Hotel
ShangriLa Futian, superlative services, location very near malls and train stations. If you are hungry at 10pm, press a lift down to lobby , plenty of food within walking distances. Goes without saying, cheaper than staying in Sg ShangriLa.
***
Gankeng Hakka Town 甘坑客家小镇, one of the conserved villages in SZ which has very much transformed into a tourism town. Entrance into the whole area is FOC, some buildings/museum(s) might incur fees.
Connection -
Ever since the one time my roaming failed in china, decided to get an eSim from online resellers that is able to access Google and Whatsapp, no need for VPN.
The Public free wifis we encountered including Starbucks require china phone number before login in so no luck for foreign carriers.
Understandably Google didn't work when I logged into hotel wifi.
Payment -
Linked up WeChat with credit card for payments. Hotels accept Visa Mastercard etc but for other smaller retailers they mostly dun. We changed some RMB but you could just easily go cashless with WeChat Pay / Alipay.
Navigation
- Installed Baidu map on my Android phone.
* Google map was fairly useless.
- My waifu's iphone Apple map was good for navigation too.
Immigration matters -
-When entering HK there is that tiny little paper slip that HK officers kiap into our passports, the SZ officer will check for that tiny inconspicuous slip so do not lose it!
- Need to submit a simple entry form which has to be collected from the SZ officers, fill up at one corner queue and pass back to them.
- Do not go up on Friday evenings / weekends PHs, tiagong can get real busy and may take up to 2 hrs. Apply the same logic as Sg - JB crossing, many Hongkongers zerg rush into SZ late Fridays after work and weekends.
Took 30 mins to cross both HK/SZ immigration on weekday morning.
Transport -
Took MTR from HK , and after immigration the SZ MTR to Futian.
Daily trips we used Didi , which can be launched from WeChat app with the linked up credit card WeChat pay as payment. Didi is their ride hailing platform ( like our Grab but more sophisticated )
We did not go on any taxis/cabs.
Didi pricing was very reasonable. There was a ride that took some 40 mins and costs about S$5, not to mention various vouchers to offset. Surge charges apply but still very very affordable in our sg context.
Hotel
ShangriLa Futian, superlative services, location very near malls and train stations. If you are hungry at 10pm, press a lift down to lobby , plenty of food within walking distances. Goes without saying, cheaper than staying in Sg ShangriLa.
***
Gankeng Hakka Town 甘坑客家小镇, one of the conserved villages in SZ which has very much transformed into a tourism town. Entrance into the whole area is FOC, some buildings/museum(s) might incur fees.
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