Back from Yunnan and Guizhou (page 2 of 2)

Hi Jean, I just read your impressions of your trip to China with interest. We're thinking of going to Yunnan this autumn for 3 weeks. Maybe with this agency! I also wanted to know if, for your extension, when you mention 150 €/day, it's for 1 person or for 2... The price is very reasonable, but I was wondering... Looking forward to reading your reply.

Hi there,

I just got back from two weeks in Guizhou province, and I loved it. I’d already made a quick trip to the north near Chishui back in 2018.

I especially loved the Maling Scenic River Canyon waterfalls near Xingyi and Zhenyuan—total heart-stealer. The view of the twin towers in Guiyang was pretty cool too, along with the waterfalls and caves around Anshun and Libo. Honestly, I loved everything. The one downside for me was the super touristy village south of Guiyang (I can’t remember the name) that felt way too commercialized.

A few stressful moments—WeChat, which I’d unlocked at Marseille airport thanks to some Chinese tourists, got blocked again two days later. AMAP always gave me routes, but it kept saying the internet connection was too weak to show restaurant suggestions, etc. Still, overall, China’s really well organized.

Some apps are must-haves: Alipay, WeChat, Didi, AMAP, Trip.com, and for the more adventurous, the official Chinese trains website. A good translation app is key too! I used Google Translate since I was using my Free mobile data. Withdrawing cash seems safer to me. I had to get a few local bus rides (2-3 yuan) and a KFC paid for by someone else because I ran out of cash and Alipay wasn’t working (it kept asking me to enter another bank card), or places only accepted WeChat payments.

For hotels, I paid between 14 € and 30 €. The value for money is excellent.

I also tried Colorful Guizhou Airlines between Guiyang and Xingyi, then from Xingyi to Libo. The airline is pretty frequent and great (Embraer planes since the flights are short, 20 kg allowance with no limit on the number of bags, and a little snack provided).

AMAP—even though it always gave me the routes—said the internet connection was too weak to display restaurant suggestions, etc.

The same thing happened to me this summer after about two weeks of using it without any issues.

Some apps are essential: Alipay, WeChat, Didi, AMAP, Trip, and for the more adventurous, the official Chinese train website, plus a good translation app!

I never managed to install Alipay, and WeChat generally worked well (which means it sometimes didn’t). This heavy reliance on apps is one of the few things that really got on my nerves in China—it’s not faster, and it doesn’t work 100% of the time. Even more reason to always carry some cash. Plus, it can lead to unexpected discounts: at a shop where I’d bought a few small items, WeChat payment turned out to be impossible after everything was already packed. The seller offered to let me pay in cash, but I didn’t have enough. She accepted what I had, even though it was maybe 20% short of the total price.

For me, it was the opposite—Alipay worked fine, but WeChat got blocked after 2 days. Yeah, I’d also recommend withdrawing some cash.