We made it to Shenzhen!
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@blinry the power banks are necessary because you do so much on a phone. Imagine being far away from home with 5% battery. You will not be able to take a metro, call a cab or maybe not even know how to get home on foot without a phone.
@owiecc Makes sense! But I guess you also need a phone to rent them, so you need to make sure not to run completely out of power?
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@owiecc Makes sense! But I guess you also need a phone to rent them, so you need to make sure not to run completely out of power?
@blinry but then almost everyone has a power bank so people are probably helping each other out.
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@owiecc Makes sense! But I guess you also need a phone to rent them, so you need to make sure not to run completely out of power?
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R relay@relay.an.exchange shared this topic
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And walking around feels stressful because of the e-scooters...
But many things are super interesting! Obviously the high-tech malls! Cheap, fun food. There's rental infrastructure for power banks? A pretty mixture of sky scrapers and parks.
@blinry Public welfare piano room. Now I want one. (-:
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We made it to Shenzhen! What I didn't expect at all: The amount of electric scooters!
People are using them to take their kids somewhere, to lug around packages, to deliver food, just to get from A to B quickly ...
They also drive on the sidewalk, and honk a lot, meep meep!
@blinry@chaos.social I wish they were a lot more common here as well. They seem great for urban mobility.
(I think they should replace a lot of cars, alongside mass transit and electric bicycles) -
Arriving in mainland China, I'm feeling quite some culture shock, more than in Hong Kong:
English doesn't get you very far here, most signage is just in Chinese, and communicating with people involves translation apps (or gesturing).
Payment is done neither by cash nor by credit card – instead, you need special apps like AliPay. Some services seem to require a WeChat account, which I didn't manage to install on my phone yet, despite trying a lot.
@blinry
In China WeChat installs you. -
Arriving in mainland China, I'm feeling quite some culture shock, more than in Hong Kong:
English doesn't get you very far here, most signage is just in Chinese, and communicating with people involves translation apps (or gesturing).
Payment is done neither by cash nor by credit card – instead, you need special apps like AliPay. Some services seem to require a WeChat account, which I didn't manage to install on my phone yet, despite trying a lot.
@blinry WeChat is really a must have in China these days. Only Guanyin in the temple still takes cash. And if you have an Android phone, you need an app store that isn't blocked in China (Google Play is).
Pro tip: if you go to China through Hong Kong, buy a SIM card there with a data plan for all over China. That data plan includes circumvention of the great firewall, as the data is routed through Hong Kong.
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And walking around feels stressful because of the e-scooters...
But many things are super interesting! Obviously the high-tech malls! Cheap, fun food. There's rental infrastructure for power banks? A pretty mixture of sky scrapers and parks.
I booked our apartment in Shenzhen based on @ubahnverleih's area recommendation. What I didn't realize is that we now live very close to Shenzhen's main electronic market that you might've heard about!
To get a basic orientation, the maps in @bunnie's "Essential Guide" were very helpful! https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2019/essential-guide-to-shenzhen-web-edition/ Even though it's 10 years old, I found most things to still be correct.
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I booked our apartment in Shenzhen based on @ubahnverleih's area recommendation. What I didn't realize is that we now live very close to Shenzhen's main electronic market that you might've heard about!
To get a basic orientation, the maps in @bunnie's "Essential Guide" were very helpful! https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2019/essential-guide-to-shenzhen-web-edition/ Even though it's 10 years old, I found most things to still be correct.
It's hard to bring across the atmosphere in the buildings of the electronics markets across in a few pictures.
It's a bit like an electronics trade fair, but messier and permanent? The multi-level buildings contain uncountable small booths, offering anything from electronic components and computer hardware to LED lights, screens, tools, gadgets, cameras, smartphone cases, cables, ...
Everything smells of cigarette smoke.
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And walking around feels stressful because of the e-scooters...
But many things are super interesting! Obviously the high-tech malls! Cheap, fun food. There's rental infrastructure for power banks? A pretty mixture of sky scrapers and parks.
@blinry that piano cabin!!!
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It's hard to bring across the atmosphere in the buildings of the electronics markets across in a few pictures.
It's a bit like an electronics trade fair, but messier and permanent? The multi-level buildings contain uncountable small booths, offering anything from electronic components and computer hardware to LED lights, screens, tools, gadgets, cameras, smartphone cases, cables, ...
Everything smells of cigarette smoke.
People in the booths are often busy, and package orders in cardboard boxes, sort their stock, clean components, or have lunch.
There's a lot of supporting infrastructure surrounding the markets, like a street with stores providing packaging material. People on e-scooters constantly buzz around, transporting goods somewhere.
Some also deliver food on scooters, which then other people pick up and bring them directly to a *third* person working in a booth.
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
