Sigh, another dilemma.

[gina@fosstodon.org]

Sigh, another dilemma.

I'm flying back from Sydney to Amsterdam in the beginning of Jan 2026. I'm not doing a 30 hr flight on the way back. Where should I spend a few days as a layover?

[tsvenson@fosstodon.org]

@Gina

I first read option 2 as Guantánamo and 🤯

🤣

[mfr@mastodon.coffee]

@Gina already booked? Singapore (nice!) or Hongkong (awesome) are also possible layovers?

[gina@fosstodon.org]

@mfr I've already been to Singapore so that one's out. But Hongkong could be an option as it's literally next to Guangzhou. Why Hongkong though?

For context, if I'd choose Guangzhou I would want to visit Shenzhen, and more importantly, Foshan's furniture factories. The latter because I'm considering starting a custom desk business and it's a great place for inspo and suppliers. But I would have to put some research into it first.

[rijnhard@fosstodon.org]

@Gina if you do Guangzhou, then a few travel tips for China, because it's literally its own planet.

A vpn that is KNOWN to work in China, setup beforehand. Sufshark with wire guard and region set to Japan worked mostly.

Alipay is a must, setup ahead of time, don't use a virtual card unless you can print a bank statement for it.
Didi for China (separate app) for uber-like.
Amap, maps in English that work.

And you good to go.

[rijnhard@fosstodon.org]

@Gina also if the staff at the coffee shop till/counter ignore you, look for a QR code, scan it with Alipay and order through alipay.

Most things work like that.

[rijnhard@fosstodon.org]

@Gina side note, deepseek was better than chatgpt for helping me adventure about shanghai. But still sent me looking for a mall that closed in 2015.

Oh and either a translation app that is known to work in China, or Google translate with Chinese downloaded for offline use ahead of time. The general English level isn't great.