与东南亚相比，在中国旅行是怎样的体验？

Hi,
My partner and I travelled around South East Asia (Singapore, Thailand,Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) last year and it was really enjoyable. There is obviously a lot of infrastructure for tourists that made it easy for first time travellers.
For our next destination, we have been deciding between travelling in India or SEA again (This time Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines). Lately I've been thinking about China as a third alternative. It seems interesting, big, lots of history.
Politics aside:
I'm curious to know from people who have travelled both (or just China) what comparisons you would make, the cost, the pros/cons etc?
Thanks!

嗨，
我和我的伙伴去年环游了东南亚（新加坡、泰国、越南、柬埔寨和老挝），感觉非常愉快。显然，这里为游客提供了大量的基础设施，这为初次旅行者提供了便利。
对于下一个目的地，我们一直在考虑是去印度还是再去东南亚（这次是马来西亚、印度尼西亚和菲律宾）。最近，我一直在考虑把中国作为第三个选择。它似乎很有趣，面积广大，历史悠久。
撇开政治不谈：
我很想知道，去过这两个地方（或只去过中国）的人会怎么比较，费用是多少，优点/缺点是什么？
谢谢！

papperonni
China is incredibly unique, even compared to other East Asian Countries. It's similar to the United States in that it is so big and has such a massive culture, that many middle class people can live their entire lives traveling domestically without ever going abroad. Tons of tourism in China is specifically domestic and not always super catered to foreign travelers, even if signs are translated into English. Unless you are confining yourself to super western friendly areas like Nanjing Road or Pudong in Shanghai, a handful of sites in Beijing, etc., it can be very difficult to navigate through. Most western sites like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. are blocked (without a VPN) - a digital vacation you think! Except until you need to access a flight or hotel reservation or itinerary that was on your Gmail. Western credit cards don't work in 99.9% of places, everyone uses WeChat or Alipay to pay for stuff.
Even cash is uncommon now, and when you rely on cash, don't be surprised if people don't have change or seem irritated. You see English everywhere on street signs, storefronts, advertisements, even on people's clothes, but the people wearing them speak no English. You need your passport to go to many places, and you need to carry it with you everywhere. China is incredibly safe, which is good, because your carried cash and passport are literally your lifelines, maybe more than your phone since you may have difficulty connecting to wifi in many places and may not be able to access your typical sites. Metro maps and high speed rail is very intuitive, and many things have English translations; its very easy to navigate everything in China if you are used to international travel... until something doesn't go according to plan.
If you aren't visiting China with someone from the country or aren't going on a guided itinerary, make sure you do your homework and come well prepared with copies of your flight and hotel itineraries, and lots of cash. China is an incredibly rewarding country to visit, incredibly safe, and can be very cheap (or not depending on where you go), but only if you know what you are getting into. It's not a country you should 'wing it' in.

即使与其他东亚国家相比，中国也是独一无二的。中国与美国类似，国土辽阔，文化多元，许多中产阶级一生都在国内旅游，从未出过国。中国大量的旅游活动都是专门针对国内游客的，并不总是那么迎合外国游客的口味，即使标牌都翻译成了英文。除非你把自己限制在像上海南京路或浦东这样对西方人超级友好的地区，或者北京的少数几个景点等，否则在中国旅游会非常困难。大多数西方网站，如谷歌、Facebook、亚马逊等都被屏蔽了（如果没有 VPN）--你以为这是数字假期！除非你需要访问 Gmail 上的航班、酒店预订或行程。99.9% 的地方都无法使用西方信用卡，每个人都使用微信或支付宝付款。
现在连现金也不常见了，当你依赖现金时，如果人们没有零钱或因为找钱而恼火，不要感到惊讶。在路标、店面、广告上，甚至在人们的衣服上，你随处可见英语，但穿衣服的人却不会说英语。去很多地方都需要护照，你需要随身携带。中国的安全令人难以置信，这很好，因为你随身携带的现金和护照简直就是你的救命稻草，也许比你的手机还重要，因为在很多地方你可能难以连接到 wifi，可能无法访问你常用的网站。地铁地图和高速铁路非常直观，而且很多东西都有英文翻译；如果你习惯了国际旅行，在中国游览一切都非常容易......直到有些事情不按计划进行。
如果你不是和来自中国的人一起游览中国，也不是在导游的带领下游览，一定要做好功课，带好机票和酒店行程的复印件以及大量现金，做好充分准备。中国是一个非常值得一去的国家，非常安全，而且可以很便宜（也可以不便宜，取决于你去哪里），但前提是你要知道自己在做什么。在中国，你不应该“随心所欲”。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Ribbitor123
Papperonni summarises very well a country that is almost impossible to summarise. There's a saying amongst expats in China: 'After the first month in China, you could write a book; after the first year, maybe a sentence'.
China is totally different to Southeast Asia and it's a mistake to conflate the two. Even in 'super western friendly areas' in China it's quite difficult to find people who speak English, in marked contrast to many places in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. They're also very different in cultural terms. This makes visiting China more difficult but also, IMHO, more rewarding.
Because China was essentially a closed society until D's decision to 'open up' in 1979, it's still a very weird place so you'll see many things that you won't see in SE Asia. China's also changing very rapidly, not necessarily for the better, and visitors get some understanding of where it's headed.
In short, if you're prepared to invest some time and effort, China is a destination that is unlike any other on the planet.

你很好地概括了这个几乎无法概括的国家。在中国的外籍人士中流传着这样一句话：“在中国待第一个月之后，你能写一本书；待第一年之后，也许只能写一句话”。
中国与东南亚完全不同，将两者混为一谈是错误的。即使在中国的“对西方超级友好地区”，也很难找到会说英语的人，这与马来西亚、新加坡、泰国和越南的许多地方形成了鲜明对比。在文化方面，它们也大相径庭。这使得访问中国变得更加困难，但在我看来，也更有价值。
在邓小平于 1979 年决定“改革开放”之前，中国基本上是一个封闭的社会，因此中国仍然是一个非常奇怪的地方，你会看到很多在东南亚看不到的东西。中国的变化也非常快，但并不一定是向好的方向发展，游客可以从中了解到中国的发展方向。
总之，如果您准备投入一些时间和精力，中国将是一个不同于地球上任何其他地方的旅游目的地。

sittingshotgun
I remember my first time in China, think of how much Mandarin you know, that was exactly how much English anyone on the street knew. Everything was so big, and so foreign (as a Canadian), that when I would take a cab out to a particular location (with an address written by the hotel staff), I have no idea how I would have returned home without the business card of the hotel that I was staying at. The communication gap is so big that even generic hand gestures seemed to have zero intelligibility, I would have had as much luck trying to communicate with Martians. That said, incredible place, I've returned several times and it has changed a lot since, it's a lot easier now than it used to be.

我记得我第一次来中国的时候，想想一个普通外国人会多少普通话，那么街上的人就有多少会英语。一切都那么大，那么陌生（作为一个加拿大人），以至于当我打车去一个特定地点时（地址是酒店工作人员写的），如果没有下榻酒店的名片，我都不知道该怎么回家。交流的差距是如此之大，以至于连普通的手势似乎都无法理解，我可能跟火星人的交流都不会那么磕磕绊绊。尽管如此，这里仍然是一个不可思议的地方，我已经回来过好几次了，现在已经发生了很大的变化，比以前方便多了。

Triseult
Canadian in China
I 100% agree you can't "wing it" in China. However, a few things will go a long way:
Get an eSIM like Airalo before coming, or have a roaming data plan. That'll ensure you have internet pretty much everywhere AND will circumvent the Great Firewall, letting you access, say, your Gmail account.
Get AliPay and WeChat and get verified as much as possible with it. Add your international credit cards to them. These days, AliPay/WeChat with an international card works almost everywhere.
Get a good offline translator with camera functionality so you can translate e.g. menus and signs.
What makes China a lot easier than it could be is how nice people are here. I've yet to meet anyone who has been impatient with my limited Chinese and unwilling to do a bit of back and forth with a translator to figure out what I need.

我完全同意你不能在中国“随心所欲”。不过，有几件事会有很大帮助：
1. 来中国之前先买一个像 Airalo 这样的 eSIM 卡，或者买一个漫游数据套餐。这将确保你在几乎所有地方都能上网，并能绕过防火长城，让你访问比如说你的 Gmail 账户。
2. 使用支付宝和微信，尽可能多地进行验证。将你的国际信用卡加入其中。如今，使用国际卡的支付宝/微信几乎在所有地方都能使用。
3. 买一个好的带拍照功能的离线翻译器，这样你就可以翻译菜单和标志等。
让中国变得更容易旅行的是这里的人都很友善。我还没有遇到过对我有限的中文不耐烦的人，也没有遇到过为了弄清楚我需要什么而不愿意和翻译来回沟通的人。

cementturtle
You don't want to end up like me and be stuck in the middle of nowhere at 2 am trying to book a train ticket and nobody understands. I learned my lesson. For everything else I had to book I would ask someone at the hostel or guest house to write down exactly what I wanted , for example what train, what time, what class of ticket. Made things much easier.

你不会想像我一样，凌晨两点被困在荒郊野外，想订一张火车票却无人理解。我吸取了教训。对于其他需要预订的东西，我会请旅店或招待所的人写下我想要的东西，例如什么火车、什么时间、什么等级的车票。这样事情就简单多了。

valoremz
How’s crime in China? Nearly every time travel is mentioned to the US, Europe, Latin America, etc there’s mention of crime even if it’s pick pocketing. For someone reason I hear about China. So any concerns about crime in China at all?

中国的犯罪情况如何？几乎每次提到去美国、欧洲、拉丁美洲等地旅游，都会提到犯罪问题，哪怕是扒窃。出于某种原因，我听说过中国。那么，您是否担心中国的犯罪问题？

ooo-ooo-oooyea
United States 45 countries
Its not an issue, even in major cities.
People who get in trouble are looking for it, stuff like buying drugs (Don't!), or trying to buy a hooker (Don't).

即使在大城市，这也不是问题。
惹上麻烦的人都是自找麻烦，比如买毒品（不要！）或试图嫖娼（不要）。

papperonni
There are cameras and cops everywhere. The very few scammer types I encountered were largely confined to places like Nanjing Road, which is sleazy anyway (think Times Square) and a bit of a foreign tourist trap. Taxis were cheap and fair and the drivers always communicated what they were doing if they were deviating from a route due to traffic.(albeit with a language barrier). In crowds, I never once felt uneasy, which is good because some of the crowds are very large. Almost every store or apartment complex has its own guards. Metro entrances have metal detectors and bag scanners. A thief would get caught very quickly, and the type of person who makes their living doing petty theft wouldn't have much sway among the government like a white collar criminal might.
Despite the camera and police presence, it never felt oppressive to me (your experience may be different if you are an expat who gets involved in corporate or regional politics, that's another post altogether). A lot of it feels like security theatre, although facial recognition technology and passport scanning does mean that your exact location is probably known at most times (if this bothers you, China should be crossed off your list).
The only interactions I ever had with cops were them pointing for me to go somewhere or wait for a timed entry. I would reckon most people probably had a more negative interaction with a cop in the US. Behave yourself and you won't have any problems. Save any political hot takes you have for when you get home.

到处都有摄像头和警察。我遇到的极少数骗子主要集中在南京路等地，而这些地方无论如何都是肮脏的（想想时代广场），有点像针对外国游客的陷阱。出租车既便宜又公平，如果因为堵车而偏离路线，司机总是会告诉我他们在做什么（尽管语言不通）。在人群中，我从未感到过不安，这很好，因为有些人群非常庞大。几乎每家商店或公寓楼都有自己的警卫。地铁入口有金属探测器和行李扫描仪。小偷很快就会被抓获，而以小偷小摸为生的人在政府中的影响力不会像白领罪犯那样大。
尽管有摄像头和警察的存在，但我从未感觉到压迫感（如果你是一名参与公司或地区政治的外籍人士，你的体验可能会有所不同，这完全是另一回事）。虽然人脸识别技术和护照扫描确实意味着你的确切位置在大多数时候都可能被人知道（如果你对此感到困扰，中国应该从你的名单中划掉），但很多时候感觉就像安全剧场。
我与警察的唯一互动就是他们指着我让我去某个地方或等待定时进入。我想，在美国，大多数人可能都与警察有过更消极的互动。注意言行举止，你就不会遇到任何问题。把你满腔的政治热情留到回家后再说吧。

Unit266366666
I would say this is mostly true until you find yourself in a situation where someone thinks they can get away with scamming you. If you’re careful and nothing goes wrong it won’t happen but opportunistic scams and other petty crime does happen when and where the opportunity exists. If you’re on a beaten path I very much doubt you’ll ever encounter this, but you can if you’re a bit more adventurous.
I’ve actually found Chinese scammers sometimes endearingly incompetent. It’s clear they get a lot less practice than scammers elsewhere, or maybe have easy marks I guess. I’ve had times that I couldn’t help but laugh at how poorly they tried to execute their plan.

我想说的是，在你发现自己处于有人认为可以通过诈骗你而逃脱的境地之前，这种说法大多是正确的。如果你小心谨慎，不出任何差错，这种情况就不会发生，但机会主义诈骗和其他轻微犯罪确实会在有机会的时候和“合适的”地方发生。如果你随大流，就不太会遇到这种情况，但如果你比较喜欢冒险，就有可能遇到。
实际上，我发现中国的骗子有时很无能。很明显，他们比其他地方的骗子少了很多练习的机会，或者会很轻易地露出马脚。有几次，我看到他们执行计划的拙劣程度，都忍不住笑出声来。

DonaldDoesDallas
I've lived in China and traveled extensively in SEA.
The tier 1 cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, etc) and some of the backpacker-centric cities (e.g. Yangshuo, Dali) are more challenging for a foreign traveler than their comparatives in SEA (e.g. Bangkok, HCMC, Chiang Mai), but still relatively easy for seasoned travelers. Even in these places there's less English than most of SEA, hotels can be a pain (some don't accept foreigners), and transportation can be a hassle (outside of their excellent metro systems). Overall, there's not that feeling of just being able to step into the country and they'll take you by the hand like there is in SEA.
It's when you get outside of the main tourist centers that you enter hard mode, where you will really need some Mandarin. But this is also the most rewarding IMO.
Also, note that my experience in China is pre-covid. I have heard that things have gotten worse for foreign travelers.

我在中国生活过，也去东南亚旅行过很多次。
对于外国旅行者来说，一线城市（北京、上海、深圳等）和一些以背包客为中心的城市（如阳朔、大理）比东南亚的同类城市（如曼谷、胡志明市、清迈）更具挑战性，但对于经验丰富的旅行者来说仍然相对容易。即使是在这些地方，英语水平也比东南亚大部分地区低，酒店可能会很麻烦（有些酒店不接待外国人），交通也会很麻烦（除了出色的地铁系统外）。总之，没有在东南亚国家那种一踏入这个国家，他们就会牵着你的手的感觉。
当你离开主要的游客中心时，你就进入了“艰苦模式”，你真的需要学习一些普通话。但在我看来，这也是收获最大的时候。
另外，请注意我在中国的经历是在疫情前。我听说对外国游客来说，情况变得更糟了。

Triseult
Canadian in China
In a way it's easier now. AliPay and WeChat take international credit cards, so that's WAY simpler. The railway allows you to identify yourself via passport upload online, so no more need to go to the station to authenticate yourself.
Still very little English spoken, but it's nothing you can't get around with a friendly smile and the WeChat two-way translation option.
As for hotels not accepting foreigners, I should point out this is about their license type, not some basic anti-foreigner racism. Best to use Trip.com to book a hotel as those will be foreigner-friendly. In general, finding a hotel that allows foreigners isn't that difficult outside more remote or restricted areas (like, say, rural xinjiang).

从某种意义上说，现在更容易了。支付宝和微信可以使用国际信用卡，这就简单多了。铁路允许你在网上上传护照来确认自己的身份，所以再也不用去车站认证自己了。
虽然说英语的人还是很少，但只要你面带微笑，再加上微信的双向翻译功能，还是可以应付自如的。
至于酒店不接待外国人的问题，我想指出的是，这与酒店的许可证类型有关，而不是什么基本的反外国人种族主义。最好使用 Trip.com 预订酒店，因为这些酒店会对外国人友好。一般来说，在较偏远或受限制的地区（如新疆农村）之外，找到一家允许外国人入住的酒店并不难。

[dexed]
Not terribly expensive but I find China to be such a hassle compared to SE Asian destinations. Internet access, getting a hotel, paying by card, buying tickets as a foreigner everything that you don't even think about in other countries can become a huge problem in China

中国旅行的费用并不高，但与东南亚的旅游目的地相比，我觉得中国实在是太麻烦了。上网、住酒店、刷卡、买票，作为一个外国人，这些在其他国家想都不用想的事情，在中国却成了大问题。

Tall_Girl_97
We were in China for 2 weeks in 2018 with our 11 and 13 year old kids, and I still look back on it as one of our best ever trips. China has everything from ancient history to modern landmarks to gorgeous nature to pop culture - and the food was amazing. We went to the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven and the terra cotta warriors, rode bamboo rafts down the Li River, crossed two Disney parks off our list, saw the pandas in Chengdu and the big buddha in Hong Kong and rice paddies and an acrobat show... it was amazing. We took a few overnight sleeper trains which was a grand adventure for the kids. We arranged the trip ourselves, not through an agency, to skip the government-sponsored shopping stops. We got a VPN and had internet access some of the time; for periods it didn't work. We made as many travel arrangements as we could before we left, which included using an agency to purchase our train tickets and also arranging for a car and driver to meet us at the train station when we arrived - that let us set the date/time/destination in writing ahead of time and ensured no communication issues with the drivers themselves, none of whom spoke English. Getting cash from ATMs was not a problem, but again, this was 5 years ago and maybe that has changed. I wouldn't recommend China as a first trip for someone but it is much more doable than most people think and the

2018 年，我们带着 11 岁和 13 岁的孩子在中国待了两周，现在回想起来，这仍是我们最棒的旅行之一。从古代历史到现代地标，从绚丽的自然风光到流行文化，中国应有尽有，美食更是令人赞不绝口。我们游览了长城、天坛和兵马俑，乘坐竹筏游览了漓江，从清单上划掉了两个迪斯尼乐园，在成都看到了大熊猫，在香港（特区）看到了大佛，还看到了稻田和杂技表演......真是太棒了。我们乘坐了几趟过夜的卧铺火车，这对孩子们来说是一次大冒险。我们自己安排行程，而不是通过旅行社，这样就可以跳过政府资助的购物站。我们买了一个虚拟专用网络（VPN），有些时候可以上网，有些时候则无法上网。我们在出发前尽可能多地安排了行程，包括通过代理公司购买火车票，还安排了一辆车和司机在我们抵达时到火车站接我们--这样我们就可以提前以书面形式确定日期/时间/目的地，并确保与司机本人（他们都不会说英语）的沟通没有问题。在自动取款机上取钱不成问题，但这也是 5 年前的事了，也许现在情况有所改变。我不建议把中国作为第一次旅行的目的地，但它还是比大多数人想象的要容易得多，而且中国的旅游资源也很丰富。

原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处