Hayden.

I had a Chinese e-SIM (just because... well, you live off of a QR code in China)— but I did plan on having a functional VPN— I knew it'd be spotty, maybe clocking a 30% success rate, etc— but yeah, it was kaputt— as was my backup, and my backup after that— none of them worked—

So, yeah— Around day two I just told myself, this is how it is here, see how it goes, experience China—

I had all the travel and accommodation details I needed stored elsewhere, just in case, so I was good (two flights, two trains, three hotels), but there was an immediate hiccup when my flight to Chengdu had to divert to Linyi and I ended up staying the night in Qingdao, which kinda rocked me— you almost feel like you're missing a limb all of a sudden, or a sense— it sounds overdramatic, but it really made me realize how many eggs I put in Google's basket—

And I'll be real, it was frustrating at times— course, no Gmail, Google, GSuite, Google Maps, etc, which I heavily rely upon for lots— Bing sucks, a lot, never using it again, but at least it was an option— and Apple Maps is somewhat status quo in China, so I just switched over to that— kinda missed Youtube, Bandcamp, Spotify, actual news sources, etc— but you know what? It was, as you said, very local. I had the tools everyone else had. I lived off of WeChat and Alipay—

27 days— Course, could handle it, was almost like a retreat by all means, but those first few days I panicked a smidge (especially considering I had future travel to work on, etc— I have two months in India ahead of me I'm still working on arranging—), but yeah... just ended up being very 'local'—

I should note, I really enjoyed China. Chengdu and Xi'an were lovely cities, and while I liked Chongqing a little less, the food in all three was incredible— I'll have to put my thoughts on the entire experience together eventually, but I truly enjoyed my time there, and I'd love to go back to explore more one day—

I do have Instagram :)

haydensomewhere

It's somewhat new-ish. I started it last year—