Top 10 apps for visitors to China

If you’re planning a trip, or maybe living there as an expat, these are the apps you’re going to want to have installed to your phone to get the most from your experience.

They are my

Top 10 apps for China

Hanping Chinese Camera - china-app
1) Hanping Camera

Takes pictures of text and converts them to English language. Used it quite helpfully on the train to Guangdong, it will have problems if your phone doesn’t have a good camera or if you’ve got shaky hands.
I went through the entire interpretation of the Chinese menu with a Chinese girl, and it got them all correct.
Can’t be bad!
Download at Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.embermitre.hanping.app.reader.pro Continue reading “Top 10 apps for visitors to China”

False widow – Steatoda

As they are known.

These are dinky little creatures. Fluffy and cute, like a spider, eats it’s husband (all good women do this) not only this, but has some markings similar to the highly venomous Black Widow spider.

Now I am a resident of the UK for a short while, and I picked this one up in the garden.

False Widow Spider
False Widow Spider

I’m not usually dispossessed to picking up strange spiders, but I could see the markings on it’s back and wanted a closer look.

Mostly harmless, but a slight record as a bit of a minature bad-boy, as UK spiders go.

Mine seemed AWFULLY FRIENDLY, (I’m sure that’s because I’m just fresh back in the UK), liked my arm very much!

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Flickr doesn’t work in China

Some time ago. Flickr changed the design of their photo-hosting service to what is know in the industry, as a JSON platform.

Under most circumstances, this adds a lot more user functionality. However, you must remember that FLICKR by it’s nature is not a bandwidth light site. It’s bandwidth heavy.

All the images come at the cost of the JSON code not functioning at all.

I ceased using the site in July last year.

In CHina it wasn’t possible. Flickr simply doesn’t work in China. I’ve tried it using a VPN.

The functionality was so restricted, that when Paypal put the renewal through this year, I contested it and won on the grounds that it wasn’t ‘fit for purpose‘.

I know many of you photo-sharers out there must have encountered problems.

I missed Flickr and being able to share my photo’s online with friends and family.

 

Train journey Nanning to Yunan – Kunming

Taking the sleeper, a long 13 hour journey, most of it through countryside. Countryside is a bit of a rare occurrence once you get outside the main provinces.

If you look carefully you may be able to pick out the farmers in the fields. Still, most of the people live and support themselves through farming, although China has tried to urbanise them and move them into big towns, spend money etc.

The Chinese dream is still a pig and a bowl of rice in most parts of the country.

Continue reading “Train journey Nanning to Yunan – Kunming”