Hello, this will be little bit of all, I have done research but still have so many questions. I have traveled a lot, also in Asia, but China 2026 seems to be a different experience, and I just want to understand what I can expect to have to know beforehand. Answers to one or many of these questions would be highly appreciated.
Big picture: Xinjiang->Qinghai->Sichuan and then maybe Yunnan and Vietnam.
My plan is to enter from Kyrgyzstan, and go to Kashgar as a first stop.
Border control - how likely is that they want to check my phone? I have some pictures that involves being a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism.
I would enter by land, without any proof of onward travel? My plan is probably to leave by land.
To get around with buses, trains - should I buy on trip.com (for trains), buses where do I buy? Is it feasible to just show up at a bus station and go? How do things work?
Is Alipay accepted basically everywhere? Like a food stall on the side of the road? Even in remote places in Qinghai?
Hotels - should I do all my bookings on trip.com? How do I know which hotels/hostels that accept foreigner?
eSIM - seems like trip.com is good because I wouldn’t need a vpn then, but people say you don’t get a Chinese number then and can’t use WeChat. Are there any other essential apps you can’t use and how do you solve this?
About trip.com app - should I get a login? I downloaded it on my phone, but I’m from a European country and can’t even see trains on the app now. Should I change region on my whole phone, or just for this app?
Also on traveling in Qinghai and Sichuan closer to the Tibetan border, how can one know which towns one can go to and which not? Anyone knows if there is any information online about this.
Thank you so much in advance. Feels like I’m gonna go on my first trip since so much is new and different. I usually don’t even use eSIM…