Originally Posted by FindingFoodFluency

This time, I was in Changsha and Nanning for a week total. Overall it was mostly fine without WeChat, but there were a couple of nuggets that might be worth sharing so that fellow non-WeChat users are aware.

A street vendor in Changsha wanted to charge me more for using cash, and then ultimately kiboshed my efforts. But that was the sole example of about 15 different street food purchases during the week. There were a couple of places that didn't have one mao, but whatever.

However, the metro systems are still stupid. A ticket is only valid within a certain number of hours on the date of purchase, so there's no planning in advance for when the hellish rush hour bell tolls. Every now and then, there would be a ticket machine that would only accept QR payment, but eventually it all worked out. (On some machines, you have to tap on the "cash/现金" button first, how inefficient).

Anyway, the VPNs were all struggling, but trip.com saved the day many a time. Changsha is neat if you're into chilies upon chilies, and Nanning is going through its annual durian craze.