Day 7 of my trip on the mainland (11 if you include my time in Taiwan).....

A few foreign tourists are back, but still not many. Outside Beijing, a little frustrated by the lack of any English subtitles. I know China has such a large domestic tourism market it doesn't feel the "need" to accomodate others, but it just makes things frustrating for those who have already taken steps to adjust to the local way of doing things.

The worst example that repeatedly comes up is the necessity of booking museum and exhibition visits online using WeChat or any local appli. Scanning the required QR code takes you to that site's Wechat page, and then you have to follow a variety of steps like enter your ID, name, book a slot, etc.... all in Chinese. Most places have gotten rid of ticket counters, so that's the only way of getting entry. Then of course, once you get in, everything also uniquely in Chinese.

Then there was the long distance train station. I could only find my quai/platform based on train n° and departure time, as the train destination was displayed only in Chinese.

Many restaurants have you order and pay all online using Weixin/Alipay only. Great......the prompts are only in chinese. I'm blindly clicking on what I think are right buttons to make and pay for my food order. It could very well be "empty your linked credit card" and I wouldn't know.

Personally, I have a notable advantage in being able to speak mandarin to sometimes resolve issues, although thesedays, I've also felt really lost at times due to dialect differences (family from Taiwan and zéro prior exposure to the mainland). And of course, I'm blind cuz I can't read more than probably 10 words. I don't know if it's asking for a name, passport n°, telephone.......

Again, issues aren't unique to China ; I could see someone from here going to say, Europe or the US and having similar issues. But here there's often no fallback option and to welcome foreign tourists at attractions, you gotta have a 2nd language option and things that don't rely on technology that is unique to the local market.

WhatsApp messaging partially works (more on that later; messages and voice calls only, no média), but I have no idea what is with the lag/delay in sending receiving messages.