Dutch national Fercan Molenaar did not check any government advice before taking his first trip to China in August – and he is hardly alone.
The 27-year-old instead consulted friends who were familiar with the country. On his two-day trip to the giant southern city of Guangzhou en route to South Korea, he found ups and downs that government advisories were unlikely to cover.
Molenaar and his French girlfriend said they felt safer in China than in France or the Netherlands, despite Dutch government warnings about pickpockets, theft and Chinese people using force to exact payment for expensive guide services.
Their biggest hardship? Double-paying at a restaurant because of a mobile app glitch, which a friend helped sort out. Few people, even at Guangzhou’s airport, spoke much English, but they muddled through.
“We did not know much, to be honest,” said Molenaar, who works in the finance office of a pharmaceutical company. He said they picked China because they were keen to travel farther from home, and “we definitely did not think it was going to be as safe as it was”.
His story depicts a wider China travel trend: formal advisories being overlooked in favour of timely, accessible tips from personal contacts and privately run travel websites – or, in some cases, no advice at all.
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