[redgetan]

1. Depending on your cellphone provider, you can get free roaming without extra charge (i.e. Rogers) . That way you can still use google products. If not, use Baidu. They have search, maps, translate.

4. For beijing, checkout Tsinghua x-lab. Last time, I just walked in. Talked to a founder randomly, and got introduced to interesting tech spots i should checkout, as well as getting pitched on his startup :) They also organize different events from time to time.

Checkout Garage Cafe (not sure if its still open)

Meetup.com has some tech meetups or checkout http://www.huodongxing.com/events?type=0&show=list&tag=%E5%8... which lists startup events in beijing

5. Try out their dating apps (tantan) or even tinder to meet people even just as friends.

Stay at hostels and make some new friends.

Go to internet cafe - they call it (网吧 ). You get see how different it is when it comes to chinese gaming (you need qq or wechat), although some games require a national ID to play. In this case, may be better to bring along local friend.

[neya]

> For beijing, checkout Tsinghua x-lab. > Try out their dating apps (tantan)

Thanks, those are great suggestions! I'll check them out :)