An 8 hour stopover in Beijing, not the first time, so I was aware that using things like Google, Facebook could be tricky. I installed NordVPN on my phone as well. In 2019 it allowed me to avoid the firewall and at least I could send some messages. But not so this time at the end of 2023...
By now, also NordVPN was blocked and I couldn't connect to any country. Didn't really think of a Plan B, thought it's just 8 hours, no problem. But then I saw my flight is getting delayed by an hour. Also no big deal, but would be nice to inform my sister who was going to pick me up.
As Google and Facebook things don't work... I remembered that I still got a Yahoo mail address... But I need a SMS verification code to login - which I couldn't receive there...
Creating a new email address with some German providers ... No, even though these websites generally worked, the providers blocked China from creating new accounts.
Interestingly, despite the firewall I could still receive push messages like from WhatsApp, but of course answering them didn't work.
Interestingly, despite the firewall I could still receive push messages like from WhatsApp, but of course answering them didn't work.
Then I thought that probably TikTok would work... Well, of course PlayStore doesn't work either.
Since I'm ironically still using a Huawei phone, I could use its specific app store. And then I saw Snapchat.. And I know that my sister uses it.
Installed it, luckily no email verification needed and as the app searched through my phone contacts, I could easily find her.
Problem solved, but my sister was quite surprised to see me on Snapchat...^^
Problem solved, but my sister was quite surprised to see me on Snapchat...^^
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