If you have time, add Suzhou to the trip to Hangzhou, and could do a Pearl River Delta trip after Guangzhou, take the train down to Shenzen, subway down to HK border, ferry over to Macau, although that would eat up several days.
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As of today (February 07, 2026)
Character Progression
2026-02-07
| Unskipped | Skipped | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learned | 1,367 | 90 | 1,457 |
| Non-learned | - | 917 | - |
| Total | - | 1007 | - |
My HH learning total: 2,374 characters ([learned] union [skipped])
| Level | Learned | Out Of |
|---|---|---|
| HSK 1 | 300 | 300 |
| HSK 2 | 300 | 300 |
| HSK 3 | 300 | 300 |
| HSK 4 | 300 | 300 |
| HSK 5 | 300 | 300 |
| HSK 6 | 300 | 300 |
| HSK 7-9 | 546 | 1200 |
| Non-HSK | 28 | 229 |
This table includes all of the ones I’ve skipped.
Learning
HelloTalk
I’m beginning to make a larger effort to force myself to speak more on HelloTalk. Granted, I only just finally replied to a voice message from over a year ago, and the guy was nice enough to not mind and still reply welcomingly.
I think I’ve talked about this before, but as a working adult, especially in the US (unless you’re in NYC or Chicago), it gets harder and harder to casually just make friends here and there. It’s not really a time issue as it is an energy issue.
HSK
I’ve slowed down a little bit in my progress, so this is more of a self-reminder to get on it lol.
iTalki
I have a “favorite” teacher on iTalki. She’s great, and we’ve been having lessons together for about 3 years now(?) Because she’s great, however, her calendar is SUPER booked!!! I ended up buying two 10-lesson packages with her, just so I could schedule a few months in advance.
The hard thing about classes is that it’s hard to feel like you’re making progress unless you’re taking classes regularly. Of course, since iTalki is a paid platform (understandably), the money adds up.
TokiMonki: thoughts??
There’s this guy I’ve followed on Instagram for a little while, and I think he has some great, bite-sized videos of natural/authentic Chinese phrases or points. He founded a site called TokiMonki which is supposed to pair serious Chinese learners with serious English learners, and essentially you’re provided a topic, video, article, etc. and there are different modes to practice on: summarizing the text, discussing your thoughts, asking questions, practicing reading out loud, etc.
It seems like a great idea since I think a lot of language exchange “partners” might struggle to focus on the learning aspect (if that’s what they’re looking for).
Once again, however, it’s a paid platform. There is a free tier! I might give it a shot. I was just curious if anyone else has tried it out.
China Trip
Thank you, these sound like great ideas! I have a pretty packed itinerary for my trip already, but I’ll definitely note it for future travel. I have a notebook where I’m noting things in lists and maps. On rednote, I also have a China travel collection lol.