CHINA
You probably need about three months to see all the "attractions" of China and even then you wouldn't have scratched the surface of the local experience. With two months I tried to visit as many of the Han Chinese areas and leave the minority regions - Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, etc. for a later visit.
I tried to organize my visit by a Top Ten and a Second Ten, however, the first seven or eight in the Second Ten could easily be substituted with most in the Top Ten. I was somewhat disappointed with the Yangtze River Cruise - it was a good experience, friendly services, etc., however, the entire time I was wondering what the views must have been ten years ago before the Three Gorges Dam was completed. The only place I did not like was Shanghai. High speed rail lines and more frequent flights in the past make it relatively easy to travel within China so I wouldn't be too concerned about your route or distance other than avoiding any unnecessary zigzags.
A general guidelines / thoughts summary on traveling through China and thinking about destinations:
I tried to organize my visit by a Top Ten and a Second Ten, however, the first seven or eight in the Second Ten could easily be substituted with most in the Top Ten. I was somewhat disappointed with the Yangtze River Cruise - it was a good experience, friendly services, etc., however, the entire time I was wondering what the views must have been ten years ago before the Three Gorges Dam was completed. The only place I did not like was Shanghai. High speed rail lines and more frequent flights in the past make it relatively easy to travel within China so I wouldn't be too concerned about your route or distance other than avoiding any unnecessary zigzags.
A general guidelines / thoughts summary on traveling through China and thinking about destinations:
CHINA DESTINATIONS
THE CHINESE
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THE GREAT WALL
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BEIJING
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XI'AN
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PANDAS AND BUDDHAS
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NORTHEAST CHINA
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OLD CHINA
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GUANGZHOU
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ZHANGJIAJIE
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CHINESE FOOD
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TIANJIN
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LI RIVER AND GUILIN
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DRAGON'S BACKBONE
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TULOUS & XIAMEN
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QINGDAO
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MEGA CITIES
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PINGYAO
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FENGHUANG
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YANGTZE RIVER
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SHANGHAI
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TRAVEL INFORMATION
QUIRKS OF CHINA
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
FOOD
Food is all over the map - sometimes it’s amazing, sometimes it’s just edible. Cuisine varies by region with different cities renowned for specific dishes. It’s best to know what’s available in the city before selecting a place for dinner and what the best place or the most historical place is to order a meal.
Despite the southern and central cuisines being considered the traditional Chinese and inspiration for what you find in the US, I thought the food was better in the north. Beijing had the best options and you could walk into any place and get a good meal.
Most restaurants have an English menu with pictures but in some cases when the food arrives it will not look like the pictures.
As with most of SE Asia - you can find a $3 meal but an $8 meal will taste much better. I found that Mall restaurants had good, Western palate pleasing, Chinese food. I may have been eating at China’s equivalent of an Olive Garden, Chili’s, or TGIF’s, but the food generally was better than picking a random restaurant along the street.
Street food seemed safe and tasted decent. Lots of meat on sticks the highlight being a deep fried Octopus in Xiamen.
Beer prices vary from 10Y to 40Y for a bottle of Tsingtao (China’s Budweiser). Sometimes the price difference is caused by the size of the bottle but mostly it’s just a sign of the expense of the restaurant.
Breakfast is difficult to find and so I headed to KFC or McDonald’s most mornings which is a good way to satisfy a fried food craving.
SITES, ATTRACTIONS, ADVENTURES
Embrace the Chinese. With 1.4 billion people, about 500 million of which are middle class and have funds to travel, it’s important to realize that most attractions will be very crowded but the main reason to visit China is to see the culture not the sites. For example, you’re not going to simply visit Mt. Huangshan, you are going to visit Mt. Huangshan with 1,000s of Chinese tourists. The Chinese tourists are fun to watch as they “learn” how to travel and take in many of their country’s sites for the first time.
Most of the major cities have huge pedestrian walking streets where it’s easy to people watch. The pedestrian walks don’t vary too much from one city to the next - Shanghai has the most “famous” at Nanjing Road; Haerbin’s Zhongyang Road is cobblestone.
The national parks are expensive - 250Y entrance ticket - which adds up when you’re only spending a day at a park and stacking a few of them together.
Temples and other minor sites can tend to be expensive as well. I found that after traveling for two months the variety of temples did not change too much and most of the time the places were only attractions relative to the particular city.
If you are interested in traveling to China I can provide sample itineraries - I’d list some but they are so dependent on the number of days, whether you want to see the major or lessor sites, whether you want to see the major cities (which I thought had more cultural aspects) or small towns or natural sites, and whether you want to fly or take sleeper trains.
TRANSPORT (BETWEEN CITIES)
China is a large country so transport will likely include a combination of planes, trains, and buses/minibuses. The common theme is that China has completed and continues to construct major infrastructure projects. When traveling through southern China the roads, airports, train/bus stations, etc. all seemed to be modern marvels and were completed in the past five to ten years. Traveling in China five years ago may have been a completely different experience.
TRANSPORT (IN CITY)
- Carry toilet paper or tissues: very few restrooms in China provide toilet paper - especially when traveling on train, at a bus station stop, or in a national park. Even ducking into a Western fast food chain or a high end mall you may not find toilet paper in the stalls. Single rolls are pretty easy to find. China has lots of public restrooms so finding a place to go isn’t a problem.
- Get over the “uncivilized” behavior: Officially, China has 1.4 billion people so there are likely to encounter a few people behaving uncivilized. In the past twenty years there has been a massive population migration from the countryside to the cities and for sure you will see people engaged in behavior more fitting of 18th century village life than 21st century modern metropolis life.
- People spit, children urinate in public with their parent’s assistance, no drivers stop on a red light when making a right hand turn, occasionally there’s a line cutter, people may smoke in non-smoking areas, there are various screaming matches which sometimes escalate into a physical fight, etc. - but whenever you see this happen, stop and look around - it’s more likely this is a single occurrence rather than an endemic issue. Every day I’d see (and hear) a few people spitting, never more than five people a day, but I’d also see 10,000 people not spitting. The Chinese spit more than any other culture, so it’s noticeable but not overwhelming.
- There are disgruntled travelers who only see this and never take the blinders off first to understand why this behavior occurs and then move on to the better side of China.
- Some people stare and laugh but it’s mostly little kids and it’s not possible to get mad at a three year old girl with a bowl cut who’s staring at you.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
- Be sure to have the hotel’s phone number on hand. If you get lost and need to take a taxi, the taxi driver likely won’t know where the hotel is even if you hand the driver Chinese instructions. It’s best to have the driver call the hostel and the hostel provide instructions over the phone.
- This is particularly the case in northern China (Haerbin and Shenyang) where the hostel/hotel may not speak English and thus not respond to email requests for directions.
- Stay near a metro station or within walking distance of a bus/train station. In the major cities this will not be an issue. All cities had at least a bus system and there’s usually a direct line from the train station that passes the hostel.
- China has a cute “hipster” hostel scene. Most of the Chinese hostels seem to be run by China’s whimsical females. The hostels are nicer than most of their SE Asian counterparts and range in price from $5 - $10.
- Lots of young Chinese stay in the hostels and enjoy interacting with Westerners but you’ll need to initiate the conversation.
- 50/50 on whether the hostel has a kitchen and can provide a breakfast - a western breakfast averaged Y25.
- Hostels speak English well and can assist with booking day trips, ongoing travel, etc.
- Outside of major cities hotels or home stays are the only option.
FOOD
Food is all over the map - sometimes it’s amazing, sometimes it’s just edible. Cuisine varies by region with different cities renowned for specific dishes. It’s best to know what’s available in the city before selecting a place for dinner and what the best place or the most historical place is to order a meal.
Despite the southern and central cuisines being considered the traditional Chinese and inspiration for what you find in the US, I thought the food was better in the north. Beijing had the best options and you could walk into any place and get a good meal.
Most restaurants have an English menu with pictures but in some cases when the food arrives it will not look like the pictures.
As with most of SE Asia - you can find a $3 meal but an $8 meal will taste much better. I found that Mall restaurants had good, Western palate pleasing, Chinese food. I may have been eating at China’s equivalent of an Olive Garden, Chili’s, or TGIF’s, but the food generally was better than picking a random restaurant along the street.
Street food seemed safe and tasted decent. Lots of meat on sticks the highlight being a deep fried Octopus in Xiamen.
Beer prices vary from 10Y to 40Y for a bottle of Tsingtao (China’s Budweiser). Sometimes the price difference is caused by the size of the bottle but mostly it’s just a sign of the expense of the restaurant.
Breakfast is difficult to find and so I headed to KFC or McDonald’s most mornings which is a good way to satisfy a fried food craving.
SITES, ATTRACTIONS, ADVENTURES
Embrace the Chinese. With 1.4 billion people, about 500 million of which are middle class and have funds to travel, it’s important to realize that most attractions will be very crowded but the main reason to visit China is to see the culture not the sites. For example, you’re not going to simply visit Mt. Huangshan, you are going to visit Mt. Huangshan with 1,000s of Chinese tourists. The Chinese tourists are fun to watch as they “learn” how to travel and take in many of their country’s sites for the first time.
Most of the major cities have huge pedestrian walking streets where it’s easy to people watch. The pedestrian walks don’t vary too much from one city to the next - Shanghai has the most “famous” at Nanjing Road; Haerbin’s Zhongyang Road is cobblestone.
The national parks are expensive - 250Y entrance ticket - which adds up when you’re only spending a day at a park and stacking a few of them together.
Temples and other minor sites can tend to be expensive as well. I found that after traveling for two months the variety of temples did not change too much and most of the time the places were only attractions relative to the particular city.
If you are interested in traveling to China I can provide sample itineraries - I’d list some but they are so dependent on the number of days, whether you want to see the major or lessor sites, whether you want to see the major cities (which I thought had more cultural aspects) or small towns or natural sites, and whether you want to fly or take sleeper trains.
TRANSPORT (BETWEEN CITIES)
China is a large country so transport will likely include a combination of planes, trains, and buses/minibuses. The common theme is that China has completed and continues to construct major infrastructure projects. When traveling through southern China the roads, airports, train/bus stations, etc. all seemed to be modern marvels and were completed in the past five to ten years. Traveling in China five years ago may have been a completely different experience.
- Planes: trains are convenient but for longer rides it may actually be cheaper to take a plane - particularly once you go beyond a 12 hour overnight ride to a 24+ hour ride.
- Trains: trains will dictate the route you take around the country. It’s essential to “test” different routes and schedules to find night trains and trains with better departure and arrival times. It’s worth checking routes to cities in-between your targeted destinations to see if you can find cheaper rates, better times, or simply spend a half day somewhere you wouldn’t otherwise see - i.e. Zhangjiajie -> Changsha -> Wuhan -> Shanghai vs. simply going Zhangjiajie -> Shanghai.
- The Man in Seat 61 has the best info: http://www.seat61.com/China.htm
- I used China Highlights to book my tickets in advance to ensure I had a seat in the desired coach on the desired train - even if you decide to book tickets on arrival, China Highlights website contains the easiest schedule lookup I was able to find. http://www.chinahighlights.com/
- Tickets must be picked up at the train station. To avoid complication I had the hostel write in Chinese a phrase for “I pre-booked tickets online” or you can show a confirmation number.
- Trains are either local or 200 km/h express bullet trains.
- There are multiple classes - standing room, hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, and soft sleeper.
- Bullet trains usually have a dining car but don’t get too excited about the food options.
- The dining car may have power outlets.
- For the local trains there is limited overhead storage space particularly in the hard seat coach (which may be the only coach available). Boarding these trains is similar to Westerners boarding an aircraft - even though everyone has assigned seats there will be a huge mess of people at the ticket gate and then a very fast paced walk to the train car. Given that 1,000 people are boarding the train at once there’s relatively no pushing, if any - at least in my experiences.
- If you change plans/route train tickets are refundable about an hour up to departure.
- Food / DIning options on trains and at the convenience stores in train stations may be limited. If you have a long train ride you may be better off stocking up at the supermarket before you reach the train station.
- Buses: the roads are nice and engineering marvels but the buses themselves can be hit or miss in terms of age/amenities. I did not ride on any bus with a bathroom and the breaks would always be at about the halfway mark on the ride. The service stations could be hit or miss too depending upon how recently they were constructed.
- I used a tour group to travel around the Fujian Tolou’s. There wasn’t a clear review on how to get to this area of China and then once there where, which, and how to for the Tolou’s.
TRANSPORT (IN CITY)
- Guanghzou, Changsha, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Chengde, Chongqing, Xian, Beiing, Haerbin, Shenyang, and Tianjin all have metro stations connecting the major train stations with a hostel and local attractions. It seems as though all metro lines are still in process of being completed so they may not run to all the desired areas particularly outside the city center, although in the major, major cities the metros cover just about everywhere you’d want to go.
- Metro tickets cost under $1 per ride.
- Metro stops are in Chinese and Pinyin - in some cases the PA in the metro is in English.
- Unfortunately, the maps in the metro station are only in Chinese so you’d better know where to go before you leave for the day.
- Guilin, Zhangjiajie, Qingdao, and Xiamen have bus transport. You can ask the hotel for which route to take where. For Qingdao and Xiamen there are hostels in the primary areas so once you arrive you can walk to where you want to go.
- I rarely used taxis but made sure the hostel provided an estimate of the fare. I had no issues with rides or being overcharged. The typically starting rate is 8Y ~ $1.25 and then it’s 1Y per kilometer.