| First time to China | |
|---|---|
| Nov 8, 2006 17:47 |   |
 | Hi all, I am a Chinese born Australian living in Sydney at the moment, and planning to visit China for the first time around February the coming year. Hope to find some friends from this forum to learn more about China before I make the trip Which city is most recommended for first time visitors in your opinions? I am hoping to maybe hire a tour guide, is that expensive? This question is for tourists in China. Approximately how much is require to have an enjoyable trip? Lastly, where can I go online to meet more some friends online from China? Regards, Steve |
| Nov 8, 2006 18:28 | #1 |
| Maybe I can give you some advice. I traveled to China during the Spring Festival (February) and stayed for three weeks. For the first week, I stayed in Beijing and climbed the Great Wall (Shimatai-Jinshanling, great section), visited the Forbidden City, and explored Beihai Park, and different temples. I also enjoyed exploring the Qianmen area, which is a good place to buy Chinese art and name seals. During the second week, we took the overnight train (8:30pm-7:15am) to Xian. Xian is noted for the Qin Mausoleums and those are very impressive, and Xian in some ways a cooler place than Beijing since it was the original capital of China. I visited two nice temples -- Big Goose and Little Goose Pagoda (really cool), and you could also try the Muslim mutton-noodles there. The city is pretty grimy though (black snow in winter) so I didn't stay there too long. After that we flew to southern China, directly to Guilin, and took the river cruise to Yangshuo, which is in the heart of the famous karst hills. The cruise is nice, but bring your earplugs. Yangshuo was my favourite part of China. You can eat well, even French restaurants there, although it is a little pricey compared to non-tourist areas. You could rent a bike and go explore the hills, its very peaceful out there. I got lost on my bike, and was rafted back near Guilin by a local villager. Well, if you would like any other information, please write a private message. In total, I spent in-China about $1,000 including airfare. We stayed in hotels. In Beijing I stayed at HujiaLou, where they have hot spring water pumped into the bathtubs, that was about 180RMB an evening (double bed). Train ticket, soft sleeper to Xian was about 400 RMB, then flight to Guilin around 1200 RMB. The accomodations were generally spacious. My friends and I got a private two bedroom, living room suite with a nice view, and it was about 200RMB a night. It was not expensive shared three ways. After my friends left, the hotel let me keep my bedroom, still in the three-bedroom suite for 80RMB a night. The food can be expensive though, mind you, particularly in Beijing. The Peking Duck dinners are a classy affair, so make sure you budget for that, unless you want to eat fast food every day. We tried a lot of different foods and ended up paying about 80RMB each for really nice dinners. I hope this helps you. |
| Nov 8, 2006 18:35 | #2 |
| Hey Thanks. I thought I would ask a few more questions here and maybe others will find it useful. During this trip I will need to do some work, so I am thinking of bringing my laptop with me. Is that wise, are there many internet cafe in China? Are they sensored? Hope I am not asking too many questions. Trying to as much research as possible ^^. Thanks in advance. Steve |
| Nov 8, 2006 22:02 | #3 |
| When I was in China, I felt pretty safe. This may have been due to the fact that I blend in quite well and speak Chinese. My friends, on the other hand, were harassed by touts (and approached by women), and probably would have spent more on transportation and hotel, if I was not negotiating for our group. For this reason, if you can afford it, it might be worthwhile to hire a student or local to be your guide in China. Internet Censorship -- what censorship? :-) |
| Nov 8, 2006 22:30 | #4 |
| hehe... I can't spell... :p I don't see many Chinese people from China online, or don't know where to find them, hence came to the conclusion that internet may have censorship in part of China? =) |
| Nov 8, 2006 22:37 | #5 |
| hi how are you!i want to make friends with you. hotmail.com|benyluck99 |
| Nov 8, 2006 22:41 | #6 |
| why me? |
| Nov 9, 2006 01:06 | #7 |
| Hey,Steve, Welcome for your returning:-) It depends how many days will you travel in China,BTW,if you come here in Feb.We will celebrate our spring festival from 17th,and we have 7 days off holiday,some persons will have 15days I think.During those days,all the tickets,including the train and airplane,are both tensely.It was very hard to buy.Pls pay attention to this. During the winter,I recommond the very north and very south cities,haha:-)Like Harbin in the north,or Hainan in the south. Good luck! |
| Nov 9, 2006 02:07 | #8 |
| if you are inerested in palace or heritage, go Beijing,Xi'an.... if you are fancinated about the landscape, go to the resorts in Sichuan and Yunnan Province.... if you like the sea, go Dalian, Qingdao.... if you never have a white Christmas, come here, the coldest part of china, Harbin city. if you want to make some friends online, why not try SKYPE? 1 out of 3 people there are chinese... or you can just list me, my MSN:hotmail.com|yuhaoroman. |
| Nov 9, 2006 06:28 | #9 |
| Wow, thanks for all the great advice given by everyone. With so many nice people, I am looking forward to it. ^^ |
| Nov 9, 2006 08:11 | #10 |
| Internet bars (wang ba) are quite plentiful in most places, even ssall towns have them. The standard varies a lot - many are hot and most are smokey. Some will not allow you to insert your USB memory stick or CD. Most have QQ for chatting but few have MSN, Yahoo or Skype installed... and downloading can take 30 minutes or more. I don't believe that you can connect yr laptop in most of them. In Shanghai you must produce yr passport to use the net bar There are some free wireless locations in the bigger cities - notsure where I saw the list on the net but no doubt you can do a browser search and find it. The typical cost is 2 RMB an hour but I have paid up to 5 RMB. |
Post a Reply to: First time to China
Copyright © 1998-2024 All rights reserved.