| Best way to see a CHEAPER and REAL China | |
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| May 11, 2008 11:01 |   |
 | IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR SAVING MONEY IN CHINA:- 1) When travelling ALLWAYS order a hard seat even for overnight journey. If your legs get sore please walk around the carriages some time. Alternativeley you can hitch-hike allthough some Chinese is usefull. 2) Sleep in internet cafes if no cheap hostel (max 30yuan a bed) is avaialble. Or you can stay on someones coach for free 3) Please order cheap food from local resturant (max 5 yuan per meal) Follow these tips and you can live like a local and enjoy a cheaper AND more REAL china experiance. NOT a tourist orientated version. |
| May 11, 2008 11:19 | #1 |
| Depends on how much you want to save money vs comfort, right? Most of the travellers I know would prefer NOT to go by hard seat especially for anything more than 4-5 hours, let alone overnight. I personally would never take the Internet places for a viable place to sleep for the night due to the amount of cigarette smoke. You might as well sleep in a gas chamber. |
| May 11, 2008 11:43 | #2 |
| Have you been travelling China?????????? Ellyse I agree with you. I think this one is talking thru his hat, wouldn't you agree......... Why go hard seat when you can go Hard sleeper. Far more comfortable and pretty cheap too Why would you want to sleep in and Internet cafe.???? Have you ever been in one in in China ???.......They are full of people and full of smoke and none too comfortable with no bathroom or toilet for that matter. You're likely to have your things stolen while you sleep. If you ever get desperate for a room you just find a foot massaging joint later in the evening. They let you sleep the night after you've had a very relaxing massage for as little as Y25 Guys just need to watch out that they are not propositioned for a little extra.................... Hitch-hiking in China!!!!!!! Now that is a good one. I think you will find that most anyone who offers you a ride will almost always expect you to at least offer to contribute to the petrol. Although I have been helped out by locals to get a lift on the back of a bike to the nearest bus stop and the guy didn't want anything. And then there was the time we got stranded in Western Sichuan but I was travelling with a pretty shrewd young Chinese friend who sweet talked a few rides for us....But I wouldn't rely on this as a cheap mode of travel transport. <Follow these tips and you can live like a local and enjoy a cheaper AND more REAL china experiance> Great if it happens but to be honest the locals don't live like this............. Just get out of the city on any public bus or train and you will be living like the locals. Offer them your seat one day too. They probably won't take yours but you could offer anyway.................... |
| May 11, 2008 12:45 | #3 |
| Jabarootoo, I am currently travelling around China. Infact at the moment I am writting this I am staying in internet cafe for the night. I have spent over 40 hours on a Hard Seat and it is bareable if you remember to move around a bit. This is how the vast majority of Chinese travel. Why come to another country, to see another culture and then behave by living in the same why you would in the WEST? Internet cafes are not normally FULL of smoke. Occasinally I get stuck next to someone who blows fag smoke in my direction but this is only breifly and tollerable. FOOT MASSAGE, Now this is one I agree - that IS a good suggestion. Public Bath houses are a good option too IF cheaply priced (never pay more than 30 - 40 yuan for a spa house including massage and all you can eat buffet, and bed). HOWEVER these can be dodgy and not only with prostitution (nothing wrong with offering that anyway,) but many of these places will scam forgeiners by making you pay a bill you didnt order and then have several "friends" show up to enforce that ! Beware! <<<And then there was the time we got stranded in Western Sichuan but I was travelling with a pretty shrewd young Chinese friend who sweet talked a few rides for us>>> So you got some pretty young girl to mainpluate some of the poorest people in the world?? Nice! <<<Offer them your seat one day too.>>> One thing I notice, unlike the west, Chinese allways offer seats to the elderly! |
| May 11, 2008 19:12 | #4 |
| Are you trying to tell us that, you as a one-time traveller to China, have far superior knowledge and etc than some of us who've travelled more extensively than you? Most of the Internet places I've encountered are IMHO FULL of cigarette smoke. Maybe you've been going to ones that the locals don't go to? Hah! Oh and talking about hard seat, don't think I haven't done it. The longest was about 20+ hours and during the May holidays as well. How about you try going from Kashgar to perhaps Chengdu or Qingdao, in hard seat? |
| May 11, 2008 20:45 | #5 |
| I did some hard traveling when I was in my mid-20s. A young man can endure it, but I would not want to travel that way today. The worrisome thing about these methods is that the traveler puts himself/herself at risk to the whims of scoundrels and is more likely to attract the attention of Chinese authorities. A run in with either could easily replace a carefree adventure with a life lesson that might prove to be very unpleasant. While traveling as a merchant seaman a shipmate tried traveling through Mexico with a similar plan on his shore leave. We bailed him out of Mexican jail when our ship returned to port 30 days later. |
| May 11, 2008 22:02 | #6 |
| I agree with Griz on his comments. It’s OK when you’re young but park benches seem to get harder in relation the years accumulated. And don’t discount the dangers out there if you are doing it on your jack. Dodger. |
| May 12, 2008 00:53 | #7 |
| <So you got some pretty young girl to mainpluate some of the poorest people in the world?? Nice!> My young friend and I would never consider manipulating some of the 'poorest people in the world' into giving us free anything. I find those with the least to be some of the most hospitable and generous with the little they have. Remember, they are the ones travelling hard seat on local trains(if they have them) or the bus that passes through once or twice a day or even week or they ride a horse or walk. Our rides were, apart from one with 'well-fed'' government staff. Who else would be driving cars with room to spare for the luckless travellers we were that one day of our trip. And Griz and Dodger, I can see that we are of similar vintage and while I still prefer to travel 'hard and rough' I too prefer a softer bed and a decent pillow at night these days but I will happily go without if it means enjoying something special about the people and places I visit. |
| May 12, 2008 00:56 | #8 |
| NOW>>>>>>>>> If you want to post TIPS about places you have been, we would be better served by you posting them in the appropriate places, although it has been interesting discussing our different views. How to post TIPS using your members control centre choose a location and follow the prompts to upload your tips, photos, travel journey, and travel review Tips include topics like food, transport, accommodation, must see and do Have a look................. |
| May 14, 2008 20:04 | #9 |
| Oh, boy. And here I thought I am a tightwad. O_o |
| May 15, 2008 11:55 | #10 |
| I agree with Booosyboy that you can do these things, and like Griz says we might have done them when we were young. I know some of my students have spent the night in Net bars as the cheapest option, but I xouldn't tolerate the smoke which is just about everywhere in them. Yes you can hitch hike, I have met a young person doing it. I have been tempted but so far I have not tried. I think Boosy has been very ucky if he can get up and walk around in hard seat carriages. All the ones I have been on have been so crowded with standing passengers that is not much of an option. In one case I couldn't even get to my seat because the carriage was so crowded. I travel on under 200 rmb a day and stay in a hotel or hostel, around 70 rmb a night, my travel incl local buses averages another 50 a day. I mostly eat in outdoor places, and drink quite a few beers a day siiting on a stool outside the shop or in the cheap restaurant where I bought it. Anyone coming from the 'west' would seldom need to travel for much less. I'd travel cheaper if only I could learn Chinese, but that will never happen! |
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