Today we went to the Great Wall
 From Beijing | Apr 9, 2004 17:04

Travel in Yunnan, Kunming, LiJiang, Dali in Year 2001
 From Kunming | Apr 7, 2004 16:04

travel tips to China | Xi'an | Aug 11, 2004 17:03
I have been to China 4 times and am also doing a 3 week return trip from Sept 23 to Oct 15.

I would recommend going from Xi'an to JiuZhaiGou then to Guilin, that way you are going in a smooth arc and not flying back north over the same area. Also Oct 1 to 8 is a national holiday week. So a lot of people will be traveling.

I have found that going to travel websites and checking the China tours to be helpful. It helps to plan the order of cities to visit and the sites to see. Get a travel book. I use lonely planet. It tells me what the normal charge for a taxi ride is from the airport to the city.

If possible, pre-plan your pickup from the airport to the hotel. If you have not made arrangements be ready to negotiate for the fare. I stayed in Yangshao, 39 km south of Gulin. The trip is about 1.5 hours from the airport. The hotel charges Y495(RMB) for the ride from the airport. I was able to negotiate the trip back to airport down Y200. I was traveling with my 2 brothers so had to pay more then the normal Y80.

Remember the exchange rate. It can be fun to negotiate if you like doing it. But my brother spent 10 minutes trying to talk a vendor down from 10Y to 8Y per DVD when I pointed out that he was haggling over less than $0.25.

Other tips: Pedestrians only have the right to be run over. Tap water is not potable unless boiled. Be aware of the porcelain trench, I never found a hotel that did not have a western style toilet in the lobby. Always have tissues, TP is not regularly provided.

Because of the difference in temperature | Kunming | Jun 2, 2004 15:45
For Kunming's obvious big difference in temperature of day time and night, you'd better take several pieces of warm clothing for the night, and prepare a pair of sunglass and some sun block for the strong ultraviolet radiation of the day time.
In addition, do take fruits and water more to avoid dehydration.