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Thread: A foreigner and traveling alone to China; any recommendations?

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[quote=APAULT,252473]I have travelled a lot in China using local transport and finding hotels as I go.  If you are staying in decent hotels yo will find it easier than I do staying in the basic ones.... the staff will be more tuned to your needs, especially in the major cities.

Search around this website for info on planes and trains (tabs at the top).  Planes are easy but don't buyfrom hotels without checking prices first, they charge what they feel like a sit ic uncontrolled.  Fees for booking trains is controlled (more or less!).  Find out the times and prices in here.  As soon as you arrive in one city plan your travel to the next as you cannot always get tickets and sometimes you can't find where to depart from etc.  genrally. allow some slack in your schedule.  Do read up abot the cities in advance and consider where you want to go - I don't and I sometimes miss things, but that suits my objectives.

Get maps which are at least partly in English.  The major cities are fairly easy to travel in once you master the metro.  Buses can be a bit difficult as you can't always figure out where they are going, but carry a compass and jump off if u are not happy with the direction, they are so cheap.  Learn the characters for NESW as they are on many street name signs.

Contrary to what others have said, you cannot rely on many people speaking English, even in big cities, especially when you really need someone!    If you can learn some mandarin in the time great, but I have all but given up as it is too hard and peoplenever understand even when I have been coached on one phrase for several hours.  I get by with apout 50 words.[/quote]

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