I'm planning on travelling to China in March by myself for a month. I plan to fly to Beijing from England then travel to Xian, then Chengdu, then go to Tiger Leaping Gorge, then Kunming, then Yang Shuo, then travel back to Beijing.
I was wondering whether anyone has been to these places and what they thought of them or possibly reccomend better places to go.
Also i am starting to worry about obtaining a visa, for example when to apply for it also just how easy/hard it is to get one so if anyone could give me some advice on that it would be great!
I would add Hong Kong and Shanghai to your itinerary (plus the surrounding areas, ie Macau, Hangzhou, Suzhou, possibly Nanjing if time)
Don't see everything Beijing has to offer the first time your there, you will be returning for your flight home remember. Go there for 2/3 days at the start and 2/3 days at the end to give yourself time to wind down before your flight home. Last thing you want to do is be in Shanghai worrying whether your going to make your flight or not.
Leave plenty of time to book train tickets. The first thing you do when you enter a new city/town is book your train ticket out of there. This will be hard sleeper or soft sleeper depending on your budget (although I'd recommend hard sleeper as the difference is minuscule yet the price is not). I cannot stress this enough, get your train ticket as soon as possible since they get booked up fast, especially hard sleeper. The middle bunk is best so ask for that if you can, although the people that sell you the tickets often say they can't (lack of English, they often so no to everything simply to get rid of you). In big stations there is an English booth, but even then don't expect perfect English. Anywhere else and the English is EXTREMELY limited, my recommendation is to write the date, time, departure station, and arrival station on a piece of paper and show it to them. They will generally understand it when you say "Shanghai", but they won't have a clue if you start saying things like "could I please have a middle bunk", hell even asking for hard sleeper is pushing it. Be prepared for long journeys 24hrs++, and the food on board isn't that good or cheap so do what the locals do and bring lots of pot noodle style food, as there is free hot water on board to make it. Be prepared for squat toilets on most train's. Go to bed early with everyone else, as the lights go on at about 7AM and people will start talking and shouting: you won't be able to sleep. Keep your valuables on you if you can.
Consider flying, i'll leave you to check prices, but it will save you time and be nicer.
Booking hostels in advance isn't required outside of the main cities, although I would still advise it. Generally guidebooks are out of date and your best source of information is local travelers and the hostels themselves. Many hostels have business cards of places to stay throughout China that they would recommend in the lobby.
Scams are prevalent all over China, more so than any other place in the region. Please be cautious of people, especially those posing as students, offering to take you to tea ceremonies and art galleries. It's not always a scam though, and local interaction is usually the best part of anyones trip, but just be careful - if something sounds too good to be true, or you feel like your being fed a sob story, then you probably are. I remember being sat on a bus in Xian being told by the dude next to me for 30minutes how wonderful his T-shirts were, better than anything in the west, and how poor his family is, only to be asked if I wanted to buy any. He even had some with him to show me! They were heavily overpriced of course.
Try to avoid tours, as you will get a much more personal experience going alone or with people from hostels. You will also get a proper chance to actually see the sights, instead of being ferried around like a load of cattle.
I'm not going to mention any specifics about the places you want to go, firstly as I can't remember that well, and secondly you should read about them first. Buy a guidebook, the one thing they are good for is telling you information about places. Useless for any specifics like bus times and accommodation, but history and sights they are fantastic for. The Lonely Planet guide is the one I used, although I'm sure the Rough Guide is pretty good too.
Can't help with the visa, I got mine in Hanoi within 5 days. Although if you choose to goto Hong Kong you will need to get a double entry visa, so bear that in mind (well worth it, PLEASE DON'T GO TO CHINA WITHOUT GOING TO HONG KONG!)
Ahhh you are doing a similar I did! Visa is easy to get.
Firstly its a massive culture shock, the old hu'tongs in beijing are like going back 1000 years people literally stop and stare at you. Do the great wall walk from Huay Xai to I cant remember the name of the place (its in most hostels) and they drop you off really early in the morning and then you walk till about lunch time - its AMAZING! The Forbidden City is ace too, + check out the huge shopping centres. Hiring a bike is an experience.
Its really really safe place to travel & all the people are really friendly. Most of the travellers are cool (as most people there are quite adventurous compared to SE Asia). Take a phrases book, even thought they still look at you odd when you pronounce things right.
Chengdu = panda city! Tiger Leaping Gorge stunning.
X'ian is miles from anywhere & not that nice a city but worth seeing the terracotta warriors
If any good looking Chinese girls ask you to go to a tea house, don't go!!! There are so many scams but youll be fine
It might be easier to fly out of Shanghai / Hong Kong instead of going back up to Beijing.
Have a great trip get in touch if you need any advice!
If you want to visit the Great Wall, you'll probably go from here. I went to Mutianyu the first time, which was VERY touristy, but it had a ski-lift up to the wall and a toboggan ride down (I think you had to pay extra for this though). The second time, I went to Simatai, which was much less touristy and absolutely beautiful. They also have a ski-lift up and down, but we chose to walk it. If you walk, halfway up is a guy offering zip-wire rides across this huge lake...it looked amazing but wasn't covered by our insurance so we didn't risk it. Don't buy drinks and souvenirs from the vendors up on the wall, they'll rip you off!
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are a must-do, although I found them a bit boring. If you're into history it must be really interesting though! When you come out the other end of the Forbidden City, there's a park called Jingshan. If you climb the hill in the middle, you get amazing views across the city...
A couple of roads along from Tiananmen is Wangfuxiang (I think that's right, might be Wangfujing) snack street. It's a bit hard to find at first, it's through a small arch in a corner across the road from McDonalds, but it's really worth seeing. There's loads of stalls with food-on-sticks, ranging from sweetcorn, through meat and fishcakes, to heart, liver, scorpions, caterpillars, starfish, seahorses...then fruit dipped in toffee for dessert They will try and rip off the tourists though. My friend paid 80 yuan (£8) for 4 tiny scorpions, we managed to get them for 10 yuan It was so worth trying scorpion, just to say I've done it! Tastes like burnt chicken skin...
If you're not on too stingy a budget, go to Da Dong for roast Peking duck. They have some special way of cooking it, it's delicious. They serve the crispy skin first - dip it in the sugar. Then you get the meat - wrap it in pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and hoisin. They then serve the soup - I didn't like that one!
The Silk Street Market is fantastic for cheap fakes - you need to SERIOUSLY haggle though or you'll be ripped off. I bought some boots for 180 yuan, when she'd originally asked for 2000...They also have a whole floor of jewellery, especially freshwater pearls. The majority are real but again, bargain hard and you can re-sell for a profit. My auntie bought some for the equivalent of £20, got them valued over here at £700.
The Metro is really easy and cheap to use. You just buy a ticket for 2 yuan (20p) at a self-service machine, and that gets you one journey - so much simpler than returns and off-peak and zones in London! If you don't want to get the Metro and have a bit more money, there are taxis everywhere. Hardly any of them speak English, so have your destination written on a piece of paper in Chinese characters. Most hotels/hostels have cards with "Please take me to XXX hotel" in Mandarin, which makes it much easier.
Hotel/hostel recommendation: Beijing Far East International Youth Hostel is where we stayed. It's a hotel with a hostel attached to the back. It's more expensive than the hostels we stayed at in other parts of China, but the beds are comfy and you get hot water! The restaurant isn't bad for breakfast too, although there are little street stalls selling yummy stuff around breakfast time - pancakes with a fried egg in the middle, sticks of a sort of doughnut-dough but not sweet...They're only 1 or 2 yuan each as well.
We only stayed here for a couple of days each time I went. The Terracotta Warriors are worth a visit, but they're about a 40 minute drive out of town. Our hostel (7 Sages) arranged a bus to come pick us up and take us there, including a guide, for less than £20 each.
Something a bit different was cycling round the city wall. You hire the bikes on the wall, and have an hour to get round (it's enough time if you don't stop too often!). 14km. Jelly legs at the end.
The Great Mosque in the Muslim Quarter was pretty cool, somehow both very different and very similar to the Buddhist temples.
Dinner at "The Legendary De Fa Chang Restaurant Is Renowned For Its Superior Delicious Dumplings" (no joke, that was its name) was more of an experience than an enjoyable meal. They brought out 17 different types of dumplings, all in steamers...
General advice: get a money belt and wear it at all times, even when you're sleeping (especially on sleeper trains and in hostels where you're sharing a dorm). Keep your passport in there, in a plastic ziplock bag so it doesn't get damaged if you sweat a lot (you should be ok in March, but Beijing is SO humid in the summer). Don't flash your money around when you're out and about, particularly in busy areas like markets. When buying food, follow the general rule of either wash it, cook it or peel it yourself, or don't eat it. Restaurants should be ok, but try not to go to buffets - you don't know how long the food has been sitting out there. Avoid salads and raw veg - they might've been washed in dirty water. With drinks, don't have ice (could be made with dirty water), don't drink tap water, only drink bottled or canned drinks. This is probably all very over-cautious but better safe than sorry!
I have a load of work to do but I will come back and update this with things to do in Cheng'du
Thanks for all the advice guys i hadn't actually looked at going to Hong Kong but it seems everyone is saying it is worth going so i might have a look at it.
Any other advice would be greatly appreciated especially about hostels in China, i've looked at some but they all seem so cheap, should i be worried about this?
Everything is cheap in China, its great value for money!!
In Beijing I stayed at the Downtown Backpackers in Beijing, which was cool its in a really old part of town in the backstreets (a different world). Very social with cafe, big rooms & free pick up. A lot of people also stay at the Leo hostel.
Shanghai - MINGTOWN Hiker International Youth Hostel in Shanghai - possibly one of the best hostels in China, cafe, free pool, internet, social, tours etc.
To be honest most of the hostels are pretty much same same.
Again thanks for the advice guys and since a couple of people of people suggested Hong Kong and after looking at it i've decided to add Hong Kong on to the end of my travels.
I've also now booked my flights so i fly out on the 1st March to Beijing and fly back from on Hong Kong on the 31st! I'm so excited now can't wait to get out there now!
Also any more places that people would recommend because of personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.
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Travel to China - Advice Needed Please!!
It was so worth trying scorpion, just to say I've done it! Tastes like burnt chicken skin...
