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 China travel tales
Our customers share their travelling experiences in China.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Beijing city guide,
Guangzhou city guide,
Kunming city guide,
Shanghai city guide,
and Xian city guide.
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| I Swift |
17 December 2004 |
Stayed at Harmony Hotel - Beijing, China.
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We hired a taxi for the whole day & went to the least visited section of the great wall at Si Ma Tai. It was well worth the day fare of 300RMB for an 8am pick up & 6pm drop off. The driver was great & collected 3 of us from 2 different locations & there were less than 20 people on that unresorted section of the wall!! It was freezing cold in mid Dec but the skies were clear & blue unlike downtown Beijing. Bargain hard, our first quote was for 600RMB but the 3rd driver we asked started at 350!!!
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| S Zanca - 1st visit |
15 December 2004 |
Stayed at Lu Song Yuan Hotel - Beijing, China.
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My most interesting visit of my three-city return to China this time was my first visit to Xi'an. Okay, you do the usual things of visiting the Terracotta warriors and the Big Geese Pagoda. But the most interesting was a walk through the food market near the mosque. Populated by the Hui people, it was a mixture of Arabic and Chinese food. The sights, the sounds, the smells. Down the narrow side streets and sidestepping rickshaws. Then, a trip to the local restaurants for the local version of the steamed dumplings-- pronounced roughly Jiaozi -- at the De Fa Zhang restaurant and shop. As the local drive said, forget about the upsclass second floor, eat on the first floor with the locals. Only 180 varieties of Jiaozi. Worth a return to sample the rest.
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| G Martin |
08 December 2004 |
Stayed at Broadway Mansions Shanghai - Shanghai, China.
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We especialy recommend the taxi service and the MAGLEV train to and from the airport - it puts transport to and from airports in may major cities to shame. We were transit passengers from Melbourne to Vancouver and were very plesed to have the opportunity to stay in Shanghai for personal as well as travel reasons. My late father in law was born in Shanghai in the 1930's, to a Scottish couple who had emigrated from Stirling to work on Shanghai's telephone system, which was set up in the 1930s. They lived in what was then Avenue Haig (now Hushuan Road) in the British concession, and left for Tasmania shortly before the Japanese invaded in 1941.
My wife's mission was to look for the house in which her father spent the first ten years of his life, and while it appears that the house was demolished and replaced with a newer house in the 1960's, helpful locals and Shanghai Hospital Library staff, gave us a tour of their premises, located in a house with a very Scottish baronial flavour, featuring stained glass windows, a very imposing staircase, mounted heads of deer, and the original, very British 1930s bathroom fittings. All in all a very intriguing look at how expatriates from the UK tried their hardest to bring all the comforts and the familiar with them.
My wife was absolutely delighted to finally walk the streets that her father frequented as a small child, in a world that can never return.
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| C Chen |
07 December 2004 |
Stayed at Hong Kong Plaza Service Apartment Shanghai - Shanghai, China.
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It was our first trip to Shanghai so it was a learning experience for us. The traffic was not as bad as I expected. Pedestrian crossings are generally OK but you have to be careful of some aggressive drivers who impatiently force their way through.
Travelling as a family, we either walked or took taxis (I only tried the Shanghai subway once for the experience).
All the taxi drivers we encountered were honest but I wish I could say the same compliment about the road manners of some. I particularly remember a stressful taxi trip which passed through the busy narrow lanes of the Old Town.
We did the usual tourist route of Nanjing road and the Bund. Unless you are seriously shopping or snacking along the way, you could do Nanjing road from the No.1 Dept Store to the Peace Hotel in an hour or less, by which time you might need to use the toilet in the Peace Hotel (which is "hidden" up a short flight of stars opposite the reception desk).
We also took a 1-hour cruise on the Huangpu river for the experience: a large part of it passes through the industrial-looking parts of the river, so you might not want to do it if you do not have time to spare.
We went to the Yu Yuan (garden) on a Monday, hoping to avoid the weekend crowds. It did seemed less crowded except for the Nanxiang Mantou restaurant where people were literally standing behind those already steated, waiting to sample the "xiao long baos" ( I can't tell you whether they lived up to their reputation because I took one look at the crowded place and gave up). The Garden itself is lovely. comparable to any gardens in Suzhou and well worth a visit.
We stayed at the Hong Kong Plaza service apartment in Huai Hai Zhong road and took our breakfasts at a cafe called the "Coffee Club", located right behind the smallish Huai Hai Park: the cafe is located on the ground floor of the Somerset apartment building. The Dongtai road antique market is a short walking away and is interesting for a walk-through browse.
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| T Hooi |
05 December 2004 |
Stayed at Crowne Plaza Beijing - Beijing, China.
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Beijing is surprisingly more modern than I had expected. The streets are also clean of rubbish but watch out for spittle on the roads/pavements as you walk - the habbit of spitting dates back to imperial days of old.Getting around in taxis is quite convenient but can get expensive during traffic jams. For shopping (clothes and bags), I would recommend Ya Xiu shopping centre where most of the locals also shop. Be prepared to bargain though - ask for a quarter of the quoted price as a guide and walk away if they protest. If they want to make the sale, they'll call you back. Don't bother to go to the famous Quan Ju De Roast Duck restaurant - most expensive and unsatisfying food we had in Beijing.
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| M Parlor |
03 December 2004 |
Stayed at Century Plaza Hotel, Shenzhen - Shenzhen, China.
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My visits to Shenzhen have been limited to very intense shopping excursions at the Lowu Centre - a 10-minute walk from the hotel.
Lowu is a great place to have clothes tailored at bargain prices. Bring your own favourite pieces to be copied, take along some clear pictures of what you'd like or flip through the hundreds of magazines the tailors have at their stall. There's also a huge fabric market on the fifth floor so once you know what you'd like made, you can have fun choosing material. Be prepared to bargain!
Massage is another service offered at Lowu and you generally need one after a few hours shopping. I'd recommend Jian Fu Mei Massage Centre on the fourth floor.
Then there are all the shops selling bags, shoes, jewellery and anything else you can think of. The day will be over before you know it and you'll be glad the hotel is only a short walk away.
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| A Wiederhold |
03 December 2004 |
Stayed at Radisson Plaza Xing Guo - Shanghai, China.
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I had dinner at the Indian Hazara and the Lan Na Thai, both with excellent food and atmosphere. Chill out in the trendy Face bar, located in the same buidling than the Thai restaurant. All 3 spots are located in a small park between Maoming Lu and Ruijin Lu. Not easy to find but worth a visit.
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| S Mendelsohn |
30 November 2004 |
Stayed at Guilin Bravo Hotel - Guilin, China.
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I would definitely recommend a day trip to Longshen and the Dragon's Backbone rice fields. I took a local bus from the Guilin bus station to Longshen (90 minutes), where I then took a small van (60 minutes) to Pin An - where you can begin a spectacular hike through the rice fields.
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| S Mendelsohn |
29 November 2004 |
Stayed at Paradise Yangshuo Resort - Guilin, China.
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I was going to take a cruise on the Li River, but some locals suggested instead that I take a local bus to the town of Yang Di (1 hour away) and walk to Xing Ping. The walk took 4.5 hours and it was spectacular. I passed trough small villages, farms, and amazing scenery. I saw the boats going by, filled with lots of camera-snapping tourists, and I was grateful that I was walking instead of traveling by boat -- I got a real flavor of the local life.
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| B Ferguson |
28 November 2004 |
Stayed at Crowne Plaza Beijing - Beijing, China.
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BEWARE of the art student scam. Young girls will start a conversation with you under the false pretense that they are art students. Then they will ask you to come see their art exhibit for a few minutes. They are really trying to sell you cheap chinese art for high prices.
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