Tips

modernnomad
March 25, 2010, 07:33 AM posted in General Discussion

I want to travel to China independently in August this year. Any tips on which travel books I should buy or travel agencies that I should contact. I can read and write Chinese but my chinese level is still intermediate at this stage

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pretzellogic
March 25, 2010, 10:29 AM

Well, either Lonely Planet China or Frommer's China guide are good. I think I remember Lonely Planet was the better guide, but I bought it about 6 years ago. I think it comes down to where you want to go to cities other than Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. I forget which one is better, but when you look at either of them, think about how you plan to get around. If you plan on flying to places,buy the guide that tells you were the airport is, and especially how to get to the shuttle bus that takes you to the airport cheaply. If you plan on taking trains everywhere, buy the guide that tells you where the train station is. .

The cheap plane tickets tend to come out around the 25th of the month, so if you plan on flying within China, keep that in mind. Not sure how train tickets work. Buses require skill to find the cities and negotiate prices.

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modernnomad

Thanks! Ideally I would like to go to HK, Beijing, Xian and somewhere around Yunnan..

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pretzellogic

Easy enough. Stop by the 798 Art Zone while in Beijing.

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modernnomad

Pretzellogic : I have never been to Beijing.. I googled 798 Art Zone and the 798 Art Zone is an artistic area in Beijing... are there a lot of travel agencies that deal with tour groups to Xian and Yunnan?

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pretzellogic

The only organization that I saw that dealt with Xi'an in a tour with Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong was United Airlines. I myself never used a tour package from a Travel agency, so I couldn't recommend one. My travel experience was trial by fire, and that tour book (lonely planet or Frommer's), plus my experience as a traveler, plus my mediocre Chinese, plus the fact that most airport and hotel staff speak half decent or better English, got me around the country.

My approach worked really well, but I was flying across the country. Flight schedules and arranging flights seem to work the same way in China as in the US, especially since China got e-tickets about 3 years ago. Airports have signs in English and Chinese. Every airport I went to (Xi'an, Changsha, Beijing, Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao, Lanzhou, Shenzhen, Yantai, and Hong Kong) were modern and reasonably easy to get around. Buying tickets was ok when I was doing it at the airport. I tended to work directly with the airlines to get my air tickets, and I called hotels directly as well to make reservations. My Chinese wasn't good enough to buy tickets over the phone calling the airlines directly. I was at elementary level when I was doing this traveling.

Hope that helps.

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modernnomad

Thanks! That's really good to hear that airport signs have English translations. Wish they do the same here in Korea.. seems like you have travelled around China a fair bit! Can't wait to go back and see more of China this year!

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pretzellogic

I wished I had more opportunity to travel throughout Asia. Korea would have been one of my stops. Interesting to know that they don't have English translations. Just means that if I go to Seoul, the Korea tour book is extremely important. Don't leave home without it. I'm trying to remember if Tokyo was the same....

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modernnomad

I just bought the Lonely Planet's Guide to China and it's exactly what I am looking for! Again, many thanks for the tip!

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chanelle77

Hi, pretzellogic, Are you sure about the translations in Seoul? Last week I was on the train from NJ to SH and sitting next to a guy (Korean) from Seoul and I told him I wanted to go there and chatted a bit.... So I asked him bout the translations and if it was easy to go somewhere etc...he said there are translations everywhere and Seoul is very easy to travel around (same as Tokyo btw). Just fyi :-)

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bodawei

Hi Channelle - it's very easy if you're Korean. ;-)

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chanelle77

Haha, yeah! And I misread the thread anyway :-) Trust me, my Korean isn't what it used to be :-P

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modernnomad

Chanelle... translations everywhere in Seoul? I see the ocassional translation here and there.. it's really funny when I ask for help and Koreans cannot believe I am not Korean!

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modernnomad
March 25, 2010, 11:04 AM

Thanks! Ideally I would like to go to HK, Beijing, Xian and somewhere around Yunnan..

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modernnomad
March 26, 2010, 01:04 PM

Pretzellogic : I have never been to Beijing.. I googled 798 Art Zone and the 798 Art Zone is an artistic area in Beijing... are there a lot of travel agencies that deal with tour groups to Xian and Yunnan?

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modernnomad
March 27, 2010, 08:45 AM

I've never been to Tokyo, so can't say..

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chanelle77
March 27, 2010, 08:59 AM

Hi, pretzellogic, Are you sure about the translations in Seoul? Last week I was on the train from NJ to SH and sitting next to a guy (Korean) from Seoul and I told him I wanted to go there and chatted a bit.... So I asked him bout the translations and if it was easy to go somewhere etc...he said there are translations everywhere and Seoul is very easy to travel around (same as Tokyo btw). Just fyi :-)

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chanelle77
March 27, 2010, 01:59 PM

Haha, yeah! And I misread the thread anyway :-) Trust me, my Korean isn't what it used to be :-P

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modernnomad
March 27, 2010, 02:24 PM

Chanelle... translations everywhere in Seoul? I see the ocassional translation here and there.. it's really funny when I ask for help and Koreans cannot believe I am not Korean!