China our way! A 23 day trip report of independent travelers in May 2009.

Before ever starting our trip, some problems crept up on us. Hong Kong was extremely worried about the swine flu that effected Mexico so badly. They had just quarantined a whole hotel with 300 guests for 7 days because of one case of the swine flu. I didn’t want to arrive in Hong Kong, just to be quarantined. A few months earlier we booked the YMCA Salisbury Hotel on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong on booking.com. Several good recommendations for this hotel can be found. Rates even dropped at the last minute. We decided since this hotel is so large, the odds would be much better to avoid quarantine, by booking a small hotel. There was no charge on booking.com to cancel our reservation.

Tickets.9588.com emailed and told us our flight from Shenzen-Guilin was cancelled. We were to leave at 9:40 a.m. on May 11. The new flight time was 8:00 p.m. This was going to jeopardize our trip to Ping’an. I emailed Lilly, the guide we were using to drive to Ping’an. She didn’t rely for a long time, so I booked a reservation at a Guilin hotel which could be cancelled, and waited for advice from Lilly.

The JIA boutique hotel in Hong Kong was recommended on Fodor’s. The rates were more than 50% off to book our dates, and it’s located on Hong Kong Island. We booked this wonderful, small hotel directly on the hotel’s web site, http://www.jiahongkong.com/JIA.html which cost HKD 3,285.00 for 3 nights. The location was wonderful, the room perfect, bed so comfortable. The TV rotates so you can watch it in the sitting area, or the bed area. Breakfast is included, as is wine each evening and cake in the afternoon. Wi-Fi is free in the lobby as are newspapers. We were ready to leave!

I bought an iphone just a week before our trip so we could keep in contact with our family by email and SKYPE for phone calls. This worked so well, and the calls were cheap. We also emailed all our flight confirmations and trip plans to ourselves, so we’d have a back up available while gone. Wi-Fi was always available in our hotels so we didn’t feel cut off from the world or our family. I didn’t see internet cafes often in China. I’m sure they were there, but hard to find. We did use Starbucks a couple of times for Wi-Fi also!!

May 7

Our first flight was Continental airlines from CVG to Newark. Our favorite airport restaurant had an outlet here, Vino volo in terminal C! Tapas and wine, a great way to spend some time while waiting for our international flight to Hong Kong! Flying a 777 with individual screens on the back of each seat and an electrical outlet between our seats, we settled in for the 16 hour flight. We sat in row 44, which was another tip from Fodor’s. Economy seating has 3 seats across, but row 44 has only 2 seats, so it’s much more comfortable. The toilets being directly behind us didn’t create a problem as I had feared. The flight was only 2/3 full. We were served 3 meals during the flight, all were horrible. The Ice cream was good though! With so many movie choices and some sleep, the flight wasn’t as bad as I feared it might be. We arrived in Hong Kong around 7:45 p.m.

May 8

All passengers needed to fill out a health form stating where we’d been in the prior 2 weeks, and where we were staying in Hong Kong. They were checking all passengers’ temperatures with the walk by sensor. It took only 20 minutes from the time we landed to get out into the arrivals hall after clearing Immigration and Customs. Our first stop was at the ATM just across from the circular desk which sells Octopus Cards, to get some money. Then we bought 2 Octopus Cards, one for each of us for our transportation. These were Hong Kong $150 each, of which $50 was the deposit, and $100 for use. We needed to add money to this card for our 2 ½ day stay as we used public transportation a lot. The deposit is refunded as you leave Hong Kong if you return the card, minus a small fee.

Walking out of the arrivals hall, following the bus signs, exit from the middle of the terminal turning right down the ramp to the waiting buses. The first bus in line was ours, A11 City bus with the words North Point Bus on the front of the bus. This is 40 rmb each, which is paid by putting the Octopus Card on the reader when you enter. ($65HKD round trip, but we weren’t doing a round trip). We were sitting on the bus 30 minutes after we deplaned. The airport wasn’t crowded this evening. We needed to get off at stop #14, Sugar Street. Inside the bus a scroll tells you what bus stop is next. It’s a bit confusing though and we actually exited the bus one stop too soon, at Times Square. You don’t need to swipe your card as you exit this bus from the airport. The web site listing the City buses and stops is http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/content/default.aspx?intLangID=1&section=routes&page=airportServices

http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/facilities/lm.html This site has all the MTR maps. It was the best map of Hong Kong I could find. A great resource. Thanks Cicerone for these links!!


An alternative way to town from the airport is the Airport Express Train which costs $100HK. It’s faster, but we found the much less expensive bus quick and easier to use since we didn’t need to transfer as we would have needed to do if we used the Train. If you do use the train and stay at the JIA, you’ll need to connect to the Blue Hotel shuttle bus H2 which stops across the street at the Regal hotel.

The evening city lights were beautiful as we drove to Hong Kong Island. After asking a couple of people for directions to JIA, we found it and were greeted warmly. Our room was on a high floor and we never heard any street noise. The Causeway Bay metro stop was nearby which proved to be very useful. 2 bottles of free water were provided daily. There is a small refrigerator in the room, a sitting area, desk and marble bathroom. Very stylish. My husband was thrilled with our choice of hotels!

Thanks for this, images2. Looks like it's going to be a great, detailed report.

Looking forward to more...

So excited to hear about your trip! Thank you so much for putting so much time and effort into your report in order to help others.

Thanks for all the help you provided thursdaysd! Zen Garden in Lijiang was a gem!

May 9

Deciding to start our day by going to The Peak, we took the subway to Central and started walking uphill. Bamboo scaffolding was scattered throughout the streets. We ended up at the zoo instead which was small, but has very pretty palms trees and grounds. Small pockets of people were practicing their Tai chi even though it was quite humid. The area was very pleasant. We couldn’t find the peak tram though. A very nice woman walked us quite a distance and showed us where to find it. There is no way we would have found this on our own. This spot was actually a stop on the way up the hill. There is a stop request button you push, and if there is room on the next tram for more passengers, it’ll turn green and you can expect a tram shortly. It was quite steep in this spot, so the people on the tram had the added adventure of stopping on the steep incline! We were able to get on, which saved us a long walk downhill to find the station. We used our Octopus card for payment. I didn’t find the area at the top of the peak offending as some do. It was spacious, had several restaurants, and if you walked up the many escalators there is a higher viewing platform for a small extra fee of 20rmb. There were no crowds this morning so taking photos wasn’t a problem. The air was hazy and heavy so our photos aren’t as clear as we’d like.

After spending an hour here we took the tram back to the bottom where we walked through Hong Kong Park. It was Saturday and a few couples were posing for wedding photos. One groom was holding 2 stuffed animal cows in the photos! Wedding photos are quite a production in China. All over this country we saw couples posing for elaborate photos. In the small lake dozens of turtles were sunning themselves on the rocks. I don’t know why some turtles are treasures in the parks, and others are in the markets ready for a dinner cook pot. Large posters were hung on message boards about the Prevention of Human Swine Influenza. The History of Tea museum is in this park so we visited it. We know nothing about the tea industry so the museum was somewhat interesting. A large aviary is in this park so we started walking up the hill to enter it. We stopped, thinking about birds, flu, cleanliness, maybe it’s better not to visit all these birds right now, so we passed on this site.

Where was Admiralty subway stop??? Walking for a long time, searching for it, we were stumped. Finally we found someone who could understand our English and told us to go to the mall. There in the bottom level of a beautiful mall is the subway stop. Signage was poor outdoors. Guess everyone just knows it’s there. Even with a good map from online, we were lost all the time in Hong Kong! We found all signage poor or nonexistent in China for travel sites that should be marked. Maps in mainland China are impossible to find also. Or if you can find one, it’s all in Chinese so is of no help. When you enter a site, maybe they’ll have a map you can buy of a site, but most likely the map will just be on a wooden board, with no way to remember the vast site.

I love outdoor markets, especially food markets. They’re usually so interesting and full of great photo opportunities. The Wan Chai area has some so we took the subway from Admiralty to Wan Chai and exited at A3. From my notes: Walk across Johnston Rd to Stone Nullahl Rd and Cross Street. This is the area of the Markets, including Tai Yuen Street , Tai Wo St. and Wan Chai Rd. (tips from Cicerone) The fish market, meat market, dried fish, live chickens, geese hanging, incense shops, tea shops, all make for great photos! Walk up to Stone Nullahl rd and look at the Pak Tai Temple, which is larger and more interesting. I actually found this to be a rather simple temple and not a must see.

Returning to Central we enjoyed a great bowl of noodles at Tsim Chai Kee on Wellington Street, directly across the street from Mak’s noodles. Tsim’s was crowded and Mak’s was empty. We asked the others at our table the best way to handle these noodles! We’re new at this and it takes some practice eating such long noodles! After lunch we watched through the window of Mak’s the noodle making process.

The Mid levels escalator is very close to these noodle restaurants so we rode it a bit. It’s not too exciting but it’s fascinating comparing old Hong Kong shops and buildings, with the new architecture. Mountain Folkcraft was a shop I was interested in seeing. It’s located at 12, Wo On Lane nearby. To reach the store walk up D'Aguilar Street toward Lan Kwai Fong, then turn right onto Wo On Lane. The shop is full of arts, crafts and antiques from all over China. It’s a wonderful shop, with prices that seemed a bit high. I bought a pretty kite here for our granddaughter. It barely fit into our suitcase!

Jet lag hit us hard, so we took the subway back to Causeway Bay and slept a bit back at the very comfortable JIA hotel. Later today we’ll visit Stanley and Aberdeen.

" Zen Garden in Lijiang was a gem!" - good! It's always nice to know that a recommendation worked out. I'll be bookmarking your HK hotel.

The bus terminus, is located at ground level, under Exchange Square (交易廣場) near Central subway stop. This area is a bit complicated so give yourself enough time to find it. We took bus #6 from this location to Stanley, sitting upstairs in the 2nd row of seats. This enabled us to see the wonderful views during the trip over the mountain. The drive didn’t take too long, less than an hour. We didn’t care for the shops or atmosphere here, but I did buy some baby clothes for our new grandson, who is just 1 ½ months old!! If you want to buy children’s clothes, this is where you want to go. Great prices on so much merchandise. The waterfront area is nicer with several restaurants, but we didn’t eat here. Many families were just relaxing along the coast and more couples were having their wedding photos taken.

Bus 73 towards Aberdeen left from the same parking lot that bus #6 dropped us off. We had to wait a bit for the bus and had a nice talk with a teenage girl who was living in Hong Kong for the last year. She loved it but was returning to the U.S. soon. Riding the bus to stop #26, the Aberdeen Fish market/ Pier area, Aberdeen Praya Road, (we asked the driver to tell us when to get off) we found the pier directly across the street. Here’s the chart of bus stops, it’s in the 2nd half: http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/routes/routeinfo.aspx?intLangID=1&searchtype=1&routenumber=73&route=73&routetype=D&company=5

While planning this trip I hoped we could visit Lamma island. The kaido ferry leaves from this location to the island. Lacking the time for this, and exhaustion, we took a Sampan ride around Aberdeen harbor instead. We loved the views and were the only 2 passengers on the pretty wooden boat, decorated with red Chinese lanterns and birdcages. The 30 minute ride was $15 and the owner pointed out all the houseboats, dogs that lived on the houseboats, and told us about the area. The tall apartment building next to the cemetery is having a difficult time finding tenants. You don’t want to live right next to a cemetery. Men were practicing rowing their Dragon Boats in the harbor. At the end of our time it was dusk and we decided to get dropped off at the Jumbo restaurant so we could look around. I wasn’t interested in dinner here. After a quick tour, we decided to leave, taking the Jumbo ferry back across. They weren’t operating the ferry to the pier area, only to the parking area. We were lost. We walked and walked trying to find the location where we began. I can’t believe it’s that hard to find, but it was dark by now and we didn’t find the pier. Instead a kind gentleman told us to walk to the fire house and find the bus stop for Bus 42 back to Causeway bay. I believe he said bus 38 & 77 also went to Causeway bay.

Back “home” we were too tired to go to a nice restaurant like “Ingredients” where I had hoped to eat. Instead we picked out a small local eatery close to JIA. What an experience this was. I ordered chicken in a clay pot, and it had lots of bones cut up in the chicken soup. Not to filling or appetizing. My husband had another noodle dish which was much better, but spicy! A roll of toilet paper adorned our table! I guess this is your napkin, or to wipe your nose from the heat of your food??? It was pretty amusing to me! Lots of local flavor this evening.

TV was covering stories of families who survived the earthquake in Sichuan province last May. It was sad, although the coverage tried to be very upbeat. One family said they wanted to be a complete family again. We found the coverage of this sad anniversary so interesting during our stay. There was a lot of singing between the family’s stories. Lots of hope for the future. We found that Chinese music is quite nice!

great start, keep it coming..

Thanks rhkkmk. I'm not a writer, so I hope people get value out of our details and ignore the writing!

You are doing a great job and I can't wait to hear more! Thanks!

Thanks for your encouragement. Here's the next installment:

May 10

Sunday morning, Mother’s Day, a trip to the flower market seemed like a good way to start our day after a pleasant breakfast in our hotel.

I wasn’t sure if Mother’s Day was celebrated in Hong Kong, but there were several signs hung in the shops, and even a TV station interviewing shoppers, for a story we saw on the television stations that evening. I’m a mother of 3, grandmother of 6, so today was a special day for me also! The flower market was large and well stocked, with vendor’s still setting up the outdoor booths when we arrived. It is about a 10 minute walk from the Prince Edward MTR Station to reach the market on Kowloon Island.

A bit further on is the Bird Market/Yuen Po Street Bird Garden which is open 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. I quite enjoyed this area. It was early and the men had arrived only a bit earlier, and were visiting each other. Some had their shirts rolled up exposing their belly’s. It was hot and humid. They hung their birds in bamboo cages in the trees. I loved taking photos of this and they were quite amused with me and smiled a lot. In the shops grasshoppers were bundled up in packages as food for the birds. One man was repairing bird cages. Luckily we strolled this market in the early morning because just as we left a huge tour group from a cruise ship arrived and the park/market area was flooded with people.

Using the MTR maps from the web site I posted earlier, it’s easy to find where the goldfish streets are located. They were disappointing to me. Plastic bags of fish, hanging outside of shops, turtles for sale, etc. but nothing to special. The couple of photos I took look pretty, but this isn’t an area you must see. This area was filled with bamboo scaffolding. Another outdoor market is located in this area was which was much more interesting.

Back on the MTR we traveled from Mong Kok (change lines) to Diamond Hill station, exit C2, where the Chi Lin Nunnery is located. It’s easy to find, just 5 minutes or less walk from the MTR station. This Buddhist monastery is so beautiful, built in Tang Dynasty architecture, wooden construction, I believe. The grounds, ponds, bonsai specimens and architecture is amazing, with the modern Hong Kong skyscrapers in the background. It’s fantastic, don’t miss this site! The Nan Lian Gardens 7a.m. - 9 p.m. with free admission, are located just outside the Nunnery and are not to be missed. The gardens are filled with water features, bridges, Tang Dynasty-style wooden structures and rocks. A pretty teahouse is located here if you want a relaxing break.

Leaving the gardens we walked back to the MTR and took it one stop to Wong Tai Sin to see the Wong Tai Sin temple黃大仙祠. I was happy we stopped at Chi Lin Nunnery first since we enjoyed this location much more than the temple. Many people were lighting incense here.

Celebrating Mother’s Day with a Dim Sum lunch at Tao Heung Super 88 located in the Silvercord Mall was so delicious! Someone mentioned this restaurant in their trip report noting how wonderful the food was. This is on the 3rd floor of Silvercord Mall, southwest side of Kowloon Island. www.taoheung.com.hk Shop B, 3/F., Silver Cord, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, KLN. Business Hours: 7:30am - 1:00am. Now that I look at the web site they have several locations.

The restaurant was full of families enjoying dim sum. They give you 2 menus I think and a form to fill out selecting your food choices. Once completed signal a waiter over to take this paper. While waiting for your food selections they’ll bring even more plates to your table for you to select if you want. We selected a couple of these. Everything was so very delicious. Our bill was just $18 USD for 6 types of dim sum and tea.

Nearby is Kowloon Park. This park is very large and pretty, but it was so full of large groups of people just gathered together, and people bothering you to buy things, that we felt very uncomfortable. It’s very different from the lovely parks we visited in China. We walked through it as quickly as possible, as we wanted to visit Hong Kong museum of history. Take MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui exit E to visit this museum. The excellent Story of Hong Kong exhibition in this museum took us over 2 hours to visit. This is well worth the time, and the location is very attractive. Much of the tip of Kowloon, & the Nathan road area, we didn’t like at all. The area around this museum and the Chi Lin Nunnery is much nicer.

Leaving the museum we walked toward the coastline. This was our first view of the Hong Kong skyline which is stunning! It was fun seeing the hotels along the coast, walking the Avenue of Stars, going inside the grand theater and noting where the Salisbury YMCA hotel was located. We were so happy we stayed on Hong Kong Island instead. Near the Clock tower is the entrance to the Star Ferry. Taking the short ferry ride across the harbor was scenic, but a short ride. It was thrilling sailing across on this famous ferry though! We waited for the ferry longer than the time it took to sail across. If we had stayed on this side I think we’d be taking the metro across more often than the ferry. Once we arrived at Central we checked out Hong Kong Station so we could see how to transfer here tomorrow for our trip to Elements Mall where the China Link Bus Station is located. Since our flight time was changed from the morning to the evening we could just take the metro to Elements mall to catch this bus. Early in the morning we would have needed a taxi for this trip instead.

Returning to our hotel, we enjoyed some time in the lobby of the JIA hotel using the free wifi and enjoying a glass of wine as we relaxed. The problem with starting our trip in Hong Kong is that there are such fabulous areas to enjoy in the evening, fabulous restaurant, but we weren’t adjusted to the time change yet, so were to tired to stay up and take advantage of this. We did need dinner though, so we just walked over to Time Square where a huge mall is located. There are several restaurants in this mall, so we selected one and had dinner here. Our hope was to find a location that showed the Formula One race this evening, but we couldn't locate anywhere to watch it. Someday we’ll need to return to Hong Kong when we can enjoy its nightlife. This wasn’t the time for it. Sleep was more important.

This is a wonderful report!

I'm traveling along with you to Hong Kong as if I've never been there before! It's such a great, fresh viewpoint!

Please keep up the good work - love the links as well!

Thanks easytraveler! We hope to return someday. More days are needed here, there's so much to do.

May 11

Today we’re going to fly from Shenzhen to Guilin. These flights cost much less than flights from Hong Kong to Guilin. When I booked our flight, not long ago, there was a morning flight which was perfect since we were traveling to Ping’an in the Longji rice terraces tonight. One day before we left the U.S. for Hong Kong we received an email from 9588, the ticketing service we used, stating that the flight we booked had just been canceled. There were no other morning flights. We needed to rebook. They had kindly rebooked for us, on the same airline, China Southern, but now the flight was at 8 p.m. We could change our booking to another airline, but we thought why bother, all the flights available were in the evening. This was a huge problem in the end, but I’ll get to this later. Lilly, our guide for a couple of days in this area finally returned my e-mail and said we’d still go to the terraces this evening. Cancel our hotel booking in Guilin.


Since we had a lot more time in Hong Kong today than I had originally planned we took advantage of it. Hopping onto the double decker tram, which ran right down Yee Wo Street near our hotel, we grabbed seats on the top floor.


Today we planned on visiting the Western side of Hong Kong Island. This turned out to be my favorite place in Hong Kong. The tram rides down Des Voeux Rd. and straight to the Western Market, which is past Central. Unfortunately the Western Market wasn’t open yet, (opens at 10a.m.) so instead we found the Sheung Wan Cooked Food Center across the road, opens at 6 a.m. This building has several floors, 3 I believe, of very busy food stalls in full swing. Live chickens, ready to be selected and killed, horse, goat, fish, frogs, geese, noodles, eggs, vegetables, bugs. Anything you can imagine eating, it’s here. If you love busy markets, don’t miss this one, it was fabulous!


Following a walk I printed out from Frommer’s http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hongkong/0078020034.html, we found the snake shop at 13 Hillier St. 4 men were removing gallbladders from piles of snakes and then threw the snakes into baskets. They didn’t want me to take a photo, so I didn’t. It was
fascinating watching them, but I hate snakes. This whole area is so interesting. Wander the streets here, Wing Lok St., Bonham Strand, and you’ll see dozens of shops selling all manners of food items, many I didn’t recognize, along with dried fish, flattened fish, starfish, & sea slugs. Other streets are full of herbal medical shops, selling dried fish bladders, snake gall bladders, roots, twigs, insects, and more items. I have no idea what they all were.

This seemed like the real Hong Kong of the past. There were a couple of large funeral shops also, where I bought a nice red lantern. If you want a long paper dragon, this is the place to buy it. The China Bird’s Nest shop is also in this area, along with old time barber shops, sharks fins shops and more. On Man Wa Lane I looked for Chop stalls, but couldn’t find any. Are they still in this area?

From this part of town it’s easy to walk to Hollywood Road. We weren’t very interested in the antique shops, but loved seeing the Man Mo Temple and the huge incense spirals burning from the ceiling. I took several good photos of this and they didn’t seem to care. Most temples don’t want you to take photos. Ladder street is almost next to the temple, walk up it, find the mid levels escalators, ride them, and on Pedder Street I believe there are several button and lace stalls. Other streets we enjoyed were Li Yuen St. West and East and the SoHo area around Gage. It’s all such fun to explore.

Needing to eat lunch we just went back to Tsim Chai Kee on Wellington Street for a bowl of their delicious noodles. Soon we were to get very tired of eating so many noodles though!

I felt that we needed to see a bit more of Kowloon that we missed yesterday. Walking past a Citi Bank demonstration, we returned to the MTR and took it to Jordan. We walked around Reclamation St., Temple St. visited the Jade Markets, and walked down Nathan St. It was so, so hot. We saw another temple, with lots of incense burning again. We hated this area. It was miserable after being in the Western Market area of Hong Kong. It just confirmed our selection of staying on the other side.

Needing some rest and air conditioning, we returned to JIA hotel for some apple cake! Each afternoon around 3 p.m. they put a cake out. Soft drinks and water are available in the lobby refrigerator for no charge. They do such a good job providing some extras! We collected our luggage awhile later and they helped us bring it outside to the street. My husband just wanted to take our luggage and be on our way. He got flustered, finally taking it, and stepped into the street, barely avoided getting hit by a taxi driver. It was such a close call, everyone around us were dazed. For the rest of the trip we kept referring to how lucky we were that he hadn’t been killed, right there in the streets of Hong Kong.


We were taking the MTR from Causeway Bay to Elements Mall which is above the MTR Kowloon Station, Exit C, in order to take the China Link bus to Shenzhen airport in China. You must transfer from Central MTR to Hong Kong MTR station. This is easy since there is a long corridor connecting the two stations. We traveled with just 2 21” suitcases and one extra small bag, so the walk was no problem for us. When arriving at Kowloon Station, up an escalator is a desk where you turn in your Octopus Card and receive your refund. The China Link Bus office is on the lst floor of the mall, very close to where the escalator arrives. Just walk straight ahead from the escalator and you’ll see the office on the left, across from Starbucks. http://www.chinalink.hk/co_service_routes16.html Bus departure times: 6:15 – 19:15 daily; two buses departing hourly; at :15 and at :45 (6:15, 6:45; 7:15, 7:45; 8:15, 8:45; 9:15, 9:45, etc)
The trip is HK100.

When you arrive they’ll take your passports, look up your flight information, ask your seat preference, i.e. window, isle, and give you your boarding passes for your flight right here in this office. You’ll be assigned a time for departure when there are seats available. They give you a sticker to wear. Wear it, since you need this to be collected after the border crossing. We only waited a few minutes. Then you simply take an escalator down from this waiting area to the basement where the buses are located. Ignore the signs that tell you what time the bus leaves. We were directed to a bus whose time of departure didn’t match up with the sign above it! The drive to Shenzhen airport takes around 90 min. through the Shenzhen Hong Kong West Corridor, with Hong Kong/mainland China checkpoints under one roof. It took about 50 min. to reach the border. Once you arrive at the border, you must collect your luggage from the bus and enter the immigration building. It’s very convenient but the foreigners have a different line to cross the border. Because of the swine flu scare, this line was very slow. We had to fill out extra paperwork and have our temperatures taken with a gun like devise pointed at our foreheads. Thankfully we passed! By the time we were finished with the clearance process, our bus had left with the Chinese nationals on board. China Link was so very organized. They had an extra bus waiting for the 5 of us, boarded us, and we were off, driving to the airport. What service! This whole process actually took us 1 hr. 45 minutes since the border crossing took longer for us.

The ATM machines accepted our CC fine and we took out Chinese currency, putting away our extra HKD’s. We checked into our flight early, no problem and checked our luggage. Luggage service in China’s airports was excellent. After our flights our luggage always appeared very quickly. No problem with this at all. You must check your luggage, it can’t be carried on.

After an early dinner at the airport restaurant, which also had Wifi, we went to our gate. Now the problems would begin.

When there are problems with flights in China, and you don’t know Mandarin, you have no hope of figuring out what the problem is as no one at all speaks English. Well, someone must somewhere, because a white board eventually appears with a message that the flight is delayed, not much else. Remember, this flight was originally scheduled to leave in the morning. China Southern cancelled that and added this 8 p.m. flight. Probably most of the passengers had been planning on taking the morning flight originally. Well, while waiting at the gate, all of a sudden we heard a huge commotion. Several passengers started yelling at the two gate agents. The China Southern employees were yelling back at the passengers. More passengers joined in. It got louder and louder. This went on for at least 30 minutes. We knew it wasn’t good. Eventually we caught sight of 4 Westerns who decided to leave the gate area, walking back into the main terminal area. I jumped up and asked them if they had any idea what was going on. Two of them knew Mandarin!!!! Our flight was being delayed for at least one hour, most likely longer. We didn’t have a new time of departure. They were going to go find food. We had to wait.

Lilly Lu was waiting for us in Guilin. I had arranged for her to be our guide for a couple of days in this area. We needed a driver to Ping’an and a guide to bike with us through the countryside. We agreed to a 4 day plan here. Lilly’s email is Lulilly12@hotmail.com She is a good guide when she wants to be, but when she doesn’t, you need to hold your ground firmly to what you’ve agreed with her in advance. More on that later.

We hoped Lilly was receiving this information about our delay while at Guilin’s airport. We couldn’t use SKYPE to call her because there was no Wifi in this terminal. Lilly did try and call us, but didn’t dial the country code, since she can’t call outside of China, so we never connected.

The toilets in this airport were pit toilets. I finally found one toilet marked that it was for the “weak”. My foot was hurting so much. I decided I was weak! Hum, I didn’t realize until reading my notes that my foot hurt so much, so early in this trip. It was a big problem for me, but I had to push through the pain since this is probably my only trip ever to China. Now that I’m home I’ve decided my foot probably has a stress fracture. It’s no better. Tomorrow I go to the doctor’s about it.

Well, 1 hr. 20 min. delay occurred, we boarded, very worried about the late hour and our trip to Ping’an. We landed in Guilin around 10:15 or 10:30p.m. Lilly and her driver were waiting for us. She wasn’t sure if we’d even arrive, although we were in email contact just 3 days earlier. She said we were still going to drive to Ping’an even though it was so late. We trusted she knew what she was doing. Once we were on our way we learned that they had never undertaken this drive so late at night. The driver was concerned about fog.

Well, it was terrifying. The whole drive was a dangerous situation that never should have happened. The roads are winding , going higher and higher, the fog got thicker and thicker. Driver couldn’t see. We crept along. There was a fair amount of traffic, trucks mostly coming towards us. Our driver drank Red Bull and rolled down the window. I knew we were going to die, driving off the side of the mountain. The paved road turned off onto a dirt road. Oh, I was praying so hard that we’d make it safely. This was taking 3 hours. Lilly admitted she was scared also. Thankfully, somewhere on this dirt road, the fog lifted. If it hadn’t we would have never made it. By the time we reached the Longji rice terraces entrance and parked, it was so late that at least the admission ticket offices were closed up for the night. We didn’t need to pay the 50rmb entrance fee per person. We left our suitcases in the trunk of the car, and just brought a change of clothes and toiletries with us. We still needed to hike up the hill 20 minutes in the dark. Thankfully I had packed 2 flashlights and had them with us. We could see none of the beautiful scenery around us. Once we arrived at the Countryside Inn, where we had a reservation, ha, ha, we knocked on the door. Lilly had called ahead and informed them we were still arriving at this late hour. They were shocked. It took awhile for a girl to answer our knocking since she had fallen asleep! Finally we were in our room. It’s a very nice place to stay. The room is totally paneled in light wood, has a western bathroom, and very comfortable beds. There is a TV in each room, unfortunately, because a French woman left hers on all night. They also have a café here where we had a good breakfast for an extra charge. A small grocery store is nearby.

Countryside Hotel Lu Lu email : liyue_lu@hotmail.com-tele 0086-773-7583596 or 7583020 Ping’an Village, LongSheng, China #1 Longji Rice Terrace

The next morning everything would improve wonderfully!

Sorry all that happened to you but now you have a really good story to tell! It was nerve racking just reading your story.
Can't wait to hear the wonderful parts of your story! Feel better.

Wow - that sounds like one scary drive!! So sorry about your foot, I know how miserable it is to limp around when you're traveling. Good luck with the doctor.

Once the drive was over, we put it out of our minds. Ping'an is so awesome I'd probably do the drive again if it was the only way to get there For others, just make sure you drive up during the daylight!

Nothing was going to stop us! My foot just had to take the abuse everyday. Mornings were OK, afternoons difficult. The hike up the Great Wall was fine for my foot. I guess it's because with all the steps your feet don't flex. It was really surprising.

Our 12 yr. old grandson had a cast put on his whole leg yesterday due to a "cavity" in his knee. Guess if he can take that for the next 6 weeks, I can take whatever the doctor does to this foot tomorrow.

great report...

do you feel that any of the hastles with airlines might have been avoided if you used more conventional methods of making reservations?

Enjoying your report, as we did everything you did in reverse order; even used the same guide in Yangshuo ! Enjoyed reading about your adventurous ride up to Ping'an. Must have been scary then, although I bet feels great to think about it now !

Our problems with airlines, actually both problems we had, were with China Southern, had nothing to do with how we booked them, but when I booked the first flight. There was only 1 morning flight between Shenzhen and Guilin. We really needed a morning flight so I booked it a couple of weeks out. They didn't change that schedule until 3 days before the flight. If we had waited until the last moment the morning flight would have never been on the schedule. The delay of the flight and lack of communication in English had nothing to do with how we booked it.

Our next flight will also be delayed, causing us to miss our connecting flight from Kunming to Lijiang. We didn't know how to handle this. I'll explain what happened later, but we weren't the only Americans caught up in this problem, and again, there was absolutely no English spoken by any gate agent, so it made the situation very confusing. Now that we've been through the process we know how to rebook a flight.

Here's what happened. Flight from Guilin to Kunming was delayed 2 1/2 hours at least, this was a China Southern flight. We missed our China Eastern flight from Kunming to Lijiang. We had no idea what to do about this. The other family traveling from the U.S. had booked their tickets on Ctrip. We booked our on 9588. We each called our booking agencies for direction, but they couldn't give any to us. A ctrip booking office was next to our gate in the airport. They told me to just wait and contact someone at Kunming airport. We communicated by typing into a computer which translated between the Chinese and English.

Finally I showed the gate attendants both of my reservations and they understood our problem. After 45 min. they called their office, found an English speaker who told us once we arrived in Kunming, to find the China Southern ticket counter and have them rebook our China Eastern ticket. So many of us on the original flight missed the connecting flight that we barely got seats on the last flight of the night. Now we know how to handle the situation, but without English at the airport it was a very difficult situation.

May 12

The sun rose early in the morning. Too early to wake up, but I really wanted to see what was out our window. Pulling back the curtain the lower rice terraces appeared out our window. Early farmers were in the fields. A rooster crowed, birds were chirping. It almost made the memories from last night melt away.

It’s May 12, the 1 year anniversary of China’s magnitude 7.9 earthquake, killing 90 thousand people. TV coverage is full of singing, full of hope. I wonder if the people of Sichuan have similar hope?


We’re to meet Lilly at 9:30 a.m. The wind starts blowing hard, then the rain comes. We’ve decided to walk through this village in the morning to see how such a small village starts it day. Beauty is everywhere, silence. A horse is loaded down with supplies, walking the narrow lanes. An old woman is bent in half loaded down with the weight of a basket of supplies on her back. We see a young woman washing her laundry using the rain water streaming down an open pipe. When the residents see us exploring their tiny village, some scramble quickly to open shops full of local color. They want us to buy souvenirs. We just want to enjoy the peace and beauty.

The Countryside Hotel is just $17usd per night. We could spend a week up here. The breakfast menu is simple, but we choose omelets, toast and tea. Lilly arrives early and we set out to hike the terraces around 9 a.m. The rain magically stops. It had rained so hard that the terraced fields are full of water, defining their shapes, the fog drifts in and out creating so much atmosphere. The pathways are paved in stone, all the way up the hillsides, stone paved walkways. I can’t imagine the work involved to create this.

There is no rice planted in the terraces yet, but tiny plants are growing under cold frames. It doesn’t matter. The definitions of the terraces are pronounced. A lot of bamboo grows here, along with some corn! A few gravestones are scattered in the area, which Lilly bypasses quickly. Some of the traditional homes built among the terraces are very large. They housed the animals below and families above.

The primary school in the center of Ping’an has started classes. The children are singing so beautifully. Their songs are lifting up throughout the terraces. We stop, looking far down onto the village and just enjoy the beautiful, sweet music filling the air. This moment is the most precious memory I have of our China trip.

Farmers are balancing a long pole on their shoulders with buckets on each end. They scamper along the terraces preparing them for planting. Around a corner 4 women of the Yao tribe are waiting for us. They want to unwind their long hair so we can pay them to have pictures taken. The fee is low so we watch as they unwind their dark hair which almost reaches the ground. They grow their hair until they’re 18 years old, then cut it. Again, they grow it until they’re 36 years old, cut it again. 2 women show us the first hair they’ve saved. Once this is over they want to sell us books, postcards, purses. The pressure isn’t appreciated, but we do buy one nice book about these terraces.

The two overlooks we hiked to were the nine Dragons and 5 Tigers and the seven Star Accompanying Moon. I think you could hike these terraces just fine without a guide, and there is public transportation to the area, but it’s just more complicated to figure this out on your own.

When we arrived back at the Countryside Hotel, one of the older women from the village was hauling a suitcase, strapped onto the basket on her back, up the stairs of the hotel. Gosh, how strong these people are. As we hiked down to the parking lot some people were sitting in the palanquins, and carried up the hill. Local men had babies tied to their backs with pretty fabric, also hiking down the hillside.

Driving towards Yangshuo Lilly told us about the situation about having children in China. You are allowed one child. If you have another child you must pay a fine of $10,000. In the countryside if you have a girl first, then you may try once more to have a boy. If you get pregnant and want to avoid an abortion, you go to the countryside and disappear until the baby is born. Then you pay the fine. If you stay in the city you must get an abortion. You pay all your medical bills of approximately $600 to the maternity hospital for the birth of your child. It takes a long time for them to save this money to have a family.

We were supposed to take a bamboo raft trip on the way back to Yangshuo. On the way Lilly asked if we wanted to see a tea garden. Why not, we knew nothing about tea. We stopped at the Liu San Jie tea garden not knowing how long this stop would take. It was interesting, since after seeing the tea plantation we had a tea ceremony explaining the whole process. The teas were so expensive, that we bought none at the end of this tour. The woman, who was very sweet, who showed us the whole area looked as though we had given her the biggest disappoint in her life when we declined purchasing the expensive teas. I felt horrible when seeing the look on her face, but not at declining the expensive purchase.

Lilly had a nap while we were here. When we got back in the car she said we no longer had time for our raft trip along the Li River between Yangti and Xingping. I was horrified. She knew the time involved to visit the tea garden and there was no way I would substitute that for the bamboo raft trip. I had to argue with her about doing the raft trip. She was cutting back our plans and I wasn’t happy about it at all. Finally we compromised on the raft trip on the Yulong River by the Dragon Bridge. We’d do the other trip later. We needed lunch also so we stopped at several roadside noodle places. All were out of food. Finally we found one with the most delicious noodles of our trip, for only $1.50 each! As we spend along the highway, beautiful Karst mountains appeared ahead of us. So much beauty surrounded our drive.

No toilets were available by the river, so you do what you must, and use the local tree for cover! Then we had the fun trip down the river with small waterfalls, 2 hours of relaxation and beauty. Again, we saw a bride with her groom having photos taken along the riverside with the Karst mountains behind. Water Buffalo were abundant. We bought our rafts man a cold drink along the way from a covered drinks stops anchored in the river. He stopped and took a cell phone call. It was certainly the modern world, although watching the local life along the river, it was quite a contrast. A couple of rafts sailed together down the river as the occupants had water fights with water pistols. They were having a great time! Near the end when you go down a larger waterfall, a camera is set up taking your photo on the raft. You stop at a stand with a computer set up with monitor and printer so you can look at the photos and buy one if you’d like.

Once we were back on land, school children were arriving after finishing their classes. They had backpacks on, crossing the river on a stone bridge. It was fun to watch them in their casual lives. One tried to sell us some fruit. It wasn’t appetizing at all. She was so persistent. I gave her some money but didn’t want her fruit. She was confused, but Lilly told her to accept the money without our purchasing her fruit. Their parents send them out to sell to the tourists.

We arrived at the Li River Retreat outside of Yangshuo where we reserved the large room with 3 walls of windows which looked directly onto the Karsts. It was such a nice room, with balcony. Wifi was included but it was spotty. Tomorrow we were to go bike riding with Lilly through the rice fields, old villages and countryside. She decided she wasn’t to keen on keeping these plans. This was very important to us as we knew we needed a guide so as not to get lost biking. Lilly had agreed to this in our emails. Finally she said ok, but asked if she could use a scooter instead. Whatever she wanted, we agreed. Missing this biking wasn’t an option. I wasn’t to happy with having to renegotiate our plans once we were here.

After a rest we had a wonderful dinner on the terrace of Li River Retreat. It was fun sharing stories with other guests as we waited for our dinner. Service is slow, but the setting is magnificent so it didn’t matter. They warn you against ordering the beer fish. If you do, they send for the fish from town, before they can cook it. It takes a very long time. Order something else on the menu.

We slept very well, amazed at this beautiful area of China.

Images2, I am so confused you said that you are not a writer but you are doing a beautiful job! I can't wait to read more.
I have been in touch with Lilly but I am not sure if I should use her or not after reading this.
We were going to go to the rice terraces our last day at the Li river and then to the airport but now after reading your experience I may want to go the day we arrive in Guilin spend a night at The Countryside Hotel and then head to Li River for 3 nights. This may be a crazy question... do you know if they have air conditioning? We are going in August and I am sure it will be very hot.

Yes, they have air conditioning at Countryside hotel. We used it. The room comes with toothbrushes too

We also spent 3 nights at Li River and it was just the right amount of time.

I highly recommend you spend the night in Ping'an. It will give you a much different experience than just coming for the day. By the time we were leaving a lot of people were just arriving, so I imagine it got very crowded. Early a.m. is just so wonderful, plus the heat shouldn't be to much of a problem. It was quite humid though.

I'd say go ahead and use Lilly. She is good and you need a way to get to Ping'an. Her driver did a good job, and charged 800rmb to make the trip, plus spend the night. Lilly charged 100rmb per day + 50rmb extra to spend the night and guide. Please make the drive in daylight though. Lilly really bothered me by her change in what was promised in our e-mails but when she wanted to, she was an excellent guide. She admitted to me the next a.m. she had PMS, and I don't doubt it. Just the wrong time of the month. She did however cut back our time together. We had to work around that. I think she probably had other customers arriving and double booked. Just my guess though.

Don't miss the San Lujie light and sound show if you can make it. They had 2 shows a night when we were there. It was excellent, but wow, the bugs were horrible. Bring bug wipes, you'll need them.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm off to Chicago for a long weekend with our grandbabies, so I can't write another installment until next week. If you have questions though, I'm sure I'll find time to answer!

You'll have a wonderful trip, I'm sure.

Thank you so much! Have a wonderful weekend, it must be so nice to be such a young grandma. I guess we will all have to wait to next week to hear all the terrificl things you did along the way. Have fun!

I just remembered that one of the other guests at Li River Retreat went white water rafting one day and had a fantastic time. I'm not sure where they went, but I think they let water out of a dam for the rafters. If you're interested in that kind of thing you might ask Lilly about it, or the people who own Li River Retreat can arrange for guides also and have a lot of information about activities in the area.

Thanks so much, it sounds like lots of fun. Do you know anyone who went on a hot air balloon? Also, we reserved the same room for the 4 of us. Do you think it is large enough for 4?

Yes, it's large enough, but they'll need to bring extra beds in.

The yangshuo cooking school is a lot of fun also. If you go to the school located along the river, it's easy to walk back to your hotel. The food turns out quite tasty and was enough for our dinner.

The hot air ballons, I heard had been stopped because of a recent accident. We asked lilly about this & she said they were still doing them but we didn't see any.

I am so excited!

You are a very impressive travel report writer, I've been to all the places yet love to re-live them through your experience. Thank you and waiting for more!

How fun it is to read your report. Am also re-living some of your experiences when I traveled through China last year.

Am looking forward to the next episodes.

> I'd say go ahead and use Lilly.

I find this surprising, especially on the evidence presented that tallies exactly with warnings on guide behaviour given on this site.

There's a cut-back on time, a devious deviation to a shopping 'opportunity' at the expense of another valued and expected activity (because, of course, there would have been a juicy kick-back on the tea shopping--one reason why prices are high), other variations on plans, and the prices quoted are not only ludicrously high but double what even the guides who pester you once in Yangshuo quote.

> I think she probably had other customers arriving and double booked. Just my guess though.

Likely true: this is fairly commonplace behaviour, usually resulting in the presentation of a sub-contracted substitute.

> This was very important to us as we knew we needed a guide so as not to get lost biking.

Until recently everyone biked themselves quite happily around the Yangshuo countryside and most still do. The guides are a relatively recent pest who've arrived as tourist numbers have swelled, are entirely unnecessary, and navigation information can easily be obtained from assorted guest house/bike rental places/guide books catering for the independent traveller. If you prefer to have a guide, despite all the side-effects, that's fine: but for those who would prefer to avoid the downsides or simply to travel by themselves, this isn't a case of necessity.

Guides in China bring you increased costs, an ever-increasing distancing from the real economy, poor (self-interested) advice on shopping, and false information about both historical and contemporary China. In general, and especially in top tourist maelstroms like Yangshuo with little relation to real China, you are well-advised to avoid them.

Peter N-H

Peter, What do you suggest? We want to go from Guilin airport to the Rice Terraces, stay over 1 night at the Country Side Hotel and then the next day head to Yangdi & take a boat to Xingping then go to Yanshuo. I am not interested in doing this by bus so if we don't hire a guide in advance what would you suggest? Thanks

Nywoman -- Ni Hao! DH and I are still re-living the time we spent together with you in Lijiang, just helped a co-worker in our HK office and her DH with a long weekend in Lijiang, their 1st day was just like ours and lucky it was a clear day!

We only used a guide in the Yangshuo area. I know there is public transportation to the rice terraces, but I have no idea what the schedule is. Without Lilly and her driver I have no idea how we would have done this part of the trip. I'm sure you can find other guides, but will they be very different? Lilly charges 100rmb per day, not expensive. The driver charged 800rmb to pick us up at Guilin airport, drive us to Ping'an, stayed overnight, drove us back to Li River Retreat the next day. I don't think this was overpriced since it was on our timing.

Lilly did make me unhappy with her changes. We spoke to others who did go biking on their own, and did get very lost. I didn't mind paying her $15usd to bike with us. In this time she also helped us buy airline tickets, and took us on no other shopping stops, except for my request to find the metal post that holds an umbrella onto your bike! Not that my husband will bike with me if I actually use it!

We were happy to have no other guides while we were in China though. In Lijiang we hired a driver for 2 days to take us to 2 different areas. On one of these days we probably didn't need a driver, but on the other we needed the driver. I'll explain in my report.

Welcome home Images2, I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Mainly picking up on technicalities here:

> We only used a guide in the Yangshuo area. I know there is public transportation to the rice terraces, but I have no idea what the schedule is.

Surely that's true of almost all local public transport in China? You find out when you're there. It's only if you insist on booking everything in advance this seems a problem. The transport's there, and (as previously pointed out) there are plenty of people who can tell you the answer, not least all the independent travellers who have just taken it.

> Without Lilly and her driver I have no idea how we would have done this part of the trip.

Simply by asking on arrival, as with everywhere else. There certainly are combinations of sights that cannot conveniently be done by public transport (and of course there are certainly tourists who simply can't conceive of taking public transport under any circumstances) and for which hiring a vehicle to get you round them is the best or only way. Even then although you may prefer a guide for this, you don't *need* one. Just a driver.

> I'm sure you can find other guides, but will they be very different?

No. And that's the very point that's repeatedly been made.

> Lilly charges 100rmb per day, not expensive.

I'm sorry, but by local standards it certainly is. When you travel in another country you have to abandon your idea of prices at home.

> The driver charged 800rmb to pick us up at Guilin airport, drive us to Ping'an, stayed overnight, drove us back to Li River Retreat the next day. I don't think this was overpriced since it was on our timing.

But being 'on your timing' doesn't have anything to do with whether this was overpriced, does it? Being overpriced is to do with the local economy, local price per km, etc. You paid too much. (I merely make this point for others who follow.)

> Lilly did make me unhappy with her changes. We spoke to others who did go biking on their own, and did get very lost. I didn't mind paying her $15usd to bike with us.

Fair enough. But it's still an exaggerated tourist price (and the fact that you think of it in US$ rather than ¥RMB is very much to the point). The aim here is to avert what's looking like it will end up as a broadcast recommendation (albeit with some qualifications) for a particular guide at particular prices. It often happens that by accident a single name becomes *the* name on a site like this, and the next thing you know there are long lines of people directed to that name by this site, with increasing numbers absolutely insisting after the event (although you haven't done so) that they paid the best price for the best experience when their only experience is the guide in question and they have neither knowledge or experience of any alternative. It's best, perhaps, that this is nipped in the bud, people take note of the negative side of your experience as well as the positive, realise that Guilin/Yangshuo is the epicentre of tourist rip-offs of all kinds, are both lousy with untrustworthy guides, and that there are many alternatives.

> In this time she also helped us buy airline tickets

This is another transaction into which you never want to insert a third party beyond the ticket agent himself. Someone always gets paid, and there are plenty of agents you can just walk into yourself.

Peter N-H

Points noted Peter. I'm so thankful of the help we received here as I planned this trip. I also think we did a fantastic job of traveling through part of China on our own. Yes, we had some problems along the way, but every trip has problems of it's own. You'll see, we used public transportation very effectively in other cities, including to Leshan and the Great Wall. Taxis were easily taken in most towns as long as you clearly have the destination written in mandarin.

Thanks zverybestfamily, we had a wonderful time with our sweet grandchildren this weekend. Our grandson is just 2 1/2 months old and is growing so quickly! Our 2 1/2 yr old grandaughter LOVED her kite from China, and her "jade" bracelet. She thought it was cold though

Here's more:

May 13

Breakfast at Li River Retreat is a peaceful way to start your morning. The Karsts are in full view and it’s fun to talk to other guests about their days in this area. Chinese breakfast is also delicious, noodles and dumplings.

Meeting Lilly at 10a.m. as promised, we all rented bikes at the small shed on the road just below our hotel. The charge was added to our room. Lilly was determined not to ride a bike though, although she decided to rent one so we’d all ride to town together, and then she’d swap the bike for her friends scooter. I still didn’t know how this would work, with her riding a fast scooter and us on the bikes.

Once in town we needed to buy airline tickets for the one flight we’d not bought tickets for yet. Well, the price of the flight hadn’t dropped any further, and the woman in the office couldn’t speak English of course. Lilly translated, we needed to wait about 20-30 minutes for the tickets, and then paid in cash. No CC options here. I didn’t see any advantage in buying our tickets this way. It was much easier to buy them on line using our CC. We received paper tickets here at this office, our on line purchases just had e-tickets, no paper involved. We never had to give the airport employees a print out of our on line confirmation. Just handing over our passports at the airports was good enough. Each time we bought tickets there was a 50rmb airport fee added to the ticket charge. This fee was the same on every flight, no matter what airport we were using.

Lilly had us wait on the corner in Yangshuo as she went to her friends to collect the scooter. We just watched daily life go by us in the streets, somewhat interesting. Well, after a bit, Lilly returns on the bicycle. Her friend wasn’t to be found, so no scooter for Lilly today. Off we rode, out of town, along the river for our 2 ½ hour bike ride through tiny villages, rice fields and along large gardens. We used the bike lock to string through our bags that were in the basket on back of our bikes. Lilly explained we needed to be wary of young men who might ride quickly by, snatching our bags. No such problem occurred here, but on the next morning in Yangshuo itself, we were followed and targeted for theft twice. Watch out in this area. The roads were quite bumpy, but we had a wonderful ride through beautiful scenery. Local farmers, mostly women were working in the fields, carrying heavy loads in baskets, which were balanced on bamboo poles, supported by their shoulder. Children loitered around tiny villages and very large gardens were planted. It was watermelon season and we saw numerous wagons full of melons on the roadside. This was one fruit we could enjoy on this trip, delicious!

Water buffalo were found poking their heads out of shacks, or tied to the roadside tree. They seem like very peaceful animals! Piles of red bricks were scattered around. We passed a cart holding the 4 grandchildren of a grandmother who agreed to a photo of her family. She smiled so broadly and the kids said hello! The women here are very short and petite. They worked so very hard. I didn’t see as many men working.

After 2 ½ very enjoyable hours, surprising Lilly that even at our age, we never tired, we stopped at a tiny village for a Farmer’s lunch. I think the name of the farm restaurant was Deyualou. The lunch was on a terrace overlooking the river and served delicious beer fish, among other items. Lilly added an egg and tomato dish, and sticky rice. It was all so delicious. We didn’t care to eat the fish head, so Lilly joyfully took that, enjoying the tasty fish cheeks.

Wandering the village after lunch an older man invited us into his tiny home to see how he lived. Yes, I realize he was looking for a small payment, but it was somewhat interesting seeing the poverty he lived in, but still seeming quite happy and proud. Over his TV hung a large poster of Mao, not the only one we saw displayed in this village. He had planted a tiny garden and was proud of a tree in the backyard. His bed was just a quilt on a wooden plank with cloth surrounding it to help prevent the bugs from biting.

On the stone walls of the village there was still Mandarin Chinese Characters painted in red from the days of the Cultural Revolution. Lilly walked us around a bit of the village pointing out wooden windows, etc.

Loading up a bamboo raft with our 3 bikes, we decided to boat back to Yangshuo instead of making the bike trip back. It probably took the same amount of time, slowly boating the Li River, even though this raft had a motor. It was a bit noisy. We passed a larger boat once we were close to Yangshuo. I was so happy we hadn’t taken a trip on it. The river was filled with water buffalos along its banks and in the water. Farmers were collecting water in buckets, again balanced on bamboo, resting on their shoulders. People were doing their laundry in the river, and washing their long hair. The weather was beautiful. I’m so happy we saw this countryside, and how the Chinese people live in this area, before we visited the cities of China. If we had only visited the cities, our perspective would have been so different.

We were dropped off close to town, and rode back into the city streets. I wanted a metal umbrella holder which I could attach to my bike at home to hold an umbrella. My husband wasn’t to happy with this purchase, as he’s refused to ride with me if I use this umbrella holder on our bike trail at home! Lilly asked at a couple of shops and found me one. It cost $1usd.

Parting ways, we rode back to our hotel and Lilly stayed in town. She’d return the bike later in the evening when she collected us to drive back to Yangshuo for the San Lujie light and sound show. We had Lilly buy the 180rmb tickets, the lowest price available, but with seats in the front. She arrived at 6:50p.m. with a driver to pick us up before the show and we drove to the location, sitting in heavy traffic for awhile. There are 2 shows a night at this time of year. It’s amazing how they organize this to get the crowds seated. We were told no tickets are given out ahead of the show, you collect them once you arrive because of counterfeiting of tickets. They have it organized well, so just be sure you arrive early enough. We were grouped with other people, since I think our tickets were group tickets, but once we went through the entrance we all went our separate ways to find our seats which were assigned. The show starts on time with a very large cast. The bugs are awfully thick, so you must have bug spray or wipes or you’ll receive lots of bug bites here. The show is set with the karsts in front of you, and the actors in the river. It’s very good, but not as wonderful as I had heard. I think the ticket prices were very high. The show does supply a lot of jobs to this area. Almost all the tourists are Chinese. I wonder how they can afford these prices. In Lijiang it was the same, very high ticket prices. We met a woman who now lived in San Francisco and was back in this area with her mother, visiting. While she lived in China she never had the opportunity to visit here. Now that she lives in the U.S. she can visit.

After the show Lilly and the driver picked us up and drove to Li River Retreat. Lilly said she couldn’t join us tomorrow for the plans we had decided with her before we arrived. Friday she wouldn’t be available to show us Guilin’s sites either on the way to the airport. She could have someone pick us up, drive us to Xingping for another raft trip down the river in the morning if we liked. We decided 2 raft trips had been very nice, we’d pay her and fend for ourselves. Even though we had agreed on 4 days of plans with Lilly, she felt once we arrived that 2 days was enough. I know Lilly wasn’t very happy when I told her I had booked the Yangshuo cooking class online before we left. We had talked about booking a cooking class, but I had never told Lilly to go ahead and book one for us. She did book a different class, in the town itself, for us. I had her cancel that, since it wasn’t the class I wanted to take. She wasn’t too happy with me, since I’m sure she was going to get paid for booking us in the other class. Oh well, we’re used to traveling without guides, so we’d be just fine.

May 14

Walking down the dirt road, past the Li River Retreat, is another small village. We were warned to watch out for young men that were up to no good though. They try and rob tourists, and even some physical violence has been occurring in Yangshuo lately. I don’t know if tourists have been involved in the physical violence problem, but we were defiantly targeted later this day while in town, for theft. Evidently two rival groups are not playing nice here. Enough said.

I enjoy watching local life wherever we are. We have it so easy in the U.S., even our poor, compared to some of the poverty we saw while in China. I felt so very fortunate comparing our lives to some of those in China. The Chinese people do seem very happy and content in their lives. Large gardens, tiny children, satellite dishes, cell phones, all are present here. We loved the trucks using big lawn mower type engines. The little boys wore pants with an open backside, slit up the middle. It makes potty training much easier The women were working very hard, farming, carrying their heavy loads, while young men rode around on motorcycles. We didn’t feel like it was to wise to spend much time wandering down the road, so we turned around. There is a big bamboo forest along the river which might be nice to relax nearby. Someone is building another building near here. We thought it’d be a wonderful location for a café along the river.

Walking into town was peaceful. No stalls were set up yet. We veered off to the right, heading into town, instead of staying along the river. This was a mistake. The route was longer, and we found few tourists on the streets. This only mattered because I’m sure we stuck out plainly to those who wanted to take advantage of our presence. The boats wouldn’t arrive until afternoon. We were fair bait. These young men aren’t very experienced in my opinion. As we stood out to them, they stood out to us. It was so obvious we were being followed. They wanted my bag. We always wear money belts, so passports, Credit Cards and money is all protected, but my camera, phone, etc was in my purse. Finally after turning directions and still being followed, we looked the young man directly in the eye, so he realized we knew about his presence, and left him behind. We were looking for West street so we could meet up for our cooking class later in the day. It was hard to find, since we were lost somewhere in the middle of Yangshuo. I agree with Peter here, we didn’t like Yangshuo at all. The countryside here is wonderful, the town isn’t. I wouldn’t miss the rice terraces around Ping’an or the Karst mountains. Both were wonderful. Cooking class would prove to be a lot of fun also.

Once we found the Buffalo Bar, where we’d meet our teacher later in the day, we had a nice cold drink. Then we shopped a bit in the booths set up along the river. There was a dead end, where the booths stopped. Again, we had two or three young men try and corner us, in front of the souvenir shop owners. They wanted to rob us. This time my husband and I yelled loudly at them. I told the people owning the booths they wouldn’t sell anything to us when they had these men targeting us. We really disliked this town and had no pleasure at all walking around it.

Unfortunately we had a couple of hours to waste before our cooking class would begin. I think we walked the whole town, then sat down for lunch on a street just down from the local bus station. If we had had more time, I’m sure it would have been fun to take a local bus out to another town for the day.

Instead we had lunch at a small local restaurant along this road. It’s not expensive here as the restaurants are nearby the tourist shops.

Back at the Buffalo Bar at 3:30 we met our cooking teacher for the afternoon. I booked the Yangshuo Cooking School http://www.yangshuocookingschool.com/about.html on line before we left. The cost was 120rmb for booking directly with the school. Class would end around 7 p.m. This school was directly above the Li River, about 20 minute walking distance back to the Li River Retreat. The location is new to them. If it’s light outside after class, walk back. If dark, it’d be best to arrange for a taxi to return to the hotel. The taxi is about 20rmb.


Our first stop was going to be at the Yangshuo indoor market. We hadn’t seen it during our walk, so it was great to find it. Waiting by the market were the other 3 people who be joining us for the class. Surprisingly we’d met these 3 people while in Shenzhen, trying to fly to Guilin, several days earlier. They were the people who spoke English, being from Newcastle, and South Africa, who helped us at the airport understand that there was a delay in our flight. One teaches English in china and was vacationing here.

The market is really interesting. Almost all the food is set up on cloth, directly on the floor, not on tables. Tiny stools hold the people selling the goods, or they’re just squatting, next to their vegetables. Many are on cell phones. Live chickens, dog and flat rats, are all for sale. Fish are killed as you select them. The women selling tofu does NOT want her photo taken. If you mistakenly take her photo, she’ll scream and yell at you. She may even throw something at you from across the room. She’ll not leave you alone until you delete the photo from your camera! No one else cares about the photos you take here.

Kelly, our teacher told us about some of the food available here, and bought the ingredients which we’d be using to cook our own dinners. We sped through the market way to fast. I’d love to have more time here, with Kelly explaining more of the food items. Be alert, the trip goes much to quickly.

A mini- van was waiting for us, for the drive to the cooking school. This is a nice, peaceful spot along the Li River with the cooking classroom under roof, but open to the outdoors. Everyone has their own wok, cleaver and supplies. Kelly explains each step, for each dish you prepare. There are several courses to prepare. It’s easy to forget the steps, but Kelly reminds you as you go. It turns out that my husband, who hasn’t cooked a meal in his life, can julienne vegetables much better than I can! Although we were taught how to use this cleaver, I was afraid of cutting off my fingers! It was quite amusing. The meal turned out to be delicious! We cooked using the wok, and steamed the chicken course. Eating at the tables set up outdoors, overlooking the river and Karst Mountains was very enjoyable. A cormorant fisherman even sailed by as we looked on enjoying the company of our cooking partners. At the end of the class you can even buy a cookbook (30rmb) with the recipes of this evening’s dinner and more. Wish I could find mine right now!

Still really enjoying this, images. Sounds like you did a great job of traveling alone. I'm saddened to hear about your problems in Yangshuo, though. the first time I went to China, in '97, it felt very safe, but I stopped a young girl trying to open my day pack in Hangzhou in '04, and your experience sounds quite scary.

Well, it wasn't scary, but it made me angry and uncomfortable. It was so obvious that it was easy to stop. To many outside tourists I guess. They have such wonderful natural resources here. Too bad they can't clean up the problems in Yangshuo. In the rest of China we had no problems with theft. We felt very safe. Even on the subway in Beijing we never felt threatened. The authorities can put a stop to this behavior if they want to.

May 15

Relaxing at our hotel, we had no plans this morning. It was good to have some time just to relax. Later we had a driver meet us for the long drive back to the airport in Guilin. The trip was so pretty, again driving by the beautiful mountains, along rice fields, and farms. It’s a long drive. Lilly was booked to make this trip with us, to show us some of the area between Yangshuo and Guilin, but she cancelled.

When you check into your flight, at any airport in china we used, the check in areas were separated by airline, but not by flights. You had your choice of many counters. Lines aren’t always honored. As we were checking in at the desk, we’d already given the agent our luggage, a woman came up alongside me and handed over her passport. She didn’t even wait for us to complete our turn. I can’t get used to this. Once when this had happened repeatedly to me in China, I finally told the person to get behind me, there was a line. My hand motions explained my feelings well. You must check your luggage. No carry on of 21” luggage. You can only carry on small items. When you connect to another flight, you must collect your luggage, and then recheck it again.

ATM’s work fine at the Guilin airport. They are in the area just to the left when you enter from the outdoors. The restaurant in the entrance area on the left is actually good. It also has wifi. Once you’re at the gates, there is no more wifi available. There are not phone cards for sale either.

We were booked on China Southern Airlines again. Our luck wasn’t good. This flight from Guilin to Kunming was also delayed. We were to connect to a China Eastern flight in Kunming for our trip to Lijiang. The first flight was delayed 2 ½ hours. No employee spoke any English. As the delay became longer and longer I knew we’d miss our next flight. I tried talking to the employees, no luck there, tried talking with the Ctrip office right next to the gate, no luck with that. The woman working here had me type in my question into a computer, which translated it into Mandarin. Then she’d type her response which was translated into English. Her answer was to be patient. Once we were in Kunming find help. I’m not very good at waiting. We had a problem and I wanted to know how to solve it. We needed a new booking so there would be seats available on a flight this evening between Kunming and Lijiang.

It was getting late. I tried to buy a phone card so we could make a call without using our American phone. No wifi here so we couldn’t use SKYPE. I went to the business class lounge looking for help. No phone cards available at the shops, no English anywhere. We didn’t know how to rebook. I called 9588.com our booking agency(expensive phone call using American phone) and told him of our problem. He didn’t explain to us how this system worked. He’d let us pay for new tickets, but this wasn’t an option. We had already paid for tickets we couldn’t use, and didn’t know what time our flight would finally leave Guilin. Finally I persisted with the gate agents. I showed both of our flight reservations to them. They called their main office where someone spoke English. They informed me that we had to wait until we reached Kunming airport before any new flight could be booked. Once there, we were to go to the China Southern ticket office. This is the ticket office of the flight that was delayed. They would need to rebook our China Eastern tickets.

Finally our flight left, for the short flight to Kunming. Once we arrived we needed to collect our luggage before we could go find a new flight. It seems half the people on our flight needed a new flight from Kunming to Lijiang. Of course they had all arrived at the ticketing office before we had. Thankfully, they took our passports, found seats on the last flight out of the evening from Kunming to Lijiang and for no extra charge we were rebooked. If we tried to rebook at the China Eastern desk we’d need to pay for the new flight. You must go to the ticket office of the airline whose flight was delayed.

Needing dinner we ate at a small restaurant just above where our next flight was leaving. It was delicious! Another family arrived with their small child and all attention in the restaurant turned to the child. It was interesting seeing all the attention this child was receiving. Children are a precious treasure in China.

Our flight from Kunming to Lijiang was so short, that the flight attendants passed water bottles to half the flight before we took off. Once in the air they continued their service. We were booked at Zen Garden Hotel in Lijiang. Since we were staying 4 nights they offered free pick up at the airport. www.zengardenhotel.com [master@zengardenhotel.com]
We called Zen Garden from Kunming to let them know our new arrival time. A taxi was waiting for us, which we appreciated so much, since again, we arrived at our destination so late at night. Once we arrived at the town, 2 men were waiting to carry our luggage, up the slippery cobblestones, all the way to this beautiful, small hotel. Cake was waiting for us in our room, the town was silent. All traces of the thick humidity we’d experienced in Hong Kong and Yangshuo had disappeared. We slept well.

May 16

I forgot to mention that when we arrived last night we needed to pay 80rmb each for the entrance fee for the privilege of visiting the Old Town. Staying in a hotel here wasn’t enough. We still had to pay this fee. When we visit Black Dragon Pool, our ticket we received upon paying this fee, will be stamped. We didn’t need to pay the fee again. When we visit Jade Dragon Mountain, they’ll check this ticket again. Save it. If you lose it, you’ll need to pay the fee again.

After well deserved sleep we enjoyed breakfast at Zen Garden Hotel. This hotel is lovely. There are 2 beds in each room, no double size beds. They are very comfortable, and even have electric blankets if it gets to chilly. The rooms are small, but very tastefully decorated. The bathroom is modern and very clean. The grounds of the hotel are beautiful and peaceful. We found the air so refreshing, and even needed a sweater occasionally while here. The breakfast is interesting. There is enough to choose from, but some items we couldn’t eat. Unless we can peel a fruit, we don’t eat it, same for vegetables. There was yogurt, which you drink with a straw. Good breads, hard boiled eggs, mango juice, toast. Each day the selection varied. I corresponded with Yumei at Zen Garden several times before our arrival. She always responded right away and proved very helpful. We planned on booking a car and driver through the hotel for 2 days of our stay here. It worked out wonderfully and was fairly priced.

Today we planned on staying in town. Lijiang is a beautifully restored village. I realize it’s very touristy. Almost all the shops are tourist shops filled with an assortment of goods, from Yak combs, brightly colored fabric, clothing, jewelry, shoes, leather, I could go on and on. This is one area Chinese tourists come to vacation. The surrounding area is interesting also, but also geared for the tourist, with high prices to match. A map is very helpful as the village is a mass of winding streets. An English map is even more helpful of course! Our hotel lent us their last map, but we found one to buy from an old woman sitting on the side of a street in the old town. She had several different versions of maps. See if she has an English map. We were lucky and bought one from her for 10rmb. We then learned we’d overpaid. The Chinese man next to us, who now lives in the U.S. only paid 6 rmb. He knew the language and bargained much better than we did! She didn’t stay around all day. When she’d sold enough, she disappeared!

Located at the edge of the Old town is the Mansion of Mu Clan. This is a very large complex, & is filled with a mixture of Han, Bai & Naxi styles of architecture. We spent 2 hours here. Not many other tourists bothered to visit this site, but it’s well worth your time. Great photo opportunities are here. Behind the Palace is the Wan Gou Lou Pagoda. Walk up the hill and you’ll be rewarded with wonderful views of the roof tops of Lijiang as well as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We were blessed with wonderful weather the first couple of days and were able to enjoy the wonderful view.

Just past the Mansion of Mu Clan is one of the Three Wells. The top well is for drinking water, the middle well for washing vegetables and the bottom well for washing clothes. There is another group of three wells in town. No one was adhering to the order of the wells. Washing of vegetables was happening below the well where washing of clothes was taking place. Personal hygiene was also taking place at these wells, and in canals. Brushing of teeth, blowing of noses, etc. in canals, where they were washing vegetables. No wonder I got sick after my first lunch in Lijiang.

Our favorite market of our trip was here in Lijiang. It’s an outdoor farmer’s market, the Zhongyi Market 忠义市场. This is west of the south gate, north of Xianghe Road. Every conceivable food item is here. Some you don’t want to see. It was bustling with buyers and sellers. Our photos are wonderful. No one had a problem with me taking photos. I wish we could have eaten the tiny, juicy strawberries sold by women along the streets this spring season. Watermelon on the stick was safe to eat, and we had it many times over the next couple of weeks. People loved their corn on the cob, but some were eating it one cornel at a time. With all the fresh food we saw at the market, it’s too bad we had a difficult time finding a good meal here. We had one that I’m sure gave me the runs. Another was Yak salad, the greens and meat fried at very high temperatures at Mishi. Prague restaurant was a good fall back, Susan’s Naxi Restaurant was horrible. Frankly, after seeing food washed in the canals, I was afraid of eating here.

I loved seeing the women in Lijiang in their minority clothing. This was their normal attire. It was so beautiful seeing the variety. Many carried baskets woven of different colors of reeds on their backs. It looks like the shaker woven chair seats we see here today with alternating colors. Woven items were for sale in the market also. I wish there had been room in our luggage to carry some home with us.

While resting our feet, sitting on a bench on Sifang Square, two sophomores from the local college approached us. They were English students and their final exam was to find someone who spoke English and talk with them. We quickly discovered them to be delightful girls, not trying to pull any scam on us, but really wanting to talk. We were generous with our time and learned a lot about their lives also. Both were from other areas of China. They leave their families to attend school. Both had problems leaving home, but found great help in becoming friends with each other. We shared stories of our lives for over an hour. They so wanted my husband to quit his job in America and for us to come live in Lijiang so we could teach English. Their current teacher is from Seattle. They were also very confused why we couldn’t return, bringing our families with us to China. One hoped to become a kindergarten teacher. This surprised us since her English was so good we thought she should have a bright future. They have no hope of receiving permission to leave China. Many students have learned English so this is no advantage to them they believe. We think they should get jobs with the airlines. There is great need of English speakers at China’s airports!

If you need to use the toilet while walking around Lijiang’s streets, don’t worry. There are public bathrooms located in many spots, scattered among the shops. They are the nicest public toilets we saw in China, clean, granite countertops, very nice. Still no TP though. Bring your own.

There are so many shops to buy souvenirs in while visiting Lijiang but don’t worry if you miss shopping here. When we went to Panjiayuan Market 潘家园市场 in Beijing, most of these items were for sale. In fact, buyers were buying in bulk here, probably bringing the items back to Lijiang to sell.

The visitor Center for nature and Culture in Northwest Yunnan was an interesting small museum in Lijiang. This is a museum of photos, is free, and we enjoyed our 30 minute visit. One exhibit showed villagers documenting their daily lives in photos.

After a rest in our room we walked the easy 15 minute walk from the old town to the Black Dragon Pool park. Remember to have your Old Town ticket to show for admittance to this park. The gate attendant will stamp it. I guess this means you can only go to the park once during your stay, or you’ll need to pay the 80rmb fee again. Many Chinese tourists were walking through this park, taking photos of each other. It was fun watching the poses they used when taking pictures of each other. Never do they just stand in front of a site and take a boring picture. Posing is required. Later in the trip I’d be taught how to pose by a Chinese photographer. We didn’t think this park merited all the build up. It’s ok, but rather run down, not worth that fee. In one area of the park is the Dongba research institute museum. We entered just before closing. A student wanted to guide us through the museum. There isn’t much to see here. They decided to cut our visit short, and close. The admission was free and there was nothing much to see, so we didn’t mind. A naxi orchestra was practicing in the park and calligraphy was written by a Naxi gentleman. After walking a circle around the lake we returned to the old town for dinner.

Deciding on eating at Mishi, we were seated in the outdoor patio area. It wasn’t well kept. After ordering our dinner, two tour groups arrived. Evidentially this is where you eat in Lijiang when you’re touring the town with a large group. Oh well, too late for us to leave. The Yak salad was OK, but watching the huge wok which spit fire really high up, above the window was the interesting activity of our evening. The red lanterns were lit all over town, along the canals, and the Naxi women danced on the square. It made for an enjoyable evening. The nightclubs stay open very late and the music is very, very loud. We looked in on them, but didn’t stay. Needing our sleep, we walked back to Zen Garden, where it is very relaxing. Wifi is available in our room. We were so happy to have such easy access to email when in China. CNN was often blocked. Guess something was going on in the world that China decided its people shouldn’t read about.

Enjoying your report. Keep it coming! I will be bookmarking this and using it for future reference when I head to China.

Images2, I am envious that you managed to see the San Lujie light show at Yangshuo, which we missed because of the rain ! Now that you mention that it was a bit of a disappointment, it makes me feel better (the grapes were sour !).

I don't know why a particular poster pops up on every post on this China site, insisting that no one use a guide in China. He seems to have a running feud with all guides in the country, and is not willing to tolerate an alternate view point. He further imagines that all guides make money out of everything, which I don't think is true. There are some decent people in China, who make a decent living out of being a guide, and that should be respected.

I think it is best to let everyone know the obvious pitfalls of hiring a guide, and let them be aware of the options of doing independent travel without a guide, and leave it to the readers to decide what is best suited for them. To say that "one should simply ask upon arrival, and get independent directions" is not quite workable in China, as communication problems are severe. To say that 100 Rmb/day is overpriced for a guide in China is also quite ridiculous, as after asking around to dozens of people, and with our own experiences everywhere in China, I can confidently you will be very hard pressed to find a guide for less than that, whose English you can understand.

So let us not pounce on every mention of a guide and slander all guides everywhere, but allow some mixed reactions to prevail.

I'm glad to find that after one visit to China, some of which relied I believe on advice from this poster, that you are so astonishingly well informed. The suggestion that remarks on guides are of a personal nature is itself ill-natured and quite unnecessary. These observations are based upon more than 20 years of experience of China travel, on periods of residence there, and on extensive study of the Chinese tourism industry not only by myself but other Mandarin-speaking colleagues of long China experience who have collaborated on such research.

Remarks criticising the tourism industry in China are made with the best interests of other readers of this site in what is after all a public debate, and deserve as much of a hearing as any others. No one is 'insisting' that others not take a guide. What is insisted is that those thinking of taking one understand fully the potential pitfalls, and prepare accordingly if they are still determined to take a guide. The posting above simply invites them to read the site more widely to gain a variety of opinions. In this case the very guide under discussion has proved unreliable for another traveller, as she describes in the link given. Does this information not deserve a hearing?

> To say that "one should simply ask upon arrival, and get independent directions" is not quite workable in China, as communication problems are severe.

It would be interesting to find out who has said this where. What has been said is that there are many English-language sources of information in Yangshuo, both from guesthouses and from other travellers, most of whom do all this entirely on their own, thus demonstrating that it is indeed entirely feasible to travel independently and those who prefer to do so need to know that there is no necessity for a guide.

But even where English-speakers and foreigner hang-outs are few, arriving at a destination and then sorting matters out is the normal procedure for tens of thousands of travellers without any Mandarin every single year. With a half-decent guide book and a bit of gumption, using English-speakers at hotel desks, this is not only possible but entirely normal as, if they are permitted to speak, you will find other posters here prepared to attest. You may not wish to do it (and that's entirely up to you), but others do, and it needs to be made clear for them that it is perfectly possible.

Those who choose to take a guide are of course equally free to do that, but again they need to know what they are getting themselves into.

> To say that 100 Rmb/day is overpriced for a guide in China is also quite ridiculous, as after asking around to dozens of people, and with our own experiences everywhere in China, I can confidently you will be very hard pressed to find a guide for less than that, whose English you can understand.

I'm sorry, but you simply don't know what you are talking about. Even in ultra-rip-off Yangshuo guides frequently offer services for half these prices in entirely clear English, as I am well aware from personal experience. If you choose to book in advance via the Internet you can expect to pay more for everything in China. But the initial guide price isn't even the whole issue, but also further payments gained from kick-backs at sights, shopping, restaurants, for tickets, etc,. all of which are chosen according to the kick-back paid, not according to the needs of the visitor, who indeed often remains entirely unaware that he has been duped. I'd simply like to prevent that from happening where possible.

> So let us not pounce on every mention of a guide and slander all guides everywhere, but allow some mixed reactions to prevail.

It would take really heroic efforts to slander the tourism industry in China, which is possibly only exceeded in corruption and cupidity by the construction and mining industries there. There may be completely honest guides in China, but I have never met one, although I've interviewed many, travelled with many others, eavesdropped on the conversations of still more, and even counted some as friends. The industry is packed with terribly sweet guides taking innumerable visitors for a ride, and pointing this out is indeed part of the 'mixed reactions' that need to prevail, so that other travellers may choose from a range of advice including far broader and deeper experience than simply your own. No one is attempting in any way to undermine your generous tour report (although there are in fact several other observations in it I believe to to be mistaken, quite understandably), but there are particularly important points to be made about guides, and your generosity ought to extend to refraining from attacking those who seek to bring documented problems to light for the general good, and whose observations are in now way aimed at you personally.

Peter N-H

Peter NH, no one denies or disputes your knowledge of China. It is also true that you have responded to some of my own queries, and helped me, as have many others, in planning my visit. However, I still find you quite dogmatic in your beliefs, and rather intolerant of alternate viewpoints in your posts.

I reproduce below a portion of your post in this same thread, made just 1-2 days ago:

"> Without Lilly and her driver I have no idea how we would have done this part of the trip.

Simply by asking on arrival, as with everywhere else."

Now, in response to my post, you say the opposite, and deny having made this suggestion, by stating :

"> To say that "one should simply ask upon arrival, and get independent directions" is not quite workable in China, as communication problems are severe.

It would be interesting to find out who has said this where."

Your above comment is a complete denial of your earlier post !

Many posters have used guides at various cities in China, and enjoyed the same, and not minded even paying upto 300 Rmb/day. I may personally find that high, but that it only my point of view. So I avoided using guides at most places, as they were "expensive" by my standards. But I found the guide at Yangshuo reasonable at 100 Rmb/day, and again, that is just my point of view. You are entitled to have your own viewpoint, but to say that I don't know what I am talking about, but that you know exactly what you are talking about, is ridiculous and stupid.

Images2 had mixed experience with the same Yangshuo guide, but in balance of good and bad experiences, still recommended using this guide to another poster. That was their opinion. You found this appalling, and in your post on June 6, you ridicule Images2 for suggesting the same ! When Images2 talk about the guide helping them buy air-tickets, you just assume that the guide made money in the process !

In short, Peter NH, please do continue to spread your good knowledge about China. But realize that the world is made up of different kinds of people, with different perspectives. Your perspective is welcome, but is not the only one which is correct. A sum of 100 Rmb or 300 Rmb has differing values to different people. Please stop your insulting comments to anyone on this forum who even remotely suggests using a guide.

Images2, sorry for hijacking your thread for this interlude. I know there will be harsher reactions from Peter NH, but I promise not to respond to them, and hijack your thread any further. Please continue your good TR, which we are enjoying.

I have been a regular Fodorite on different forums for the last 3 years, and just found the comments of this one poster on the China forum to be harsh to everyone, and felt like intervening. Sorry if I was harsh myself.

No problem, no one's hijacking this thread. This battle has been brewing for a long time.

I'm just a simple traveler. I feel there is no one way to travel. If I think I need a guide, as I did here, I'll hire a guide. It's not often we need a guide, but Lilly and her driver helped us out tremendously in this situation. We couldn't go find local transportation at 10:30 p.m. and even at a different time of day that would have been very inconvenient in this situation. We couldn’t even communicate at the airport. When we traveled to Egypt, I also hired a guide for certain days. We felt safer in that situation.

I'm all for capitalism. If Lilly can charge 100rmb per day for her services, and we're willing to pay it, good for her. If I felt it was too much, we wouldn't have agreed to that sum. I hope more Chinese people can start businesses and charge fair prices for their services. My problem was agreeing to an itinerary with Lilly and having her change it almost immediately once we arrived. This is no way to start a business. Hopefully she can correct this and move forward.

Next installment in this report will be a trip to Stone Drum Village, where we meet the Chinese army, and a day trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

May 17

For the next two days of this trip we wanted a driver. Zen Garden worked with me on an itinerary and set up a driver for us to use. The driver was just that, a driver. He/She spoke only Chinese, but delivered us to each location we requested. The price was fair. This was actually two people who worked together, sharing one car.

Today we paid the driver 370rmb for a trip to Lashi lake, The 1st Bend in the Yangtze, Shigu Town/Stone Drum Town, and Tiger Leaping Gorge. We met the driver at 8:30 a.m. and returned around 4:30 p.m.

We didn’t need to start at Lashi Lake, which is the source of water for Lijiang, but the woman at Zen Garden added it to my itinerary. Unless you want to ride a horse in this area, don’t stop here. We paid our admissions and our driver’s admission, 60rmb total. There was nothing for us to see here. All the other tourists at this site were going to ride horses.

For miles we drove past farmers who were in the process of harvesting the golden rice. The fields were beautiful with golden waves of grain and piles bundled on the roadside.
Farmers were wearing their traditional clothing as they worked, baskets tied onto their backs, full of grain. Yaks and cows were tied to the trees. Small trucks passed us packed with passengers standing in the back. The countryside was beautiful.


On our drive to Shigu Town the driver stopped at a Temple which overlooked the river. We climbed down the steps to the overlook for excellent views. There were numerous tiles people had inscribed their names on. I’m not sure what this area was, maybe a Tibetan temple, but it made for a nice break. Driving further we arrived at the First Bend in the Yangtze, where the Jinsha River, which is a tributary of Yangtze River, is blocked by the Hailuo Cliff near Stone Drum Town and makes a V around the bend. After stopping for photos here we drove into the small village of Shigu Town.

A memorial hall of the Long March of the Red Army is located in this village. Our driver pointed the way, up a stone staircase which we climbed to the memorial. A large contingent of the Chinese Army was visiting this site. This was quite interesting for them and for us. We both wanted photos of this site, so I took some, with the soldiers in the foreground. After a bit, they started taking photos of us also. This site wouldn’t have been as interesting without the Chinese soldiers visit. We all enjoyed viewing each other more than the site itself. This was also a good area to take photos of the rooftops of the village below.

Iron Rainbow Bridge from the Qing Dynasty spans the river here. A couple of men were playing music at the start of the bridge. No one else was around, so we crossed the bridge, taking photos in peace. Iron chains form the guard rail. In the small village children roamed and a couple of women were selling colorful woven baskets. I bought a small woven tray holding 9 tiny baskets, banded in different colors for a very low price. I love this purchase!

Continuing on we drove to Tiger Leaping Gorge. It was a long drive, with admission 52rmb each. We never considered the hike along the gorge with a trip to Shangri-La, but I did want to see the gorge itself. There is a nice stone walkway, which is a 40 minute walk to the overlook of rushing river rapids. All along the path are signs warning you to walk close to the cliff side, to walk quickly, and watch out for falling rocks. Guards are positioned at intervals with bull horns, warning you to stay close to the stone walls. They must have some serious rockslides here, one was visible. Once you arrive at the overlooks you’re able to climb down to 2 different viewing areas. The water is powerful here.

Rickshaws are available to ride along this gorge for 40rmb one way. We didn’t do this, but were tempted on our return walk. I was a bit nervous with all the posted signs warning of the rock dangers.

The drive back to Lijiang took 2 hours. Our driver kindly stopped a few times so I could take photos of the golden rice terraces.

Strolling Lijiang in the evening is always enjoyable with the red lanterns lit. We ate at the Prague Café tonight, which didn’t have the atmosphere of the canal side cafes, but the food was safe and good. We ordered mushroom soup, Naxi ham & goat cheese sandwich, Beef and Green pepper with steamed rice. The price was 70rmb for our dinner and 2 drinks.

>Your above comment is a complete denial of your earlier post !

On the contrary, if you actually quote all that was said, the post goes on to set out clearly what the position is.

To clarify (again):

Yangshuo/Guilin, where foreign visitors to China have long been cheated more frequently and in a wider variety of ways than anywhere else in the country, has innumerable sources of directions of all kinds in English from assorted guesthouses and from other visitors. There are few other places in China easier to get around without a guide, although it is simply a matter of fact that tens of thousands of visitors every year travel all over China to places where almost no English is spoken at all. Ergo, although you may not choose to do so, it is certainly possible, and a guide is never a necessity, even supposing guides in China actually provided the benefits usually expected from taking them, which by and large they do not.

Characterising others' clearly expressed opinions as 'dogmatic' and 'intolerent' simply because they disagree with your own does not constitute an argument, and is not helpful to other readers of this site. Facts provided on corruption in organised tourism in China may not in any case be characterised as 'opinions'. You may choose to ignore them, and no one is preventing you from expressing dissent, but if you have no right to expect not to be challenged on a public forum by anyone with contrary information. If you have an argument to make, set it out, and omit the personal comments. Whether you like it or not, fully independent travel even in remote corners of China is commonplace, and ripping off by guides in China is the norm.

> Many posters have used guides at various cities in China, and enjoyed the same, and not minded even paying upto 300 Rmb/day. I may personally find that high, but that it only my point of view.

Whether an individual 'minds' paying ¥300 a day is neither here nor there. It's those who come after that need protecting from the idea that that is the right or only price to pay. Whether such a price is high or not has nothing to do with a 'point of view'. It is what the Chinese themselves would refer to as a 'stupid foreigner' price, on which likely those who paid that much added what some guides call the 'stupid foreigner tax': a tip, which didn't make that right either. And the fact that someone may have paid an even higher price doesn't make paying ¥100 itself any less excessive and unnecessary.

> I don't know what I am talking about, but that you know exactly what you are talking about, is ridiculous and stupid.

On the contrary, you asserted quite clearly that a guide with good English cannot be had for less than ¥100. This is simply false, and what is 'ridiculous and stupid' is continuing to assert this just because you apparently think you shouldn't be contradicted. You booked your services ahead of time over the Internet and paid a higher price than was necessary. A willingness to pay a certain sum does not prevent that sum from being more than needs to be paid. An alternative method, if a guide must be had, is to show up in the area, speak to a few that offer services, and hammer out in detail what it wanted while at the same time, face to face, gaining an impression of that guide's likely honesty and reliability.

> Please stop your insulting comments to anyone on this forum who even remotely suggests using a guide.

Excuse me? I gently questioned the recommendation of a certain guide above given the behaviour exhibited by that guide, and described the report, which was as predicted in earlier discussions. Until you came in swinging there was a perfectly civil discussion on the matter.

But for the benefit of other readers of this site I will continue to point out the disadvantages of taking guides in China (whether you happen to like it or not) so that even if they do choose to take one are more likely to pay a reasonable price and to avoid the more common shenanigans practiced upon those new to China. I think that's more important than allowing factual descriptions of the problems in China tourism to be characterised as 'opinions' simply to preserve a single poster's self-esteem. It will probably by obvious to most that an entirely clear picture of China cannot be obtained by a single brief tour round a handful of tourist traps. Things are a little more complicated than they seem.

> I hope more Chinese people can start businesses and charge fair prices for their services. My problem was agreeing to an itinerary with Lilly and having her change it almost immediately once we arrived. This is no way to start a business. Hopefully she can correct this and move forward.

Indeed. But unfortunately all this kind of thing is commonplace, and people tend to enter the guiding business in China because of the immense profits it offers from overcharging and kick-backs, which give tour guides extremely high incomes. As I said earlier:

"The aim here is to avert what's looking like it will end up as a broadcast recommendation (albeit with some qualifications) for a particular guide at particular prices. It often happens that by accident a single name becomes *the* name on a site like this, and the next thing you know there are long lines of people directed to that name by this site, with increasing numbers absolutely insisting after the event (although you haven't done so) that they paid the best price for the best experience when their only experience is the guide in question and they have neither knowledge or experience of any alternative."

And that's exactly what now seems to be happening. There's always a possibility that this will all turn out honestly, but based on your own experiences (failure to act as agreed, shopping stop, getting pouty because you cut out a kick-back) this doesn't look likely even if it weren't anyway unheard of in China. It's been possible to watch the same arc with other guides on this site who became 'the' guide for a certain area (including another who was previously 'the' Guilin guide): ever-rising prices, substitutes sent in place of the original operator, a curious concentration on certain shops and restaurants, inconsistent or indifferent or non-delivery of promised services; then the beginnings of complaints, the appearance of spam here, and finally disappearance (at least from this site).

The truths of organised tourism are unpleasant both to read and write about, and there's always someone who wants (as above) to shoot the messenger rather than accept that everything may not be as it seems or that they might have paid less or made other choices. There will always be people who want to travel with guides, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. But it's best that in making decisions they understand the potential problems, and make their choices with their eyes wide open and their wallets firmly shut.

Trip reports that make it clear to those who doubt it (and some on this site have flat-out denied it) that independent travel is perfectly feasible, are to be welcomed, and between joining a fully organised tour and simply showing up in China with nothing booked there are indeed several middle ways.

Peter N-H

May 18

Today we’re beginning our day with the 9 a.m. Lijiang Impressions show, and then we’ll take the cable car up to Yak meadow, followed by a trip to Baisha and Shuhe old towns. We paid 200rmb for our driver which probably wasn’t necessary. If there is public transportation to the show area, just take that, and then taxi’s to the other towns are readily available. Leave early, at least 1 hour prior to the show, as the line of cars entering the show area is long and slow.

It was best to begin our day with the 9a.m. show, since the sun wasn’t in our eyes as we watched this excellent show. Also, it’d be very difficult to arrange our time around a later show. There are 3 Lijiang Impressions shows per day. Tickets are 190rmb each for the lowest price category. We also needed to pay 80rmb each for admission to the Ganhaizi area where this show is preformed. Again, the prices are very high. This is a show for tourists, but I thought it was excellent and enjoyed the background of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Being daylight, photos came out very well. The show management doesn’t want people taking photos. No one paid any attention to this rule though. If they were told to stop taking photos, an argument ensued, and then more photos were taken. At this steep ticket price I don’t blame the Chinese tourists for wanting to take photos of the show.

As we entered each of us were handed a red hat. This hat marked us as to where our seats would be located. It’s open seating in a specific area corresponding with your hat color. Views were good of the actors and the mountain. The altitude here is 3100 meters. Warning signs advise those with heart problems or high blood pressure to beware.

After enjoying this hour long show, there are ticket offices at the exit where you’re able to buy tickets, 80rmb each, for a trip to a meadow. We wanted to make the trip to Yak meadow which is the furthest from this area. Indoors is a waiting area with no bathrooms, where you’ll wait for a bus which makes a journey up the mountainside for the trip to the cable cars. This trip has a lot of switchbacks and takes 45 minutes or so. Once arriving at the cable car area, there are nice, clean bathrooms. Coats are available for rent with it being quite cool at this high altitude. The cable car is very steep and takes about 30 minutes to arrive at the top of Yak meadow. This meadow area isn’t really nice. A Tibetan temple is located here. No food was available. Uneven wooden walkways snake up the hillside. It’s a circular route and was a bit tricky watching my footing. Yak’s were on the hillside, quite a walk from where we began our walk.

None of the other people on our bus walked up the hillside to the Yak’s locations. We thought buses would come and go from the bottom of the cable car on a schedule, so didn’t worry that we were the only ones willing to take this walk through the meadow. The Yak’s were gentle, eating the grass, paying no attention to us.

Once we finished seeing the Yak’s we needed to walk back to the cable cars and take the 30 minute ride back down. There was the same bus we had taken up the mountain filled with the same people, who waited for us this whole time. I felt pretty bad about the situation, but we had no idea they were waiting for us. Why did they come to Yak meadow if they didn’t want to make the walk around the meadow to see the Yak’s??

Once we were on board, the bus started the long trip back down the mountainside. Not too far into our trip we stopped. There was a 2 car accident on the roadside, blocking our path. The car that had been hit was so lucky to still be on the road. They’d almost been forced off the edge of the mountainside. No one would move the car blocking the road. No help arrived. The passengers on the bus all got off and discussed the situation. Finally, 45 minutes later, someone decided to move the offending car so we could pass.

Stopping at a river with a stone terraced waterfall, Yak’s were waiting for us to sit upon for photos. A Chinese man got on one yak, I got on another. His wife was thrilled to take photos of the two of us! The man who owned the yaks demonstrated poses to me so our photos would be much more Chinese! It was a fun stop with great photos too! At this point we could take any bus back to the parking area where our driver was waiting.

Our driver had waited this whole time for us in the parking area of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. She drove us to Baisha village and parked, showing us which way to walk if we wanted to see the village, but not pay the 35rmb fee to visit the frescos. We followed the vendor’s booths through town and arrived at the back entrance of the pay area. The vendors here were so very aggressive, that we couldn’t enjoy our visit in the town. The village was dirty and flies were thick.

Next we drove to Shuhe old town. Admission here was 50rmb for entrance to the village. We received a map of the town when we paid the entrance fee. We liked this village a lot, but weren’t very happy with all the entrance fees in the area. Shuhe is like a small Lijiang with many fewer people. We stopped for a late lunch here at a small local restaurant with only a Chinese menu. Three prices were on the top of the menu, 10 – 20 – 30rmb. We finally figured out that whatever they served here, it came in 3 sizes. There were no menu choices, only size choices. The lunch was Crossing the Bridge Noodles. It was excellent! Our medium serving size was plenty for the 2 of us. There were many more restaurants around the central canal area which we noticed later. Again, we watched as a bride posed for photos in her wedding dress along one of the bridges.

After strolling through this delightful village, we became lost. It was time to return to the parking area to meet our driver, but we couldn’t find it. We hired a rickshaw driver to return us to the parking area, a great solution to our problem. Taxi’s were waiting in both of these villages, so without a driver, there still would have been an easy way to drive between villages.

Somewhere I read that food at Susan’s Naxi Place was good. We tried eating dinner here this evening. We ordered our food. A huge bucket of rice arrived at our table, along with my husband’s dinner. It was horrible. My food never arrived. Finally we were told my choices were unavailable. Why weren’t we told this when we had ordered. Actually this worked out for the best. The other food was so bad, we decided not to even finish it, but to just pay the bill and leave. Back to the Prague Restaurant at No. 80, MishiXiang, Xinyi Jie we went. To find Prague, walk up the main street, north from the main square and turn right at the little stone bridge. It’s located on the left. The restaurant looks simple but we were happy with the food served here.

Walking back to the main square we hoped to find the Naxi dancing again. It had rained and the stones were very slick, so the dancing had been cancelled this evening.

Tomorrow we’ll fly to Chengdu and the flight will leave on time!!

I got on a yak at the same place for photos too, the owner insisted he'd take better photos than my DH and took the camera, he also made me pose like the performers in the Lijiang Impressions show, it was hilarious.

And he was right, the photos are better aren't they!

May 19

During breakfast this morning at Zen Garden hotel, a woman played Naxi music in the courtyard. It was beautiful. We’ve loved our stay here in the upstairs corner bedroom with windows along 2 walls, and chairs on the verandah.

Our flight to Chengdu was an afternoon flight so we enjoyed a couple hours strolling the old town, exploring down back roads without tourists. This is a good time for photos without many people on the streets. We didn’t find Lijiang to crowded regardless. The Monastery of Omni-virtue was hidden in these lanes. Morning activities of washing clothes, hair and brushing teeth in the canals were abundant. I don’t know how the residents prevent getting sick with all the use of the canal water for personal hygiene.

Our hotel recommended Petit Lijiang Bookcafe for lunch. The owner is Belgium and he’s married to a Chinese woman. http://petitlijianginn.com/bookcafe/ben.html

We ate lunch on their outdoor terrace and had our best meal in Lijiang. The café looks rather simple, but go upstairs where they have indoor and outdoor areas to dine in.

On Fodor’s I noticed a recommendation for the Farmer’s restaurant Sour Ants Hot Pot Chicken near Lijiang 0888-6662279. We tried contacting them, but the phone number wasn’t working.

The trip back to the airport was 80rmb for taxi service from our hotel. The cobblestone streets of Lijiang are very unfriendly for luggage, so someone collected our luggage and carried it to a spot where it was loaded into a wagon. We walked outside of the old town, to a street where our taxi was located and waited for our luggage to arrive. The drive to the airport is around 30minutes. There is also a public shuttle bus if you’d rather take this.

Our Deer Air flight left on time! What a pleasure. Our flight was so interesting because a young woman, who is a professor at Chengdu’s university, sat next to us. She and her husband were “honeymooning” in Lijiang. She loved that town. She never knew such a place existed. Actually she’d rather honeymoon in France or another foreign destination but that hasn’t been possible. By the way, the most foreign tourists we saw in China were from France.

During the flight we visited with this couple, both of us fascinated with each other’s life experiences. They spoke excellent English and have been trying to get a visa to visit the U.S. but it’s been denied. The Chinese government is afraid they wouldn’t return to China if allowed to leave.

They were so worried about us finding our way in Chengdu. They couldn’t believe we could vacation in China without knowing the language. We assured them we were doing fine so far, and knew how to get to our hotel in Chengdu. I pulled out a photo of the street address marker of our hotel and a Google earth map of the satellite picture from above. The reaction I got from the people in the seats around us was amazing. They passed the Google earth photo around. Never had they seen such a picture. Opps, maybe I shouldn’t have shared that technology with Chinese citizen’s but they loved seeing it. The point of the photo was to show how close to the large stadium our hotel was. These pictures reassured them that we’d find our way. The professor had her husband write out a lot of suggestions for us to visit and eat while in Chengdu. He wrote everything in Chinese with English notes. They were very kind.

While researching Chengdu I found that they had just introduced a “Panda Card” http://www.nowpublic.com/style/panda-card-visiting-giant-pandas-hometown-free which would allow us free admission to several sites in Chengdu. The town is trying to increase tourism after the earthquake. I needed to know where to get this card. Minmin didn’t know about the card, but agreed to help us find it.

Our airplane landed very hard, with nose way to high. I wish Chinese pilots would land their planes better. This wasn’t our first hard landing. Chengdu seen from the air is such a large city. Minmin stayed with us and asked at the information center in the airport about finding the Panda card.

For only 1rmb each we were able to purchase the Panda Cards at the tourist information desk of Chengdu’s airport. The problem is you must call a phone number and spell your full name plus give them your passport number in order to activate this card. The phone call is in Chinese. Minmin stayed with us, called the number and spent the next 15 minutes activating our cards. They were also able to buy the other version of this card which is for residents of Sichuan Province. We exchanged email addresses and kept in touch the next several days. The university has a low priced event, opera, folk concert or a symphony concert each Friday evening. We had hoped to attend this on Friday p.m. but ended up not having time.

Thankfully our luggage was still waiting for us once we finally arrived to collect it. The airlines in China deliver your luggage to the terminal so quickly. We were the last passengers at the baggage terminal, and exiting to the outdoors we found many “taxi” drivers soliciting our business. Thanks to tips on Fodor’s we knew the legal taxis were on the left side as you exit the domestic arrival area. The taxi’s are marked and are green and yellow or blue and yellow. The other drivers were very annoying, trying to get our business. We had to be forceful in rejecting them. The men at the taxi stand desk will not help. Thankfully I had a picture of the address plaque of our hotel enlarged to give the taxi driver. This made the trip much easier. This paper was the best piece of identification I had while in Chengdu.

An airport shuttle for 12rmb is also available from the airport into Chengdu, running every 15 minutes. The ride is 35 minutes, but stops at the North train station. From here you must transfer to another bus or taxi, so I didn’t feel this was very convenient. Our taxi directly from the airport to the Chengdu Gulou Holiday Inn Express was 43rmb. It’s seen easily at the corner of Daqiang & Gulou.

The Chengdu Gulou Holiday Inn Express was very nice, & fairly new. The location was good. We paid 346rmb + tax, per night, for a total of 1591rmb for 4 nights. This included free wifi and free full breakfast, Chinese or American. The American choices weren’t wide, but we had plenty in the morning. The king bed was very comfortable, the room large and good bathroom and shower. We were very pleased with our choice. It was easy finding a taxi each time we needed one, which was often. Across the street are 2 small shops for buying water, juice and snacks. I bought a map of Chengdu here, but it did little good since it covered to large of an area and was in Chinese. I never could find a good tourist map of Chengdu. The hotel had none. This site gave me a general map of Chengdu, but was of little use once we arrived: http://www.chinahighlights.com/image/chengdu/map/chengdu-city-map.jpg



We had been told that Chengdu was a very relaxing city, full of tea gardens. Yes, it’s full of Tea Gardens, but relaxing, NO. The taxi drivers drive so fast, regarding no lanes of traffic, no direction of traffic; even the sidewalks are fair game to drive on. Almost never was there a seat belt available in the back seat. Buses were impossible for me to figure out, so we relied on taxi’s, frightening as they were. I recalled this was how Princess Diana died, in a wild car ride.

Seeing a Sichuan Opera was our hope this evening. The one Samantha Brown attended looked good to me, and I liked the idea that it was located in a park. The ShufenyayunTea House, is that opera, and is located in the Chengdu Culture Park at 23, Qintai Road. It’s beside Qingyang Palace, or the Green Ram Temple and begins at 8 p.m.


Taking a taxi, we were let out on the street, just outside this park. There is an information booth for the Opera here. We showed interest, so they walked us to the Teahouse, where we bought tickets for 150rmb each. I know you can get seats for less if you prebook. These were the lowest priced seats for walk up tickets, but they gave us seats in the middle of the tea house, on an aisle, which were listed at a higher price.

It was still early, so we walked through the park before returning for the variety show. A large group of people were dancing together, to music in the park. Kids were flying kites, others just relaxing in the tea garden. Where there are tea gardens there are ear cleaners. We were approached several times about having our ears cleaned. No thank you!


Back at the teahouse/opera, which was filled with red lanterns lit up, I decided to accept the offer of a massage while sitting in my chair waiting for the opera to begin. The 20 minute massage was 50rmb, & if you want an ear cleaning, that’ll be 40rmb. The massage was firm, it was OK, but not great!

All the tea you can drink is included in your ticket price. Our cup was refilled often. This is actually a variety show, not an opera. Parts were boring. I loved the hand shadow segment of the show. Of course the face changers are the highlight, but this only takes place at the very end, and is just 10 minutes. I think the complete show was about 1 ½ hrs in length.

Hungry, we looked for dinner after the show. Expensive, large restaurants filled the street. The back packer’s hotel along this road, serves dinner, but it’s restaurant had closed. We decided to just take a taxi back to our hotel and look for dinner in that area. Tiny neighborhood eateries lined a road around the corner. Well, one still had several people in it and they motioned for us to come on in. The look of surprise and laughs all around the room rang out as we accepted their invitation. Of course the menu was only in Chinese. I walked to other tables and pointed at a few items. They added what they thought we might like, so we had at least 5 plates of food brought to us. Some was delicious, some we just couldn’t eat. They brought more. Of course, we were to full to eat all this food, but we gave them the thumbs up so they’d understand we were happy with their choices. All this food and our drinks came to $5.
This was a good end to our first evening in Chengdu.

May 20

Large tour groups filled the dining room this morning at breakfast. Breakfast is served early here, which was good since we wanted to leave for the Panda Base at 8 am. The taxi ride was 38rmb for the 30 minute drive. We were advised not to take a public bus, since it takes much longer. There is not a map with the bus routes that I could find. We relied on the taxis except for our trip to Leshan. Taxi fare is ¥5 to start, then increases at ¥1.4 per km. This is very inexpensive.

Arriving at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base / (大熊猫繁殖研究中心) we showed our Panda Card and admission was free! This is great! Each time we bought an admission ticket for a site, no map was included. Occasionally, the back of your ticket will have a tiny map, but not adequate. After entering the panda reserve there are a couple of buildings on the left side. Ask here and they’ll give you a map, we felt we needed it since the site is quite spread out. A white tourist train was available to ride, but we walked, looking for the areas where pandas were. Not all enclosures actually had pandas in them.

It’s important to visit this site in the morning, since this is feeding time. The first enclosure we found with pandas had 4 sub-adults, as they call them. They were all happily munching the bamboo stalks, spitting out the waste. They have a small thumb like appendage to help hold the bamboo and only absorb about 20% of nutrients from the bamboo. A very interesting 20 minute film describing the dating and breeding habits of the pandas is available to view. When a panda first gives birth, it has no idea what’s happened. The birth happens quickly. The mother will swat the baby away and not care for it, then the keeper must quickly retrieve the newborn so it’ll not be injured or killed by its mother. The second time the mother panda gives birth, all goes much better. The time a panda is pregnant can vary a great deal. Pregnancies span from 83 to 180 days. It’s often difficult to tell if a panda is pregnant. Sometimes female pandas will pretend to be pregnant because they’ll receive more food if thought to be pregnant.

It was hard to figure out which enclosures had pandas and which didn’t. Sometimes a once empty enclosure would later have a panda in it. The care keepers bring pandas out at different times. In one enclosure the bamboo was brought out first. We waited patiently for the panda to arrive. Finally the door opened and the panda walked just short of the pile of bamboo, laid down, and fell asleep!

A nursery area held smaller pandas, but no babies while we were there. One small panda in a cage was quite active, but kept falling off the raised platform onto the floor. It didn’t seem to hurt itself.

Red pandas have their own enclosure but they weren’t as interesting to watch. There is also a museum here but it’s not very well done. Inside the museum area there is a small post office where postcards and stamps may be bought and mailed.

From the Panda Center we took a taxi to Chengdu Tea Culture Street. This area is full of tea shops. This is a description of the area I found on the internet:


It's known that Tea Culture Street, with tea market as the center, includes many streets neighboring tea market such as Saiyuntai No.1 West Road, Saiyuntai No.2 West Road, Yusai Road, etc. and 8 enterprises like Great Southwest Tea Market, Wukuaishi Texitle Market.
We had our hotel employees write the location out in Chinese before we left. It took them awhile to think of this location. It’s in the northern part of Chengdu, and was on our way back to the center from the Panda Reserve. We found the shops employees so aggressive in trying to get our business that we couldn’t enjoy just looking at the shops. Their eagerness made it impossible to browse. In front of many of the shops people were sorting through Tie Guan Yin tea and removing the stems. There is also a well equipped teapot shop here.
The grounds of Wenshu Monastery (文殊院, 近人民中路) are beautiful, contain a tea garden and a vegetarian restaurant. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the outdoor area of the restaurant. Most of this restaurant is indoors, which I didn’t care for, so we waited for an outdoor table. Lunch hour had almost passed so it wasn’t a long wait. Most of the indoor tables emptied as we ate outdoors. We asked for bottled water to drink, but they couldn’t understand our request. Water wasn’t written on the menu. Orange juice was the next best choice, but they refused to bring us the large container listed on the menu. We settled for 2 glasses of oj with our lunch. After drinking them we ordered 2 more. They thought this was pretty funny. Lunch was excellent, especially the plate of mushrooms!

A new museum, The Mahjong and Tea Culture Exhibition Hall on Wenshu Yuan Street, is in the large building at an intersecting street, just a block or two from the exit of the Monastery. I didn’t have a translation of this in Chinese, so it was impossible asking for directions. The site is in a large Hall, so should be easy to spot.


We were given a private tour of the museum in English, for our admission price of 30rmb. The tour was excellent, the museum, first class. The exhibit contains many rare mahjong sets, over 500, coming from all over the world. Descriptions are displayed in English also. A 2nd museum is of the Tea Culture, with hundreds of teapots on display. We were served tea after the tour. While waiting for the tea to cool we had a nice conversation with our guide. She was surprised that we were not afraid to travel considering the outbreak of the Swine Flu. They are much more concerned about this in China than we are here in the United States. We were again told that a friend of hers had been trying to get a visa to visit the U.S. but are unable to receive one.


After a rest at our hotel we walked to Tianfu Square where the huge statue of Mao is located. In the evening there are water fountains with music and lights here. Below this square will be the center of Chengdu’s metro system and shopping. The subway system isn’t running yet. Walking past the Square we arrived at Renmin Park/People’s Park. The tea garden here seemed dirty. Maybe it was just because it was the end of the day. We were again approached by ear cleaners but still we had no interest in this. Several people were playing badminton, kite flying, singing in groups, exercising with swords and tai chi. I loved watching the public in their parks!


This evening we decided to go to a restaurant which was recommended by Minmin. I don’t have the name of this restaurant in English, but it was out near the 3rd ring road. When we gave the restaurant name and location to a taxi driver he complained. We didn’t understand the problem, so stayed in the taxi. Finally, through grumbles he drove us to the restaurant. It was large and on the 2nd floor of the building. We didn’t order well here, since the vegetables were so hot that one bite numbed our lips and mouth for the rest of the meal! Famous Sichuan food is too hot for us! I loved the watermelon at the end of our meal! Total cost for dinner and 2 drinks, 65rmb. I love the prices of our meals in China!


Thankfully the restaurant employs door men to help with taxis when you leave. The first taxi driver refused taking us back to the center of town. Without the door men insisting the 2nd taxi drive us, we’d never have found one to return us to the center. I don’t understand the transportation rules here. We asked the driver to go to Jinli Street 武侯祠大街. The driver drove us to a Jinli Hotel near Jinli Street. I guess my Chinese translation wasn’t exactly correct.

We loved the beauty at night on Jinli Street. It was lively, full of restaurants, shops, red lanterns, ear cleaners, etc. There was also a Dairy Queen here which made me so happy! I was hungry since dinner was too hot for me to enjoy. Dairy Queen was a treat!

I had a similar taxi problem one time in Beijing. I wound up taking one taxi back to my hotel, which was part-way to where I wanted to go, and then a second taxi to my final destination. They may have defined areas of operation.

That's a great tip thursdaysd. We were really confused by the situation. I realize several short trips earn the drivers more money than a long trip, but we weren't going that far out.

I just wanted to thank Nywoman for all the help she provided with her trip report on China last year. Where are you headed next?

My experience With Lilly was very similar to yours. She was actually only with me for 1 afternoon despite having booked her for several days.

I also felt the San Lujie light and sound show very over rated. I had the guest house owner book the ticket.

Shanghainese
Loved Lijiang I think often most fondly of the time we spent together.

Of the 3 guides that I used on my almost month long solo trip, the best was a young Chinese girl who spoke next to no English. I do not speak any Manadarin except Ni Hao. However she drove me to the surroundings of Lijiang, introduced me to people and showed me many, many things I would never have seen or known about. I somehow knew what she was showing me and it worked.

Nywoman,

How interesting. You're right, the best guides are those who are passionate about where they live and want to share it with others. Not those who are out to just earn a dollar. It would be nice if all guides were like the one you met in Lijiang.


May 21

Last night we walked by an Ethan Allen furniture store near the center of Chengdu. It was just like our shop here, if not nicer! The prices were even a bit higher than they are here at home. Some people in China are doing very well.


We’re making the trip to Leshan today by public bus. Buses leave every 20 minutes from Xin Nan Men(新南门） Xinnanmen bus station. We took a taxi from our hotel to the bus station which is just south of the Jinjiang river. We had our destination written in Chinese to show the ticket agent. The bus tickets were 43rmb one way and are sold for a specific time so you must buy one way tickets. We were going to see the Great Buddha of Leshan (乐山大佛).

Arriving at the bus station at 7:50a.m. we tried buying tickets for the 8:00 bus, but it was sold out. We were given tickets for the 8:20a.m. bus. The seats are assigned and buses leave exactly on time, if not a bit earlier. All seats were taken. We had an air-conditioned bus, seat belts, which we were required to wear, and water bottles handed out to each passenger. The “conductor” or woman who assisted the driver checked seat belts several times during the two hour trip. She also made tea for the few passengers who requested it. A TV screen was playing shows during the trip.

Once we arrived at the Leshan bus station another Chinese couple, who had a guide with them, invited us to share a mini-van with them to the Dafo/or Grand Buddha. This part of the drive was 2rmb each.


Public Bus 13 from the bus station to the Grand Buddha front gate is the other way to make the 2nd part of this trip. This is only about a 10 minute drive. Our van drove to the top entrance of the Park site. I believe there was a bottom entrance also which may have led to the Grand Buddha much quicker. We bought tickets to the whole complex for 120rmb. Tickets just to the Buddha were 70 rmb. This site is huge. We’re happy we bought tickets to the entire site. There is a lot to see, but there are also many, many stairs to climb. It’s quite tiring. A restaurant is on the site, as is a tea house. From the top entrance it takes a couple of hours before you arrive at the Grand Buddha. Fortunately it wasn’t crowded, we encountered no lines at all. The only map of the site is on wooden boards.


When we arrived at the Grand Buddha several people were having their pictures taken with the Buddha in the background. Once you’re finished taking photos of the top of the Buddha you walk down a very steep staircase carved out of the rock wall. Along the way more tiny Buddha’s are carved. There is a handrail, cling to it! It’s good to take more photos as you walk down since once you’re at the bottom it’s difficult to take a good photo of the whole Buddha. The sun was also directly behind it, so that affected photos. If you’d like there is a boat you can take at the base of the Buddha so you can take better photos. Everyone had on life preservers. I’m not sure where you actually got on this boat. You may spend as much time as you’d like at the base of the Buddha. Once you want to leave, guess what, you need to climb the whole way back up to the top. My legs were so sore. This is a lot of stairs to climb. I needed to stop and rest often! Eventually you come to a fork in the road. We went to the right to see the rest of the sights on the grounds, another temple, the Mahao cave tombs, a museum and the beautiful bridge. There are some tiny food stalls along the way and stalls set up for shopping. One man really wanted us to eat at his booth, and led us to it, although we didn’t want to eat there. Once we were finished there seemed no way out, except to walk all the way back to the entrance. There was an opening, but it wasn’t a marked exit.


Rickshaw or pedicab drivers were waiting here. One man was negotiating the price. I’ve already explained on this site what happened next. My recommendation is to ignore the rickshaw people, and just walk out of this area, going down the dirt road. When the road veers to the left, walk left. This road will lead to the front entrance where you can wait for the public bus back to the Leshan bus station. It’s not a short walk though. If you take the rickshaw, you’ll most likely end up on an unticketed bus, back to a southern bus station in Chengdu, not the bus station you started at. It’s a scam. If you want to know what happened to us, look at the post Kidnapped in China!


Once back at the Xinnanmen bus station we walked east along the river. All sorts of personal hygiene were being performed. Haircuts, toe surgery, ear cleaning, I don’t know what else, but it looked like it could be a doctor’s office. I felt uncomfortable walking by. Further along we caught a taxi and returned to our hotel.


Dinner tonight was back at Jinli Street. We decided the atmosphere was better than the food. Still, it was nice sitting outdoors, enjoying the area and relaxing. Taxi back to our hotel was 12rmb.

Such a wonderful report!!! Thanks again for spending so much time to share your experiences with all of us. Can't wait to hear about Xian and Beijing.

Wow, they've really poshed up the bus to Leshan! Mine ('04) had very loud video, but no seat belts and no attendant! I took a boat from near the bus station in Leshan - I bought a ticket from a kiosk on the waterfront, but had to wait a long time before the boat left. There was also a rickety looking ferry leaving from the same place, but that also gave you less time in front of the Buddha.

Thanks for your support! As for Xi'an, it was so much better than I expected. For some reason recommendations were to see the soldiers and get out. It deserves much more time. I think Xi'an was the most pleasant town we visited. We were there 2 days and needed another. Ride bikes on the city walls, visit the Mosque and the streets leading up to it. Go out to the Big Pagaoda and see the water/light show at dark, 9 p.m. for us. The museum is said to be wonderful. I wanted to go but ran out of time.

Taking the public bus is an easy way to go see the warriors. The return bus was hard to find.

I'll write more details soon.

thursdays, time to go back to China! It sounds like things are progressing very quickly. I found China no harder to travel in than Europe is. Only big problem was at the airports when things didn't work. They need English there, I'll say it again. Oh, and the bathroom situation. That was the worst part.

Images - so many places, so little time! I need to go back to India, too. I thought the bathroom situation in the big tourist cities had been improved? I know on my last trip there was a stellar loo in the Temple of Heaven park. But did you read this: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/hysterical-article-on-how-to-use-a-squat-toilet.cfm ? Or, I wrote "Seven Steps to Happy Squatting" at wilhelmswords.com/faq/index.html .

Yes, I saw that. How true!! I only found a few decent bathrooms. No doors in some. Whenever possible I'd go for the handicap toliet, but often the door would be locked. Twice it was in a utility closet. Even airports had pits. This must be the next thing China updates!


May 22

Breakfast was much quieter today at our hotel. The tour groups had left. The women working here at the desk are very helpful in translating my English into Mandarin for the taxi drivers. Often they’d discuss among themselves, and then one would write it down for us.

If you go to Chengdu don’t miss the Qingshiqiao Market. We visited the food stalls, again, a very large area brimming with seafood, meat, produce and even Miracle Whip and peanut butter! This is located southeast of the river. We took a taxi. Chengdu is quite large so if you decide to walk to these locations it’s going to take too much time. The market area was extremely busy. Much of it faces the outdoors, with trucks still arriving with all kinds of food in Styrofoam containers. Meat and fish lay directly on the ground. It was a mess. Bags with chicken legs sticking out of the openings, whole pig snouts, hoofs, chopped up fresh fish, bags of turtles, frogs wrapped in leaves and piles of Zong-zi, the glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, were piled everywhere. Baskets full of spices and piles of eggs filled out the selection. This was one of the most amazing markets I’ve visited.

Indoors the market continues. The produce is upstairs, but this area still doesn’t seem very clean. We walked past a pile of plucked chickens on the dirty floor. As we circled back the chickens were off the floor, ready to sell. I read that this area has pet markets, birds and other items, but we only saw food.

Walking down the street looking for the other markets we noticed a Carrefour store. We know this store from our French travels. It was clean and crowded. Dumplings and cookies looked tasty. We bought Chinese DVD’s for $2 each. They work in our region free DVD player! After a few more purchases here we needed to return to our hotel, dropping off our purchases.

Wuhou Temple (武侯祠) or the Temple of Marquis Wu is next to Jinli Street. In fact there is an entrance to the Temple from the Jinli Street promenade. Admission is 60rmb, which is high, but luckily the Panda card entitled us to free admission. There are large red curved walls circling this site. Large forests of bamboo and gardens fill the grounds. I’m not sure of the historical significance for this site, but we enjoyed our time here. The weather in China had been fantastic during our stay. We had very little rain. A downpour occurred here just as we sat down in the tea garden for a tea break. Thankfully it stopped raining just as we finished our tea!

Since we were at Jinli Street we browsed the food stalls which offer take away food just across from picnic tables. There is an interesting selection here, but the meat on a stick, (titled bunch of meat), vegetable filled pancake and sticky rice rolls seemed safe. The noodles were a bit too spicy for me, but my husband braved a bowl. You can buy much more adventurous food here. We shared a table with a Chinese family who was very pleased we were trying some of the food selections and were impressed at our ease of using chop sticks! This is a good area for a quick lunch. A Starbucks is also located here. We used it for wifi and I had to purchase a coffee cup for our daughter who collects them.

The Thatched Cottage of Dufu is another large, garden area on the western side of Chengdu. It was a long taxi ride from Wuhou Temple. Still, taxis are inexpensive. So many people ride bikes here also. It’s an adventure each time you’re on the road. On one trip our taxi was rear ended. I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents. We also saw a woman lying in the street, having been hit by a car. I mentioned this situation to someone in Beijing. They said that there has been a campaign in Beijing teaching the taxi drivers to drive more safely. Evidently this campaign hasn’t reached Chengdu yet.

The Thatched Cottage grounds are very large. Don’t miss the cottage, it’s in the center, but you must take a left turn after entering, don’t walk straight ahead as we did. It’s surrounded by beautiful hydrangeas and cherry trees. There are also ruins under roof here which are interesting. A map would be helpful. The Panda card is accepted here also.

For dinner this evening we walked to Beijing Duck which was directly across from the Crowne Plaza hotel. This area is more upscale than the area we stayed in, but was easy walking distance. Nicely dressed women employees of the restaurant were outdoors welcoming customers. They’ll take you upstairs in an elevator to the 3rd or 4th floor where the restaurant is actually located. I read that there would be lines, waiting for a table, but this didn’t happen. We were seated immediately. Menus in China can be books. There are pages and pages of choices. The waitress will wait at your table while you look through the menu. They want to take your order immediately but we always needed time to browse the menu so felt under pressure. We chose the ½ duck of course which was only 38rmb plus 10rmb for the “pancakes” and 2rmb for the scallions and sauce. Each item is ordered separately. The duck was very good, but not as delicious at the duck we had in Beijing. They also brought out soup and watermelon. With drinks our meal was 77rmb.

Tomorrow we have a very early wake up call, with an 8:00 a.m. flight to Xi’an.

> I found China no harder to travel in than Europe is.

I'd just like to pick this comment out from the very welcome long and detailed report so that the many who approach this board thinking that although they usually travel independently in China they'd probably better take a tour can and do take note.

Peter N-H

Thanks Peter. This is true.

May 23

My one regret leaving Chengdu is that we had no time to visit the Live Water Garden 活水公园 http://www.keepersofthewaters.org/lwg.cfm. Samantha Brown from the travel channel highlighted this garden on her Chengdu show. There is never enough time to do everything I plan!

5:30 a.m., time to catch a taxi for the airport. Thankfully one was waiting outside the hotel doors, although the driver was sleeping! We had an 8 a.m. China Southern flight to Xi’an. On the return trip from Chengdu to the airport there is a toll to pay so this trip was 58rmb. The drive is around 30 minutes I think. Not only was our flight on time, this pilot was the best we had. Smooth take off and landing for a change! This is a 1 hour flight. Breakfast was served, which was 3 different types of breads. Our flight flew over beautiful, deep mountain ranges, and the air was clean on our arrival.

Once we collected our luggage we hurried outside to find the airport bus to the Melody Hotel in the center of Xi’an. No English sign was available and the driver couldn’t speak English but there was only one bus sitting there. The driver pointed to a sign which was a map of Xi’an showing where the bus stopped. It’s in the center of the city walls, so I was sure this was the right bus to take. They leave hourly, on the hour and tickets are 25rmb per person. The bus is air-conditioned, very nice. Store your luggage underneath. We paid once we were underway. Once we arrived and got off the bus, a travel agent met us trying to get our business for tours in the Xi’an area. She said she worked at the Melody Hotel. I told her we didn’t need any help. She was persistent. This happened to us at several locations in China. They see a westerner, they assume you need a guide.

We had a booking at the Citadines, which is an easy walk from the airport bus stop. Getting off the bus, walk to the right. At the first street turn left. Cross the street, walk one block down and you’ll see the tall hotel on your right. We reserved a studio apartment here. It’s very nice to have the space, a small refrigerator and tiny kitchen area. The apartment has a nice flat screen television, which had ESPN channels, so we wouldn’t miss the Monaco Formula One race!! The hotel is dated, so it’s not extremely attractive. Free wifi is available in the lobby area only, not the rooms. There is a small sitting area adjacent to the check in area, which was private and a good spot to call home or check email. The price was $59usd per night, with breakfast an extra charge at the adjoining restaurant.

Needing lunch we ate at Star Ferry Restaurant on the corner. Unfortunately we didn’t order the dim sum because it wasn’t on the menu. It was available for the asking, we learned later. Our lunch was tasteless.

Xi’an city walls contain a very attractive, reasonably sized town. I realize greater Xi’an covers a lot more area, but it’s inside these walls you’ll spend most of your time besides the trip to the Terra Cotta Warriors. The town is easily walkable. It’s clean and pleasant. The only flaw I saw was the sidewalk construction as we walked to the southern gate where we collected bikes for our ride around the city walls. A large mall is located at the circle near the Drum Tower.

Beginning with a walk to the Drum Tower we bought 40rmb combination tickets for this and the Bell Tower. I don’t think you have to visit both on the same day but we did. A musical program is preformed here, but it was lunch break so we missed it. People were actually in the chairs waiting for the performance although it wouldn’t begin for 2 more hours. The break is from 11:30 – 3:00. The view from the outdoor railing of the drum tower is excellent. Take your photos of the Bell Tower from here. The muslin market is also visible. Kite vendors line this area. They’re selling a string of small kites that are all connected in a long trail. The kites come in smaller packs and larger packs. I loved them!! We bought several at 10rmb per package for the larger size. Our grandchildren love them!

The Beiyuan men Islamic Street near the base of the Drum tower offered all types of food. We decided to explore this street for a bit and found some interesting dining options. I wish we were able to eat the piles of cherries filling the wagons, but we never chanced eating fruit we couldn’t peel. The watermelons looked delicious also. Bird cages lined the trees and shops bordered the streets. It’s a wonderful, lively area. We returned later for some shopping.

Next we wanted to climb the Bell Tower. We walked under the street through the long underground passageway. There was supposed to be a walkway under the road to approach the Bell Tower. After searching and searching for it, we found that it was closed. Back outdoors we had to brave the traffic and cross the busy street. Since this was a circular area it was a bit tricky. Again, upstairs along the outer railing is a wonderful area to take photos. Another American family was touring the bell tower, with their college age daughter who lives in Beijing now. Xi’an was the favorite city in China they’ve visited. We used our compass to find which direction the southern gates to the city wall were.

The sidewalk to the Southern Gate is under construction, but making our way through we arrived at the gate. Unfortunately we missed seeing the Forest of Steles 西安碑林 which is said to be located just inside the southern city wall, near Wenchang Gate. There is a collection of over 2,000 stone tablets here.

The admission onto the City Wall is 40rmb. Once you climb the stairs if you turn east and walk a bit there are bicycles for rent. They are old, the brakes don’t work to well, but it was great fun riding the whole way around the walls, stopping often for photos. Bike rental is only 20rmb for 100 minutes. You must leave a 200rmb deposit with the bike rental desk. Several different locations rent bikes, so you must not forget which one you rent bikes from. Only this location will return your deposit. They are very strict about the 100 time limit also. Don’t lose the receipt they’ll give you. We arrived back in 98 minutes. I guess you must pay extra if you’re late.

We began our ride, stopping often for photos. It was wonderful! After an hour we checked the time and figured out if we didn’t pick up the pace, we’d never return on time. The 2nd half of our ride we had no time to stop. The trip is bumpy and my kickstand kept falling down. If you look down into the town at certain points along the wall, you’ll notice ruins of rubble, with people still living amongst it. We also took note of the where the bus station was since tomorrow we’ll be taking the public bus to the Terra Cotta Warriors.

I was so very tired at the end of the ride, and I needed food. Mistakenly we stopped at the McDonalds next to the Xi’an Kaiyuan mall so I could get a hamburger. It was horrible. My husband was much smarter, not ordering food since he indulged at the Islamic Market. We walked through some of the mall noticing kiosks for a product my husband’s company manufactures. Items are marketed differently in China.

This evening we took a taxi to the small pagoda, looking for a recommended restaurant, called Maogang Xiangcaiguan. I only had the name in English which I showed to several people in the area, but no one had any idea where it was. We never found it. The small pagoda had closed. There is a fence around it, and it wasn’t visible from the gated area. Others begged to be allowed inside, since it had just closed, but the guard didn’t allow anyone to enter. The road outside the small pagaoda is named Youyi West Road. Directly across from the pagoda we ate at an excellent restaurant whose card I can’t locate. The name starts with Quin I believe. It’s the nicest restaurant in this immediate area and many local people were going inside. The waiter suggested Beef and Peppers. It was very tender and excellent. We added rice and other side dish. With drinks dinner was only 80rmb.

The area around the Big Wild Goose Pagoda 大雁塔 has a water show every evening. We took a taxi from the restaurant to the Big Pagoda. He needed to let us off a good distance from the pagoda because the area around the pagoda is just a pedestrian zone, no cars allowed. He tried to explain this to us but we didn’t understand. My foot was hurting a lot, it was almost 8 p.m. when we thought the show began. An underground passageway accessed this area, with a sign noting that the fountains were straight ahead. The main entrance to the plaza is on the south end, the same side the water fountains are located. Some people climb the area directly adjoining the pagoda which is above the water fountains to view the show from above. We joined them at first, but they were crowding, pushing and shoving. We left the area and joined the public in the square below, where the actual fountains are located. The cement borders are good places to sit and enjoy the show, except there are water jets that will spurt out from the cement. Some young girls were in the way of these jets and were drenched with water.

The show actually began around 9 p.m. It must be dark before it’ll begin. The whole area erupts with water fountains, dancing to music, with different colored lights shining on the fountains. People run into the water playing, and photographers are set up seeking people who like their photos taken. It’s a lot of fun watching the scene, although we stayed dry on the side lines. In 20 minutes, the show is over. Everyone empties out of the plaza looking for transportation back to town.

No taxis were available. The buses were full, with long lines waiting to board. The only way we could return was by rickshaw. First we said no to several offers, but desperate we finally agreed. The driver put 3 fingers on his arm. How can this just cost 3rmb?? He shook his head yes, so we got in. He rode all the way back to the drum tower, which was very close to our hotel. I thought we should pay him more than 3 rmb for this long trip, so we offered him 10. He became very angry, shaking his head no. It turns out that 3 fingers that he displayed on his arm, actually mean 30rmb, not 3 rmb. My husband was angry with him, but I was just happy to be safely back to the area. It was a long ride amongst the traffic.

The drum tower and center of Xi’an were lit up beautifully in the dark. We love Xi’an.

Adjacent to the area with the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is Tang Paradise Garden. This is a paid admission area which is quite large and also has a waterfall show in the evening. If we had stayed an extra night I wanted to see what this area has to offer.

Images2 and Peter might this not be a little too strong:

> I found China no harder to travel in than Europe is.

Yes, you can travel China independently, and we did too, but it does present more challenges than Europe. For example, the language is very difficult and has no cognates with any of the usual European suspects. You can easily learn some tourist Italian, Spanish or French but it's next to impossible to make yourself understood in any language spoken in China. You stand no chance of reading anything unless it's written in English. In Russia or Greece you just learn a new set of letters and you're good to go. Not so in China.

European food is much more similar to ours than Chinese. Deciphering Chinese menus and selecting food is not easy, even for the adventurous eater. Food safety is an issue in China. I can't think of a European city in which I would only eat fruit I peel myself.

Usually European airports and train stations have signs in several languages and staff that speak or understand English. That's not the norm in China, especially once you're out of the main cities. You mention lack of suitable bathrooms. Certainly that's not as much a problem in Europe.

You mention many times that you were surrounded by touts. Yes, that happens in Europe but certainly not to the same extent. Unwary tourists are probably more likely to be taken advantage of in China than Europe. You stand out in China much more than you do in Europe.

None of these are deal breakers for independent travel but they do pose challenges and should be recognized.

"You stand no chance of reading anything unless it's written in English." Not entirely true. With some minimal practice I could recognize a number of place names, and things like exit, entrance, toilet, bank, chicken, tofu, rice etc., and I learnt some of the numbers. Street signs are fairly easy - the signs for north, south, east, west and center crop up all over the place, and you just need to pattern match the rest to a map. I stand a much better change of learning to read some Mandarin than I do of speaking it.

Lack of English can be a problem in Eastern Europe, too - I found that the second language was often Russian or German. And there was a serious shortage of English speakers and signs in Russia. Not such a problem in Western Europe, I agree.

BTW - I bought Julie Mazel Sussman's "I Can Read That! A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters" before my first trip and had a lot of fun with it.

Marija,

All your points are valid, but none of them posed real problems for us as far as being able to travel. I guess I was so worried before we left that there would be large challenges along the way and that never materialized. I’m not very good with language so I chose to ignore it. My husband actually recognized several characters after a week. He enjoyed figuring out a bit of the language.

You’re right, conditions aren’t as comfortable. I missed the wonderful food of France and outdoor cafes where you can just relax the afternoon away. I really missed a glass of wine in the evenings! The fresh strawberries, cherries etc. looked so tempting, but no, we never chanced eating any. I did get tired of Chinese food, and got really hungry at times. We brought granola bars and dried fruit with us so when nothing else was available, we snacked on those. The other tiring thing was brushing our teeth with bottled water. It just got irritating not being able to use tap water in the bathroom!

Touts were a problem in Yangshuo and the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. We learned to wave our hand horizontally at these people and they’d understand we meant NO. Yes, we stood out and this did make the vendors more aggressive. I was surprised how I could take photos and walk almost anywhere with no objections.

None of this obstructed our travels though. I’m very happy we saw the major sites in China. It was wonderful meeting some of the people, sharing some moments with them. Now China isn’t a total mystery to us which is valuable, but it’s not a country we’ll want to return to again and again as we do Europe.

Thanks for clarifying the challenges we faced along the way.

May 24

Breakfast at Larry’s Singapore restaurant which is connected to the Citadines hotel wasn’t to our liking. The charge was 35rmb.

When we left our hotel we wanted to find a taxi to the railway station, Xian Railway Station 西安火車站, which is just outside of the north gate. The bus station is next door, just east, of the railway station where we’d take a public bus to the Terra Cotta Warriors. Taxi drivers were waiting, but they wanted to take us all the way to the Terra Cotta Warrior site. We just declined and walked out to the main road where it was easy to find a taxi willing to drive to the railway station. We never showed the taxi drivers our desired destination until we were already in the taxi. This never created a problem, except for the restaurant location in Chengdu which was near the 3rd ring road.

Many #306 / tourist bus #5 (same bus) were lined up at the bus station. When one filled, it left and the next bus was used. Buses were leaving continuously. Bus fare was just 7rmb and the trip took 1 hour. The bus made a couple of stops along the way. The university was one stop, then a site where almost everyone got off. This turned out to be the opening of the 2nd China poetry Festival and it was attracting a large crowd. We also drove by a “great pyramid and the sphinx”! Really! This must be another tourist site. I’ve been to Egypt and this reproduction isn’t too good! The bus also drives by several “terracotta” factories with full size replica warriors.

When we arrived at the Terra Cotta Warriors site the bus stopped in the back of the parking lot. We found the entrance fine, declined all offers to be guided around the site and bought tickets. I think they were 90rmb each. On the back of the ticket is an ad for Brother Industrial Sewing Machines. I love to sew, so I know this company. They have a factory in Xian. There are excellent western bathrooms just after the entrance gates. We proceeded to Pit 1 which had most of the warriors and chariots in the back. All these figures were built with local clay, and then fired in a kiln. After firing they were painted. Local people built tombs over this site and evidence of these tombs is also seen on the site. This site was found in 1974 by local farmers who were drilling a well. The site of the well can be seen in a front corner of Pit #1. The oldest brick wall in China is also in this pit. We spent over an hour in Pit 1. There were no crowds, so it was easy to take photos. We then went to Pit 3, followed by Pit 2. Pit #3 has many soldiers without heads. In pit #2 a terra cotta general, a kneeling archer and the warrior with saddle horse are displayed in glass enclosures. Weapons that had been covered in chrome are also displayed.

After viewing the pits we went into the gift shop, which was very expensive. Then we saw the film which is in the round. We didn’t care for the film.

Several men were selling box sets of cheap Terra Cotta Warriors. Their asking price started out very, very high. They tried to explain this was still less than the price in the gift shops. We just laughed and moved on. Finally the price of 10rmb was offered. At this point we bought 2 sets for our grandsons.

After spending 3 ½ hours at this site we looked for the exit which wound all the way around to the back, past many vendors who were very aggressive. It’s an attractive area, but we weren’t sure if it was an exit. Finally we arrived at the parking lot but nowhere could we find bus #306 for the return trip back to Xi’an. We came across a smaller bus #914 which also returned to the same bus station. My foot was in a lot of pain so we decided to just take this bus. I couldn’t search for the other bus any longer. This was a mistake. This bus drove a different route, parallel to a road that was under construction. The road we took was dirt and deeply potted, for a long while, very bumpy, with a drop off on the right side. I wasn’t very happy with the ride but felt so very sorry for the people who lived in the poverty we passed. Although the trip only took about 12 minutes longer than the #306 bus route, it seemed to take much longer. We parked right next to bus #306!

Back at our hotel we checked our e-mail and took a rest. We still hadn’t visited the Grand Mosque清真寺. Huajue Xiang is the alley the mosque is located on. There are signs above you as you walk down this street. Look up! We passed it, not seeing the small street which runs off the main street. Finally we asked for help and a nice gentleman walked us to the correct small road. There are many vendors selling a lot of merchandise down this road. It’s a nice selection, with great shopping opportunities. This is different from the food street Beiyuan men Islamic Street, but in the same area.

First we visited the Mosque with its gardens and 5 courtyards. Admission is 25rmb. The architecture is Chinese. It’s not too large and is well worth visiting. The only building you can’t enter is the Prayer hall. As we left a bride was coming down the alley with people throwing confetti.

Silk kites were available in the shops lining the lanes around the Mosque. Prices started at 120rmb, but after hard bargaining I bought 2 silk and bamboo kites for our grandsons for 60rmb each. One was a dragon and the other an owl. The first shop let me walk, but the second was willing!

Needing a break from Chinese food we decided to eat at Pizza Hut. I know, but I was so hungry and pizza sounded really good! The wait was long for a table. Pizza was expensive compared to Chinese food. Most of the drinks available were “fountain” drinks so we couldn’t order those. Wine was on the menu but not available. Finally our food arrived and it tasted just like the Pizza Huts in the U.S. Excellent crust also. After dinner we were thrilled to find the Formula One Monaco race on the television in our room. We had another early flight in the morning, to Beijing. My husband actually packed our suitcases, as I collapsed into bed enjoying the race!

> Images2 and Peter might this not be a little too strong

Yes, but only a little: the key issue is that those who prefer to travel independently should understand that it's perfectly possible to do so, and they shouldn't be considering booking a tour if they prefer not to. Indeed, just to take one example, summer China is full of gap year 18-year-olds travelling well beyond the usual heavily visited destinations discussed here. As you said, none of the difficulties raised is a deal-breaker, and in fact the difficulties of most are overstated, and there are tens of thousands of independent travellers in China to prove this.

Difficulties of the kind mentioned are mostly in the eye of the beholder, and what's impossible for one is too negligible to mention for another.

> Unwary tourists are probably more likely to be taken advantage of in China than Europe. You stand out in China much more than you do in Europe.

I think tourists stand out clearly wherever they go, but the point here is that the *more* a visitor to China engages with the tourism industry the *more* likely he is to be duped: in fact it's practically guaranteed, whereas the independent traveller is able to do much better for herself, avail herself of a great deal more choice, and pay proper prices.

The Chinese tourism industry has long fed itself on promoting precisely the fear of a language and cultural gulf the better to pick the pocket of the visitor. Those on organised tours are very thoroughly fleeced, and those who hire local guides are typically taken for a ride in two senses at once. Independent travellers carrying their own reference materials, not booking in advance, and who talk to other independent travellers just arriving from where they are about to go do a great deal better.

It must also be understood just how fundamentally fake China travel is in a way that's quite independent of the degree of support, planning, or organisation any visitor chooses to accept. To take the example of Lijiang, discussed above: One of the main sights is a 'palace' that didn't exist prior to the recent earthquake, but was built on the site of ordinary people's houses in order to make the town more attractive to tourism; many of the rebuilt houses are no longer in the local style and are very shoddily constructed; the Naxi dress admired above was actually designed by the local Han (main ethnic group) Chinese tourism authorities as an improvement on the original, and all those working in hospitality in the old part of Lijiang are required to wear it, despite the fact that most are not themselves Naxi. In short, there's no truth in tourism in China, but you're likely to get nearer to it by reading widely and certainly not by listening to any tour guide.

There's a very lively discussion of some of the problems with organised tourism, including postings from someone who wants to deny that independent travel is possible at all, at:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/china-highlights-tours---reliable.cfm

For an account by someone with no previous Asia experience who travelled independently in China, and who effortlessly overcame the not-very-difficult difficulties raised, see:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=35159504

Again, the point about the modestly greater degree of complication in China over Europe is well taken, but the degree is modest.

Peter N-H

Images,
My next trip is Singapore,Thailand,Myanmar and Laos. Leaving in October and just started the planning.

Glad my report on China was helpful. I loved that trip and will hopefully get back there soon.

What a great report. I'm taking copious notes for a future trip. Don't know when I'm going to be able to convince my husband to take me to China, but I will be well armed with tons of notes.

Have a wonderful time Nywoman. You're very adventurous!

I'll be back at this report next week sometime, adding Beijing. Trying to get another project completed by Tuesday!

Nywoman, the local Lijiang girl's name is Xiaolu, she is a Naxi and one of the co-owners of the Minimal Lounge Professor Qian's private driver. She attended 2-years of college majoring in tourism and japanese, she told us few independent japanese travel to Lijiang, they only come in groups. Qian is teaching her english and let's her drive travelers around if he doesn't need her. He lives in Baisha and invited us to visit his home built in tibetan style.

May 25

Our HaiNan airline flight departs from Xi’an for Beijing at 9:20 a.m. The information I had said that the Xi’an airport buses depart every hour on the hour from just outside the Melody Hotel, to the airport. Tickets are 25rmb and the trip takes about 1 hour. The buses leave at 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. We woke at 4:45 a.m. so to be sure we’d be on the 6 a.m. bus.

When we checked out of the Citadines Hotel we had to wait while an employee went up to our room and checked it. I used the hotel hair dryer the night before and it was sitting in a different location than we found it. They questioned us about the hair dryer and we had to wait until they saw that it was still in the room. Not a very professional way to check out your guests.

Walking to the Melody Hotel we arrived at 5:35 or 5:40 a.m. One bus had already been filled with passengers and was pulling away. 2 more airport buses were ready to be loaded. Taxi drivers were also trying to get passengers for 60rmb for the airport trip. It was a very busy place. We took the 2nd bus and arrived at the airport at 6:20 a.m. There was no traffic on the roads at this early hour. We ate breakfast at the airport. It was horrible and expensive. The security line moved quickly and good bathrooms were inside the terminal. Our HaiNan flight had a lot of leg room, and very polite flight attendants. We were handed a package of roasted green peas and tea and orange juice. Many seats were empty. This was our favorite airline in China.

Beijing looked very smoggy as we flew in. Later a wind blew in and seemed to clear the air. The airport express train is signed very well in the airport. Follow the signs downstairs. There is security to pass through before you can enter the area for the train. You may not have any aerosol cans. Tickets are purchased here for 25rmb each. I had a tip to sit backwards on the train since it would reverse direction after the lst stop. Well we got on the train at Terminal 2 and it never reversed direction, so sit forwards from this location! We got off the airport express train at Dongzhimen station, the end of the line. It is necessary to climb a long flight of stairs when leaving this station. I motioned to a guard about an alternative and he indicated we must go up these stairs with our luggage. Arughhh. Once we were outdoors, we decided to get a taxi to our small courtyard hutong hotel.

The small hotel was located near Dongdan metro stop, but since we didn’t know quite where it was, we thought it best to have the taxi take us all the way. I had excellent directions from our hotel, in Mandarin. The first 2 taxis we approached wouldn’t take us. A black taxi driver was badgering us about taking us for 100rmb. We firmly said no. It was frustrating having the other taxi’s deny taking us. Finally we found one who grudgingly agreed. It took a bit of extra effort on his part, finding our hutong, but he did it without calling ahead. Bonnie, the owner was surprised he made it without help. The taxi trip was 17rmb.

I purchased a good Beijing map on Amazon I think. The map is Borch Beijing map. We were very happy with this map although the metro map isn’t quite up to date. New lines are opening in Beijing, as the one to the Summer Palace is now open.

In Beijing I wanted to stay in a small courtyard hotel. Many of those recommended seemed overpriced, and I wasn’t sure the locations were good. I searched and searched on different internet sites for an appropriate courtyard hotel. Finally we decided to book Emperor's Guards Station Courtyard Hotel www.emperorsguards.com
Address: No. 51, Beijige Santiao, Dongdan Beidajie, Dongcheng District. This was just a 5 minute walk to Metro lines 1 and 5. It was also just a 5 minute walk to an entrance to the Oriental Plaza Mall which is a wonderful mall. We could walk through this mall to the other exit which emptied onto Wangfujing Street. We thought the location was wonderful. The hutong itself was not touristy, just a normal hutong, which is gray and drab.

It’s difficult describing this hutong courtyard hotel. The photos on the web site are accurate, except that it’s more rundown than the photos look. We booked directly and paid 580rmb per night for a double room, 1 large bed, and private bathroom. Breakfast is included, but it’s very poor. There is free wifi, but Bonnie didn’t mention it when we checked in. We didn’t ask, and ended up using the wifi at Starbucks in Oriental Mall the first 2 days. Then we discovered from another guest the password for the wifi, and we had good access for the remainder of our stay. Our bed was very comfortable, the room clean and a good size. The bathroom had very hot water, but was pretty rough. The sink is decorated and nice, but all the plumbing is open and the shower drains into the bathroom, in front of the toilet, behind the sink. I hate this situation. The TV didn’t work very well. Bonnie was very nice, when she was there, but a nice young man really runs this small hotel, not Bonnie. She’s the face you see when you arrive and leave, but the young man is actually running the hotel. He sleeps on a tiny bed in a tiny room with the hotel computer. There are only about 5 rooms, and one courtyard which needs fresh paint. I think the rate should be lower also. Along the hutong there are a couple of tiny shops great for buying drinks and snacks. Also very good fried egg muffins are for sale each morning, very fresh and hot for .22 cents each. This ended up being our daily breakfast. Who knows, for the right price we may stay here again, I’m not sure. The bed was large and very comfortable. We met several international guests here, all very kind people. That was the best part!

"had to wait while an employee went up to our room and checked it" - this seemed to be common in mid-range hotels in China. Not the guesthouses patronized by foreign backpackers, and not the more expensive ones, but the ones least likely to see foreigners.

Interesting. It's the first time we experienced this.



Needing lunch, the young man who worked at our hotel walked us to Wangfuijing Street. It was important to get our bearings. It’s easy to find once we knew exactly where we were, but it took a bit of learning. We needed big landmarks! A food mall is located right off Wangfuijing Street at the Arts & Crafts Emporium. We took an escalator downstairs to access it. First we bought a food card with 50rmb of value on the card. We used it a 2 locations and was just enough for our lunch. Dining is at communal tables.
I thought the East gate of the Forbidden City was a good spot to enter this site with no lines. It’s a long walk to this gate. It is no longer a public gate for the Forbidden City. Guides are still trying to get your business here, but only employees can enter at this gate. A rickshaw driver waited, knowing some of us would need a ride to the front entrance. I agreed! He rode around the moat, saving us a very long walk.

There were no lines to enter the Forbidden City. Entrance tickets were 60rmb, a fair price compared to many other sites in China. We choose not to hire a guide. I was amazed how empty this site was. Maybe going in the afternoon is a good idea! We spent 3 hours inside, taking an ice cream break along the way! This shop was near the clock museum which has an extra admission. I didn’t find this museum very interesting. There are so many walkways in the back corners of the Forbidden City that go on, and on. Once we walked to this area we were exhausted, and time was running out. There was no way we could see everything inside the Forbidden City. We brought a map of the interior with main sites marked, and I took notes from reading up on the site before we left for China. This information was enough for us. I planned on seeing Jingshan Park after visiting the Forbidden City but we were too tired to go on. We returned to this park later in the week.

After a rest back at our hutong, we walked back to Wangfuijing Street. I found this street boring. At the end of the pedestrian area, by turning left, we found the night market, which is a strip of booths full of bugs on a stick and other interesting food booths. I wasn’t brave enough to try any of the food, not needing to get sick at this point. There are a lot of good photo opportunities though!

Returning to the Oriental Mall we bought a muffin at Starbucks so we could access wifi and read our e-mail. This was our lifeline while in China! Our daughter was great sending photos of our new 1 month old grandson!! In the lower levels of this mall are several restaurants along with a grocery store. We bought a bottle of French wine at the supermarket, which proved to taste nasty! We chose a Thai restaurant for dinner, then walked back to our room for a good night’s sleep!

May 26

We’re going to the Temple of Heaven this morning! I love parks!! It’ll be 88 degrees and sunny today! The air is clear.

There’s no tea at breakfast. I ask for some. Gosh, I shouldn’t have to ask for a pot of tea in the morning. Bananas, toast and yogurt are the only breakfast items offered. Thankfully we find the egg filled English muffins down the street.

I wanted to buy a Yikatong, 一卡通 or ICC card this morning for our metro rides. This card stores credit for multiple rides, gives discounts for bus fares, and is supposedly available in vending machines in every station. It isn’t. We ask, but this card isn’t available in our station. Every vending machine we used was attended by a metro employee who can make change, or help with the ticket machines. If one isn’t available, then someone is at a ticket window. There are security machines at each station also, and you must put your bags or purses through it. Grocery sacks were exempt. We buy two tickets and ride the metro to Tiantandongmen station, on line 5. This is the location of the East Gate of the Temple of Heaven, also, across the street, via the overpass, you can access the Pearl Market. Admission is 35rmb to the park and it’s sites. If you want to only go into the park and not see the sites the admission is less.

Morning is the best time to visit the Temple of Heaven. The park was full of people dancing, singing in groups, people were taking instrumental lessons, exercising on equipment, swinging colorful ribbons, practicing Tai Chi, snapping chains, playing with a racket with a ball on it, which seemed to stay attached with just their swift movements, women danced with shoulder length white gloves on, others dressed alike using weights in a dance routine. Groups played hacky sac and singers burst out in solos. A Chinese man was writing calligraphy with a huge brush and just water on the concrete walkways! I had a wonderful time watching them in all of their activities.

We enjoyed the beautiful Temples here and walked all the way to the Altar of Heaven and tried out the Echo Wall! Walking back to the Eastern gate wasn’t hard, since we cut back through the park. Still, the groups were enjoying more activities.

A note on metro tickets is appropriate now. We bought “extra” metro tickets at the vending machines here. We tried using them later in the day, only to find that the turnstiles wouldn’t accept our tickets. It turns out that you can only use subway tickets which you buy at the specific station you’re leaving from. They’re only good for one day also. We tried using another set of tickets we’d purchased, to save time, but the entry turnstile wouldn’t accept them. At one station an attendant let us in anyhow, but then we couldn’t exit. When we tried using the 3rd set we had bought, the attendant told us we couldn’t use them, we needed to buy a new set. Unless you have the ICC pass, you must buy each set of tickets, as you need them, in the station where you are located. We never experienced any lines, so this wasn’t a problem.

Our oldest daughter had one request of us while in China. She wanted a Pandora like bracelet. I didn’t know what these were called, but she provided me with a very good color photo. We went to the 3rd floor of the Pearl market, with photo in hand. This was quite helpful, since when the vendors bothered me to buy from them, I just showed them my photo. Almost everyone just shook their head no. They knew the term Pandora, but had nothing. Eventually I found a booth with colored glass beads and silver filler beads. They looked just like the beads in my photo! I realize these are glass beads, no real stones are added, but they were beautiful. I made an amazing bracelet here, choosing the beads of the colors she requested. I was thrilled! The cost was much less than those in the U.S. We found one other booth here with similar beads, but not the selection. Maybe I should have done a bit more shopping, but my husband hates shopping, so we left.

Liulichang art and antique shop area is mentioned in all the guide books. We took the metro to Heping Men, exited at C1 or C2 exit and walked south. Most of the metros have signs with locations at each exit posted. It’s smart to check this out, so you exit going the right direction. We were very disappointed in these art and antique shops. They are on both sides of the road, a 10 minute walk from the metro. Every shop seemed a duplicate of the previous. It’s a pretty area, but we had a hard time finding anywhere to stop for lunch here. A tiny local noodle shop was located in the alley, but we needed to return to the main road to find a real restaurant.

I was very interested in visiting the Huguang Guild Hall where Peking Opera is performed. No shows were available while we were there, but we were still able to visit this beautiful theater on our own for the admission price of 10rmb. To locate it, continue walking south of the Liulichang shops area on the main street. The address is No.3, Hufangqiao Road and is closed on Monday’s I believe. After 10 minutes you’ll see a big symbol of the theater on the right side of the road. The bathrooms outside of the museum are nasty, don’t try them, but indoors they’re fine. A tiny museum is open, it’s interesting, but the best part is that the Guild Hall itself. It is open for touring. We were the only visitors inside and lingered. It’s beautiful. Outdoors there is a courtyard and a tea garden. Wifi was working also!

Taking a taxi, we drove to Tiananmen Square. Again, it was practically empty. The Mao Memorial Hall is only open Tuesday - Sunday mornings from 8 – 12:00 noon. Admission is free. I had information that said it was open in the afternoon, but that’s no longer true. Tiananmen Square is huge, hot and sobering. A guard posted at the center monument was giving a tourist a difficult time. I was interested seeing the viewing stands by the entrance into the Forbidden City which can be seen from the square.

The metro is located underneath the square, so we took it to the Silk Market 秀水街 metro line 1, Yonganli, which is east of Tiananmen Square. We entered the market from the basement level. This was a big mistake, because the women here were so, so aggressive. They were yelling at us, trying to get us to enter their shops. They physically tried to pull my husband into their stalls. This was a big mistake. He got very angry with them and yelled back at them. My husband never yells at anyone, never. I knew this was trouble. He hated the fact that they grabbed his arms. I don’t know if entering from street level is any better, but we’d never enter from the subway exit again. We looked briefly for some more Pandora beads, found another booth with them, and I made a 2nd bracelet. We met some students from Miami of Ohio University, nearby our home at the market! The beads at the Pearl Market were nicer I think. I bought some black pearl earrings, and then we left. There are a lot of shopping opportunities here, but my husband was in no mood to stay!

Dinner tonight was at the Beijing Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant(Dongsishitiao Branch) 大董烤鸭店 (东四十条). 1-2/F, Nanxincang International Plaza, 22A Dongsishitiao, Dongcheng District. Tele:8610-51690329 东四十条甲22号南新仓国际大厦1-2楼(东四十条桥西南)

We took a taxi. The taxi driver had a very, very difficult time finding this restaurant. It’s located in the old Qing Dynasty granary area. He made a few phone calls before finding the location. When we exited the taxi a woman complained that she had a difficult time finding a taxi for her return trip. We had a good view of the duck roasting ovens when entering the restaurant. This restaurant was an easy walk from the metro stop in this area, which is fine to use after dinner, but we were glad the taxi dropped us off. Finding the restaurant the first time would have been difficult for us.

We had Peking Duck, of course and a couple of vegetable plates including mushrooms, delicious! The skin was crispy and meat tender. A chef carves the duck near your table and presents it to you. A woman then showed us the proper way to assemble the duck and condiments, including a small dish of sugar, into the pancakes. Several extra dishes are brought to your table at no extra charge, including watermelon and fruit for dessert. DaDong Restaurant is a beautiful restaurant in a location full of other dining options. Dinner was 191rmb, including drinks, and was an excellent choice for us.

May 27

Finally, today we’ll go to the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu 慕田峪. We made this trip by public transportation. It was very easy, and we didn’t need a guide.

We left our hotel at 7 a.m. First we took the metro to the Dongzhimen metro station on line 2. The bus station was directly outside exit B of the metro station. It is in a building, and is called the Dongzhimen Long Distance bus station. There are large signs over metal barriers forming lines for each bus. Bus 916 makes the trip to Huairou. The people in line know where you want to go, just by looking at you! Some of them let us go onto the bus ahead of them. How nice. We paid the bus fare of 10rmb each when we were on the bus. The bus is large, nice and air conditioned. Peter, I believe, gave us the tip that bus 916kaui (快) or 916zhi (支) will make the trip most quickly. We didn’t really have a choice, that I noticed, but our bus was very direct, about an hour drive.

Before you arrive at the bus station in Huairou there is a large traffic circle. Just before this traffic circle many mini-buses are lined up on each side of the road. I had read that you can get off the bus here and negotiate a ride to the wall and back. I hadn’t decided yet if we’d do this or drive onto the bus station. There was a bus stop just before this traffic circle. Problem is, it’s before the traffic circle so I wasn’t even aware we had arrived. A man hopped onto our bus, looked at us directly and told us this was where we should get off the bus for the transfer to the Great Wall. I wouldn’t doubt if some other “helpful” Chinese citizen had notified him ahead of time that Western tourists were on the bus going to the wall. He didn’t get on the front of the bus and look for clients; he hopped on at the middle door, directly in front of where we were sitting and looked directly at us. It happened so fast. My husband believed him and started to get off. I looked at other passengers for advice but got none, no shake of the heads.

Well, I wasn’t going to stay on the bus with my husband getting off so I followed. There was no time to stand there and discuss the situation. Yes, the man spoke English and wanted to negotiate a deal to the wall and back. I had planned on taking a mini bus from the bus station and knew the price was 10rmb for a seat, or 25-30rmb for the whole bus, one way. He offered to take us round trip for a high price. I declined. I told him the price I’d pay. He moaned and moaned, very vocal, telling me the price in my book was wrong. It was actually pretty funny. I told him, no, it wasn’t a book, but a person who told me the correct price. We agreed on a one way price of 25rmb, I believe, for the ride just to the Wall. After a bit of the ride he started to negotiate a price again for both ways, waiting for us to finish walking the wall. I still said no. He continued trying to convince me. Finally I told him we’d pay 80rmb for a round trip including him waiting 4 hours at the wall for us. He agreed!! Success. At this point he told me that his “wife” would drive us. She was a good driver! It was pretty funny. He was the negotiator then he’d hand you off to a different driver, and I’m sure return to the circle to find more unsuspecting clients. In the end I’m glad we had a driver waiting for us since I didn’t see any taxi’s waiting for passengers at the wall.

Tickets for the wall were 120rmb each and this included taking the cable car up and the toboggan back. For some reason our driver wanted us to take the cable car both directions, but I disagreed, showing her the toboggan sign instead.

We used the western toilets which are up the hill, towards the cable car, then took the cable car up to the wall. Our tickets have a little CD inside them but I haven’t had time to check out what’s on it yet. I was surprised how few visitors were at the wall. I was able to take a lot of photos all morning with no other tourists in them. First we walked to the left, all the way up the very, very steep section. Once you’ve walked up the steep hill, you’re almost at the very end of the left section. Beyond that the wall is closed. We then walked back to our starting point, and continued onto the right side. This side isn’t as steep or hard to climb. A few stands were set up selling drinks for 10rmb. We brought our own drinks and snacks with us. Once we arrived at the toboggan site, we passed it and continued our walk to the right. The wall is so wonderful, following the hills up and down. It was a thrill. The day was quite hazy so our photos don’t look as clear as I wish, but they’re still fantastic. We spent 3 ½ hours on the wall, then took the toboggan down. It’s not a fast toboggan. In fact, you must push the stick forward to control the speed, and it was very hard for me to push forward. I went way to slow, down the hill, to the bottom. My husband had more strength so went quite a bit faster. He was worrying about where I was by the time I arrived.

T shirt vendors, among other things are for sale at the bottom of the wall. We decided to buy 2 Great Wall t shirts. The first vendor wanted a very high price for them. We couldn’t agree on a price so he let us walk. The 2nd vendor started out just as high. He asked for something like375rmb for 2 t shirts. We started to walk away. He quickly came down to 185 for 2 t shirts. This was still a joke, so we walked away. There were no other tourists buying anything here. He called us back. In the end we paid 20rmb each for 2 t shirts. For some reason it was easier to negotiate for 2 shirts, rather than for one. The sizes run small so get a larger size than you’d normally buy.

Our driver was watching us and as soon as we finished the sale she was at our side, ready for the ride back to the bus station. She let us off, on the street, below the steep hill up to the station. We paid her with exact change so there’d be no problem with our agreed price. A bus 916 just pulled up right away on the street so we didn’t have to walk up the hill. It was even one that Peter had suggested using. For some reason the return trip was 12rmb instead of 10rmb per ticket. In an hour we were back at the Dongzhimen metro station.

Images2, your TR is bringing back memories of our recent trip. Specially the Xian and Beijing portions. Our experiences and observations were so similar to yours.

Did you not use the audio guide at Forbidden city ? It was pretty good, and had auto-sensors to detect where you were, and would start the commentary on its own at each spot.

Too bad you missed going into the Mao Memorial Hall; it was a fantastic experience for us.

Good morning Indiancouple,

No we didn't use the audio guide at the Forbidden city. We've used such guides in the past and find it much more enjoyable to wander on our own instead. In fact, I only saw one person using the guide. Of course most people were in tour groups. We overheard some of the guides and were so happy we didn't have to stay with a group.

Yes, it was too bad we missed the Mao Memorial Hall but as you know, everything doesn't work out as planned. We had so many rich experiences that missing a few things is OK. It's funny, we've already talked about maybe doing a 2nd trip sometime. Like Europe, it's impossible to see all of China in one trip!

Thanks for your trip report also. It's such a difficult task, but I read so many others while planning our trip, that I know some part of each one has value to someone. I just hope I can finish mine soon! We're bringing our adult daughter with us to Europe in 2 1/2 months, and I've hardly prepared at all!

Taking the short metro trip to Yonghegong we exited at exit C (turn left when coming out of the metro then left again at the corner) it’d be nice if China put up signs for tourists when you exit their subways, for Yonghe Gong, or the Lama Temple. This is actually a complex of progressively larger buildings and Buddha’s. The last Buddha is huge and is carved from one piece of white sandlewood. (See, I do read the guidebooks!)

The street side on the approach to Lama Temple is lined with shops selling incense. The temples inside are quite beautiful and in front of each building are beautiful incense burners. As I was looking this week at a China photo book someone created, they had a photo of one of these temples as their main page for the Forbidden City. Actually I think a couple of the temples here are more beautiful than the structures of the Forbidden City. I can see how they confused the picture.

We had dinner this evening at South Silk Road 茶马古道 Metro Dawanglu. : 3rd floor of the SOHO Tower, Building D, Soho New Town, 88 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District 建国路88号现代城会所3楼 Phone: 6615 5515

They specialize in Yunnan food and the waitresses dress in minority clothing from the area. The floor is glass. I was surprised how simple the dining room is. We decided to take the metro here. It was very far from our hotel, and Beijing traffic was horrible. We had no time to be stuck in a traffic jam. Once you exit the metro, Exit A, you’ve arrived at the SOHO Tower. The metro is in the lower level of ONE of the SOHO Buildings. Of course, we didn’t know this at the time since we didn’t look up. Across the road is a very upscale shopping center. We asked in one of the shops in this shopping center for directions. They pointed across the road to the huge SOHO tower. That gave us the first clue! Once we found the restaurant we felt a huge sense of accomplishment! The farthest building is Building D. When you enter this building you see a gym. Walk through the gym, past the swimming pool, to the elevators. On the 3rd floor you’ll find the small entrance to the restaurant. The walls are glass so there is a nice view of the streets below. The food was excellent. We ordered fish, a mushroom plate and a special rice dish. The bathrooms here were excellent also!! Always important to me in China.

There is a Wal-Mart at this metro stop also. After dinner we walked back into the metro and exited at Exit D. Walking about 5 minutes down the road we found the Wal-Mart! An escalator brings you down to the store. A huge picture of Sam Walton welcomes the shoppers! The store was crowded even at this late hour. I was shocked to find live turtles for sale in the meat department. We had a lot of fun walking through the store taking photos of all the P&G products. The prices seemed too high for Chinese consumers. We waited in a long line to buy our supplies, enjoying our trip to a Chinese Wal-Mart!

Great report! Thanks again for putting so much time and effort inot it.
Did you get the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine before going to China? I took my boys this week to the Travel & Immunization Center at the near by hospital (suggested by our pediatrcian) this week and the only thing they suggested was Typhod. I am not really sure that the doctor that we met with for $150. actually new what she was talking about. We live in NY but we have a cousin in California who said we need malaria pills, typhoid and japanese encephalitis. We are going almost all the same places as you diid, just wondering what you did to prepare for your trip.
Thanks
Lauren

Hi Lauren,

My doctor told me I needed a Hepatitis A shot. He also didn't have a dose and told me to go to a pharmacy and pick one up and bring it to him.(They said this wasn't possible). He suggested I go to a special medical service here in Cincinnati for travelers to see what they suggested. The initial cost of that visit was over $100 + the $65 cost of the Hepatitis A shot, x 2 since it’s a 2 dose shot given 6 months apart. Insurance didn’t cover this independent office so I chose not to go to it.

I was so unhappy with my doctors response that I changed doctors to one which my other family members use. He told me only the Hepatitis A shot was needed. I also got a prescription for Tamiflu and filled it for $25. In addition he gave us Ciprofloxacin, the antibiotic in case the food or water made us sick. This new doctor is excellent and I trusted his recommendations. All of our other immunizations are up to date of course.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

In Xi'an they've started to excavate more areas in Pit 1. How exciting for you to be able to see this!

If you have any more questions, I'll try to help! You're family will love their visit!

May 28

Today is the date of the Duanwu Jie festival or the Dragon Boat Festival. There was no evidence of this that we saw, except it was a holiday in China. We thought it would be a good day to visit the Summer Palace. Taking metro line 10 to Bagou (This is new!) we took Exit B. Directly in front of the subway station is the public bus stop. Both bus #374 and bus #74 will take you to the Summer Palace. The bus is 1rmb. If you ask the driver where to get off the bus, he or another passenger will let you know. The bus continues on, the Summer Palace isn’t seen from the bus. We took bus #74 and it was 3 stops to the Summer Palace at Yheyuanxinjiagongmen bus stop. After getting off the bus, walk left to the traffic circle, (short walk) cross the street to the left and there is the ticket office!

Once inside there was music, singing, and people swirling the large, colorful ribbons. One of them pulled me aside and wanted to teach me how to swirl their large ribbon. It was quite easy! We have some video to prove that even I can do this! Walking to the left the path leads to small pavilions, a beautiful steeply arched bridge and more pagodas. Along the causeway that crosses Kunming lake there is a small boat that will return you to the area by the large arching bridge. Here it started to rain, so the stones became very slick, making it tricky walking back down the bridge. From the entrance there are larger dragon boats which take passengers to the right, back across Kunming Lake to the area of Longevity Hill. This whole area is huge. We spent hours at the Summer Palace and were surprised that it never became very crowded.

When leaving the Summer Palace by the same entrance we entered, finding the public bus back to Bagou station was a bit trickier. You must walk straight out of the exit, don’t turn left or right down the street looking for the bus. Instead, cross the main street where there is a bus parking lot on the left side. Walk past the bus parking lot. At the end of the lot turn slightly left, where you’ll find the bus stop for bus #374 and #74. We never saw the metro station on our ride back so missed it, and had to get off the bus and take another bus back in the reverse direction. Be sure to ask the driver where to get off the bus for Bagou station!

We went to the Noodle Loft’s northern location for lunch.
Noodle Loft 面酷 3 Heping Xijie, Yonghegong 和平西街3号 phone: 5130-9655

Hepingxiqiao subway stop, Exit E. I think we turned right out of the exit, walked down 2 streets and turned right. A short way down this street on the right side was the Noodle Loft. It was fairly close to the metro. cityweekend.com.cn for Beijing has maps to the restaurants we went to. It’s a great help.

Since it was a long time past the lunch hour the chefs were cleaning the noodle station so we weren’t able to watch them make the noodles. Still, we were able to enjoy a delicious lunch here.

I wanted to visit a hutong area, beside the tiny one we were staying in while in Beijing. Nanluoguxiang - Nanluogu xiang Hutong - 南锣鼓巷 is the large hutong in the area around the Drum and Bell Towers. This area is a long walk from any metro station, but we chose to go to Gulou station and walk south. This is a large area full of rickshaws carrying tourists through its alleys. I didn’t find the hutong’s very interesting, but unfortunately we never had time to follow one of Peter’s walks, so it’s not a fair judgment, I’m sure. The Bell Tower is closed at this time. We did go up the very steep staircase inside the Drum Tower where we enjoyed the wonderful views of the surrounding area. Once we came down from the tower the rickshaw drivers were aggressively trying to sell us a ride through the hutong. We didn’t have a lot of time since we needed to visit the Olympic area before the stadium closed. They wanted 190rmb for an hour ride plus and extra 20rmb to see the inside of a courtyard house. We declined. Finally we agreed on 40rmb for a 40 minute ride. It was boring, a waste of time in my opinion. It’s better to walk through the hutong’s yourself, which we did.

Tonight we had tickets for a family show inside the Water Cube! I ordered them on line before we left for China and they were delivered to our hotel. Before this show we wanted to go inside the Bird’s Nest. Admission is 50rmb, the stadium closes at 6 p.m. We bought our tickets at 5:00 and hurried inside. It’s wonderful!! I was so excited to be here after watching the beautiful opening ceremony on TV last summer. The whole Olympic Green area is outstanding. There is total access to the field of this stadium. We walked the whole area, took many photos and just soaked up the atmosphere. There is a large, well priced, gift shop in the area of the seating also. We bought a lot of gifts here. At 6 p.m. we exited and noticed that the Water Cube was already allowing people inside who held tickets for the show. We snacked on some picnic food I brought, since we’d miss dinner, enjoying watching families flying kites and gathering for music etc. on this large plaza. An hour before the show began we went inside the Water Cube. This is much more attractive on the outside in the evening when it’s all lit up. We were allowed full access to all the areas in the water cube with our 80rmb show tickets, and toured it before the show began. There are more gift shops inside, but they’re expensive and not as good as those in the stadium.

The show turned out suited for little children, although there were many adults without kids here, like us. There were a lot of empty seats, so people moved around to whichever area they wanted to sit. The guards didn’t care. We stayed for some of the show, but left very early. Spending some time here, in the stands, and touring the facilities was wonderful. When we went outdoors, it was dark. The Bird’s Nest was lit in orange and red light. It was beautiful! Many people were on the square, just enjoying the huge open space. The tall Olympic Tower changed colors repeatedly. It’s a wonderful area.

It took us 3 metro lines and 1 hour to return to our hotel from Olympic Green.

> We live in NY but we have a cousin in California who said we need malaria pills, typhoid and japanese encephalitis.

Hearsay's always a problem in this area (including hearsay on a site like this) and the standard advice is to go to a professional. Second-guessing a professional leaves you with potentially a lot of worries, and there's really little point to it. You shouldn't be listening to your cousin unless your cousin is a tropical medicine specialist.

But have a look at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/china.aspx for the official US government advice. A little way down the page you'll find the standard list for China, with descriptions as to what sort of travel requires which vaccinations or prophylaxis from the list: routine jabs need to be up to date. You're advised to get Hep A and Hep B if you don't have it (this is a routine childhood jab in some countries). Malarial coverage is only needed for extended rural travel in certain areas (and somewhere on the site you should find a malarial map to help with this), as is Japanese encephalitis. Typhoid (which you may already have) is recommended when travelling anywhere with low hygiene as your biggest risks (other than from the driving and the polluted atmosphere) are actually from food and water (typhoid, one of the heps, assorted intestinal discomforts). And your most important medical advice (especially with children) is to keep fingers out of the mouth at all costs, wash hands frequently, and only to eat freshly cooked hot food. Ciprofluoxicin is indeed an excellent back-up in case of stomach problems.

Over the last 20 years I've spent on average several months a year in China, including very remote and backward rural areas, and if its any encouragement I haven't had to take a Cipro pill since the late 1990s, and my supply has long gone past its date.

Stick to what the professionals say, and don't worry. You do need to plan well in advance as the hepatitis jabs in particular require two visits six months to a year apart, and if you don't live in a country where your taxes pay for all this it can get pretty expensive. The good news is that both the hep shots are now valid for life once the course it complete.

Peter N-H

May 29

Our last full day in China, although we’ll make good use of tomorrow morning! We’ve had a very full 3+ weeks in China with so many wonderful memories.

Today we wanted to relax and keep things simple. Since we have loved the parks so much, enjoying the way the Chinese people love to use their outdoor spaces, we decided to visit a few more. Taking the metro to Yonganli (this is where the Silk Market is, which opens at 9:30 a.m.) we walked along the very pretty road, north, past many embassies. Ritan Park日坛公园, or Temple of the Sun Park, is located here. It was 9:30 a.m. and the park was already filled with people dancing and practicing their tai chi. We sat down to watch.


Minutes later a man walked over to us and squatted down, as only they can do so well, and started asking us questions in English! He wanted to share the story of his father who joined the military after the Cultural Revolution. He became a captain in the army. I didn’t really know how to respond to all of this. We’ve been very careful not to engage in political conversation while in China, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. It gains you nothing! He was 44 years old and quite proud of his father. He then offered to show us around the park. We followed him to the large circular area which once served as an altar the Sun God. After listening to his explanations we said our goodbyes. There is a spot in the park which posted newspaper articles. We stopped to look and an article picturing Nancy Pelosi was posted since she was visiting China the last few days. A woman saw this article, then turned to me and said “YOU”. I laughed, no, it wasn’t me, but it was a story about our countries leaders.


After stopping to watch more park activities, and walking by the nice lake, we took a taxi to Jingshan Park (admission charged) which sits high above the Forbidden City. I think a taxi is the best way to approach this park. I loved this park; it’s one of the prettiest in Beijing! Again, it was filled with residents as today was also a holiday in China. Following a walkway which leads to a couple of pagodas, we found the viewpoint which looks down onto the Forbidden City. This is a great location for photos, as you can see the FC plus the drum and bell towers and the neighboring lakes. The weather was in the 70’s, sunny and clear. A beautiful Beijing spring day. From here we walked north, through the hutong which runs just east of Beihai Park. Once we arrived at the southern shore of Qianhai Lake I remembered a restaurant in this area which ekscrunchy recommended.

Han Cang 客家酒Shichahai East Bank, Houhai 什刹海东沿 6404-2259


This is the first restaurant on the right side if you’re facing Qianhai Lake. It has blue and white striped awnings out front. Only these 2 symbols of the Chinese are pictured over its doorway. 客家 plus one other. The match wasn’t exact, but once I showed them the name on my paper, they acknowledged this was the right restaurant. We ordered the fish cooked in foil and a couple of other dishes. This fish was the best meal of our trip!! Thanks ekscrunchy! As we ate lunch the restaurant filled with families. It’s very popular!


After lunch we walked all the way around the lake. On the opposite side, across from Han Cang is a Starbucks, if you need a coffee break! I had hoped to visit the Mansion of Prince Gong but we bypassed this for a visit to Beihai Park. There are two admission prices to this park. One for just the park and another, higher price for viewing the structures. We only paid the entry fee for the park. We wanted to see the 9 Dragon Screen which is made of glazed tiles. This is located here in this park, not in the Forbidden City as some guides note. It’s located in the open park, good signage, so there is no need to pay the higher park entrance fee if you don’t want to see the structures. It is very nice. We were tired out by now, and didn’t really like this park very much. After seeing the screen, we returned to our hotel by taxi. Most taxi rides averaged $2.50 around the town.


This evening we returned to Oriental Mall for dinner and to just stroll in a nice, clean air conditioned area!



May 30

Our flight from Beijing to Newark wasn’t scheduled to leave until 3:45 p.m. so we began our day with a trip to Panjiayuan Market 潘家园市场 or some call it the “Dirt Market”. We took a taxi, since it’s quite a walk from the metro. I loved it here, and I’m not a big shopper! Almost everything we’d seen in the tourist areas of China was available to buy here. The bargaining wasn’t too hard. Either I was better at this by now, or they gave in much more easily. We limited our time to 2 hours here since we didn’t want to rush our trip to the airport. I could have spent a lot more time here, it’s huge, but I think my husband was thankful for the limited visit!


Deciding to take a taxi back to the airport was a good choice. Our luggage had grown and I wasn’t willing to face those stairs at the metro again. The ride was 120rmb which included the toll. Continental Airlines departs from terminal 2, not the new terminal 3. We arrived early so the check in desks hadn’t opened yet for our flight. We found the elevator and brought our luggage upstairs, where a decent restaurant was located so we could relax over lunch. Once we checked in and went to our gate, we discovered the few shops here had no drinks, or snacks we cared for available to purchase. It was such a bad selection of shops. We had to buy water from a vending machine. A sign repeatedly scrolled a message to “Watch your Stuff”. Unfortunately our flight was delayed 1 ½ hours since the incoming flight was late. Once it arrived they turned that plane around so fast. I was surprised that was possible on such a long flight. The individual movie screens wouldn’t work for the first hour of the flight, but eventually they rebooted them and all was well. We arrived in Newark almost on time, making up the delay on route. The airline food is so bad. It’s not as easy to find good food to bring with you from China for the flight, but if you can, bring something extra. We weren’t allowed to bring any drinks on the international flight that we purchased while in the terminal in Beijing. That vending machine water was taken from me as we boarded the plane.


I hope this very, very long report is of some help to those of you yet to travel to China. Our trip was amazing, and I’m sure yours will also be quite a wonderful adventure!


Thanks to everyone on Fodor’s that posted responses to my questions as I planned this trip. I can’t thank you enough for all the help you provided us.

Thanks for a great TR! So glad you had a good time, and congratulations on doing it independently.

Thursdaysd,

Since I just got my head out of this trip report I see that you just wrote a recent TR on France!! Our September trip begins with a week in a gite in Alsace. Now I get to relax on the sofa tonight and read your report!!! Can't wait!

Thanks in advance!

Thanks so much for this report. I am planning on going to China in March/April 2010 and will be doing much of what you did. I will be referring to it for my planning.

"a week in a gite in Alsace" - ooh, lucky you! Wine. Foie gras. Strasbourg cathedral. Neat medieval buildings. I could go on...

One last tip! Make a photo book of your trip when you return home. We just received a 12" x 12" hardcover photobook I designed on Shutterfly of our trip. It's 63 pages of wonderful memories and the photos are beautifully printed!

I am so impressed that you have your book already! Thanks again for all your wonderful advise!

bookmarking

I will read the last paragraphs or installments later.. this is fascinating. Good job, and what an intresting trip!

Thanks for a fantastic report - it has a wealth of info.

My husband and I are going to Shanghai for two weeks and besides doing one day trips from there - we wanted to visit another city - since you have been to both - would you recommend doing the rice terraces or visiting Chengdu?
We are having a tough time deciding.

Thanks!

Thanks lin for slogging through the whole report! It was a fascinating trip.

The rice terraces are so beautiful, but it's time consuming to travel there. You only need a day for this area so it might not be worthy of your time.

Chengdu, has many more options for your time and interests. If you want to spend a few days in one area, Chengdu would be my choice.

Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks for your reply. No I am off to book tickets and a hotel in Chengdu.

avedashiva: wait, you don't need 2 weeks in Shanghai, how about Beijing?

"My husband and I are going to Shanghai for two weeks" - is that because one of you is working there? Because if not, I totally agree with Shanghainese that two weeks is way too long. The city itself you can cover in one day (two nights), and even using it as a base you wouldn't need more than another three - Hangzhou, Suzhou and a water town - and at least one of those would be better with one or two nights.

Shanghainese & thursdaysd - Thanks for your feedback. My husband and have visited Shanghai several times. We just like spending time in the city. We have friends there. We plan on doing several sidetrips to the watertowns and do a side trip to Chengdu as well. We have already been to Beijing, Xian, Gaungzhou, Shenzhen, & Hong Kong. I didn't want to pack too much into the trip. I have learned that from experience.