Chinese Culture Center
Sep 6th, 2010, 12:42 PM
#1
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Chinese Culture Center
Has anyone heard of this group or even better, used them for travel?
http://www.chinaculturecenter.org/cccinfo/aboutus.php
http://www.chinaculturecenter.org/cccinfo/aboutus.php
Sep 6th, 2010, 01:02 PM
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Probably rather better on shopping stops than most, and 'includes' tipping. Otherwise needs treating with as much caution as all the other China-based travel companies. Targets ex-pats (who are often as clueless about real prices and as fearful of independent travel as anyone else) and charges a lot of money for trips you could quite easily arrange for yourself, offering little added value.
Sep 10th, 2010, 05:25 PM
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I couldn't disagree more. I can highly recommend the China Cultural Center based on my personal experience. We took their Wild Wall tour and were very pleased. No shopping stops of any kind, and the price was reasonable ($37/person) for a full day which included guides, transportation, and an excellent lunch.
The tours are designed for expats which meant that we had an interesting mix of nationalities, all happy to talk about the joys and challenges of living in China. And our two English-speaking Chinese guides were knowledgeable and a real joy to be around. We enjoyed a special day hiking the Wild Wall and visiting a traditional village -- places that we would have had difficulty visiting on our own.
The tours are designed for expats which meant that we had an interesting mix of nationalities, all happy to talk about the joys and challenges of living in China. And our two English-speaking Chinese guides were knowledgeable and a real joy to be around. We enjoyed a special day hiking the Wild Wall and visiting a traditional village -- places that we would have had difficulty visiting on our own.
Sep 10th, 2010, 06:42 PM
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> I couldn't disagree more.
Actually, you could, since it was already said that this company looked better on shopping and tipping issues.
However, US$37 is not remotely a 'reasonable' sum to pay for a bus tour to a place only 90km from Beijing (several multiples of a Chinese equivalent and more than the cost even of hiring a private car), it is very unlikely that much of what you were told by guides however pleasant they may have been was accurate, and the places (Wall and village) are well-known tourist destinations, the trek merely the replacement for Jinshanling to Simatai, and not somewhere particularly difficult to visit on your own, although you may wish to assume so.
Nevertheless this is undoubtedly a much better choice than most we hear about here, although others may prefer not to be overcharged to take a tour in a bus full of foreigners.
In passing, for those who do want this kind of thing, genuinely less well-known and visited sections of Wall can be reached and hiked on similarly pricey all-expat trips with Beijing Hikers, without the cod-historical guides or the made-for-tourists village home experience. http://www.beijinghikers.com/
Actually, you could, since it was already said that this company looked better on shopping and tipping issues.
However, US$37 is not remotely a 'reasonable' sum to pay for a bus tour to a place only 90km from Beijing (several multiples of a Chinese equivalent and more than the cost even of hiring a private car), it is very unlikely that much of what you were told by guides however pleasant they may have been was accurate, and the places (Wall and village) are well-known tourist destinations, the trek merely the replacement for Jinshanling to Simatai, and not somewhere particularly difficult to visit on your own, although you may wish to assume so.
Nevertheless this is undoubtedly a much better choice than most we hear about here, although others may prefer not to be overcharged to take a tour in a bus full of foreigners.
In passing, for those who do want this kind of thing, genuinely less well-known and visited sections of Wall can be reached and hiked on similarly pricey all-expat trips with Beijing Hikers, without the cod-historical guides or the made-for-tourists village home experience. http://www.beijinghikers.com/
Sep 11th, 2010, 09:06 AM
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OK, no tours!
Today I priced a private car and driver with my hotel, understanding that the price would be expensive. Even then we were surprised about how expensive! It was 2000CNY(?) for an Audi for the day, and a 1000 CNY for the day for a CITS car and driver. Usually our style is to stay in luxury hotels where we can count on the staff to deliver reliable service, albeit a "BIT" overpriced.
So the general question is how does one find fairly priced English speaking private drivers with car in China, and specifically in Beijing, Xian, Chengdu for trips outside the city (to the usual tourist sights)?
I also recognize that some less honest drivers will spam the website. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Today I priced a private car and driver with my hotel, understanding that the price would be expensive. Even then we were surprised about how expensive! It was 2000CNY(?) for an Audi for the day, and a 1000 CNY for the day for a CITS car and driver. Usually our style is to stay in luxury hotels where we can count on the staff to deliver reliable service, albeit a "BIT" overpriced.
So the general question is how does one find fairly priced English speaking private drivers with car in China, and specifically in Beijing, Xian, Chengdu for trips outside the city (to the usual tourist sights)?
I also recognize that some less honest drivers will spam the website. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Sep 11th, 2010, 10:46 AM
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In the days before you want to take your out-of town trip, you negotiate with taxi drivers you like the look of--not ones waiting outside your hotel or main tourist sights, but those flagged down in the street. If the driving seems sufficiently cautious, the state of the taxi acceptable, and the manner of the driver pleasant, then you hand him a note of what you want to do: date, pick-up time, pick-up location, destination, time you want to be back, drop-off location (if different) and price you want to pay (if known), having previously prepared this with the assistance of your hotel's staff. You should also include your hotel's phone number (in case he needs to call it for directions) and room number.
Drivers will either not be interested, or will make counter offers (sometimes coming into your hotel with you to borrow the services of bi-lingual staff), or will accept. Don't let the hotel staff tell you they have a 'friend', or 'uncle' with a car--they get dozens of mugs through the door every week and overcharging (as well as illegality through lack of a license) is practically guaranteed. Usually it only takes talking to a few drivers before coming to a deal. There's an account of this from another first-time, non-Mandarin-speaking visitor here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...-beginners.cfm
with particular remarks on finding a driver in the posting by Pumblechook2 on Mar 15, 09 at 6:04pm.
As a rule of thumb, the total cost for the trip should be well under the price per km at base rate (note the rate per km posted on the side of the vehicle jumps after a certain number of km when the meter is started, the exact details varying from city to city. In Beijing the rate jumps by 50% after 15km, one reason why you don't retain the same vehicle for multiple destinations within the city. In some cities the rate may jump by 30% after only 5km. For half-day and one-day off-meter hires, you work with the base rate in your calculations.) From there success will depend upon assorted factors, and in a city that has a shortage of taxis (e.g. Hangzhou, when I was last there) you'll not do well. In other cases drivers may be nervous of venturing into territory under a different administration, and in some they need to be back at a certain time to hand over the cab to the night driver (many of these vehicles run 24 hours a day, seven days a week) although typically they'll just offer him a portion of the take. But in general cities license more taxis than demand requires, and most spend much of their day driving around empty.
The sort of sums to be earned on a flat-rate one-day hire are equivalent to or better than their typical daily income, have reduced costs (no running around empty), and provide a change of scenery. Potential problems lie in weak navigational ability, lack of experience on out-of-town trips, etc., (see this account of negotiating for a taxi from Taiyuan to Wutai Shan: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...na-amazing.cfm posting by kja on Sep 8, 10 at 4:17pm) but where a flat rate has been agreed that's the driver's problem, and indeed he'll have usually have consulted extensively with other drivers before he picks you up (and some of the Wutai Shan difficulties are peculiar to Wutai Shan). In general if he's not sure of a profit he won't take the job anyway.
There are no guarantees of success, but in general this is the way things are tackled.
Peter N-H
Drivers will either not be interested, or will make counter offers (sometimes coming into your hotel with you to borrow the services of bi-lingual staff), or will accept. Don't let the hotel staff tell you they have a 'friend', or 'uncle' with a car--they get dozens of mugs through the door every week and overcharging (as well as illegality through lack of a license) is practically guaranteed. Usually it only takes talking to a few drivers before coming to a deal. There's an account of this from another first-time, non-Mandarin-speaking visitor here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...-beginners.cfm
with particular remarks on finding a driver in the posting by Pumblechook2 on Mar 15, 09 at 6:04pm.
As a rule of thumb, the total cost for the trip should be well under the price per km at base rate (note the rate per km posted on the side of the vehicle jumps after a certain number of km when the meter is started, the exact details varying from city to city. In Beijing the rate jumps by 50% after 15km, one reason why you don't retain the same vehicle for multiple destinations within the city. In some cities the rate may jump by 30% after only 5km. For half-day and one-day off-meter hires, you work with the base rate in your calculations.) From there success will depend upon assorted factors, and in a city that has a shortage of taxis (e.g. Hangzhou, when I was last there) you'll not do well. In other cases drivers may be nervous of venturing into territory under a different administration, and in some they need to be back at a certain time to hand over the cab to the night driver (many of these vehicles run 24 hours a day, seven days a week) although typically they'll just offer him a portion of the take. But in general cities license more taxis than demand requires, and most spend much of their day driving around empty.
The sort of sums to be earned on a flat-rate one-day hire are equivalent to or better than their typical daily income, have reduced costs (no running around empty), and provide a change of scenery. Potential problems lie in weak navigational ability, lack of experience on out-of-town trips, etc., (see this account of negotiating for a taxi from Taiyuan to Wutai Shan: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...na-amazing.cfm posting by kja on Sep 8, 10 at 4:17pm) but where a flat rate has been agreed that's the driver's problem, and indeed he'll have usually have consulted extensively with other drivers before he picks you up (and some of the Wutai Shan difficulties are peculiar to Wutai Shan). In general if he's not sure of a profit he won't take the job anyway.
There are no guarantees of success, but in general this is the way things are tackled.
Peter N-H
