Hi all, new to the Asia board, long time member of the Europe board.

We've racked up enough FF miles for a trip next summer. We were originally considering going back to Europe again, but then we went CHINA, why not?

We are thinking about doing 3 weeks. I'm just starting to investigate and I'm finding that everything looks really inexpensive (compared to Europe). Is this really the case?

China has always been a dream and now to start seeing the prices I'm kicking myself for not going sooner.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Dave and Regina

Highend hotels and eateries - which cater to foreign business people, highend tourists and those newly rich Chinese - are not cheap. Admission tickets to some of the more popular sites are also not cheap compared to Europe, where some may be free.

But if you stay at lessor hotels, eat at local restaurants, then yes. Also prices can be higher in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. If you go to some secondary cities, even some nice hotels may be only around US$50 a night.

Taxis are inexpensive, but if you can use buses and subways (where available), those are almost free, costing a few cents a trip.

At eateries where working class Chinese eat, you can have a nice breakfast for under US$2, nice fancy dinner for under US$10.

rkk is the expert but i think you will overall find it much cheaper...it is certainly way different from europe...

china is only one part of asia...thailand and other SE Asia destinations are also very reasonable and very tourist friendly...

As rkkwan says, you can pay European type prices if you want to, but you certainly have the option to travel much more cheaply. I stayed quite comfortably in the west for $15 to $20 a night.

Soft sleeper in deluxe class on the trains can be expensive, on the other hand, local buses are dirt cheap.

China is a wonderful destination (but be prepared for air pollution). Although you will obviously want to see Beijing and Shanghai and sites like the Great Wall, try to get off the main tourist trail as well. Take a look at lynclarke's posts for a report from someone having a great time traveling independently.

Thanks to all and please keep the info coming. Please forgive me in advance if I type the place names wrong.

We do fairly inexpensive trips, we prefer to see and do things than stay in expensive hotels. Not that anything is wrong with that, just not our cup of tea.

Our initial ideas are presently, this will almost certainly change, to fly into Beijing, spend 4 or 5 days there.

My wife really wants to go to Xian, so that will probably be next. Definite train. Actually would prefer train over flying, to see the countryside. Spend a 2 or 3 days there.

Guilan is a place I want to see, so that is probable for a few days.

We are considering doing maybe a 4 day river cruise. Just now starting to look at the possibilities.

We actually have no desire to go to Shang hai or Hong Kong. We love to meet locals.

Actually, my wife and I taught conversational English online for several years and hope to reconnect with some of our past students, if possible. We had students in 65 countries.

Once again, thanks in advance. As with the Europe board, this is an absolute wealth of info. You folks just seem nicer here.



dave

Dave, it really is inexpensive. The most expensive dinner I have had was approx $25. Am staying in reasonably nice hotels with private bath and average cost is $40 per night.

Entrance fees if you are over 60 are sometimes reduced or free, if over 70 always free. The most expensive entrance fee was today in Suzhou, to the Humble Adminstrators Garden $10. However the bus is only 15 cents.

Stay away from that famous Chinese chain ... Pizza Hut. We figured the price there was close to 3/4 of what we would have paid in Canada.

Dear Dave and Regina:

I am maybe 3 weeks post my China trip. I would go back tomorrow. That includes the Yangzi cruise. I used ATMs for cash--no problem, although I did bail out some co-travelers whose card DIDN'T work. I think the problem was the PIN. We actually had two days of blue skies in Beijing! And the aqua blue of the small Yangzi tributaries we reached on the cruise side-trip small boats was equally wonderful. If I were a young person and free to go, I would seriously look into opportunities to live in China--maybe teaching English (I have a very small smattering of Mandarin--would have to work on improving it greatly) My point? I think you will really love China and I am excited for you as you plan your trip!
Pellegrina

I don't know if this is going to be any help at all, but it may give you somewhat of a gauge. 3 yrs ago our daughter went on a 10 day trip to China arranged through her school: RT airfare, 3* hotels (which she said were very nice), 2 meals/day, all ground transportation, and a guide = total $1,550.

I would agree that overall travel in Asia is significantly cheaper than traveling in say Europe or most of the US. However, I have to say that the 14 million or so “locals” living in Shanghai and the 7 million living here in Hong Kong are going to be surprised that you don’t consider them to be “real Chinese”! IMO you stand a better chance of getting to know them than villagers, whose English is going to be quite limited (as may be their Mandarin; but I assume you speak no Mandarin nor any local dialect). The English-speakers you are going to meet in smaller places will be hotel and restaurant workers and taxi drivers for the most part (they are real people too of course), but if you go to Shanghai or Hong Kong you might meet a “real” local on the subway….don’t rule out cities because you have the miss-guided impression that they are “Westernized”; just because they eat at McDonalds does not make them western (does eating Thai food make you Thai?!) China has over 35 cities with more than 2 million people, and more than 15 cities with a population in excess of a million (the US has about 4 cities with more than 2 million people, and 5 cities with more than one million), so cities really <i>are</i> China, and a place like Shanghai, IMO, represents the future of China (including the bad air pollution, which you will find in the countryside too).

Xian, by the way, has almost 2 million residents, and Guilin has close to a million (if you include the countryside, there are over a million people all-in).

What I meant was that we do not particularly like modern cities. I fully realize that the population sizes make &quot;towns&quot; in China more like large cities in the U.S.

Something I always do is, if I don't already speak the language, I try to learn enough to get by. Languages come easy to me, so I can usually learn about 300-400 words and about 100 key phrases. I do intend to focus on Mandarin, which may or may not help in some parts of the trip. But, I've got about 8 months before this trip, so I should have my standard phrases down (starting with &quot;Please excuse me, I do not speak ______ well&quot

See, I am from the south, my wife is from Long Island, so if I can understand her, well....



dave

Will post a trip report when I am fully awake.Just returned.China's average meal when away from touristy areas or American rest'ts was approx $4 pp.We had a great meal one evening for $4.50 a couple!
Choose Chinese owned hotels, not Western.Stay close to subway lines.Do your research &amp; save on private guides, although,without Mandarin knowledge,we found it necessary to hire guides who varied in their price,so shop around.Book international flight way in advance &amp; internal flights days before.

I'm looking very forward to your report on Lijiang and Yunnan provence Syl!