Thanks, dgunbug for the prompt, informative replies. You mentioned tickets can be bought in advance with a chinese credit card... how did you acquire a chinese credit card?

Your blog is one of those few blogs that helped/persuaded us to go independent vs. tour group,

We didn't have a Chinese credit card. That's the reason we used a booking agency! Glad you found my report helpful.

sounds like you were more looking for a romantic relaxation holiday and China is definitely not for that. China is fast, exciting, big, very cultured, very different, very cheap, very expensive, very pretty much everything, except laid back, slow, relaxed.

We were not looking for relaxed or romantic in any way. I wish I could rename this post as I am amazed at the progress that china has made in such a short period and I applaud china for its accomplishments. My dissappointment stems from the fact that I missed seeing the china of the past, with the roads filled with bicycles and the cities less than modern.

We found china to be less intriguing and far more manageable than our trip to India the year beforehand. It was less foreign than we had hoped, although we were not surprised. For these reasons, we found china underwhelming. We still enjoyed our experiences and have many wonderful memories from this trip.