Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Go through the threads here... several locals have offered their services in the past.

Read about The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong

2

Sometimes my students are amateur tour guides for people I meet on the TT. I remind the foreigner that the student mainly is for making traveling easier, not as a true tour guide. Also, the foreigner should pay for the students' meals and transportation and entrance fees. In your case, you would also have to pay for their accomodation, since you want someone to travel with you. It would be cheaper to go on your own, and safer. I can guarantee that my students won't cheat anyone they show Xi'an to, but there's no guarantee of someone that you meet on here or another place.

China only has one language, what we call Mandarin. In south China (mainly Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau) the natives speak Cantonese, but the national language is still Mandarin. Of course, there are zillions of dialects, but educated people and city people will speak standard Chinese when they need to.

!! Be warned that "students" who want to practice English with you may actually be scammers. In Shanghai they try the Tea Ceremony Scam. In Beijing it's the Art Student Scam. Be very wary if a stranger wants to speak English with you, especially if you are in a tourist area. !!

3

Hi Kathy

I am looking for a travel partner for my eastern China trip. My post appeared in the Travelling Companion forum last week as follows:

Who am I: From Vancouver, married Asian female, 40's, have travelled solo to SEA and also shared a trip with another lady I met online. Comparing the two, sharing is fun and brings down the costs.

My travelplans: I plan to visit all the major tourist attractions in eastern China, namely Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Putuoshan (described by LP as the China we are dream about) and also Huangshan(if you only climb one mountain in China, this is it). The travel period is 3 weeks in April and it will be an independent backpacking tour. The remaining days to be spent touring ancient water towns around Shanghai.

I plan to stay mostly in hostels and use bus/train transportation. Anyone doing a similar trip is welcome. We meet in Shanghai. Btw this is my first trip to China and I speak a smattering of Mandarin(if that helps).

Pls post your reply here or in my private message box. Thanks.

The grass is greener on the other side.

4

A lot of visitors to China come without knowing any of the language. There are plenty of package tours. Or you can learn a few key words and phrases in Mandarin, memorize the characters for your next destination, get a little help from the hostel or hotel you're staying at, and you'll be alright.

5

OP, could be a challenge finding a 'local' to travel with!

I found 'locals' very conservative. After making five trips into China, I managed to get only two local Chinese girls to 'talk' to me. One happened to be on the same boat on the Yangtze and she was born in China and grew up in HK. The other was simply helpful but was obviously uneasy to be with me! Communication with the later was via the all important "phrase book" although she studied English at University. By the way she wrote good English but simply don't have the confidence to speak!!!!

I travelled only once with one Chinese guy for a day trip to a 'water twon' from IYHA Hangzhou. Yes, I did learn some Chinese Mandarin from him but it took alot of effort.

I ended up travelling with other backpackers 'who spoke some Chinese.' You can meet up with quite a number of solo travellers in IYHA hostels.

Good luck.

"It don't matter to me."

6

Continuing with what Penfold was saying . . . Another drawback to using locals is that they often don't know what it is that you want to see. That is, they aren't good tour guides. If you want to try it this way, then use your guidebook for information and use the local to help with transportation and ordering food. You could call this being a facilitator or being a translator.

!! Be warned that "students" who want to practice English with you may actually be scammers. In Shanghai they try the Tea Ceremony Scam. In Beijing it's the Art Student Scam. Be very wary if a stranger wants to speak English with you, especially if you are in a tourist area. !!

7

I think it is not practical unless you had a contact like Zhet who could put you in contact with students in a particular place and for a limited amount of time. Once school gets back in session, such students would not have the free time to just go traveling. Other people you might meet up with may be more interested in getting paid than practicing English. Some people in China might offer to take you around for free but as the day comes to an end, you will get into a big arguement over paying them. (read about the tea scams on this fourm). Perhaps you are just having some pre-trip jitters. China is filled with non-chinese speaking tourists. You absolutely have to get a phrase book before you arrive. Carry a small note book that can fit into your shirt pocket for writing down chinese characters of trains or locations you want to visit. Stay or just visit for coffee or meals some hostels in the cities you plan to visit and you will meet up with folks doing exactly the same thing as you. Some are in groups and some traveling alone and you can easily hook up with them depending on your interests.

http://www.usefilm.com/photographer/28275.html

8

I wouldn't mind, but you'd be paying my way, and I don't think you're going to want to do that. So, I won't offer.
Cheers!