Thorn Tree travel forum

1

I doubt you'll find China any more daunting than your first-time visit to South/Central America.

It's worthwhile doing your background on visa rules, 'cause it may affect duration of visit and exit/re-entry expectations.

January caters well for tourists. If you're properly equipped, I expect that mountains such as Emeishan (Buddhist) and Wudangshan (Taoist) would be truly awesome. This last summer, both sites upgraded facilities with boardwalks, non-slip steps and railing in anticipation of winter visitors. Enjoy

: )

2

dont worry, just go! look for your motivation of traveling and choose according..
Gabor Csonka, hungary

soon i will be china too..

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www.vandorboy.freeblog.hu

3

Go go go. Yes, the anxiety is a bit higher, as it is not a Latin alphabet. Rest assured, most tourist workers can help you or point to someone who can. Exception: taxi drivers, always carry your destination (as well as your hotel) written in Chinese. I first ventured to Japan to get up the confidence for China, but in retrospect, that was just me. Big crowds are not a problem, as China is a very safe country with very small pickpocket problems, mostly to distracted people (like in Europe). You must see Beijing for the cultural sites, but southern China will be milder for you, Yangshuo, Xishuangbanna, etc. January is not a big travel month, so the hostels and hotels should be wide open. The Rough Guide to China does an exceptional job in providing the Chinese character names of stations, hotels, restaurants, destinations, etc., in most cities. Lonely Planet and Frommers are pretty good on this also.

Always looking for new adventures, new cultures, interesting geography.

4

China was my first solo trip to anywhere, ever. And it was fine. Easy, almost.

Go for it.

Kashgar lies where the maps in people's minds dissolve.

5

Its easy unless you get off the tourist route then it becomes a little more challenging especially for accommodation and transport.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

6

#4 - Easy, almost. -
Having whetted our appetites, can you now tell us what wasn't so easy for a first-time solo traveller, please?

It's OK for all the seasoned TT veterans that regularly post here, but we ought remember that OP is contemplating a first-time experience. Some honesty and frankness wouldn't go astray at this poignant moment in time. For her sake ...

: )

7

#5 - unless you get off the tourist route -

Isn't that what independent travel is all about?

My Guangdong friend who I met in a Qingdao IYH is imploring me to visit her home city which is definitely off the beaten tourist path. I know it's a challenge for tourism operators and guidebook editors to keep up with travellers' thirst for adventure and new places, but surely first-time travellers ought be alerted to this option too. We can all do the 'safe' tourism circuit first-time round and encourage a return visit but, for some travellers, they're trying to pack as much as possible into the next (or current) visit.

In Guangdong, for example, I'm being encouraged to visit Zhaoqing City, but all I know is its Jesuit history dating back to 1583. Yes, there's Shenzhen and Zhuhai. But what about Zhongshan? But my friend says "the city is not very big but it is just like a small garden, so lovely and so peaceful. " On my return visit, should I get off the beaten tourist path and visit Zhongshan?

What many of the international tourism operators are not saying is that domestic Chinese tourim is booming, and that accommodation and transport are not the problems they used to be. But here's the rub. Many new accommodation venues and transport options are oriented to the booming domestic business and, IMHO, the independent traveller needs to be a little more flexible, to learn a little more of the customs and habits of the domestic traveller, to gain the maximum from their own experience.

In my 5-weeks from August 2007, I gained the impression that many of the domestic travellers are cashed up and, after Beijing 2008, they're keen to venture abroad, visiting our home countries. If this surge in Chinese international travellers eventuates, it's a good time for TTs to get off the well-worn China tourism paths, and to find the gems that are attracting the domestic travellers. I mean, there has to be more than the solitary hidden gem of Kaifeng.

: )

8

#4, get off your high horse!!

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

9

High horses can indeed be a problem if one has short legs... but then again, I believe the horses in Inner Mongolia, where most tourists venture, are actually quite small as horses go...

10

The language of course, is the only thing that stops travel being 'easy' in the sense that it would be here at home. But it was nowhere near as insurmountable a problem as I envisaged. I just pointed to characters in my phrasebook, rather than trying to say the phrases as I would anywhere else. And, as others have said - getting someone to write tha characters down for you is a good idea.

I got more confused trying to cross Paris a few days before I left for China, (despite speaking a bit of French) than I did at any point on my China trip.

What high horse westwood?

Kashgar lies where the maps in people's minds dissolve.

11

OP, if this is your first trip to China, Beijing and Shanghai are still the best places to start.

However, January can get rather cold in Beijing.
Perhaps do a trip to Shanghai and surrounds such as Ningbo, Suzhou and Hangzhou.
Or head south to Xiamen and Santou and see Yangshuo and Gulin (scenes in a recent movie I enjoyed on a QANTAS flight).
Language is not much of a problem these days as most signs are written in alphabets.
Ordering food can be a challenge so I choose places which display photos of dishes or when desperate go to KFC or McDonalds.
I had no problems with accommoddation, question is cost!

My first trip was a land crossing from Hanoi to Nanning and then to Guanzhou (Canton). I would not recommend that!

Good luck.

"It don't matter to me."

12

Ah. Yes. Food was a difficulty. I ate more western food than I've ever done on an Asian trip - mainly because I couldn't understand the Chinese menus, and because as a lone person in a Chinese restaurant (where the culture is to eat in big groups and make lots of noise), I felt a bit uncomfortable.

Kashgar lies where the maps in people's minds dissolve.

13

This is the advantage of hostelling. It's rare that you need to eat alone. Regularly found someone who was hungry the same time as me - whether they were a hostel staffer coming off shift, a friend in Shanghai who knows more about her city than most (Ellyse), college students wanting to practice their English, or fellow travellers who were prepared to tackle the Chinese menus with me.

As an indenpendent traveller, there's no need to be alone (and, definetely not, lonely).

: )

14

#9, even in Songpan, it was difficult to get on those high horses especially with the gear each horse had to carry. Couple of times, I was head down, bum up, hanging over the horses back!!

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.