Anybody been to China ?

[Franks Wild Years]

I'm hopefully going to China for work in April next year. Has any one been ?I'm going to be in Beijing for a week but plan to get my return plane ticket delayed by two weeks and have a bit of a nose about. I'm excited already.
Any NSC'ers based out there ?
Any Tips ?
I open the floor to NSC's finest Marco Polo's.

 

[Commander]

My bird went there whilst travelling around the world. Hated it. Hope this helps.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Truff's your man. He seems to have defecated in more east Asian toilets built out of bricks and straw than anyone else I know.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Not Mainland China but spent a lot of time in Taiwan (which China claims) and Hong Kong (which is an SAR of China now and still massively worth a visit).

The number one tip from those two places is to try to find someone who speaks a bit of English who can write down destinations for you in Chinese characters. Unless you fancy spending a lot of frustrating time mangling your mouth trying to hit at least 4 different tones you're not going to pronounce place names correctly plus there are a gazillion dialects and accents anyway.

If you've got any more specific questions than that I'm not your man but have a couple of very good mates from my ex pat days who have mainland Chinese g/fs and spend a lot of time there so PM me and I'll see if they know the answers.

 

[McShane79]

Closest I've been is Hong Kong (which is part of China now I guess), and that was fantastic.
My folks went to all the big cities in China a few years back and really enjoyed it. Can't say much more than that fella.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I've heard you can see the MOON from the Great Wall of China! Or something like that. Hope that helps

 

[Franks Wild Years]

Not Mainland China but spent a lot of time in Taiwan (which China claims) and Hong Kong (which is an SAR of China now and still massively worth a visit).

The number one tip from those two places is to try to find someone who speaks a bit of English who can write down destinations for you in Chinese characters. Unless you fancy spending a lot of frustrating time mangling your mouth trying to hit at least 4 different tones you're not going to pronounce place names correctly plus there are a gazillion dialects and accents anyway.

If you've got any more specific questions than that I'm not your man but have a couple of very good mates from my ex pat days who have mainland Chinese g/fs and spend a lot of time there so PM me and I'll see if they know the answers.

Thanks mate .

 

[chip]

I've been to China quite a few times, but not for a few years. I've even had dinner with the Deputy President in the Hall of the people. There is a lot to do in Beijing tourist wise with gardens, buildings etc. The ornamental gardens are interesting, along with the underground tombs. I enjoyed being racially abused walking round the back streets that hadn't been replaced with high-rise buildings. The trains are quite a good way to travel about, but you will probably want to avoid organized trips as they take you to friendship stores and sell you over priced tat. Everyone visits the terra cotta army and the great wall. Taxis are also exiting, but negotiate your fare first, even in Beijing. In fact be especially careful with the ones from Beijing airport. Souzhou has pagodas and a silk university and is not far from Shanghai which has some interest. If you can get right out into the countryside, it is another world. I have always travelled there with Chinese/HK people which has many advantages especially when eating out. Also, the circuses are quite different to ours and quite a sight. Play Mah Jong with the locals if you can, but don't bet against them. I always thought it would be fun to get the train from HK, but never got round to it.

 

[Trufflehound]

The number one tip from those two places is to try to find someone who speaks a bit of English who can write down destinations for you in Chinese characters. Unless you fancy spending a lot of frustrating time mangling your mouth trying to hit at least 4 different tones you're not going to pronounce place names correctly plus there are a gazillion dialects and accents anyway.

I'd agree that's almost essential if you're planning on buying bus or train tickets, although when I was there Beijing railway station had a separate ticket office for foreigners, so that was easy. But away from the big cities it can be hard to find someone who speaks English.

In the tourist areas all the restaurants have English language menus (usually offering such things as "noddles", "eggy plant, hot-a-sauce", or "pooched and bolied eggs"), as even do some of the street stalls. But if they don't then either point at someone else's food that looks good or walk into the kitchen and point at whatever combination of raw ingredients takes your fancy. That's what I did and it works a treat. Had some fantastic food there.

 

[Trufflehound]

Truff's your man. He seems to have defecated in more east Asian toilets built out of bricks and straw than anyone else I know.

The ones where you can hear the maggots squelching about the shitheap in the pit below as you squat are ACE.

But even if you're staying in a cheapo dive with no sanitation, most cities have a 5-star hotel somewhere, and having a European face is a passport to walk into their lobby and use their shiny clean facilities unchallenged.

 

[SurreySeagulls]

I spent a week in China whilst Mrs SS was working for Procter & Gamble. Spent some time in Bejing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

All three were fantastic though Chengdu was a bit wierd as not only is it the gateway to Tibet it is in the middle of bloody nowhere. Food I found was excellent though don't bother asking for knives and forks. People I found were really nice and as Chip said the taxis were a sight to be in.

Tianamin (sp?) Square was great as was walking around the Palaces etc. You would be a fool not to extend your stay.

 

[Trufflehound]

Everyone visits the terra cotta army and the great wall.
.
.
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Souzhou has pagodas and a silk university and is not far from Shanghai which has some interest.

I was distinctly underwhelmed by the terracotta warriors, but maybe that's just me.

Your experience of the Great Wall would probably depend on the weather. I went there on a grey rainy day with poor visibility and therefore from what I saw it only looked 50 metres long and was a let down. But I should imagine on a clear day when you can see it snaking over the mountains to the horizon it would be a lot more interesting.

Suzhou had a great night food market as I recall. Hangzhou in the same general area is pretty nice too, and sits beside a beautiful lake (man-made I think).

It's a bit out of the way, and hard to get to on a short visit, but my favourite places were Xiahe in Gansu province (bloody big Tibetan monastery, and a little slice of Tibet although not actually Tibet), Songpan in Sichuan province (really quaint old walled town surrounded by mountains, good place for horse treks into the hills) and Yangshuo (the travellers' hangout amid all the pointy limestone hills - "karst" if we're being poncy). The "Big Buddha" in Leshan, south of Chengdu is pretty special too. As were Lijiang and Dali in Yunnan.

Had the best food of all in Chengdu and Shanghai.

 

[Tesco in Disguise]

i went to china last summer.

best bit by far was the the great wall. though it was a clear day and the view was amazing, which obviously made it a lot better. there's no way you can see it from space tho. it's only about 6 feet across!
went to hangzhou too. nice lake - which looks weird next to a load of skyscapers on one side and a forest on the other. but the whole place was pretty touristy tho.
finished off in shnghai. some of the most amazing buildings in the world, if you like giant skyscrapers (which we do!). and drinking on the bund is always fun.

have a good trip.

 

[Guinness Boy]

In the tourist areas all the restaurants have English language menus (usually offering such things as "noddles", "eggy plant, hot-a-sauce", or "pooched and bolied eggs"), as even do some of the street stalls. But if they don't then either point at someone else's food that looks good or walk into the kitchen and point at whatever combination of raw ingredients takes your fancy. That's what I did and it works a treat. Had some fantastic food there.

In Taipei we would regularly frequent 'point and kill' seafood joints. I'm sure it's the same in the mainland. Just find somewhere reasonably busy with tanks containing fish and sea-creatures, tables and chopsticks. So long as you're not squeamish and don't mind being a bit ripped off price wise, just circulate the tanks with your waitress indicating which sea creatures you would like to die immediately for your dining pleasure. They will be whipped straight out of the tanks and straight in to a pot to be cooked in the style of the house. The more luxery fish are normally 'market rate' however which can land you with a huge bill if you're not careful.