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If holding an Australian passport it is cheaper to get a Chinese visa from Hong Kong at CITS ($HK300 for double entry into China) than in Australia. However it takes 2 working days.
If getting a Chinese Visa from Vietnam do it in Hanoi rather than Ho Chi Minh. Although the embassy says the visas are the same it is not the case. In Hanoi it is possible to get a 60 day visa rather than 30 day, for no extra cost. It takes 4 working days rather than 5 and is cheaper. The embassy at Hanoi is run by very friendly staff who seem happy to help travellers.
Beijing: the section of the PSB that deals with visa extensions, etc has moved from Beichizi Dajie to Andingmen Dongdajie, near Yong He Gong Temple. Anyone who is thinking about requesting an extension from them should know that they will insist on keeping your passport for an entire week!
PSB, Chengdu: a very helpful office at the Foreign Affairs Section at 40 Wenmiaohou Jie; no problem to get a 30-day visa extension (fill in a form, pay Y100 and 10 minutes later you’re back on the street with your stamp!). Even my second extension for another 30 days (to take my total to 90 days) was no problem.
Zhuhai is one of the few cities in China where foreigners can obtain visas upon arrival (one photo and HK$100 or US$15 will get you a three month tourist visa or HK$200 for a double entry visa).
Foreigners, except citizens of Great Britain (I’m not sure why), can get visas upon arrival in Zhuhai, Shenzhen and SEZs. There are two kinds of visas available. One visa is for SEZ only and is good for a few days only. The other is good for all of China and it can be as long as three months if you ask for it. The charge is the same: HK$100. Many of my foreign friends come to China through Zhuhai and they get a three months visa for HK$100. You need to bring an identity photo with you. It takes about 20 minutes and is hassle free. If you put on the application that you want to visit Zhuhai or Shenzhen only, they may only give you a SEZ visa. It makes no sense to me why anybody would want that visa when the charge is the same.
I work as a journalist for an internet magazine, writing completely innocuous articles. I therefore listed my occupation as ‘journalist’ on my Chinese visa application form. When I handed it in at the embassy, the woman at the counter asked me whether I worked for a newspaper, and I explained that I worked for an internet magazine. She then told me that the maximum number of days that the embassy can provide on a tourist visa is 10, and that the visa is valid for two weeks only. As I am travelling to China via Vietnam, this would mean applying for a visa in Hanoi. I replied that my guidebook had mentioned a 30-day visa, valid for three months, and was rather curtly told that my guidebook wasn’t written by the Chinese embassy. Following this, I went along to CTS, who informed me that there is indeed a 30-day tourist visa with a validity of three months. The woman at CTS advised me not to enter my occupation as ‘journalist’ on the application form - this was most probably why the woman at the embassy said I could only get the 10-day visa.
CTS charges £20 commission to process a visa application and takes seven days, rather than three. However, it is worth mentioning that, unlike the embassy, they do not require proof of flight and accommodation reservations. The visa application form requests that one lists accommodation contacts for each city to be visited. For travellers such as myself, who have no accommodation reservations, CTS will list the name of a CTS hotel for every city that you enter on the form, with no obligation to actually stay at that hotel. Plus, the woman who served me was extremely friendly and helpful.
The address of the Chinese embassy in Belgium in the latest Lonely Planet China is incorrect. Apparently the address on the boulevard General Jacques has something to do with the Chinese embassy, but it isn’t ‘the’ Chinese embassy. The correct address is:
The following visa charges were displayed in a café in Hanoi:
Shenzhen’s visas: you can now get a five day single entry visa at the border with Hong Kong at Lo Wu for HK$100. After passing through Hong Kong customs you proceed upstairs to the Shenzhen visa office, fill out a small form and the visa is processed quickly. You then merely pay your HK$100 and get the visa. I stress the visa is for single entry only but valid for five days.
We went to Mongolia on the 36 hour international train from Beijing. Our travel agent in Tel Aviv told us that we didn’t need a visa for Mongolia, that they were issued at the border. Sounded reasonable to us because that’s how it works in Israel. After changing the bogies of the train on the border, which took about five hours, we arrived in the small Mongolian border town at about 2 am and upon the presentation of our passports were told to get off the train because we didn’t have visas! All our arguing was to no avail and we found ourselves on the train platform in a tiny town in the Gobi Desert in the middle of the night. There are three very small hotels in that town but they either didn’t have free rooms or wouldn’t open for us. The chief border policeman had sort of taken responsibility for us and ended up taking us home to his house to sleep!
Everything was very vague, but to make a long story short, the next day we were taken in a police jeep back to China where we were handed over to the Chinese border police and were able to get a Mongolian visa there. We had to buy new train tickets to Ulaan Baatar and arrived there about two and a half days late. Later we found out that there were people who received visas at the border and that apparently Israelis don’t need visas at all! So in other words, things are very unclear there, but you would be wise to get your visa ahead of time in any case.
You can get a visa for China from the Chinese Embassy in Vientiane. You need a photograph, US$ cash only ($30 for Americans, $25 for French, $12 for Italians, etc). You will receive your visa three working days later. If you are in a hurry, you can pay an extra charge of $30 (visa same day), $20 (visa one day later) or $10 (visa two days later). The Chinese Embassy is open from 9 to 11 am, Monday to Friday.
Guangzhou: there are now British and German consulates here. The British consulate only handles matters pertaining to their own nationals, and does not issue visas. The German consulate is located at:
The General Consulate of Italy has changed address. It is now located at:
We learned that if you have entered China via Beijing with a single entry visa and want to go to Hong Kong, there is no problem. However, if you wish to return to Beijing, you actually need a multi-entry visa to re-enter. You should confirm this before travelling.
It's not a bad idea to check out the visa rules at your home embassy before you leave for China, as many Chinese officials (not to mention hotel receptionists) have very limited knowledge of the rules and might make things unnecessarily difficult for you. For example, if you have a one month visa, you are allowed to stay in China for one month from the day you enter the country, as long as you enter the country in the time period stipulated in the visa. Chinese officials often try to convince you that you have to leave the county immediately because it is more than one month since your visa was issued by your embassy at home.
Crossing the border to China from Kyrgyzstan: there are lots of horror stories. This method worked for us in July 1998. The key is that you must be met at the border.
The foreign affairs section of the PSB on Wenmiaohou Jie, Chengdu, is a very good place to get a visa extension. The visa extension counter is open from 10 am to noon and from 4 to 6 pm. I got a one month extension in 10 minutes. They will give you an extension even before you have used more than half of your present visa. The tricky question of why you want to extend your visa proved to be irrelevant. The lady at the counter assured me that it was enough to fill in 'travel'. You need one passport photo for your application form.
Visas to China are valid for 90 days from the date of issue. They are good for 30 days within that time. So if you have a visa issued on 1 June 1998, you have a maximum of 30 days to use it, and the latest you can possibly use it is 31 August 1998. I found this out the hard way: I got a visa on 3 June for a trip to China that I'll be making on 15 September 1998. Because I won't be leaving within the 90 day time limit, the visa is useless. My friend and I lost about $70.
In Moscow, a Chinese visa costs US$25 and took eight days to process. This price was for an Australian citizen; it costs more for several other nationalities (US$60 for a Brit).
Visas issued in London are obtained from the following address:
If you have to extend your visa, I recommend not doing it in Beijing. In many towns in China you can extend your visa cheaply in a day or less but in Beijing it is said to take a week unless you do it via an agency and pay major fees.
We arrived in Kathmandu early in March intending to go to Lhasa with Chinese visas that we had obtained in Delhi. Soon after arrival we met a girl who had just tried to cross into Tibet and was told there was no way she would be allowed in. On investigating we were told that last year this was possible but the rules have been tightened this year by the Chinese authorities such that no individual travellers will be allowed in. A further complication occurred after our trip to Lhasa - we went to the PSB with our Group Visa and were astonished to find that to break it up and extend it would cost an additional US$75 (approximately) per head. Lhasa PSB's advice and that of the travel agent, was to break up from the two individuals we had teamed up with so that the three of us could go to Chengdu for a cheaper and longer extension. This was wrong - had we tried in Lhasa we may have been able to break up the visa, with the travel-agent's help.
Laos visas are not available at the Chinese border. The Lao consulate in Kunming still issues only the 7 day transit visa, however, they no longer require that you get a Thai visa first. The Lao embassy in Beijing will issue tourist visas.
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Update on the National Park at Jiuzhaigou, Szechuan. Only official tour buses are now allowed to carry visitors within the park, removing the hassle of touts and stabilising prices. You pay yuan 102 (foreigners and locals alike) to get into the park plus yuan 90 for a one-day hop-on hop-off bus ticket and yuan 3 for compulsory insurance. Bus stops are frequent and they also respond to being flagged down in between stops. Buses run every 5 minutes or so in each direction. It is possible to see all the major sights in one day as long as you don’t want to walk too much.
In Chengdu there are still ‘places to be’ if you are a backpacker. Unfortunately news of the hot spots popularity has spread among China’s roach and rodent population. Be careful with your rations - you still need them for Tibet. From someone who wished they had this information before leaving a bag of peaches unattended.
Hangzhou is a great city to go biking around. I strongly recommend buying a bike (you can easily sell it later for about 60% of the initial price) for those staying 10 days or more. The west part of the city is very beautiful, you can quickly exit the urban area and go into the tea fields and through ultra-small unpaved streets that wind around large farm houses.
If you’re not into the dorm/hostel scene the best places to stay are in the foreign student dormitories at most universities. The rooms are clean and often come with a bathroom.
Contact lens solution was abundant in China. Don’t pack a huge supply as advised in the guide as all the international brands can be found at reasonable prices.
Banks do not change travellers cheques on the weekend but will give advances on credit cards, provided you have your passport. Some hotels will only cash travellers cheques if you stay at their hotel.
Kunming, like other major cities in China, now also has a magazine in English for the local expatriate community and foreign visitors. It is called KMS and is distributed at most hotels and bars around town. It contains updated information on ‘what’s on’ in the city, articles, maps and tips on how to get around.
I have just returned from Beijing and would not recommend going there until next year. The entire city is enveloped by sickening smog and concrete dust in a frantic attempt to make the city presentable for the millennium. We even had to pay a ‘city construction tax’ in our hotel.
Beijing: anyone interested in seeing what a traditional hutong looks like should head to the area just north of Dahazalan, between Qianmen Dajie and Liulichang - it’s much more interesting than Dahazalan itself, which is very slick and commercialised.
The x-ray machine at the Xi’an railway station is NOT film safe.
You need your passport to go into Mao’s mausoleum in Tiananmen Square. This proved a pain as we didn’t have the time to go back to the hotel so we had to miss out.
If you find yourself in Luoyang on a Sunday, check out the park at the intersection of Jinguyuan Lu (big road running south-east from the train station) and Zhongzhou Lu (main shopping street). It’s filled with groups of amateur musicians, many of whom are quite good. Unlike in the west, there is no expectation that anyone will throw money in a hat. It’s just for fun. We were invited to sing - be warned!
Yangshuo now has plenty of local guides offering bike tours plus lunch in their village. Our guide said there were now 120 of them! The local government has just decided to issue them with licenses and photo identity cards, so it might be advisable to check that you’re with a licensed guide.
Since April 1999, there hasn’t been a ticket office for the Tiger Leaping Gorge when starting from Daju! Taking the bus from Lijiang to Daju at 8 am and staying in a guesthouse should be the best opportunity to make it within two days on the upper path without a night on the ‘breathtaking’ street in Qiaotou.
When staying at the Foreign Student Dormitory in Hangzhou (close to Zhejiang University), I discovered that a bed in a double room cost Y60 but a single room only cost Y45, with attached bath and 24-hour hot water.
Tianjin is much cheaper than Beijing for food, clothes, crafts, materials and antiques. Antiques can be found between Ancient Culture Street and Carrefour and at the Flower Market near Fish and Bird Streets. For food, batteries, clocks, clothes and anything else you may need to pick up or replace, I highly recommend the shopping area on either side of Bin Shui Dao, 100m south of the McDonalds near Zijinshan Lu. Be sure to go far enough back into the maze to reach the ‘supermarket’ area. The food here can be purchased for half the supermarket price if you are willing to bargain.
When competition for rooms is low, you can get very cheap rooms. We arrived towards the end of the Spring Festival and got an ensuite double at a hotel (which we felt actually had very good service) for Y30 instead of Y60, partly by stashing our bags and looking like we were already at another hotel and, therefore, could be ‘lured’ to this hotel by a better price.
In response to below: the Mao Mausoleum in Beijing is open, but only until 11 am. I visited there in May 1999.
Beijing: Tiananmen Square and Mao Zedong Mausoleum are closed until October 1999. They are undergoing renovations for the 50th anniversary of the PRC. Actually, the whole city is clouded by cement dust as new buildings are being erected in haste to coincide with the anniversary date.
When going to the Terracotta Warriors from the station, don’t believe people who tell you that government buses are not running - it’s a scam to try to get you to ride in their expensive mini-bus. A friend at the Terracotta Warriors unearthed the fact that there are student prices. Don’t go to the window with the gold sign in English and Chinese above it, go to the window a little to the right and flash your Chinese student ID. Instead of 65 RMB, it’s only 35 RMB. The toilets at the complex also win my award for China’s best squat loos - very clean and shiny, with flushes that work and minimal stink, if any! Amazing! Outside the complex, the merchants are a little overwhelming - one wanted to charge me 25 RMB for a little statue that I got next door to him for 1 RMB.
Kaili, Guizhou: if you have limited time in this part of SE Guizhou, a pleasant day trip is to get one of the frequent buses to Leishan, get off at Paihe and walk down the river valley going into the hills and villages on either side. They do not see many visitors so be prepared for some suspicion but some of the little clusters of wooden houses perched up in the valleys can be beautiful. Just go and have a look at whatever seems interesting.
Shanghai: try to get to the Pearl Tower before 10 am to avoid the massive crowds that form later in the day.
I opened up an account with the Bank of China but they forgot to mention that you can only access the account from certain major cities in China even if you happen to come across a branch in a smaller one. Very annoying!
Guangzhou: telephone numbers are now eight digits. The change is not straightforward: it seems that numbers previously starting with 6 now start with 86; numbers previously with 8 now start with 81.
Update on post below: since 1 March 1999 there are no longer discounts for flights. No matter where you book, with an agent, airline or at the airport a few minutes before departure, the prices are all the same now. For example:
Travel agents give around a 20% discount on domestic flights.
The price structure has changed considerably, especially for foreigners who now almost always pay the same amount as the locals. In terms of transportation, this has made it much cheaper to get around, but alas, the east coast is becoming more and more unaffordable (and unattractive) for extensive budget travelling.
It is becoming more and more common in Chinese cities, at least on the east coast, to install combination wall sockets with which you can use Australian, American and European style pins.
Buying mountain bikes in China: prices actually start at Y400. I got a pretty decent, 18-speed bike for just Y405 last month; no negotiating required.
Xidontingshan Island: there is now a bridge that connects the mainland with the island. Ferries to the island depart from Xukou.
Try to get the ish magazine; it contains extensive listings of bars, pubs, discos, gyms, music venues and the like.
Wuhan: the city is famous for its many tea houses; some of the tea houses offer short introductions to the Chinese art of the tea ceremony, which is by no means less complicated than the Japanese version, though less formal.
It is now possible to cash money (yuan) on a foreign Visa/Mastercard in the ATMs of the Bank of China displaying these symbols. But, if the machine doesn't work or you don't know the cash limit for the card, there is no point in going into the bank to ask, because noone working there knows that it is possible. They'll just ask the person to go to head office.
The Bank of China in Beijing, near the post office for sending parcels, has about five ATMs with Cirrus.
How to get to the Great Wall (Badaling) cheaply: instead of taking the usual tours for Y120, just take the Beijing subway to the North Gate (I think the station is called Andingmen). Go around the gate and look for city bus number 919. The bus will take you directly to the Great Wall. It takes about one and a half hours and costs Y7 each way. Buses run every 15 minutes during the daytime. If you want to see the Ming Tomb, just ask the conductor to put you down at the closest roundabout to the tombs. Taxis are available the rest of the way for Y15. Another good Beijing bus is number 880 from the south west corner of Tieng Meng to the North Palace. It takes an hour and fifteen minutes.
Longsheng: there are now three guesthouses in the rice fields, so there is no need to sleep in town. It is a great experience to stay in the village.
Correction to above: bus no 919 doesn’t start at Andingmen. The correct name of the bus station is Deshengmen. You can reach this place by taking bus number 27, 44 or 206 on the second ring road (or several others), or just take the subway to Jishuitan and walk about 100m east until you see the big ancient city north gate. The bus station is located behind this gate. Then you just have to choose between the public bus for Y5 and the air-conditioned direct bus, which is, of course, more expensive. The buses, like every Chinese bus, run when they are full.
Xiamen: as well as being a very clean city (having won China's Cleanest City Award for the last two years running), it is blissfully peaceful due to the fact that there is a complete ban on the use of motor vehicle horns on the island! Although this is not unique to Xiamen, it does offer a welcome change from most of China's cities.
The CITS country-wide network seems to work quite well these days, although it will not necessarily be the cheapest way of doing things. All trips and tours must be prepaid in cash. You should be aware that if they make hotel bookings for you, the concept of a receipt or booking reference does not seem to exist.
There are now at least two internet cafes in Xiamen: one by the university on Yan Wu Road, and one in town on Hubin Nan Lu.
Gulangyu Island: Gulangyu is becoming modernised very rapidly, but it is still a delightful place to spend some time. There are no longer any 'off limits' areas on the island. As far as the beaches go, the main area of activity is the West Beach (Gangzaihou). The Eastern Beach (DaDeJi) lies south of the magnificent statue of Koxinga which overlooks Xiamen port. The beach can be accessed via the park surrounding the statue but this requires the payment of an entrance fee; you can use the set of stairs beyond the park entrance where no fee is payable. At the edge of the beach there is a huge banyan tree under which there are tables and chairs. The beach is a seething mass of humanity on the weekends, but is almost deserted during the week. There is a cable car to Sunlight Rock, but when it runs is a matter of conjecture. Offering a less scenic but nevertheless interesting and cool way to cross the island, are the old war-time tunnels that have recently opened to the public. The latest addition to the island is a walk-through aviary. It is located at the other end of the cable car. It is worth noting that fares on the ferry to Gulangyu are collected on board once the trip is under way. Tickets for the upper deck and tokens for the lower deck on the return trip are bought at a ticket booth on the Gulangyu side of the ferry wharf.
Hulishan Fortress: on the southern side of Xiamen university is an area called Baicheng at which there is an entry gate to the university. If you continue east from the gate, you come to Hulishan Fortress which, on a clear day, affords great views of the Jinmen Islands. Part of the old battlements remain and some renovation has taken place. As well as some interesting specimens of old cannons, the fort houses a museum of swords, knives, pistols, rifles as well as a fascinating collection of exotic stones from around the world. Natural variations in the colour of the individual pieces give the impression of mountain landscapes, waterfalls, plants, human forms and Chinese characters. Especially good is the collection in the upstairs gallery: each stone is like a face expressing a specific emotion. The information is in English, and some of the attendants speak English. The Fortress area also contains some cool and shady walks. The number 2 bus from the ferry terminal will take you to Hulishan. Also, continuing east from Hulishan is a long stretch of coastline with nice sandy beaches that are not so affected by proximity to the harbour traffic.
Wanshi Botanic Gardens: if you like gardens, these ones are good. Plants are labelled with their botanical names, and the varieties of plants are numerous. It is laid out with various lakes, pavilions, bridges and pagodas. One pavilion houses a lethargic python that is available for photographic purposes should it be required.
The Shanghai museum at the People's Square is now open. The shape of the building is based on an ancient Tang bronze, and you can find a wide range of art objects, such as the Tianminlou porcelain collection, precious jade, Ming dynasty furniture, bronzes, and paintings. The museum also has a good art library that can be visited by appointment, as well as a Chinese art bookshop. A full day is just enough to complete a visit.
I asked several guards about Tiananmen Square and the general answer was that it is being redone for the 50th anniversary of Mao's declaration of the PRC and will be closed for two to five months. Most of them, as well as a few local guides, thought it would probably not reopen until Spring. So if anyone is making a special trip to Beijing to see the square, you might want to reconsider. You can still see it from the top of the gates of the Forbidden City, but there is a wall all around it. Whatever you do, don't try to sneak in!
Huashan: the bus took about 3.5 hours to arrive from Xian, so by the time we'd had a bit of lunch it was 2 pm when we started the climb. There are markers every 200m and the walk begins at the temple. We paid Y20 to enter, which was probably unnecessary. We had no real map and assumed it was 15km each way. After some serious hard-going up steps, we reached the north peak around 5.30 pm (6km). Here we were offered beds, but once we knew they were available we decided to carry on to where we thought we saw more hostels - these turned out only to be cafes. It soon started raining and by 6.8km, it was torrential. We took the safer option in unknown terrain and arrived back in Huashan at 10 pm. I suspect we were within a few hundred metres of the next hostel. There is now a cable car up to the north peak!
We were told that to get to The Great Wall at Mutianyu, you had to be at the bus stop at the north-east corner of the crossroads at Xuanwumen subway before 8 am. We went there and caught a bus to Simatai (Y50 each return). There is now a cable car. The Great Wall really is great; it was just as I envisaged.
Ningxia-Yinchuan: although taxi drivers are generally very honest in Yinchuan, several have taken to persuading travellers that the buses waiting at the airport don't go into the Old City so you must take a taxi at an exorbitant rate.
Xi Xia Mausoleum: this area seems to be in the process of a major development, with some sort of hotel/display area at the main entrance nearing completion. They now charge Y9 entry to the main area. A small hint: if instead of going into the main entry road you persuade your taxi driver to drive on for a further kilometre or so, there is a dirt track heading into the desert towards what looks like a herdsman's house. It is in fact a secondary site, fenced in, with a Y5 charge. The tombs here are equally impressive, but there is far more pottery, and on a busy day there are fewer tourists around.
Ningxia-Qingtongxia: the entry fee to the 108 Dagobas is Y5 and again it seems subject to some major developments. The ferry over the Yellow River is now Y12. I went to this site by taxi from Yinchuan at the insistence of my Chinese friends and the hotel staff who seemed to think that the town of Qingtongxia is a dangerous place for a foreigner to wait for a bus. Also, apparently the buses are unreliable, so you could be left stranded there. If it has been raining it is worth asking the taxi drivers of hotel staff to check with the ferry as it does not operate if there is flooding.
We were told that trains to Datong don't stop at Badaling or anywhere else near the wall, and that only one train a day departs at 8.30 am from the north railway station to Qinglongqiao. Also, we were not able to board trains without reservation or with a platform ticket alone.
The staff at the railway ticket office at Hohot are very friendly and helpful.
Bingling Si: The grottoes are in bad shape. It is only possible to walk to the feet of the big buddah; none of the caves are accessible.
Xi'an: for sending packages you can go to the new main post office located at the intersection of Chang'an Lu and Xiaozhai Xilu. For letters you can use the post office next to Jiefang Hotel.
I had problems using credit cards in Beijing as Mastercard and Visa are not accepted there. The solution I found was to go into luxury hotels where such cash machines are available.
We went to the Great Wall at the Badaling site. Do advise people to walk the wall up to its end part so they can see the unrestored section. The restored part of the wall actually looks brand new, and they have put flags and other things that take the original feel of the place away. It is definitely worth having a look at the unrestored part of the wall.
There's not much to do in Nanning except catch connecting trains. However, the Nanning Department store has nine storeys of shops and a skating rink. On the fifth floor is a computer lab of sorts where you can surf the Internet and use email for only Y3 an hour. It's perfect for those going into Vietnam where there aren't many places with email. Plus it's open until 10.30 pm.
Kunming (Yunnan) - don't try to go to the Bamboo temple by bike as it involves a very long and steep uphill ride.
If you want to use your video camera in China, try to bring tapes with you. Prices in China for 8mm film are very high compared to what you would pay in Europe or the US. Also, you may not be able to find PAL tapes, only NTSC ones.
Be careful when filming or taking photos in temples. I saw tourists being pushed away because they were disturbing people who were praying. The best solution is always to ask. I have seldom been refused the request to take pictures of people and every time I say 'thank you' to show respect; it is possible to take photos and film in China provided you are diplomatic and considerate.
I have been to the Great Wall many times - it is one of my few escapes from Beijing's pollution and concrete. After investigating many different parts of the wall, I believe I have found a nice accessible section away from the hordes of people that is suitable for a one day visit. Start at Badaling and look for the area called 'Happy Bear Garden' (Xiong Le Yuan). From there it is an easy walk (no steps or expensive cable cars) and on the way you can see many Asian black bears in deep concrete ravines. Continue past the bears and you will come to another ticket office. Pay the usual fee and you will soon find yourself in a very nice reconstructed part of the wall with very few, if any, people around - I went on 1 May and 1 October (the two most popular holidays of the year) and there were hardly any people at all; I could see everyone crowded on to one small section of the wall in the distance. For those who wish to see the wall in its unreconstructed form, turn right and walk for ten minutes until you come to the Beacon Tower. At the tower, climb through a small opening - it is very easy - and you will see a pristine wall with lovely surroundings and no people. Again, this is for travellers with limited time who cannot afford to hike the wall for weeks.
If you depart Yichang at night on the Yangtse River boat trip you sleep through two of the three gorges.
Be warned if visiting Beijing on National Day (1 October). We were there and it wasn't pretty! Every overseas Chinese returned for the holiday and every resident was attempting to get to another city. It was particularly bad as it fell on a Thursday this year and the Moon festival followed over the weekend so many had extended holidays. We had read of the holidays in the guide but didn't realise the impact. Next year is the 50th anniversary celebration, which means it will be even more important and CROWDED.
When you arrive at Beijing Airport, there is a little hotel reservation stand on your right hand side, just before you exit after picking up your bags. They will offer you great hotels with substantial reductions. After you have booked your desired hotel, the staff will arrange for a taxi to pick you up. Get a five star luxury hotel for the cost of a simple tourist hotel!
The post office in Dali has moved and there are now actually two. One is 50m further down the road from the old post office and the other one is about 200m further down on a corner. They both have stamps and a telephone service.
From Kunming, all backpackers head off to Dali. There's 'Dali shi', a big uninteresting city and 'Dali gu cheng', which means Dali old city, and that's where you want to go. Ask the bus driver before you hand over your Y70 for the sleeper. Some buses will only go to Dali shi, and you'll have to take another bus to the old city.
Photography: contrary to common belief, Beijing is the hottest spot for photographic equipment, maintenance and photo-finishing in China today. Film/prints: only the Kodak Royal Gold is missing. All other brands can be found no problem. The major addresses for film in Beijing are: Jin Guang Jiao Photo supplies, at Bei Xin Hua Jie, corner of Xi Changan Jie. This is between Xidan and the Tiananmen Square, exactly half way, opposite the Beijing Yinyue Ting (Beijing Music Hall). You can either try there or at the store opposite, where a huge Canon sign hangs over the shop. Prices: Y50 for Velvia, Y55 for E-100s or E-100sw, Y60 for E-200 and Y20 to 30 on the main Kodak and Fuji print films. In Jinri Jicheng Tu Pian She, opposite the Western Station, you can buy the same films, plus they stock Ilford and Kodak B&W and Orthochromatic films as well.
Processing: the best place in town for slides is the aforementioned Jinri Jicheng Tu Pian She. They do slides with quality that is almost on par with Hong Kong's famed Color Six. They do not
frame. The price: Y20 per roll, and a discount for over 10 rolls (10 to 15%). Getting there: go to the Western Station. If you stand with your back to the station, cross the road, and turn left
past the billboards. As soon as you pass the last billboard, turn right, underneath the blue sign with the name 'Jinri Jicheng Tu Pian She' written on it. You go through the slums on this dirt road for 100m or so, and see the building, nice and new, all covered with green glass. They do not speak English, but have an English price list, and a lot of good will. They do all the enlargements, from negatives and slides, though I cannot vouch for the quality. They develop within the day, so it is quite convenient. They do not do a good job on color printing, so best go somewhere else for that. You can also process slides at Kodak Express - there are hundreds now in the Beijing Metropolitan area. The best are the big ones. The branch of the Beijing Language Institute is the better one. Quality is fair, not professional. They also do slides, but it takes four days, and costs Y18 per roll. Not bad results, but not as perfect as those in the other place I mentioned.
The best places for second hand cameras:
Labs: Canon, Minolta and Olympus' main labs are in Chonwenmen Wai no 119; a big white building on the way to the Temple of Heaven. Working hours: 9 to 11.30 am, and 1 to 5 pm. They do a fabulous job, but are short of exotic parts, so don't go breaking lenses in china! The Canon shop in Bei Xin Hua Jie, corner of Xi Changan Jie, is licensed to handle most major brands, so in times of despair, you can go there too.
On Dongfeng Lu in Kunming, opposite no 49 (the Golden Triangle Bar on the map in the guide), there is an excellent camera shop with a full range of cameras/lenses/films/equipment, etc, both local and imported. Also, they repair cameras - they fixed my lens, which had slipped from its housing, on the spot in 40 minutes for Y10! Look for the big 'Canon' sign.
I have just found a great air-conditioned Internet café in Urumqi with six computers on-line, quite fast connection and great help for the price of only Y10 per hour (about US$1.50). The place is called Networld (only in Chinese characters) and it's located on Youhao North Road, #18-7. It is easy to get to: take bus no 101, 1, 2 or 52 and get off at the Youhao Lu department store stop. Cross the street from the department store and walk north for about five minutes. There are green characters on the door and if you look closely you'll be able to see the word 'Internet'. The telephone number is: 4831 896 (but their English is not well spoken), or email: p.bm@usa.net
The five travel agencies inside the compound of the Traffic Hotel (Chengdu) all offer tours to Tibet. You can book a fully organised tour to Lhasa, or you can book the minimum package (transport to Chengdu airport, your flight ticket to Lhasa and your permit to go to Tibet). The price for the minimum was Y1400 up to 21 April. From 22 April (the start of the tourist season) the price was Y1750. A girl from the travel agency picks you up in the hotel lobby at 5 am and guides you through the police checkpoints at the airport. Once you get to Lhasa you are on your own.
There is only one place in Kunming (probably in the whole of Yunnan) where antimalarial tablets are available:
Chongqing: there is a newly opened 'Carrefour' (French chain) supermarket. It was quite a sensation when we were there in January (it had opened just some days before), and the place, which features 65(!) cash registers, was packed. We witnessed the Chinese experiencing the 'western way of shopping', fighting their way through the crowd with pushcarts etc. From the outside, you can see through a window into their in-house bakery, ie a room with modern bread-making machinery and a man operating it. It was a big attraction, and people stood on the street watching the man make French bread inside. Anyway, this is a place where one can buy western food (croissants, bread, everything), eg before leaving for a trip on the Yangzi river.
Lijiang: the 'tour group' tourist trade in the city is beginning to take off. Over Chinese New Year, I heard rumours (here in Kunming) that there were so many tourists that many were forced to sleep in the lobby. The growing attraction to Chinese tourist groups (and the other foreign groups) has begun to leave independent travellers in a bit of a hard position as many operators don't want to work for the slim profit offered by the budget travellers.
Mid to late January to mid-February is a very bad time to travel in China due to Spring Festival. It's said that at this time 10% of the population (that's 10% of 1.2 billion people) travel back to their home town. Buying train tickets is a nightmare.
Perhaps to compensate for some of the reduced entry prices, the 'development' tax now seems popular - charged apparently at all airports even on internal flights. It is Y90 per head at Beijing and Y50 per head at Xian. Also payable at Y14 per night on a hotel room.
The most important change is that prices for tourist attractions no longer differ between Chinese and foreigners. This is true for all places we visited: Great Wall at Mutianyu; Forbidden City; Summer Palace; Temple of Heaven; Luxun Museum; Confucius Temple; Lama Temple. Since I read Chinese, I was able to read both the English and the Chinese signs - the prices were identical.
I have just spent a month of hard travelling in China. I highly recommend that you only take travellers cheques and do not count on getting money out of ATMs as it is very hard to find ones that will give cash advances and if you do they are quite often not working. Some banks will let you draw cash from inside the bank but with a 4% commission fee. In Beijing, one that is located quite centrally is at the Citibank Building which is next to the Beijing International Hotel (you do not have to have a Citibank card). This is also handy because the bus from Beijing airport lets people off at this hotel.
Since Autumn 1997, foreigners should officially be charged the same as locals. This seems to work quite well as long as you are not in a tourist area and it works even better if you speak Chinese. But the most important thing is to bargain - everywhere!
The Bank of China does no foreign currency exchange on Saturday or Sunday.
I would like to inform you of a publication called Clueless in Guangzhou. It began this past summer and it has been a huge lifesaver that incorporates topics like detailed maps, shopping guides, as well as tidbits to help one survive and understand the culture shock of Guangzhou. I highly recommend it to anyone travelling to this area. Direct email address: cluelessingz@hotmail.com
Lijiang: if visiting, don't stay in the new part of town or you'll miss some incredible experiences. For me, waking at 7 am and strolling the ancient and deserted mist-filled streets was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Lijiang has lots to offer, and there is now a backpackers guest house in the old town.
It is now official policy that both Chinese and foreigners are charged the same for transport, hotel accommodation and entrance to attractions - at least that was my experience. Good news for foreign visitors as prices are now down a bit, bad news for Chinese as prices have increased.
Beijing: phone numbers now have eight digits, commencing with a '6'. Also, some prefix codes have changed.
Caught the bus from the west side of Macau (near where the old ferry used to run from) to Guangzhou. It stopped near the hotel Dong Fang which DOES have a Bank of China Foreign Exchange office in it. This is important as AMEX at 2444 Hotel Dong Fang does not change travellers' cheques (and neither does the nearby Bank of China).
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Matisi, about 50km from Minle and no more from Zhangye (Gansu) is really a wonderful place. You can see Qianfodong, where the grottoes high on the rock surface are protected with small wooden pagodas instead of the concrete wall with metal doors that look like a prison. There is also a temple with minimal staircases built inside the rock, not so interesting as art treasure, but very funny.
The world famous Sunday Market in Kashgar was a bit disappointing. Instead, I suggest a visit to the Monday market at Upol, about 40km of good road in the direction of the Karakul Lake. A very large country market in the greens, around a small town with lots of people and stalls under the shade of the trees.
Xining city is often unjustly overlooked. The central part of town is called Ximen and has a great riverside market where you can find Daoist doctors, storytellers, opera, tea houses and of course beer.
Macau Museum is excellent, covering all aspects of Macau. 1st floor dedicated to Macau’s place in world history and it’s discovery by Portuguese. 2nd floor looks at life in old Macau, traditions, festivals, cooking, etc. 3rd floor about modern Macau and the 21st Century. Includes ‘hands on’ exhibits and film showings. All displays are in English, Portuguese and Chinese. Located inside Monte Forte. Closed Mondays. Open 10am - 6pm, price HK$15 Adult, HK$8 for student.
Jin Mao Tower is Shanghai’s newest and China’s tallest skyscraper, opened in July. You can take an express lift up to the viewing level on the 88th floor - definitely worth it. 360 degree views with plaques pointing out the sights. It’s located on Zhongyang Dadao near the intersection with Pudong Nanlu - you can’t miss it.
Shidu has become a tourist trap but if you walk past all the attractions, restaurants and hawkers, there is a great walk that goes up into the hills (at the back of Jiudu). A path will lead you but it does become a little overgrown and rough, persevere as the scenery and sheer tranquillity is worth every step.
Forty minutes from Hangzhou, and just outside Shaoxing is Keyan a feng-shui designed park. You can really feel the ‘feng-shui harmony’ working among the canals, statues and waterfall. Entrance is about 20 RMB.
A truly unique experience is to be had at Nanjing, an amazing and historical city. The most impressive of all their city museums and monuments would be the memorial to those killed in World War II. There is also a museum that exposes the crudeness of the killings and tortures but be warned they are still digging up bones nearby - the experience is very moving.
If you’re looking for somewhere to swim in Yangshuo, Guangxi - and are rather dubious about the colour of the river in the town and indeed its contents - I suggest renting a bike and heading out towards Moon Hill. Stop at Camel Hill (before the bridge) and turn right down the little mud track (try to avoid the turkey!). You’ll eventually get to a smaller tributary of the river. There’s also a weir that’s created a small pool, ideal for a quick swim or late night dip! Locals go at about 6.30 pm when the sun’s going down. The light at this time makes for a brilliant view of Moon Hill. There’s also, rather conveniently, a campsite across the road and a small shop that sells very cold beers, for any midnight venturers! Make sure you take the customary inner tubes with you.
Harbin: the Ice Lantern festival lasts until the lanterns start melting. The day they do, everyone starts smashing them on the streets. At night, the illuminations are anything but magical. The lanterns are lit from the inside by fluorescent strips. It’s garish and not at all fantasy like. In the daytime the festival is truly magical; the sun lights up the lanterns in striking ways. The place is also empty during the day, as most tourists come in the evening. During the day you will pay half the price and have the place to yourself. You can only enter by the south entrance, so don’t assume it’s closed.
For anyone interested in Tibetan culture but who doesn’t want to pay for the expensive bus ride to Lhasa: in Qinghai province there are lots of authentic Tibetan places. The best one is probably Yushu in south-east Qinghai. The bus from Xinig takes about 24 hours and the road is beautiful: yaks, snow, the whole thing. The people in Yushu are of the Khampa tribe. They all wear colourful clothes and have long hair and swords. There are also loads of nomads and travelling monks. There are a few basic motels that are quite cheap, but only one motel has showers. It’s on the main road (English sign). The food unfortunately is not very nice, but the area is amazing. There are various monasteries in the mountains around.
We were most impressed by the Chinese Acrobatic Circus that we saw perform at the Poly Plaza theatre inside the Poly Plaza Hotel, Beijing. We had no difficulty buying tickets at the door (Y80-200) for the performance starting at 7.15 pm, and would thoroughly recommend it.
Dali: from the Zhonghe Temple there is a very nice (flat) walk along the hillside. This road is called ‘Cloud Road’ and has several nice spots like ‘Seven Dragon Girls’ Pool’. The path is 18km long and ends at Qingbi Creek; a small path downwards along the creek brings you back to the main road between Dali and Xiaguan. A nice day walk with beautiful sights over Dali and Erhai Lake.
Highly recommendable and still not discovered by any tour group is the newly restored Dongyue Temple in Beijing (Tel: 6551 0151). It covers a huge area with numerous courtyards and has been really carefully and beautifully restored. It’s just opposite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nan Bei Da Jie. An absolute must after all the other overcrowded places. Also, at the moment it houses a very good archaeological exhibition of Beijing over the last 5000 years or so.
While on an internal flight in China, I noticed that the plane’s specification chart in the in-flight brochure mentioned ‘maximum fright level 29,000ft’. However, the journey was without incident.
Yangshuo: the ladies who offer their services as local guides proved glad to accompany a party of two. We pedalled between the paddy fields and were served lunch from one guide’s mother at her home. Interesting to see a poster of Chairman Mao on the wall next to an altar dedicated to Kwan Yin. Another guide took us to her village where a photograph was taken showing us with a local school class on the village’s pride: a bridge the locals claimed dated from the Ming period. She also took us into farmers’ homes. You really get an idea about what rural life is like on these cycling tours.
I was positively stunned when I arrived at the Shanghai Museum. Instead of drafty, dark corridors and stale air that characterise so many museums in China, the museum was impressively housed in a glistening modern building that showed thoughtful design and good execution. I can recommend the hand-held English audio guide and the chocolate cake in the second floor café.
The Natural History in Tianjin is excellent if you like bugs. The butterfly and moth collection is one of the best I have seen and children love the dinosaur display. It is well worth a visit but gets very crowded on weekends.
Crown Cave, Guilin: this is a very impressive cave. For Y55 entry, it is much better value than the Y40 we paid for the Reed Flute Cave. I swear this cave is about 10 times larger (maybe more) than the RFC. Not only are the grottos inside enormous compared with RFC, but the stalactites are also much better, although some of the English translations left me laughing, eg Solutional Wave. There is also an underground flowing river, which the Chinese took no notice of but I managed to get a pic of without losing my group. You also get to go on a boat ride on a more quiet section of the river (remember to duck your head) and a mini roller coaster ride without the scary bits. At the end you get to ride in an elevator back to the surface - looks like something out of Total Recall.
We would like to draw your attention to a beautiful place: Liming in Yunnan Province. It is located six hours from Lijiang by bus and costs Y30. It has the largest red rock sandstone landscape in south-west China (approximately 200 sq km). It is a place where the sun rises and falls three rimes a day due to the towering rock outcrops on either side of the town. Liming means ‘daybreak’. The rocks change colour during the day from soft orange to pink, to deep red at sunset. The prime attraction is the walk to the mountain tops; the most spectacular rock formation to be found is named ‘Qianshanggui’. It resembles hundreds of turtles marching to the sky.
The area is inhabited by 2000 families of Lisu nationality. There are three guesthouses in town and also a few restaurants serving inexpensive but rather bland food. The locals offer you their homemade wine and cakes made from buckwheat and honey that take some getting used to. They are friendly people and are keen for more tourists to visit. The whole town is currently undergoing renovation. Most existing buildings and the newer ones are made with beautiful pink sandstone that surrounds the town. The main street has been widened and large slabs of the pink stone have been laid - when finished, the town will be a showcase. This is the most beautiful place we have visited in Yunnan. It even outshone Tiger Leaping Gorge in our opinion.
Emeishan is one of four ancient buddhist mountains in China. It has much historical value and is virtually untouched by civilization. Climbing the mountain was amazing (Y60). As we made our way skyward we made our way through the rainforest that was covered with heavy mist - it made me forget what the world around us is really like. It was up for miles but along the way we met many people that live on Emeishan. Then we came across the monasteries: they have a certain air about them, one that can’t be described, only felt. They rose out of the mist like giants virtually undisturbed by the outside world. After six hours and an encounter with monkeys we reached our turning point, Nine Ridge. It was all downhill from here and when we made it to the bottom we were cold, wet and exhausted but it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Next time I visit I hope to reach her summit.
Theme parks: Hangzhou has two in a similar area - both down past the Pagoda of Six Harmonies (Liuheta). One is called ‘Future World’, the other is ‘Song Dynasty Town’. Future World is a strange place - lots of construction representing ‘international’ buildings (eg German church, Thai pagoda, Turkish cotton mill, etc), some rides, dance performances and food outlets, which have English signs like ‘coffee’ and ‘hamburger', but which only sell bad quality, overpriced Chinese stuff. We only went there to film a TV show and the place was very empty. However, we did get to pat and be photographed with a live, bored tiger called Lianlian. The place was pretty depressing, yet humorously surreal - probably not worth the 50 RMB or so to enter. Song Dynasty Town is an attempt at a recreation of Hangzhou in the Song Dynasty, but again, it is a weird place - a man-made mountain juts up above the surrounds, giving a view into the fields around the theme park. There are some small shops around often selling the typical Chinese tack, but the occasional one has a working artisan doing something like woodcarving or printing. There are some explanations of history and street theatre performances - all of these are in Chinese, no English or other languages. Friends have said that the evening dance performances are really the highlight of this place, thus it is best to go late afternoon and stick around for the dancing.
On recent travels to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou, I discovered, with the help of Chinese friends, a little known place called Zhouzhuang, situated 38km from Suzhou. This ancient living village is yet unspoiled, and full of canals and narrow streets. It was, in fact, what I was lead to believe Suzhou would be like, but sadly, Suzhou is in the midst of demolishing all the old houses along its canals.
I visited the Sichuan Bamboo Sea Park in South Sichuan near Yibin. There is no information in the Lonely Planet guide about this beautiful park but it is absolutely worth seeing. I found out about it in a local Chinese guide. To get there, take the train from Chengdu to Yibin, approximately a five hour ride. Then a local bus leaves for the Sichuan Zhuhai Gongyuan (Bamboo Park), which takes around three hours and only leaves in the morning.
For those people travelling through Chengdu on a tight scedule, the only must see I can recommend is the Panda Research and Breeding Centre on the north side of town. It's a pleasant place to wander early in the morning and the pandas are often seen outdoors in relatively natural surroundings. As far as other sights around the city, Wenshu and Zhaojue Temples are worthy.
A good place to see 2000 in might be Macau: the celebrations start on 19 December (at midnight the Chinese take it back off Portugal), then there's traditional celebrations for the Winter Solstice, Christmas and midnight fireworks at New Year - a fortnight of almost continual festivities, then Chinese New Year a month or so after that.
Shanhaiguan: just outside the village, a new Great Wall site has opened. We were there in July 1998, and there were almost no other visitors. The entrance fee is Y10, and you can climb the wall as far as you like. The first part of the wall has been restored, but while you are climbing, the old wall will become apparent. It is quite a hike to get up, but the view is fabulous. You can reach the spot by taking a taxi or renting a bike (for about Y10 a day). From Shanhaiguan, you can easily cycle to the beach to see the place where the Great Wall meets the sea, and then cycle to the other spot where it enters the mountains. This can all be done is one day.
At Precious Stone Hill (where the old men air their birds), there is a Daoist Temple where I was able to listen to a live Daoist mass. The music and costumes were fascinating, and very different from a Buddhist ceremony.
In Xian, we stumbled upon a side street café where the girl served tea with a watering-can!
Beijing Shuan Yang Rou is a specialty of the Beijing/Shandong region. Lamb is sliced paper thin and then dipped into a stock which is cooked in a copper hotpot over charcoal. It cooks in seconds, and then is dipped into a special sauce made of sesame paste, minced Chinese chive flower and soya sauce. Although it is little known outside China, it has been very popular for hundreds of years; within China its fame as a Beijing dish is second only to Beijing duck. Most popular in the cold late autumn and winter, it is very delicious and a lot of fun to eat.
Lugu hu: for those with the time to spare, the trip north to Lugu lake is well worth the effort, for the lake itself, the Musu people and the spectacular landscapes on route. It should be possible to get a connecting minibus in Ninglang so as to make it to the lake in one day, but it is unlikely that this will work in reverse. Apart from the 'basic' accommodation in Luoshui village where the bus arrives, there is only the large shan zhuang guest house that can be seen on the promontory towards the north of the lake. This is a tiring walk. No taxis or horse carriages. You can get the bus driver to drive on to there (expensive) or take a boat (the better option). The shan zhuang is comfortable and has a good restaurant, but is not very well oriented to western visitors.
The journey to Deqin (from Zhongdian) is something special. This has been legal for foreigners since 1997, though in May I still had to go to the gongan for a letter to prove this to the ticket sellers. You'll see every sort of mountain scenery, a stretch of the Qinshajiang (upper Yangtse) and beautiful, almost Italian Alpine style villages. The bus reached the snow-line in early May and it was perishing cold, but the views of the spectacular snow-capped mountains made it worthwhile. Deqin, tucked away at the end of a long valley has little to offer as a town, but does have a strong Tibetan feel. The Zu minority people that live in the older streets are most friendly and may invite you into their beautifully decorated houses. There seem to be only two hotels - the first one down the hill is tolerable but the one further down execrable. There is a viewing point for the mountain (Meilixueshan) with a monument to a Japanese/Chinese climbing expedition that died there a few years ago. One can look across to the valley of the Upper Mekong and the Tibetan border. In May, the summit was in cloud as it frequently is in summer. The best viewing time is said to be winter.
For anyone who wants to get a taste of Tibet but does not have the time or the permit to go there, Zhongdian in Northern Yunnan is a good alternative. The majority of the people are Tibetan and very friendly and you'll also find the second largest Tibetan Monastery, yak butter, open air burial grounds, etc. Zhongdian will be opening an airport next year.
The 'Panjiayuan Jiuhuo Shichang' (Panjiayuan old wares market), located just inside the south-east corner of the Third Ring Road (just west of Panjiayuan Bridge) in Beijing is the best and cheapest place to shop for antiques and souvenirs in Beijing. Of course, bargaining is de rigeur, and prices have risen in direct proportion to the number of Beijing Hotel tour buses that have begun to park in the nearby side streets. But many good bargains remain to be had and the selection is vast. The market is open Saturday and Sunday mornings - get there early for bargains. Action starts to die down around noon.
Xinjiang news, Tian Shan Gong Lu (Tian Shan Highway): this is a completely unvisited road, and is by far the most amazing in Xinjiang (after the Karakoram, that is!). It goes from Kuqa to Yinning, and can be done in one long stretch (24 hours), but should be done over a few days. As Kuqa and Yinning are places the Han Chinese detest, and the passengers are almost all minorities, the bus is horrible: no sleepers, no suspension, etc. The first stretch goes from Kuqa to the mountains. It is three hours or more on the bus. The road goes up and curves till you get to the Big Dragon Lake. You can hop off the bus and camp out there if you want. As it is not a sleeper bus, you can always flag down the next day's bus.
The next stretch is amazingly beautiful, and if you can walk part of it, do! It will go for no more than 100km till the road will even up on the grasslands on top of the range. The views are amazing, and there are yurts all over (though you are advised to bring your own food). The grasslands on the top are nice, but very long, so it's best to take another bus all the way to Bayanbulak (Ba Yin Bu La Ke in Chinese). This is a secret swan reserve, that in addition to being amazingly beautiful is packed with tens of thousands of swans every year in June and early July. The authorities claim it is not an open place, but the locals told me that not only is it open, but there are some basic facilities in there. I did not find out, as I camped. It is an amazing place: huge grasslands with a big curling river and massive snow mountains in the background. Looks like the Alps planted in Mongolia.
The next stretch goes downhill towards the Yili River valley. This is a nice ride, but the mountains are quite distant, so you can just enjoy the ride and get to Yinning. If you are still bent on seeing more mountains, there is yet another option: the road goes through a place called Na La Ti, and then turns left (west) towards Yinning. You can get off there, stay at the crummy hotel, and catch the next bus on the road that goes north to Kui Tun. One thing is sure: you will see no travellers at all. So if peace of mind is what you are after, as well as stunning scenery, you are on the right road.
If travellers have time and energy, I highly recommend them passing through the Taklamaken Desert. The new desert road was built about two years ago. A bus runs nearly every nine hours from north to south. Many Uighers live in the south of Taklamaken Desert.
Anyone who is in Yangshuo and interested in spending time and sharing views and thoughts with young Chinese people should seek out the 'Yangshuo Foreign Languages School', about five minutes walk from the centre of town near the river. We went and attended their classes on two occasions. I was even asked by the teacher to take a lesson to talk about and discuss Australia. A great experience.
Hong Qiao market (flashy blue glass building, Beijing): this place is across the street from the east gate of Tiantan Park (Temple of Heaven). Besides every trinket known to humans on floors one and two, the most amazing place is the third floor that holds the Pearl Market. Each stall has piles of pearls in every shape, size and colour. You won't believe your eyes, with thick bunches of pearl strands lying on countless counter-tops. Bargaining is expected and bargains are easily found. A decent looking freshwater strand sells for around $5 and they will string and knot any combination of pearls and stones, such as amethyst, garnet and lapis, free of charge. All vendors speak English and some accept credit cards.
Zhongdian: this is the region that the Chinese have identified as the mythical Shangri-La. If you go at Duan Wu Jie (in the 5th lunar month), you can go to Wu Feng Shan to see the festivities, consisting mainly of horse racing. The horses are reluctant to run more than a lap - to get them any further involves a number of people coming onto the track to encourage them. We saw horses turn around and run the wrong way, riders fall off, etc. People from at least seven or eight different minorities turn up to watch and participate in the event. All broadcasts are in Mandarin.
If you really want to get an idea of how far China has come since the days of Mao Zedong and revolutionary operas, I recommend you check out Beijing's diverse and uncompromising underground rock scene. It's definitely happening, you just need to know where to look. Bands playing everything from jazz to ambient Chinese folk tunes crowd the Sanlitun Embassy district clubs on weekends. Impromptu jams often follow, as many in the audience are also musicians. Here are a few clubs likely to have gigs: the 'CD Café', 'Keep in Touch Café', 'Jazziya', 'Jam' and 'Shadow Café / Club X'. Or if you're feeling really adventurous, I recommend 'Texas' or the 'Storm Bar'. Both of these bars host local punk, rock and metal acts, and rarely will you see another foreigner in the audience. Enjoy and 'Zhongguo Yaogun Bannian!' ('Long Live Chinese Rock!').
Lijiang is definitely a place not to be missed. The Old Town is quite unique. We were impressed by the cleanliness of everything, except for the main public toilet that seems to serve the commercial enterprises. We were very fortunate to witness a lantern parade by thousands of children one night. The city was celebrating the declaration of Lijiang as an international multi-cultural city. There are a lot of new hotels in Lijiang. There is very little evidence of the last earthquake - the Old Town appears totally unaffected. Departure from Lijiang to Kunming was from the beautiful new airport, 40 minutes from town. A new road to the airport is under construction and plenty of time should be left to get there.
Zhengzhou: the drive to Zhengzhou from Louyang takes one through a town I unfortunately did not make a note of. The place is the home of Zen Buddhism. It has 21 Kung Fu schools with 6000 students. The town, set within beautiful mountains, is also home to a burial site called the Pagoda Forest. The site contains over 100 pagodas for 29 generations of past monks dating back to 87 AD. At the entrance to the pagoda site is a large twin-engined aircraft in which Mao Tse Tung reputedly travelled. How they got it there is a mystery. There does not seem to be a bit of level ground anywhere! The rest of the drive gives one another view of China as the road passes through coal mining areas where the roads and buildings are covered in black grime. Not exactly scenic, but an important juxtaposition to the conventional tourist images.
Zhouzhuang is a very unusual place. I would characterise it as the Venice of China. It's about a one and a half to two hour drive from Suzhou, unless you have a driver like ours who gets lost. It is considered by the Chinese as a model community, depicting the traditional lifestyle of the river folk. Access to the town is across seemingly endless plains of fields, ponds and canals. The government has gone to great pains to restore Zhouzhuang and develop it as a tourist site. It is laced with beautiful canals that are plied by 'Chinese gondolas', fishing boats and barges. The tiny, stone-paved streets hide historical homes, some of which can be toured, and there are great places to eat. A photographer's paradise.
I would advise anybody travelling in China who is interested in martial arts (not just kung fu) to visit, and if possible, train at the Shaolin Temple (Henan Province, Inner Mongolia). There are some excellent schools there where one can train. However, beware of poor quality schools who charge high prices and provide sub-standard tuition. I heard stories from people who had paid upwards of Y2000 for ten days of 'training' and were basically just told to stretch all day. My advice would be to watch a day's training at a school before making any decisions, bargain hard over the price (you will be asked for more than you should pay - even the monks will do this - but a good price seems to be around Y1500 for one month's training), and get the instructor to sign some kind of contract so you have something with which to argue if things don't work out.
Beihai, the hometown of China South Sea Pearls, is like a bright pearl in China. There is a lot to see and do in Beihai. The fishing village in Haijiao Road and the Vietnamese fishing village called Qiaogang Town, which was built as a refuge for the Chinese Vietnamese deported by the Vietnam government in the late 70s, are both colourful and interesting places to appreciate how local people live and work. It's fun to take a pedi cab (Chinese tricycle taxi) to travel through the old street called Zhuhai Road where you can see three kilometres of several styles of old western European architecture. Tourists who are interested in Chinese history would enjoy the Puduzheng Temple on Chating Road just up the road to the right from the Furama Hotel. About 30km will take you to Hepu County to see the Museum of the ancient tombs of Han Dynasty, Wechang Pagoda, Dashi Pavilion and Dong po Pavilion.
Star Islands Lake: 60km away from downtown is a real fairy land with attractive scenery and fresh air. It was formed when the Hongchao reservoir was built. The lake covers a large area of more than ten square km with more than 1000 small islands of various shapes and sizes. CCTV (China Central TV station) selected this site to construct replicas of ancient castles and temples on several islands used in the filming of the fantastic TV series based on the Chinese famous historical novel, Outlaw of the Marsh. The site is now an interesting tourist attraction. Visitors can contact the local CITS office for details on tours.
Weizhou Island is 36 sea miles from Beihai. The journey to Weizhou Island takes three hours by small ferry. Keep in mind that it can be a rough trip in poor weather. It is the largest volcanic island in China. From the top of the island there is a grand view of the sea and beach. One can descend down a long winding narrow path of steps to get a good view of the caves formed in the side of the volcanic crater that now forms the bay. Local history tells us these caves were havens for South Sea pirates in ancient times. One of the surprises to visitors is the huge Catholic Church built in Gothic style of local coral stone in 1869. The construction of the 774 square metre church took ten years. The church, monastery and additional buildings housed a hospital, school and kindergarten. The church was the first Catholic church in the region. The island is also famous for colourful corals and shellfish. A nice relaxing experience is to take a walk on the coral beach.
Mangrove Forest: listed by the State Council as a National Ocean Resources Preserve Protected Area, the 333.33 hectare forest of mangroves is located along the beach in the south-east Hepu county about 90km from Beihai. An interesting experience for visitors is to take a small boat trip through The Forest in the Ocean, when the sea tide is in. Trips can be arranged through the local CITS office.
We just returned from Harbin. The Ice Lantern Festival was worth the trip even if my fingers and toes still remain there. We were advised to see the people swim in the frozen river. If you haven't left any body parts behind at the Ice Lantern Festival, this event is well worth seeing. You will be greeted at the river by hundreds of sled drivers more than willing to take you to the 'swimming hole' for 100 RMB.
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In Beijing, yellow micro buses ‘bread taxis’ are now non-existent. Most popular taxis by far are the ‘bullet taxis’ (hatchback/saloon cars) all red in colour and with a sticker in the window stating ¥1.20 or ¥1.60.
Getting to the Stone Flores in Kunming isn’t easy. If you’re travelling on the minibus service that departs form the Camelia Hotel be sure to buy your ticket one day before and get there early as they often sell more tickets than available seats. The hotel provided an alternative but it was a tour bus that stopped numerous times and took 3 hours to get there.
You can now get to the Summer Palace by boat. Boats leave from Wanshou and the TV Tower plus a few other docks.
Wuzhou: coming from Nanning and Yangshuo, the bus finished at a long-distance bus station in the western part of town (west of the Gui River). Bus number 3 (Y1) on the road in front of this station will take you to the bus station (number 15) on Xijiang Road, right in the centre of town. It seemed that you can buy any ticket at bus station 16 and if the bus departs from the long-distance bus station in the western part, a local bus will take you there, included in the price of the ticket.
In Gansu, insurance is still required to buy bus tickets. Sometimes they check for insurance at the gate as well. From Zoige to Lanzhou (via Xiahe), we met people who paid bribes, but from north to south they are more strict. The prices for tickets are now the same for tourists.
If travelling to China around late November, it might be worth choosing a port of entry other than Beijing. The airport has chronic problems at the first snowfall of the year. On a trip last year I was stranded at Beijing airport for eight hours. One of the runways was closed due to the snowfall and the airport was not at all prepared. The place was in complete chaos and I had to run around for hours trying to get a ticket for a connecting flight. I finally managed to get one after hours of storming around from office to office of the various airlines of the CAAC. Good thing that I am fluent in Chinese because I would hate to think what a non-Mandarin speaker would have done.
It is now easy to get to Wutai Shan because an ‘express highway’ has been constructed. You can either take it from Datong or Taiyuan and it takes about four hours by bus. The mountain is a real delight, the monks are friendly and willing to show you around their monasteries and it makes a lung-saving break from the pollution of Datong’s coal mining atmosphere.
We chose to visit the Great Wall at Simatai and were rewarded by amazing views. It is worth noting that buses to Simatai leave from the long distance bus station which is separate to, and further down the road from the local Dongzhiem bus station. It is possible to catch a bus to Miyun (buses leave every 10 minutes) and from there take a minibus to Simatai. We paid Y30 one-way. An easy way to get back to Beijing is to hitch a lift on one of the departing tour buses. Again the cost was Y30.
Wuhan: all local bus rides are only Y1 no matter how far you travel. This means that every time you get on a bus you pay Y1. Beats the zone system back home! For travellers strapped for cash and who don’t want to spend the bucks crossing the Yangtze by ferry, you can get to Wuhan University on the 608 bus, yep for just Y1! You catch it at the bus stop on Zhongshan Dadao opposite the McDonalds at the Galaxy Plaza. It travels over the Han River, past the long-distance bus station in Hanyeng, over the old Yangtze bridge and down Wuluo Lu to stop just past the university gates on Beiyi Lu. Most of the passengers will get off here anyway. It takes about one hour but at peak times can take almost two hours - that’s the downside. It keeps on going down Beiyi Lu towards the East Lake, but I don’t know how far, or if you can get to Mor San.
If you travel from anywhere on the Beijing-Lanzhou train route (such as Yinchuan) straight through to Turpan/Urumqi, even though your ticket states your final destination, you have to change trains at Lanzhou. It is important to know this for two reasons:
Two: you have a 14 hour wait in Lanzhou. This is actually not as bad as it sounds, as you can quite easily while away the time and park your bags for Y4 at the station, but it is, nonetheless, something I would have liked to know before I got there, rather than after. It also makes the wait for the tickets less of a problem, as I couldn’t work out what time the train was leaving and was worried about missing it. No need.
Important: make sure that the ticket you get reissued is correct. I discovered much to my horror, when I tried to get back on the train to Turpan (at 9.20 pm), that although I had paid for and been issued a hard sleeper originally, I was reissued a hard seat - for a 36 hour journey, something only someone with the patience of a saint could endure. Luckily, I was able to upgrade, but I had to pay the difference between the two prices (another Y103), even though my ticket showed I’d already paid. At that stage, my joy at not having to spend two nights in hard seat class was enough to dull the annoyance, but it was annoying, nonetheless. Had there been no hard sleepers left, I dread to think what I might have been driven to …
Finally, this train arrives at Turpan station at 4.40 am, but it’s no hassle. A minibus was there to pick me up at the station, so I didn’t have to walk to the bus station. I had to wait an hour or so for a few more trains to deposit a full load of passengers before the bus left, but as it was 5 am and I was in Daheyang, I didn’t have anything better to do. The minibus also dropped me off right at the Oasis Hotel without being asked, which was handy.
Trans-Mongolian railroad: you might consider telling the dining car attendant during the Chinese segment that you are a vegetarian (even if you aren’t). When we told them not to bother serving us the horrible looking grey meat for lunch, they offered to make us fresh scrambled eggs with tomato!
From Datong, the 7.30 am bus to Taihuai/Wutaishan from the old bus station doesn’t take you over the scenic pass that the bus from the new station does. It also doesn’t go through Hunyuan, so there’s probably only one bus through there a day. The bus we caught was a shiny new one that only took three and a half hours to get from Datong to Taihuai!
Many places offer ways to get to Hong Kong ‘direct’ from Yangshuo. The cheapest we found was Y240 per person. This put us on a sleeper bus to somewhere in darkest Guangzhou, where we were dumped at 4.30 am. With the help of someone on the bus we managed to get taken in a cattle van to the ‘hovercraft’ terminal (which turned out to be a catamaran). This opened at 6.30 am but we had to stay there all day as the only boat left at 4 pm and there was no transport link with the rest of Guangzhou. Luckily the staff arrived at 8.30 am and let us into the VIP lounge to sleep on their big comfy leather sofas instead of the floor! We eventually got to Hong Kong at 6 pm. Meanwhile, everyone else had stayed on the sleeper bus until it stopped at Shenzhen, then walked across the border to take the KCR into Hong Kong.
The train station in Guilin: sometimes, as in my case, you will be dropped off at the NEW train station at the north end of town, just off the top of the map in the LP. You can get a taxi to the bus station in the centre of town. It shouldn’t cost you more than 25RMB. Sometimes the taxi drivers will try to pin an extra 10RMB on you for a toll, even though they have already started off with an exorbitant flat fee of 11RMB.
From Wuzhou to Guangzhou I took a boat for Y57 (dorm). It took 15 hours and was a very enjoyable way to get there - more comfortable than a sleeper bus, and it saved a night’s accommodation. I didn’t spent any time in Guangzhou, just went straight to Hong Kong. The express trains from Guangzhou to Shenzhen now take only 55 minutes and cost Y80. Rumour has is that China Railways wants to make the entire Kowloon-Beijing line 200km per hour which would cut the travelling time significantly, but presumably the price would be raised further.
Yunnan Airlines is offering daily routes from Kunming to Dali (Xiaguan), Lijian and Xishuangbanna now. There’s also a direct flight from Lijiang to Xishuangbanna.
Philippine Airlines have (finally) resumed flights between Xiamen and Manila and are currently flying every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, leaving Manila very early in the morning. They have not (yet) opened the office on Xiahe Lu, after the airline suddenly suspended all flights for 13 days in October 1998.
Flights leave from Kunming to Guilin almost every hour but take care as we discovered many of the flights had the same flight number and the gate number kept changing. It ended up being different to the number displayed on the departure board.
In February 1999 no high-speed ferry service from Hong Kong to Macau was available. After searching in vain at the Macau Ferry Terminal I was told that the service had been suspended. I ended up travelling by jetfoil instead.
Take care when travelling by boat in Yueyang. There are two wharves quite a distance from each other. Allow time to get to both, as I nearly didn’t. It was the one time in China I was grateful to find a reckless maniac taxi driver. The boat had actually left the dock but graciously pulled in far enough for me to jump on.
Catching a bus from Congjiang to Zhaoxing should be easy, but some buses only go as far as a village 5km away from Zhaoxing.
The Songpan to Chengdu road is now finished and took us about nine hours. It also costs Y10 more from Songpan than it does from Chengdu, which is strange because when we asked the PSB why, they said, ‘let’s go and find out’, which we did, and the ticket seller immediately gave us a Y10 refund. Didn’t answer the question but saved us Y10.
The situation on the trains is getting better (hard sleeper). I noticed ‘No Smoking’ signs, although some of the Chinese took no notice, but still, it’s not anywhere near as bad as before. Also, I thought they were making a courageous attempt at cleanliness with the addition of rubbish bins with green plastic bags. So, being the good environmental science student that I am, I made the trek down to the bin to dispose of my rubbish as did many of the Chinese people, only to see the guard come along three hours later, collect the garbage bag, tie it up and throw the lot out the window! I almost cried.
There is a new high-speed train (110km/h) to the Stone Forest. Y30 round-trip. Reaches Shilin in just one and a half hours.
In response to the postcard below: I believe this is very misleading. Yes, there is a train to Wutaishan and it is posted on the schedule in Taiyuan as such, but it doesn’t go to Wutaishan; it goes to the town of Shahe on the northern edge of the Wutai area. From Shahe, you still need to hop on a minibus or arrange private transport to Wutaishan, or more precisely, the town of Taihuai in the centre of Wutai. It’s one to two hours depending on the insanity level of the driver. There was no rail link in Taihuai that I saw in February and I doubt one could be built in two or three months, besides Taihuai is surrounded on all sides by mountains - not an easy feat to connect by rail.
By far the easiest, most direct method is to take a bus from Taiyuan or, if necessary, Datong. There are plenty to choose from (in front of the train stations) and the roads on the northern and southern approaches are new and, as of now, smooth going. Drivers on the other hand, tend to ignore the inherent dangers of hairpins and switchbacks and drive down the middle of the road at relatively high speeds… hang on.
In previous editions of LP’s China it’s been written that Wutaishan in China’s Shanxi province is a real hassle to get to, requiring permits, etc. Well, not any more. First, no permit is required. Second, it is very convenient to get there from Beijing. You no longer have to ride a bus from Taiyuan or Datong along dusty, dangerous roads for nine hours. Instead, you can take a very comfortable train that especially accommodates travellers to the area. Train Y219 (final destination is Taiyuan) leaves from Beijing station (not to be confused with the West station) at 9.21 pm, arriving in Wutaishan at 4 am. I know, a little early, but you get to sleep on a comfortable train and lose no precious travel time.
Nanjing has a new airport that is really far away from the centre of town. A taxi from downtown to the airport costs more than Y160. If you go to the airport from downtown, the taxi driver may charge the miles (or km) for the return trip. Last time we refused to pay more than the price on the meter and handed him the exact amount and left, but we do not recommend doing this. Next time we will take the CACC bus.
There has been a new fast train doing the Shanghai-Hangzhou run and back for just over 12 months. It takes about 90 minutes and arrives at Meilong station. Trains depart three times daily. Meilong station is considerably closer to Hongqiao airport than Shanghai station. Meilong also has a metro station which is handy for getting into town. There are also three trains daily from Meilong to Hangzhou.
The first pedestrian tunnel under the Huangpu river is now entering the final construction phase. The tunnel will connect the Bund area near Nanjing Road in Puxi with Lujiazui’s riverside avenue in Pudong. The tunnel is 647m long with an inner diameter of 6.76m. Escalators will be installed in the tunnel to transport passengers between the two stations either side. It will take 2.5 to five minutes to cross the tunnel and the project is expected to be completed by October 1999.
There is a ferry service between Pusan and Yantai. This is mentioned in the China guide but with few details and is completely omitted in the Korea guide. The ferry company is C&K Ferry Lines (tel 051 441 8888). The ferries from Pusan to Yantai run on Saturdays at noon and the return ferry leaves on Thursdays at 7 am. The price one-way is US$120 or US$168 for a round trip.
When I arrived in Weihai to catch the ferry, I found to my horror that there was a huge crowd of people with huge piles of suitcases standing in front of the ferry terminal. It did not take long to discover that the tickets had all sold out the day before. With the prospect of staying in Weihai for a few days before me, I was walking dejectedly down the street when I passed an Asiana Airlines office. Weihai doesn’t have an international airport but Yantai, which is just 60km away, does. Better still, Asiana has cheap daily flights from Yantai to Seoul at only 1050 RMB, which is about the same as the ferry. This is a brand new route. I decided to cut my losses and take the flight, which in the end was much more convenient than the ferry, although not as romantic.
Guangdong, Shenzen, to/from the airport: bus #330 (airport shuttle bus) takes you from the airport to about 100m short of the border crossing to Hong Kong for Y20. Great value considering a taxi will cost you three times that.
If you are travelling on the Trans Mongolian Railway from Beijing to Moscow, the cheapest way is to buy your ticket in Beijing a week or so beforehand. This should cost about US$200 one way for a sleeper in a four berth cabin. It helps if you can speak Mandarin and there are separate lines for foreigners. They mix up males and females and you might find yourself in a berth with some interesting people who can't speak English. Pre-booking on the No 3 train will cost you about US$400 from any agency, but saves you heaps of hassle, especially if you can't stand hanging around a crowded railway station for hours or days to get your ticket. The train is extremely popular so pre-booking is the only way to guarantee a specific departure. When getting on the train at Beijing they make you weigh your luggage and get your ticket stamped or they won't let you on to the platform. You can see why - hoards of Chinese pushing and shoving, trying to get through a narrow doorway carrying their life possessions on their back. Don't break your journey or it will cost another staggering US$200 for the ticket. This is only worth it if you intend to spend lots of time exploring the inner depths of the Russian Federation (it was near freezing in Siberia by mid-September, even though it was still 23 C degrees in Moscow). Skip Mongolia unless you're into dinosaurs or horseback riding.
You must get a Mongolian Visa (US$30 in Beijing) even if you're just transiting the country. One of my cabin mates got the wrong advice from his travel agent and was detained at the border for six hours while they processed his application. Food is provided at the Chinese end. It's fairly basic and the crew are surly. The Russians are much more efficient and clean. Take pot noodles with you and try and get roubles at the border or you will starve. I was fortunate enough to meet a Russian on the train who spoke English and was willing to change my US dollars into roubles.
Siberia is not the frozen wasteland people think. It's teeming with life, people, animals, insects (lots of mosquitos) and trees. The train ride is popular, fascinating and you never know who you'll meet.
Travelling from Lanzhou (Gansu) to Linxia (Xiahe): at the west bus station there are a lot of aggressive men waiting to take tourists for a reasonable price to Linxia in their minibuses. They hassled us into a bus and after a while (when we were already on the road), they forced us to pay a lot of money for the ride (about Y150 to Linxia). In our case they got very aggressive and intimidating (pushing, grabbing, etc) and they wouldn't let us go until we'd paid. In our opinion they work as some sort of gang. They get what they want because a lot of tourists think that it is cheaper because this way they don't have to pay the insurance. But believe me, it's better and safer and cheaper to go with a public bus. When we were in Xiahe we found out that everybody experienced the same scam.
Hangzhou has several train stations, so beware which one you get off at. Trains from Shanghai often stop at the east station. In Shanghai also, there are several stations so your train may not terminate at the central station. Guilin: the new airport is now open.
There are new fast trains to Xi'an, at the same old prices! The trip now takes about 14.5 hours (was 22).
We found that Tai'an Railway station was a nightmare to buy onward tickets from. First of all, they only sell unreserved hard seats, and secondly, they will only sell tickets if you provide them with the train number and the departure time. Even though we bought them at the earliest possible time (6 am, three days before), the only one available out of six possible trains was the expensive overnight one arriving at our destination, Changzhou, at 3.10 am. If you are also going to Qufu, it may be easier to take a bus back to an alternative station (eg Jinan) and try there.
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Near Zhengzhou: For those who want to visit the Shaolin monastery, be wary of bus drivers who are really tour operators. Once on the bus, they will take you to four or five different stops (including a crappy jewelry store for almost 30 min), before finally arriving at the monastery.
If you’re in China and you go to visit a traditional Chinese herbal doctor because your tour guide suggested it (as you amazingly ‘have some spare time left in your tour’), don’t drink the tea - it’s not tea!
A small piece of advice about the monkeys at Emei Shan. Don’t look them in the eyes or they might take offence and attack you by throwing themselves on your back.
We bought ‘Kodak’ film near Tiananmen Square for Y12.5 per roll (cheap) and that was fine. The boxes were sealed, the whole thing was shrink wrapped (20 boxes per pack instead of the usual 10) and there were the ‘right’ codes, etc. We opened the box and found that the plastic cans didn’t match each other and that the cartridges were in English or Chinese and were definitely reused. When we developed a roll, we found that an old spool had been reused, ie the new film was taped onto the cut end of the old film, and that the quality was bad: blue tint and light exposure in one place. We went back to the store and got our money back after showing elaborate proof. I suggest anyone buying film should get it from a camera store and then open a box and make sure the cartridge looks new (and the emulsion is good; the fake stuff is dull - Kodak et al are more iridescent).
Tiger Leaping Gorge: be careful! Although the scenery is lovely, it can also be very dangerous. The maps that are provided are not to scale and provide only a general outline of the route. It is very easy to wander off the main track and get seriously lost down one of the many tracks. It’s worth hiring a guide for the trek - definitely don’t go alone.
At the Imperial Summer Villa (bishu shanzhuang), Chengde, beware of touts that pass themselves off as tour guides. We wanted to see the palaces but were only taken to places they wanted us to see such as gift shops and boat rides where they would be paid a commission. If you really need a guide make sure they are official guides, get them to clearly explain the places they are going to take you to and agree on a price and never give them more.
The Three Gorges cruise: I signed up for the cruise at the Traffic Hotel Travel Service in Chengdu. Everything went OK until I actually boarded the boat. Once on, it was obvious to me that this was a filthy place. There was dirt everywhere. The worst thing was that the water was piped in for washing in the basins and shower directly from the river - sand, sewerage and all. As a civil engineer with over 40 years experience, I can tell you that this is a very dangerous situation - I’d even call it perilous. I’m sure that there must be numerous cases of cholera, typhoid and lord knows what else from the exposure of travellers to such water, but it probably doesn’t get reported because the cases are dispersed and the Chinese government probably does not want any publicity anyway. The stink of filth and sewerage was present throughout the ship, and it has taken me three days to wash the brown stains and odours from all the pieces of clothing exposed to the water on the cruise.
The Great Wall: I had the wall almost all to myself, except for the locals who sell food and drinks to the tourists and the scam artists who try to set up and shake down westerners for money. I had just reached the top of the wall when I was squeezed between two Chinese ‘gentlemen’. Mind you, the place was not crowded - there were only three of us on this whole section of the wall! The ‘scam artist’ passed very near to me on one side and was carrying a bag that he dropped when I happened to bump into him. Of course, I hadn’t intended to bump into him, but was intentionally shoved by his accomplice. The bag, of course, contained a vase that was now in pieces. The guy grabbed hold of my arm and would not let me go. I refused to give him any money and tried calling out the word ‘police’ but this did no good. I became panicked and angry and gave up on my attempt to climb any more of the wall, and, with the guys still in tow, started to walk back down the trail to the parking lot. I ended up losing them but this is a warning for others to watch out for this scam.
If you are in Beijing and need to go to a hospital, do not go to the Friendship Hospital (Youyi Yiyuan). I went there during the Chinese New Year and they were closing early. I was greeted with, ‘You don’t look like you’re about to die! What did you come here for?’ I was suffering serious dehydration from food poisoning. Reluctantly, a doctor gave me a checkup, told my wife that my condition was critical and a danger to the public, and that they would not allow me to check out of the hospital for three days. I apparently had some type of contagious disease that was threatening my life. After making plans with my wife to make a run for it, they then told us we must pay a US$600 ‘deposit’ or they would refuse to treat me. Knowing that I wasn’t about to die and that I had simple food poisoning, my wife and I forced our way out of the hospital and made our way to the Peking Union Hospital (Xiehe Yiyuan). The staff there were far more friendly, did not charge exorbitant admissions fees and treated me for the food poisoning with no fuss.
Changbaishan Nature Reserve: it is not possible to walk around the lake in the centre of the ancient Changbaishan volano. The reason for this is that the mountain range and the lake are bisected by the Chinese-Korean border. There are no comprehensive maps of the Changbaishan area; the maps based on satellite information are unclear and misleading. The border is not marked in any way or even sign-posted. I warn any tourists visiting the Tian Chi (Heaven's Pool) lake not to walk any further east of the weather station which is situated below the summit of Changbaishan.
We ran into a bit of trouble in Langmusi with a shifty taxi operator. We hired a taxi for the journey to Songpan on the understanding that it was to be a mini-bus vehicle, and that the total cost was 600 RMB for the whole trip, regardless of how many people we found to share the ride. When the time came, we were forced to accept an uncomfortable pick-up truck with a canvas tarpaulin. Worse, after piling nine people in and travelling a third of the way to our destination, the driver announced that the price was now 150 RMB per person and became quite violent when we protested. Fortunately the PSB in Zoige was very helpful and managed to calm him down and adhere to something close to the original deal. I have since heard similar stories from other travellers from Langmusi; it appears to be quite a scam. A few locals tried to warn us and tell us that the bus was the best way to go but we thought we knew better.
The Emeishan monkeys are a real problem. They scratch and when we were there, they ripped a woman's plastic raincoat to pieces. They are very confident and don't let you pass. The porters are very aware of this and charge people large amounts of money for protection from the monkeys. They also wind you up with 'monkey will kill you!'. I would not walk down/up the mountain alone.
In Chengdu, I was attacked, robbed, beaten and only narrowly escaped being raped. The striking thing was that there were lots of Chinese people around and they didn't intervene despite the fact that the guy was hitting me and I was crawling on the ground and crying out for help (in bad Chinese). They just said 'go with him'. Anyway, I escaped (without my money) and I would be happy if my information could prevent someone else experiencing a similar incident.
I travelled back to Juizhaigou via Nanping and Zhaohua. The roads are very, very dangerous. Evidence of landslides and huge boulders falling onto the road all the way along.
A road is now being built through the Tiger Leaping Gorge and there are very dangerous stretches, especially in wet weather. I would not advise doing this trek in wet weather even during summer, at which time we barely missed being crushed by refrigerator-sized boulders. The worst section is around the waterfall, half an hour west of Walnut Grove on the low road, where the workers are dynamiting constantly. Heed their warnings and race quickly through the area.
My friend and I took the road from Chengdu-Kangding-Litang-Xiangcheng-Zhongdian. This is mentioned in the Lonely Planet as the 'Back Road to Sichuan', in the Sichuan Province chapter. Travellers should be aware that these roads are bad. On multiple occasions our bus almost fell off the large cliffs and actually did fall off the road once, onto the shoulder. Luckily everyone was OK. So be careful, especially during the rainy season - these roads are dangerous.
A word of warning: our Spring Festival was almost ruined by missing the Three Gorges sight on our trip to Yichang. We were assured our boat was a tourist boat. Instead, we were crowded onto a passenger ship, 12 in a cabin, which sped past the gorges in the dark! Nobody was allowed on deck, but we managed to see a little of the cliffs under a full moon. The boat was also seriously overcrowded. Make sure you ask to see the boat beforehand and hold onto the company's address.
I have just returned form Tiger Gorge in Yunnan. When I was there it was sunny and not dangerous, but when it rained, there were rock slides everywhere. We were told of five Chinese workers who had been killed from rock slides that day. I know of one Chinese girl who slipped running down the mountain for the ferry. I also saw cuts and bruises of fellow travellers who had been hit by falling rock. So during the rainy season, it's best to stay away when it looks like rain.
Watch out for the dogs in Daju. I was bitten by one of them while walking through the town. I didn't get rabies shots immediately, but on return to Shanghai two weeks later I went to the Hua Shan hospital (foreigners section, 19th floor) to enquire about it and the doctors and nurses were horrified that I had done nothing sooner. Whether this is correct or not, I don't know, but the doctor there told me that of infectious diseases, rabies is the second greatest killer. You have to take a course of five rabies injections over a period of one month and a shot of immunoglobulin (nasty) with your first rabies vaccination.
Salt Lake, Turpan: be extremely careful where you step. I ended up getting sucked into deep, salty mud in a spot that looked perfectly stable. Our guide had said nothing about the danger and I lost a shoe. There are no signs to warn tourists of this.
TEDA (Tianjin District): this is the one foreigner complex that, like the streets elsewhere in the area, have open sewer grates. I managed to fall down one one night and it took me a couple of weeks to recover and walk properly again.
In parts of China road work can be hazardous to your health. Twice, roads were dynamited right in front of us, with rocks falling from 100m landing all around us. Very dangerous near-death experience, but neat to look at (not recommended). The Chinese word for dynamite is FAH-PO, so if you hear workers yell this and blow whistles, TAKE COVER!
Dangers on the roads and pavements: there happen to be loose stones, deep holes, obstacles like little iron bars coming out of the concrete, dangling electric cables and loose drain covers (I fell into one of those and luckily got out with a few scratches only!)
Helen, Australia (Sept 99)
Sam Andrew & Deirdre O’Neill (Sept 99)
For anyone coming from Vietnam, the Chinese embassy in Hanoi is a cheap and easy place to get a visa. Do not try to get your visa from any of the travel agents - they all charge ridiculous commissions and are much less helpful than the embassy staff.
Cordelia Dickinson (Jul 99)
Alex Scholten, The Netherlands (Jul 99)
Jeff Kruse, Australia (Jun 99)
Hong Xiu Ping, China (Jun 99)
Adi Bloom, UK (May 99)
Avenue de Tervueren 445
1150 Woluwe-Saint-Pierre
Tel: (32) 2 779 4333
Carla Van Diest, Belgium (Apr 99)
Visas for China (one month): English, $45; French, $31; German, $26; Danish, $37; Dutch, $33; Australian, $21; Americans, $27. Visa in 10 days, $4; visa in two days, $20.
David Boyall, Australia (Apr 99)
Peter Berrett, Australia (Mar 99)
Judy Pex, Israel (Feb 99)
Gerard Ferlin, France (Jan 99)
103 Shamian Bei Jie
Shamian Island, Guangzhou 510 130
Telephone: 020 8192 2566; Fax: 020 8192 299
The US Consulate is still at its old location, but has changed its telephone number to: 8188 8911; fax: 8186 2341.
The Vietnamese Embassy can be called on 8652 7908; fax: 8652 7808.
The Thailand Embassy remains on the first floor of the White Swan, but the telephone number is now: 8188 6968.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Beijing can be contacted on 6532 5414.
It is perfectly possible to enter and leave China at Dongxing/Mong Cai; the crossing is pretty straightforward. According to the customs logbook, this border crossing currently sees only some 15 foreigners per month. You will need your international vaccination book for Vietnam, or otherwise pay a small surcharge. It is also advised, by the border guards themselves, that you should declare valuables, such as cameras and money on entry, since other Vietnamese border posts might take it as an excuse for troubling you when leaving. The Chinese will ask their compatriots not only for a passport, but for other documents, such as an ID card, to support the authenticity of the passport.
There are four border crossings overland to Shenzhen. By far the most convenient border crossing is with the KCR train at Lo Wu (Mandarin: Luohu). The border is open from 7 am until 11 pm. However, the last train leaves Hung Hom Kowloon terminus at 9.45 pm. Later trains do not allow border crossing. The other border checkpoints at Wenjindu, Huangang and Shatoujiao (Mandarin spelling) are only accessible by car. The Shatoujiao crossing seems to be out of bounds for foreigners, even with proper Hong Kong border zone documents. Since early 1997, it is possible to cross at Huangang as a pedestrian, using local buses to get there. You can also take one of the City Buses, which depart from Kowloon China ferry terminal and service several places in Guangdong province directly. Another way to get to Shenzhen is by sea from the China ferry terminal to Shekou pier.
Luis Moreton Achsel, Germany (Dec 98)
Regarding obtaining a Chinese visa in Hong Kong: the visa charge for a normal Chinese single entry visa costs HK$100. It is issued the next working day. If you apply before 5pm (closing time), you can pick it up at 9am the next working day. The double entry visa costs HK$150 and takes the same time. For one hour express service add HK$150. US passport holders pay an additional HK$160. Opening time of the visa issue office in Wanchai are Monday-Friday: 9am-12pm, 2-5pm; Saturday: 9am-12pm. Bring a passport photo and a pen; you will need both there. Their phone number is: 2585-1794. This office also issues three and six month re-entry visas, but you need an official invitation issued by the foreign office. The price is HK$200 and 400 respectively. Basically, you can get a six month re-entry visa from any travel agent in Hong Kong. The charge should be HK$550-900, depending on the agent.
Jens Behrens, Hong Kong (Dec 98)
Qi Hua Tower, 11-12 Floor
Huai Hai Middle Rd 1375
Shanghai 200031
Tasneem Hussain (Nov 98)
Joerund Buen, Norway (Sep 98)
Chinese visa in Bishkek: wait seven to 10 days for transit visa after you have pak visa. The cost is $30 for Americans. There is no special 'cancel' stamp for the pass.
Chinese bus to Kashgar: it does go but kicks you off at the 'arc' (border). $55 to there and you can arrange a meeting through them for $200-250 (this works). Arrange four days in advance.
Taxi to border: it cannot go to the arc. The Kyrgyz exit immigration post is 7km away. We paid $65 from Bishkek to the post and hitched to the arc.
From the arc into China: you MUST be met. We arranged through Ian Claytor, LegExp, 131 Kievskaya, 4/5 apt; Phone: (996) 3312 213 278. He charged us $20 (subject to change) to arrange the fax/invite and provided excellent service. This takes three to four working days.
We were met by Sadik, of CYTS, in a landrover - cost $40 per person, paid on arrival in Kashgar in cash.. Note that the kyr post charges $2/30 som each for the departure forms (scam). Som are useless in China.
Total travel time is two full days. The Kyrgyz took three hours(!) to process us. This is slower than average. The Chinese are faster. Going the other way, the PSB permit takes about four days (from Urumchi) and we met folks who didn't have time and paid $70 for a driver who 'knew' someone on the Chinese side who let them pass.
We also met a single woman who begged the Chinese and was issued a 'permit' on the spot. The Chinese at the new immigration post didn't even ask to see it (so, you need to get past two places: the arc and the inspection post 20km down the road). We saw and met several people who were turned away at this second post.
Good luck!
David Zetland, USA & Sandra Basic, Croatia (Aug 98)
Filip Crombez, Belgium (Jul 98)
Captain Brian Nomi, USA (Jun 98)
Cate Turk (Mar 98)
Consular Section, 31 Portland Place, London, W1N 3AG
Office hours: 9 am to noon, Monday to Friday.
Telephone hours: 2 to 4 pm on (0171) 631 1430
Telephone answering service on (0891) 880 808
Visas - validity and duration: I have visited China many times on visas obtained in Hong Kong and London. My experience is that the 'validity' of the visas is three months from the date of issue to the date of entry into China, irrespective of the 'duration of stay'. Last year I requested and was granted 40 days stay, this year ditto 60 days, and on neither occasion was it necessary to show tickets to/from China to obtain these durations.
Embassies in Beijing: some time ago a prefix '6' was added to all Beijing telephone numbers, and the code for dialling within China to Beijing was changed to 010 (from 01). So, for example, the Dutch embassy phone number is now Beijing 6532 1131 or 010 6532 1131 from outside Beijing within China.
Tony Burgess, UK (Mar 98)
M D Tinker, UK (Mar 98)
Actually, in Chengdu, although the rates are cheaper, the PSB said the maximum they could extend a Group Visa for was 20 days (we needed a month), and in any event it would only be extended once. They were also not prepared to break up the group completely and give us all individual visas. They said that a normal individual tourist visa could be extended three times.
Conclusion: if you plan your travel to China - Nepal, you will find it much easier and cheaper this year than going Nepal - China. All the people we met in Lhasa and in Chengdu were saying how easy they had found it.
Don, John, Krisztina (Mar 98)
Paul Durham (Feb 98)
Ray Bradshaw, United Kingdom (Nov 99)
Tracy Hennige (Sept 99)
Adrian Coppel, Mexico (Sept 99)
Jo-Ann Lim, Australia (Sept 99)
Andrew Correia, United Kingdom (Sept 99)
Gonçalo Magalhães, Macau (Sept 99)
If, like me, you find that the trip down the Li River from Guilin to Yangshou is too expensive (Y420 one way), just get the local bus to Yangshou for Y10 and do a trip up the Li from there. A three hour chug to Xingping cost Y50 and you can cycle back to Yangshou through stunning scenery in about three hours.
Dr Oliver Salamanda, UK (Jul 99)
Datong: do not bother with the CITS tour to the Yungang Caves unless you are particularly fond of tour groups. Getting to the caves by public bus is cheap and easy.
Sichuan Province: the food on the Yangzi River cruises is overpriced and practically inedible. Pack your own instant noodles, fruit, etc!
You can now use American ATM cards at just about every bank in Shanghai, and most branches of the Bank of China in Beijing.
Cordelia Dickinson (Jul 99)
Joeri Demey, Belgium (Jul 99)
Lisa Wellesley, UK (Jul 99)
John & Deborah Lerme Goodman, USA (Jun 99)
Neil Padgen, UK (Jun 99)
Thomas, Germany (Jun 99)
Chad Yoneda, China (May 99)
Andy & Debbie Nicholson, China (May 99)
Shari Aubrey, Australia (Jun 99)
Samantha & Leigh Ebzery, Australia (Apr 99)
Kristyn Wilson, Australia (Apr 99)
Datong is really cold - the wind makes it feel even colder than Harbin. CITS does not always have tours to the Wooden Pagoda and Hanging Monastery in winter because tourists are few. A taxi costs about Y200 for the day, however, you can get to the Yungang caves easily by public transport (Y5) going from the cross roads near the post office.
John Edwards, UK (Apr 99)
Wuhan: an English map of the city is available for Y3 at the Yellow Crane Tower.
Tiger Leaping Gorge: best route is to go backwards (from Dazu to Qiaotou) and to stay at the Halfway House (because it’s the halfway point). Take the high road because the low road is just a road whereas on the high road you actually feel like you’re hiking. Dangers: landslides are real - one turned us back on our first day and forced us to spend the night in Dazu in the Snowflower Hotel. If you find yourself on what looks like a goat trail, it probably is. Turn around immediately and find the path again or you’ll get trapped on a hillside when the goat trail ends and neither ascending nor descending looks fun.
Justin Reed, USA (no date)
Jeremy Keays, Canada (Jan 99)
It can only be reiterated how efficient and fast the postal service is! However, the address must be absolutely correct, as searches will not be made.
Luis Moreton Achsel, Germany (Dec 98)
Guangzhou to Shanghai - RMB 1020
Shanghai to Guangzhou - RMB 1120
Jens Behrens, Hong Kong (Apr 99)
The RMB exchange rate is much better in Hong Kong. In south China you
can change HK$ in nearly every shop, but I don't suggest you change with people on
the street, as there is a lot of cheating going on.
Jens Behrens, Hong Kong (Dec 98)
Rudiger Breuer, Germany (Dec 98)
Viveca Moritz, Sweden (Nov 98)
Peter (Nov 98)
Ezra Cohen-Yashar, Israel (Nov 98)
Sven & Joerg, Germany (Jul 99)
Xiamen University: it is extremely difficult to determine when the Museum of Anthropology is open. We were advised by one person that visits can be made by special arrangement, but I have yet to work out with whom to make the special arrangement!
Linda Stevens, Australia (Nov 98)
Alessandro Arduino, China (Nov 98)
John Ruggieri, USA (Nov 98)
David Dawson, UK (Nov 98)
Philip Davis, UK (Nov 98)
Nicole Schuchardt & Ernst Derra, Germany (Oct 98)
Caroline Villette, France (Oct 98)
Mike Medd, Hong Kong (Oct 98)
Urumqui (Xinjiang) - there is only one daily bus to Tianchi. It leaves at 9.30 am from the gate of Renmin park.
Lanzhou - very few trains stop at the western station; travellers should go straight to the main one.
Ishay Nadler, Israel (Oct 98)
Fabrice Mathieu, Hungary (Oct 98)
Brian Gibel, China (Oct 98)
Melanie Cheng & Bernard Phelps (Oct 98)
Air pollution: we're Americans who have lived in Bangkok for almost two years so we thought we knew about air pollution but found Beijing much worse than Bangkok. The air pollution and difficulty with breathing were the main topic of conversation whenever we encountered foreign travellers. Anyone with respiratory ailments should think twice about visiting!
Charlotte & Jim Kenney, USA (Oct 98)
Michael K Jensen, Denmark (Sep 98)
Monica Wojtaszewski, Denmark (Aug 98)
Christina Chan (Aug 98)
Equipment, the basic rule: the more expensive the camera, the better the price. So, if you look for a Canon Rebel G (or 500n for the non-Americans) with a Tamron 28-200 or a Canon 28-105, you'd better go to HK, where the price is better. If you want a Nikon F-5 or a Canon EOS 1n, with a 70-200 2.8L, Beijing is the place. Shop around the Bei Xin Hua Jie area: Jin Guang Jiao and the opposite store have the best prices in town, and a fierce competition that you can use to your advantage. Canon has a rep on Chongwenmen Xi dajie no 5, which has everything, but prices are in the sky. Nikon's rep is in Xuanwumen, opposite the China Photo Service (did I say
service? Sorry, nothing of that there!). The Nikon building and the China Photo Service also have equipment, but at worse prices. The best deals in town are the second hand medium format cameras. Hunt them down in the Photo Building on Chongwenmen Wai Dajie 119, where the Canon lab is. Poke your head through any door, as it is made of many small stores hidden behind closed doors. Leica is represented by Jinri Jicheng Tu Pian She, as well as Toyo, Titan, Gitzo, Bronica and some more. Canon and Nikon are everywhere. So are Minolta, Sigma, Tamron, and Manfrotto.
Dong Fang Min Zhu Tu Pian She, at 118 Xuanwumen nei
Hui fang Xing Photo Supplies center, at 105 Xuanwumen nei
Bei Jing Sheying Qicai Cheng (Beijing Photo Eq City) at 40 Wu Ke Song lu (in Haidian District)
Wande Er Shou Qicai (Wande Second Hand Photo Equipment) at 156 Xuanwumen nei
Yonatan, The Thorn Tree (Aug 98)
David Hughes, UK (Aug 98)
Nicolaas Cuperus (Aug 98)
Filip Crombez, Belgium (Jul 98)
Yunnan Provincial Health and Anti-Epidemic Centre
Dongsi Jie 158
Phone: 315 0164 (direct call to the 9th floor).
English speaking staff responsible for advising on malaria are on the 9th floor.
Mathias Müller, Germany (Jul 98)
Christine Zimmerli, Switzerland (May 98)
David G Atwill, China (May 98)
Cate Turk (Mar 98)
John Sheppard-Jones, UK (Mar 98)
Menno Beem, Holland (Mar 98)
Kylie (Mar 98)
Chantal Spleiss, Switzerland (Feb 98)
Mimi Locher, USA (Dec 97)
(Available in an American-style bar & grill called Kathleen's: 60 Tau Jin Lu, Guangzhou, China, 510060; Phone: 8359 8045)
Lisa Blumhagen-Anderson (Dec 97)
Susan Blick, Australia (Dec 97)
John Gould, Japan (Nov 97)
The internet café is on the 2nd floor, China World Trade Centre (adjacent to China World Hotel), in Chaoyang District. Phone: 6505 2288 ext 8209. There is also one in the Capital Stadium Building, West Wing, Baoshiqiao Lu, Haidian District. Phone: 6833 5335; Fax: 6831 2881. Also B1810 Wantong New World Plaza, 2 Fuchengmenwai Dajie, Xiceng District. Phone: 6857 8794.
Shanghai accommodation: note the change in telephone numbers for the following places:
Yangtze Hotel - 6351 7880
Peace Hotel (the old Cathay) - 6321 6888
Holiday Inn - 6280 8888
Westin Taipingyang - Fax: 6275 5120
Please note that the American Express number (in Beijing), is now: 6502 2228.
Dr Jerry Schwartz, Australia (Nov 97)
Graham Todd (Oct 97)
Livo Rolle, Italy (Oct 99)
Itai Michaelson, Israel (Nov 99)
Alex Sauder, Hong Kong (Oct 99)
Simon Francis & Charlotte Martensson, Untied Kingdom (Oct 99)
Adrian Coppel, Mexico (Sept 99)
Liz MacPhee, UK (Aug 99)
Sarah Rogers, China (Aug 99)
Itai & Efrat, Israel (Jul 99)
Katherine Bradbury & Laura Short, UK (Jul 99)
Alex Scholten, The Netherlands (Jul 99)
Max Johns, Germany (May 99)
Alan Butterworth, UK (May 99)
Hans Visser, The Netherlands (May 99)
Chad Yoneda, China (May 99)
Zhou Enlai Museum is also excellent but very little is written in English. Even without descriptions the cultural revolution comes into focus here including a glimpse of the extensive emancipation and education program for women and children.
Laura Steinert, USA (May 99)
Nicole Mathers (May 99)
Matt Sexton & Rose Kerlin (May 99)
Kris Tuuttila, Canada (Apr 99)
Kristyn Wilson, Australia (Apr 99)
Wilma O’Sullivan, China (Mar 99)
Tatjana (Mar 99)
Chris Dieckmann (Feb 99)
Peter Ratcliffe, UK (Jan 99)
Ceciel Meys, The Netherlands (Dec 98)
Rudiger Breuer, Germany (Dec 98)
David Dawson, UK (Nov 98)
Yiqun Chen, (Oct 98)
Michael Hoare, UK (Sep 98)
David Leung (Sep 98)
Antony Dapiran, Australia (Aug 98)
Yonatan, The Thorn Tree (Aug 98)
Fan Weihong (Aug 98)
Wayne Brabin (Jul 98)
Madeline McCloskey (Jul 98)
Alison Rigby, Australia (Jul 98)
Cindy Carter, USA (Jul 98)
Derek Emmerson (Jun 98)
Wesley J Hayter, UK (Jun 98)
Bill & Jeri Weigand, China (Feb 98)
Patricia Neale & Steven Stankiewicz (Jan 98)
Simon Francis & Charlotte Martensson, Untied Kingdom (Oct 99)
Gonçalo Magalhães, Macau (Sept 99)
Andrew Correia, United Kingdom (Sept 99)
Serge & Sandra, The Netherlands (Aug 99)
David & Sandra (Aug 99)
Yan Zhang (Aug 99)
Dr Oliver Salamanda, UK (Jul 99)
Katherine Bradbury & Laura Short, UK (Jul 99)
Nicki Mathers, Australia (Jul 99)
One: when you get off at Lanzhou, you need to exit the train station and line up at the booking office (marked in English) to have your ticket reissued. It doesn’t cost anything, but your original ticket won’t get you any further than Lanzhou. This would have eluded me completely had a Chinese person not come and helped me, as I couldn’t understand why I kept getting told to go to the ticket office when I quite clearly already had a ticket. I thought others might be similarly confused.
Jay Martin, Australia (Jun 99)
John & Deborah Lerme Goodman, USA (Jun 99)
Neil Padgen, UK (Jun 99)
Charles Lort Phillips, UK (Jun 99)
Andrew Woodrow, UK (Jun 99)
Thomas, Germany (Jun 99)
Tom Jorgen Martinussen, Norway (May 99)
Sarlet Bailliu Family, Belgium (May 99)
Chad Yoneda, China (May 99)
Andrew Tamblyn, Australia (May 99)
Andy & Debbie Nicholson, China (May 99)
Chris Hauserman, Australia (May 99)
Nicole Mathers (May 99)
Lex Schrama, Holland (May 99)
Chris Dieckmann (May 99)
Brian Gibel, USA (Apr 99)
Qing Zhang, USA (Apr 99)
Kristyn Wilson, Australia (Apr 99)
Anson Yu, Philippines (Apr 99)
Martin Sulev, Canada (Feb 99)
Justin Reed, USA (no date)
Colleen Poulter, New Zealand (Feb 99)
Rita Brons, Netherlands (Jan 99)
Paul Gaylard, Australia (Jan 99)
Brett Montgomery, Australia (Dec 98)
Stephen Jones (Dec 98)
Andy Christiansen (Sept 99)
Richard Reay (Aug 99)
Signe Maj Sorensen, Denmark (Aug 99)
David Zetland, USA (Jun 99)
Our trek was very nearly a disaster. One of our party got ill which slowed us down. While we were on the high route we got lost after taking a sheep track. When we eventually realised we were lost we could see the road and decided to carry on, instead of retracing our steps back to the main path. Eventually we made it down but only after sliding down some steep rocks on our backsides and ripping our clothes.
Gareth Leather, UK (May 99)
Maria Siow, China (May 99)
Frank Wheby, USA (May 99)
Conrad, USA (Apr 99)
Robert (Mar 99)
Joel Emond (Nov 98)
Ken Owen, USA (Oct 98)
Nick Picton, UK (Sep 98)
Elena Potapova, Russia (Sep 98)
Judith Scott, China (Aug 98)
Just around the corner from the waterfall (at the 20km marker) is the turn off for the high road. This is highly recommended, especially as you avoid the dynamite and rockslide hazards of the low road. It is a beautiful walk high among the peaks and on a real trail, not a road.
Sheridan Pettiford, Australia (Aug 98)
Andrew Lavinsky, Mongolia (Aug 98)
Hamish Martin, Scotland (Jul 98)
J M (Jul 98)
Alison Rigby, Australia (Jul 98)
Zeneb Dickson, USA (Jun 98)
Dave McCullough (Mar 98)
Jay Chevalier & Jeff Garnard (Dec 97)
Britta Hensen and Michael Krieg, Germany (Oct 97)
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