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Travel tips for China?
Heading to Beijing and Shanghai in March. My first China trip :)
While in Beijing, planning on visiting the Wall, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. I'll be spending most of my time in Shanghai, and really not sure what I'll be doing, besides tracking down non-meat food to eat LOL I already have my Visa application sent off to the service... was very straightforward. So, any pointers on what to see? I'm really just into people watching, history, cultural centers, churches, architecture, etc. Can I get my AT&T iPhone 5S to work over there? If so, where can I buy a SIM card? Or, should I just take my Nexus 4 with me? Where to change money? OK to withdraw out of ATMs and otherwise use my AMEX at restaurants, hotels, etc? Are these cities friendly to a mostly non-meat eater? I know I can probably find this stuff on Google if I poke around, but man, is it ever hard to wade through all the BS for good info. I know you guys can deliver reliably :) |
iPhone 5S should work fine as long as you have international roaming on your AT&T plan. If you have a credit card you can probably get around without using much cash. I usually just use an ATM to withdraw money when I arrive in a foreign country. In my limited experience (visited Shanghai for the first time a few weeks back) China is very non-meateater friendly. Do you like tofu?
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I got to spend a couple of weeks in Beijing ~2yrs ago for work. It is without a doubt the most amazing place I've ever been. We were really lucky because we had a great host who took us to some of the local places and always dealt with the cab drivers to get us from and to the hotel.
I was traveling with a vegetarian, but I cannot remember how to say 'no meat' when you order food. However you say it, it really just means that they scoop the meat out of whatever is ordered before they serve it. It was not a good trip for the vegetarian in our group. It will be easy to find a guide to do the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City. They will probably take you to a 'Jade Museum' as well. Don't buy any Jade. Try to see if you can get someone to take you to the Ho Hai neighborhood so you can walk around. It's amazing. Check out the show at a duck restaurant. The business card I have from the one we went to says 'Beijing Shichahai Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant'. Just make sure you can get a cab out of there and back to the hotel. Go to the Silk Market, and then go check out the sky screen at The Place. These places were close together and easy to get in and out of from what I remember. Lots of ex-pats and westerners so the language barrier wasn't as challenging for us. The first thing I would do is get a stack of business cards from the hotel to give to cab drivers or the people driving the rickshaws so you can actually get back from wherever you go. The cab thing really scared the hell out of me. From I saw and heard from the ex-pats we were working with it is not easy for a westerner to get a cab anywhere in the city. Beijing is absolutely huge and the cab drivers we dealt with spoke no English. None. If you just tell these guys to take you to the 'Holiday Inn on 5th Ring Road' there is no telling where you are going to wind up. My iPhone 4 w/AT&T worked fine there. I changed money at the airport and my Amex worked almost everywhere I went. |
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There are many places to enter the Forbidden city, tour groups push you to where the huge picture of Mao is...(gate of heavenly peace) Tiananmen is opposite Mao If you have some time in Beijing... there is a really good pizza place near the embassies... Great Wall.... go to Muntianyu.... its a longer drive from Beijing than the Badaling section of the wall....Badaling is where most of the tours go.... I've been to a few parts of the wall... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387596306.jpg Muntianyu... and I suck at taking pictures.. You can change money at any bank... you will need your passport, and papers.... of course depending where you are in China, finding an english speaker in the bank may be problematic |
Birds nest is neat to see
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387596747.jpg I have never been to Shanghai, but in the last few years have spent a lot of time in China.... was married to a Chinese woman, and between the difficulties of our naturalization system and distance she told me it was not worth it...=divorce... oh well. China is an amazing place.... |
Spend a day in the Beijing museum. Its worth a trip there.
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Some vegetarian fare, found at a roadside restaurant about 2 hours northwest of Beijing.. near Miangfansheng Buddhist temple
Wifey picking out the carnivore portion... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387597867.jpg This was mini rose blossoms, battered and fried... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387597915.jpg This is a salad of peppers, think black peppercorns...when they are still fresh .... just picked...some chilis and vinegar.... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387598116.jpg This was the fish the wifey picked out... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387598184.jpg The food is amazing.. |
This was some sort of corn dumpling.... stuffed with greens...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387599107.jpg |
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March in Beijing can be a bit "cloudy" so be prepared to not see any blue skies. Shanghai is an great place. No issue on your food choices just steer clear of ice, glasses of water, etc. I always recommend bottled water at all times in all cities while traveling there.
Never had the chance to see the wall, but I enjoy the people watching. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387601729.jpg |
Don't drink the water - bottled only. Bring cash because not everyone accepts credit cards. Bring snacks, medicine, over the counter stuff because all of this is hard to get, I can tell you the food is wonderful - don't expect American food or quality. Clean safe for travelers and don't take the chance of driving. Taxi drivers don't speak English - be sure to get business cards for hotels/restaurants. I was in Shanghai - beautiful, clean city except the air. Safe - cameras everywhere. I would gladly go back again. enjoy your trip!
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Motion, will you be alone or with your wife? I ask because, if you're alone in Beijing, you will be a HUGE target for hookers and scammers. They are always women, usually around college age, and approach western men who are alone. They are rampant around the tourist areas - Tiananmen Sq., Forbidden City, Wanfujing shopping district, etc. They start off saying they want to practice their English and will eventually try to lead you to a teahouse. You would think that tea, in a place like China, is dirt cheap. But these places they take you will end up costing the equivalent of hundreds of dollars. A friend there told me about this and I didn't believe it, but then it happened to me on my next trip to Beijing. And these women are super smart. I would speak some Mandarin with them, hoping they'd get the picture that I wasn't a know-nothing tourist. Then they'd reply in just a little more Mandarin than I could handle and I'd have to revert back to English. Last time there I answered one of them in German and damn if she didn't come right back at me in German.
No joke - if you go alone, consider hiring a local woman to be your guide. She'll repel the hookers and scammers and steer you right. And you really need a local to help you order food. You don't want to end up in restaurants where they speak English or have picture menus. You will have the best food of your life and it will cost next to nothing. Eat from street vendors all you can. http://www.fototime.com/401B3953C69DBF7/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/C13E073DA7278A3/standard.jpg Remember to always stop at one of those tiny kiosks each night for bottled water and green tea before heading back to your room. Get a foot massage every day. A local will take you to the best places and it will be less than $10 for 90 min. of heaven. http://www.fototime.com/D92A15936E16025/standard.jpg In Beijing they have the blind masseuses too, which is pretty cool. They wear pagers that call out the time every 15 min. I thought it was fake until I saw one of them bump into a door that opened as she was feeling her way toward it. This is a friend in Chengdu who took us to a full body massage place where they really work you over. http://www.fototime.com/55F045605057E6D/standard.jpg In you're in Shanghai, consider seeing some of the surrounding towns - Wuxi, Xi Tang and even Nanjing, which is the size of NYC. The train from Shanghai goes 300 km/hr, so Nanjing is a very short ride. http://www.fototime.com/681EF7FFCC617C8/standard.jpg The museum there on the Rape of Nanking and the City Wall are just jaw dropping. http://www.fototime.com/9219C32106B800D/standard.jpg |
We were there 5 years ago for 3 weeks with the American Aviators tour. Loved the people and the food, didn't care for the smog. We had a national guide and a city guide with us in every destination so there was always support and a translator nearby. We saw several of the Flying Tiger bases and museums and had the opportunity to see their national air museum outside of Bejing.
With our group vegetarian choices were always available and the food was good. I never picked out lunch from a street vendor though, and was advised that if we did, we should make sure everything is thoroughly cooked so to avoid raw fruit and vegetables. We did not use our cel phones while there at all and communicated with home by daily email. It was a great experience with a very rich history and culture, enjoy! |
I went to Beijing and Shanghai in 2005 -- I stayed 5 star within a 3 min walk to Forbidden City,Tiananmen Square etc and to me Beijing was a ****ty place.
The old people spit in the street -- whilst you may notice the infants wear jumpsuits with a slit in them (its culturally acceptable for them to take a crap next to you, anywhere in public) -------------if you take notice of the Barber Shops you will notice that there are "extra" female workers ... they don't cut hair, if you get my drift. I got to Beijing a few days before my gf and I was consistently harassed by pimps/hookers (8 approaches w/in 3 blocks of the hotel). The Great Wall was interesting ........ we hired a car and driver to go there and a Tomb, very reasonable approx. USD$100 for driver and good car for the day... that was all OK. Shanghai is better ... some good restaurants and night clubs (try Bar Rouge on the Bund) ... I stayed at the Sofitel in Nankang Rd (good hotel) .....but got a little sick of being accosted each and every time you exit the hotel with continual offers of "Rolex, DVD, & Looky Look Girl" .... Please see below .. myself and my new Red Army Buddies ... |
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Rick, Got any more pic of the Rape of Nanking museum or other info? That would be one of my must do list next time I am in the area. |
We went to Beijing/Xi'an/Handan in February the year before the Olympics for the Room Monkey's wedding. It was cold & full-on heating season which you can smell as soon as you exit your plane at Beijing airport. Coal furnaces in buildings give the air a nice industrial smell & the haze will spoil all of your landscape photos.
See the untouched picture below of the entrance to the Forbidden City from a distance. That haze is pollution. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387630709.jpg Make sure you dive into the hutongs of Beijing for shopping & atmosphere. Walk south from Tianamen Sq & you will find an easily accessible one that won't require a guide. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387630790.jpg Ian |
One neat thing to do that has not been mentioned, check out a nearby park early in the morning. Groups of people are out practicing Tai Chi, and other martial arts, its fascinating to watch.
This pic is the courtyard of the apartment I rented in Chaoyang, Beijing. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387636369.jpg Also in the evening n man parks the have dancing, all styles, and people off the street join in.. Menus can be a constant source of chuckles.. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387636583.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387636599.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387636628.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387636647.jpg This is the Badaling section of the Great Wall (closest to Beijing)on a nasty rainy day.. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387636721.jpg This is the Muntianyu section of the wall (a day trip fromBeijing) on a beautiful sunny day....note the lack of crowds... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387636913.jpg |
PM me if you want a good tour guide for The Great Wall from Beijing.
I was there a few weeks ago. It will be cold... |
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Whenever I go to Beijing for tourism I stay at the Jade Garden Hotel. It is reasonably priced, clean, and a short walk from the Forbidden City. At night up the street is a night market that stretches for about 100 yards with sidewalk food stalls selling everything you can imagine that is a lot of fun. As someone mentioned on an earlier post I think the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall is the best. I also always like to go to the Dirt Market which is a vast, outside, (but roofed) flea market.
In Shanghai if you want to experience a small scale water village you can go to Qibao Old Street in the Minhang district. The urban planning museum next to people's square has a huge diaorama of the city that is cool. Also surprisingly good is the Shanghai auto museum. They have a great collection and it is always pretty empty. |
Street food in China is amazing...
Rick posted that pancake goodness.. I forgot what they are called but they are damn tasty.... what it looks like being prepared (Ricks pic) http://www.fototime.com/401B3953C69DBF7/standard.jpg Finished product... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387666468.jpg |
Lived in Beijing for 3 years:
1. For the wall, go to Mutianyu or hike from Jinshanling to Simitai, rather than the tourist trap of Badaling. Go early in the day. 2. To get a good pic of Forbidden City, go up Coal Hill, which is immediately north of it. You look down on the entire affair. Go early in the day to all attractions: Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, etc. 3. The line for Mao's tomb looks long, but it moves VERY quick. If you can skip anything, you can skip this. Mao is not much to look at. Other items worth seeing: Of course Temple of Heaven and the Lama Temple. 4. Take the subway. It's cheap. Don't do too much in one day. 5. See the acrobats Third Ring Road east. Touristy but incredible. Olympic gymnasts look like chumps after this show. 7. If jet lag has you awake early, you can see the raising of the flag at Tianamen. It happens at sunrise any day. Calendar is online. Eating: 1. Go to Da Dong. Bar none the best Peking Duck and possibly the best service you will ever have. Quan Ju De is a close second. 2. Go for Hot Pot at Hai Di Lao. There are several locations in Beijing. 3. If you want to hang and drink beer, Sanlitun bar street, Ho Hai or Nan Luo Gu Xiang Shopping: 4. If you are jonesing for something "American" go to Let's Burger in Sanlitun. Their burgers are better than most burgers you would get in the US. Otherwise, avoid western food. 5. Try anything from Xinjiang, particularly Da Pan Ji (big plate of chicken) or Nan Chao Ruo (Stir Fried Naan Bread and Lamb) 6. If jet lag has you awake late, go to Ghost Street. It's a solid kilometer of restaurants, many open all night. The "Ghosts" are the late night patrons. Shopping,will depend on what you want. 1.If you want "antiques" go to the Panjiayuan market on the weekends. Very little is genuinely antique, but much of the stuff is very neat. Negotiate hard. 2. If you want clothes, Yashow in Sanlitun has a vast selection of cheap touristy clothes and on the top level you can get custom made suits and shirts. 3. Little known secret, if you are into mechanical watches or tube stereos, China is the place to be. Most Swiss movements are made in China. Tianjin Seagull makes a huge chunk of the world's mechanical movements. Beijing Watch makes watches that are more expensive than some houses. Just saying'. Google for more info. Shanghai: 1.Take the tourist tunnel under the river from the Bund to Pudong if open. it is cheap…and pretty campy, psychedelic. 2. If you want to go up one of the tower's in Shanghai, go up the Jinmao tower, NOT the Oriental pearl. The lines at the pearl are long, the Jinmao, they are shorter , plus you the oriental pearl is actually in the photo. That is all I have to say. |
Hot Pot is where it's at. I so want to open a Hot Pot restaurant here.
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This is some random hot pot place near the Hong Qiao airport in Shanghai we stumbled upon as soon as we left our hotel. It was so good and cheap. http://www.fototime.com/369AE5C4757B573/standard.jpg My Thanksgiving Dinner in 2011 was spent Chengdu. It's a new trend to decorate a restaurant in the Revolution motif and these guys really had it down, even period-correct uniforms for the staff. http://www.fototime.com/86170A406E426D6/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/5A67D92B5FB58F0/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/007D0CD045FECE5/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/B5BDAFA61942523/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/0DB977BAF2D1AA1/standard.jpg This was hands down the best hot pot I ever had in Chongqing. I had taken the bus from Chengdu and the girl next to me started helping me with my Sudoku puzzles. We ended up hanging out for a few days and she definitely steered me to the right places to eat. http://www.fototime.com/878A7592DAA87AE/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/9E3A9BFC60E6DFE/standard.jpg |
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Are those skeletons in a tank like fixture? |
Yes, those are skeletons and there are plenty more there than I got in the photo. You'd be hard pressed to meet a Mainlander who doesn't hate Japanese people. I have a Chinese cousin in-law who's marrying a Japanese guy, but she grew up mostly in Canada and has worked in Japan for a while.
The happy ending at the museum is that the US did extradite some of the top officers from the Rape of Nanking back to China to stand trial and they were executed. Do a Google search of Unit 731 if you really want to make yourself angry and sick. |
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I had some interesting evenings on Wangfujing in Beijing. I had every proposition that Rick has mentioned along with a few others. That's what happens when a single lao wai walks around... |
2. To get a good pic of Forbidden City, go up Coal Hill, which is immediately north of it. You look down on the entire affair. Go early in the day to all attractions: Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, etc.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685008.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685094.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685145.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685180.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685296.jpg I call this pic "Busted" they were playing a game, and the instant I pressed the shutter... she looked up.... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685424.jpg 4. Take the subway. It's cheap. Don't do too much in one day. The subway is super easy to use, Maps in English are available, and the subway is clean and safe.. 5. See the acrobats Third Ring Road east. Touristy but incredible. Olympic gymnasts look like chumps after this show. Yes amazing 4. If you are jonesing for something "American" go to Let's Burger in Sanlitun. Their burgers are better than most burgers you would get in the US. Otherwise, avoid western food. As mentioned in a previous post... There is a terrific brick oven pizza place In Sanlitun http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685732.jpg That has some good suds http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387685770.jpg |
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Wow, you guys are totally awesome. I really appreciate all the great tips and will take this info with me. I have a lot of experience with the hookers in the Caribbean islands, so pretty sure I can handle the Chinese variety. My wife suggested I take a photo of us with me, so I can point to her in the photo. They can't compete with the blond hair/blue eye women :)
Finding food is my biggest concern, but I guess its doable. I'll have to do more research on what the common non-meat dishes are. The street food looks great! Any ideas on what a taxi for a day costs, just to drive around the city? Are there double-decker hop on/hop off busses? I have several days in Shanghai... are there any outstanding destinations reachable by high speed train that I should check into? |
Around Shanghai
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Suzhou is a really good day trip. Bao'en Temple Pagoda and Panmen Gate are really good and I really enjoyed them. The Humble Administrators Garden is seen as a highlight but I did not really enjoy that to much. |
There is also a two tier pricing scale that can occur...
Wifey and I decided to visit Yellow Mountain in Anhui province... its where the government big shots had there summer "cottages" We arrive in the airport at Huangshan, and wifey says stay inside till I call.. stepson and I retire to the massage chairs.... She is outside negotiating price from Huangshan to Yellow Mountain..... Ring Ring Ring.... phone rings Wifey says come out to taxi .... stepson and I grab the luggage and head out to the cab.... Cab driver goes ballistic when he sees me and stepson approach the cab...Me being white and my stepson is mixed race....He complained to much luggage.... (two bags plus stepsons back pack) Wife was crafty... had Anhui tourist rep with her when she negotiated price.... The ride to Yellow mountain was a bit tense... my wife and the driver arguing..Its cracks me up though. The whole debate was over probably $20... My wife came from a very poor family, she watches every expense...She is a tiger mom... Yellow Mountains http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387763157.jpg You can get some pretty good food in some of the regional airports... Fresh noodles and veggies at Huangshan, It was just mushrooms, veggies,noodles and stock.... I could not tell you if it was a veggie or meat based stock.... When have you seen airport food that looks so damn good ? http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387763226.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1387763293.jpg |
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Tim, thanks for all the tasty food pics :) I guess I'll paying the Irish tax :) |
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The food was incredible. The noodle restaurants...OMG. I had no idea there could possibly be so many different kinds of noodles. The food was amazing everywhere we went. Having a local with us who could argue with the waiters and get us through the places where nobody spoke English was priceless. I don't know the names of anything we ate and I have never before or since seen anything like what we were served. It was amazing. We ate like Kings for what seemed like no money (in the local places where the menus didn't have English translations). I lost all of my pictures from my trip when I lost my iPhone in a cab after leaving Beijing. I will never get over that. It really aggravates me every time I think about it. I have to find a way to go back and see more of this country. Its the only place I've ever been in the world that I feel this way about. |
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I seriously suggest finding a hot, local, English-speaking female student to be your guide. She will be a ruthless price negotiator for you, she will be your advocate and, whatever she costs, you will save many times that amount in what you pay for stuff AND the headaches you avoid by having her by you. That girl in the massage photo I posted kept me from getting totally robbed by a taxi driver on my first trip to Chengdu. He was driving me all over the city and she was blowing up my cell phone from the restaurant, asking where I was. I handed the phone to the taxi driver and then she told me he was trying to rob me and not to pay him. When we arrived, she took about 1/10 of what was on the meter, crumpled it up and threw it at his face and yelled at him as he drove off. Very cool spectacle. Chinese women are absolutely ruthless. I had to buy a pair of nice shoes for a business meeting on my last trip. Mrs. Lee, her mom and grandmother accompanied me to the local marketplace where the vendors were all trying to get me to talk to them. God, I felt sorry for the guy I got the shoes from. They beat him down to a fraction of asking price. I can count and negotiate in Mandarin ok, but geeze, these women are merciless advocates for their men. |
Beijing Tour: Beijing Tours, Beijing China Tours - Tour-Beijing.Com
I had a very good tour from these guys. |
Hello Motion,
Before leaving on your trip make an appointment with your doctor and tell them about your China trip and ask him/her for a prescription of Zithromax. It's a very broad antibiotic. (obviously have it filled before leaving) If a day or two before you leave China to return you feel ill take the antibiotic, it should mask any symptoms you may be having long enough to board the plane for your return. If the Chinese suspect you are sick they will not let you board the plane. Be safe. |
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