I

China: Off the beaten path - sOPlus.com

Page 1 of 8

S0Plus.com - China: Off the beaten path

Travel

This page sponsored by

China: Off the beaten path

Article By: Dan Cooper Sign-up for our newsletters.

lf you're planning a

MnIru MENU

trip to China tour bus

know.

Tnnvel
BnOwSr AnTICLES

you want to venture beyond the what you need to

- and

Planning a getaway? Stay w receive great hotel rates.

here's

HrnlrH
Moruev

Hovrr & Fnnnty

RTmTIONSHIPS

Aoulr

Lrvrruc

China for the 2008 Olympics and the World Fair in 2010, some survival tips may be in order for the independent traveler.

Chinese Lion stands guard at Gate of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City

As more and more travelers prepare to visit

CorBle
Ads by Google
Hotel Shanghai China

CnssrFrEDS DrscouNTS

Fonuus
ETUpIoYMENT

Blocs
CorurrSTS
Stcru-lr.t

We're not talking here about about the tour group that gets picked up at the airport in an air conditioned bus, dropped off at their western-style hotel, then shuttled from tourist site to site led by a flag toting English-speaking guide. No, this is for those braver souls who want to rub shoulders with Chinese locals on small tour buses crammed into seats too small for the North American frame. You're willing to drag your suitcase down dark, dirty streets at night looking for that special "atmospheric" hotel.
lf you're the type who does cruises or stays in five-star hotels, this may not be of interest to you. On the other hand, if you like to travel on your own and you plan on doing more than the usual BeijinShanghai-Xi'an route, then read on. Some of these tips could prove useful - even life saving. China is gearing up for the invading Olympic hordes by adding English signs in major cities, building new hotels, and teaching English to Beijing b drivers. Admittedly, therefore, it's becoming easier to travel around China on your own by plane, train and bus without a travel agent pre-booking everything for you.

Chinese Hotels Yunnan China Travel

China Tour Agent Beijing China

Seencn Tnnvrl

has the answer.

Airplanes here are modern, safe and convenient. And 70,000 kilometres of new track have recently been laid for a rail system that crisscrosses the country linking all major destinations and most of the less frequented ones. A modern highway system does the same with newly paved roads. Although most are toll highways and foreign visitors are forbidden from driving on them, the roads are in excellent shape. So it's definitely worthwhile, and fairly easy, to hire a local driver if you want to see some of the sites off the beaten path.
But easy isn't necessarily safe or comfortable. No, the major problem here isn't the travel infrastructure and the ease of physically getting from point A to point B, it's the language barrier. Even though many English signs have been added throughout China on streets, subways, and airports, they're usually in "pinion", the Chinese phonetic equivalent of their symbol script. The signs may look like English to you, but try to pronounce them in any way that will sound like Chinese to a local and you'll end up lost and frustrated.

NoMore
1w_aiting.info-

r{f

\]|)

Click here to listen to the No More Waiting Radio Campaign

St. Lucia: a tropical paradise

There's a Chinese expression "Ping ding zi" that literally means "hitting a nail", but is more accurately translated as "banging your head against a wall." And that's what often happens when you're trying to speak Chinese to locals.

htp://www.50plus.com/display.cfm?libraryID:105&cabinetlD:378&documentlD:|7335 23103/2007

China: Off the beaten path - s0plus.com

Page 2 of

$t. Patrick's footsteps

Oubfin for the reader Haggle your way to great souvenirs How safe is your airline?

lfs all in your tone

The reason is that chinese is a tonal language, with up to five different tones for the same word. This makes 'irna" eiiner ',mother.,, ' "hor$e", "bad", or a question depending on the inflexion in voice. Not only can the wrong tone lead to frustration, but ii can be quite embarrassing as well. Once my wife and I almost ended up on a flight to Taiwan when we tried to buy a plane ticket to Taiyuan, city north of Xi'an. we thought we were siying the right woid, but"it me out .Taiwan" to the chinese ticket ageni in Larizhou.

your

Travef Topics. click to view

tickek can help avoid these potential disasterq but that's not always
possible. Even then, mistakes can happen. our Lanzhou travel agent spoke decent English, but still heard Taiwan instead of Taiyuan.

Finding a travel agent who speaks enough English to book your

$ome basic chineee lessons wiil help immensely. Even the rudimentaries like the numbers 1 to 10 will go a [ong way. \ fith these ten numbers, you can create the days of the week, bnc inonth, and the months of the year fairly simply. Days of the week are just t'd.y one", "day two", and eo on. The months are similar.
A small portable calendar will also be very handy for both pfanning your itinerary and for pointing to your traver date. And all travel agents and stores have calculators to show you the prices. The chinese also have a clever system of hand signals for the ten numbers. lt's easy to learn and will generate a smile when you u$e

them.

Buying tickets
Fortun_ately, airports use rnosily English and the bigger ones even make flight announcemenh in English. Trains and buses, however, are all in Chinese. This makes buying tickets and locating your Satform, bus or train car difficult. Even finding the right tiiliet booth can be time consuming and frustrating as you are shunted from one wicket to another - all the overhead signs are in chinese. Add on the ever present lengthy lineups in China and you will need to aflow extra time for this process.

Again a local travel agent, often at your own hotel, can arrange tickets for a smafl commission and so avoid the hassles of triin and bus stations. But sometimes you're just going to have to deal with the lineups and confusion yourseff. The baeic chinese numbers, a calendar and a calculator will get you through most negotiations.
Staff at the train or bus station are usually very helpful as well even if they don't speak English. Once a friendly sweeper at a train station took us from wicket to wicket until he found the right agent who could sell us a soft-sleeper berth on an overnight train. lt was difficult even for him; it would have been impossible for me.

After buying your ticket, always carefully check to confirm that the destination and date are correc{. lf you're traveling with a partner, ensure numbered seats are together. Hold on to your train ticket. $ometimes you will need to show it on the train and you will almost always need it to exit the train station at your destination. Airlines have special requirements and ticket agents need to enter your passport number and name into the computer. hdake sure it and your name are accurate. A common mistake they make is to enter your first name as your last, which is the practice in China. This mistake could mean you won't be able to board your fiight. Also, k*"p your baggage claim stubs. china is the onfy country we have visited lately requiring you to show your baggage stub when you exit the airport with your bags. Maps Another useful toof for booking tickets is a road map with English and Chinese names. Take it with you and point to the ChineJe script for your destination. or have someone write down the name in Chinese characters on a piece of paper for you to show to the ticket vendor to avoid confusion.
Mape are useful not juet for inter-city travel, but also within a city as well. Afways pick up a map with both English and chinese names when you first arrive in a new city. A{th this in hand you can point to the Chinese characters of your destination for cab diiver$ or i:eope on the street. And always pick up a business card frorn your hotel and carry it with you to show cab drivers when you want to return to

http://www.S0plus.com/display.cfm?librarylD:1O5&cabinetlD:3?8&documentlD:17335

23l03:ZOA7

China: Off the beaten path - s0Plus.com

Page 3 of

your hotel.
But possibly my most used travel tool has been a small picture book that has drawings of food and clothing items, planes and trains, and essentials like police and hospital. In fact, my wife and I have successfully used it on several continents to order meals in restaurants, find a pharmacy, or be driven to the bus station. our favourite is a slim, plastic-coated pocket book called "The Wordless Travel BooK', but there are others for sale on the Internet or at travel book stores.

Cell phones
The chinese have a love affair with their cell phone$. They are constantly talking on them - while driving, eating, walking, riding the bus or even riding on their bicycles through a maze of traffic and pedestrians. Very scary!

\ffe have trouHe even crossing the street in China and these guys
are weaving through the maze with one hand on the handle bars and one on the cell phone. But this addiction can come in very handy if you're lost or need to book a hotel. All you nead is the temerity to ask and most Chinese will be glad to offer you the use of their cell phone. once when we were turned down at a hotel because we didnt have our passports, a cab driver called around to several hotels until we found one that would take us in with just the photocopy that we always have with
us.

Another time, on the very top of Hua $han mountaiR, a local who spoke some English called our driver at the base of the mountain to let him know we would be arriving earlier than planned. This avoided a lengfihy wait at the bottom. Very useful indeed.

Trafric
Traffic in china is crazy. lt's far worse than in South America or Bangkok even. Besides incessant talking on the cell phone, there are two additional risk factors. First, a lot of the scooters are electric, which means you can't hear them when they speed along the sidewalk behind you or zoom straight at you through the croud of pedestrians trying to cross the street. For sorne reason in China, they are exempt from the traffic laws that have other vehicles stopping at red lights. so they and a million bicycles weave their way through the pedestrians, lf you stop, you're dead. The saying "look both ways before you cross" was never truer than in china. Bikes ride on both sides of the road -- as do taxis sometimes! Pedeetrians are at the bottom of the totem pote here, ready to be crushed by the sheer volume of traffic. The second risk factor is that because the scooters are electric, they dontt use their lights at night in order to eave their battery. $o, in addition to being silent, they are a$ invisible as $tealth aircraft. Even some of the cars do this at night. Tractor carts (small, noisy, open-air tractors with bike steering wheels and a cart at the back) are ubriquitous, in the countryside and $ome cities. At night, they drive without lights even on the highways. What a fright to be booting along a highway at 120 kph and suddenly see a dark shadow in your lane. You don't know whether it's a stalled truck, an oxen or one of these tractors. What's worse is I don't know if our driver can see it and I don't know the Chinese for 'Watch out for the crazy Kamikaze tractor!"

Another hazard on the highway$ are the street cleaners. No mechanical, gas grpzling sweeper trucks here; these are men and women standing on the side of the highway - even in the fast lane sweeping away leaves with a broom made out of branches and twigs. Their only protection is an orange vest. No helmet, no safety cones, no warning sign, just a vest. All of this explaine why they don't alloru foreigners to drive on their
roads.

In spite of this we have witnessed only 1G accidents in ourtwo months in China so far. That's not counting the motorbike that hit me on the sidewalk in Lanzhou! Yes, both motorbikes and cars drive on the sidewalk.

Eating

http://www.50plus.conr/display.cfor?librarylD:105&cabinetlD:378&documentlD:17335

23/0312007

China: Off the beaten path - 50Plus.com

Page 4

of I

Finding an English menu is difficult outside of the major tourist cities and large Western-style hotels. To make dining out more of a joy than a chore, look for restaurants that have pictures on their menus. Alternatively, use the "Wordle$s" picture travel book mentioned above and point to a picture of the kind of food you want. As a last resort, look at what the locals are eating and order the same. This may result in some odd culinary surprises, like the pig's tongue you thought was steak, but food is inexpensive here and you can aFways try something else. Food is not only strange here, but it changes from region to region.
So just when you find a favourite dish, it vrrcn't be availaHe in the

next city. Worse the pronunciation of it changes as well. We thought we had mastered something as simple as white rice. In the south it was "Bai fan", elsewhere it's "Mei fan". In the north, the waitress just looks blankly at us when we order "Bai fan" until we change it to "Mei fan". Three other peculiarities about food ordering. First they only give you one menu for two Fople; they have lots, but I guess they don't want to get them dirty. Second, they stand beside your table waiting for the order. For some reason, they a$sume you're going to scan the 100s of items on the menu (even in Chinese) and order right away without giving it any thought. Very annoyingl Third, they bring only one meal at a time as if they only have one wok. To add insult to injury, they often won't bring the rice to the table until your main dish is cold or almost finished. Food servinge in China are huge and are designed for group dining for four or rnore people. They're far more than two people can eat. As a couple, we like to order two dishes for variety, but this means leaving food on the plates. As a result, we'll sometimes sacrifice variety and just order one dish with two bowls or rice. That's plenty of food for two people.

tap your chopsticks on your rice bowl or stick them upright in the rice, The first is supposed to lead to bad luck and the second means someone has died, Neither is good form in a Chinese restaurant.
Finaf ly, don't

Local Colour Folk dancing has been consistently varied and beautiful throughout China. There are over 50 ethnic groups in China, each with their own culture, costumes and music. The costumes are bright and the dancing is energetic, almost gymnastic in some ca$es. One performance in Kunming was so enthusiastic, with its upbeat, complex choreography that we just stared with our mouths open saying to each other "How are they doing that?" We've seen performances in theatres and on the street by several ethnic minority group$ so far and the artistry and music have definitely been a wow. Also, because we're traveling a bit off the beaten path, many of the locals that we see in flaces like Shangri La or Kashgar are not dressed up in bright robes and hats just for the tourists; they actually dress that way every day. This is one of the rnain reasons to travel independently and off the beaten path. To avoid potential problems, however, always ask for permission to take someone's photo before
shooting.

Washrooms
On the down side, besides the pollution, s$tting everywhere (even in restaurants, buse$, and right here beside us in the Internet cafe), are the squat toilets. lf you've been to Asia, you know what I'm talking about so I won't go into detail here. $omehow, even in small cities, they have fancy LCD screens in front of urinals that are auto flushing, but no toilets. In a country that probably makes 80 per cent of the toilets and toilet seats in the whole world you would think they could put a few into the airpofts and bus stations. But if you're thinking of coming to Asia, here's a travel tip for those of you who like me are "squat challenged". Get in the habit of having a morning cup of tea before breaKast. Every hotel in China has tea in your room and a nice tea cup to brenry it in. This wifl motivate your constitution BEFORE you get on that five-hour bus tour and you'll not have to worry about squat toilets. Failing that, buy some "portable" toilete from Magellan, Our good friend Lynn gave us some as a bon voyage gift before our trip. We're etill saving them for emergencies, but it sure is reassuring knowing

http://www.50plus.com/display.cfor?libraryID:105&cabinetlD:378&documentlD:17335

BlA3n007

China: Off the beaten path - s0Plus.com

Page 5 of

that we have them in our backpacks when we're driving across the Tibetan highlands.
It is essential, however, to carry your own toilet paper. Rarely will you find it in anything but the larger hotels. Small packs of tissue$ that can be bought in any grocery store in China make very convenient substitutes for a roll. Also wry small change around with you for the pay toilets. lt will avoid frustrating delays waiting for change on the way to the loo.

Just as rare in washrooms are hot water and soap. Bring botiles of hand sanitizer from home; you won't easily find it in China.

Hotel rooms Booking a hotel room can be fairly straightforward even without knowledge of Chinese. f you're arriving late at night, it's best to book your hotel in advance by phone or on the Internet. Copy or have someone write down the Chinese characters for the name of the hotel. That way you're not wandering around the dark streets trying to find accomrnodation when you first arrive in a new city,
f

Otherwise, you can get good deals right at the front desk. Rack room rates at three- and four-star hotels are usually posted on a sign at the front desk and you can simply point to "Standard Room". Rates are always negotiable except at the highest season or on Chinese national holidays. The derk will write the opening discounted rate on a piece of paper or use a calculator to begin the bargaining process. Don't forget to confirm that breakfast is included in your discounted rate. Before you check in, visit the room to verify that everything works properly. lf you don't like the room, the AC wont turn off, or the toilet doesn't flush (a frequent occurrence), ask to $ee another roorn. Oddly, standard room sizes and quality can vary from floor to floor in the same hotel. Also, discounted rooms are often beside noisy elevators or stairwells. lf you're a light sleeper, ask for a different room. Staff are very obliging. It's always wise to lock up your valuables and passprt in the hotel safe. Some hotels have one in the room, others at the front desk. But if you use the front desk safe and you have an early morning flight to catch, it might be best to take your valuables out the night before. Once we risked missing our flight because the rnanager who had the key to the safe wasn't on duty until 9:00 a.m. Make a photocopy of your passport, including your Chinese entry visa. \AIth your passport safely locked up in the hotel safe, you can use the photocopy for booking airline tickets or at the Internet cafes that sometimes demand them. You will, however, need your original for most hotels. Most hotels in the three- and four-star category do not take credit cards. At check in, you will need to make a cash deposit equal to one or two times the value of your hotel room times the length or your stay. Unfortunately, this mean$ carrying lots of cash around. \Allrile we've never felt threatened in China, ifs wise to use a hidden money puch. I find that the kind that attaches to your belt and hangs on the inside of your trousers is the least visible and one of the most comfortable. Every hotel we have visited in China has been "clean" and comfortable. Some are more spartan than others, but they all have tea, toothbrushes, slippers, and a comb, and some even have a bottle of water. Plus they are fairly inexpensive compared to Canada. Three-star hotels and higher have electric kettles to boil water for tea and to sterilize the cups provided in your room. Some have a large fresh water bottle combined with a heater that boils water for use. lt works surprisingly well.

As an added bonus, breakfast is included. lt's usually a buffet style and they all have boiled eg6, which have become our stafle brealcfast food. Some have "Century Eggs", eggs stained dark brown because they've been boiled in tea; but these, in addition to hing unsightly, may be unsafe to eat, so avoid them. There's usually some combination of fruits, bun$, cakes and usually vegetables, which we don't dare eat because they're not hot. But

http:/lwww.5Oplus.com/display.cfm?libraryID:105&cabineflD:378&documentlD:17335

23/43/2007

China: Off the beaten path - 50Plus.com

Page 6

af

$ome $aces make omelets and our hotel in Lanzhou made Lanzhou's famous Beef Noodle soup for breakfast, with fresh noodles made right before our eye$.

lfs a fascinating proce$s to see as the "Chef' starts with a lump of dough and stretches it to make thinner and thinner noodles with each pull, sometimes slapping the whole bundle on the table with a loud "whap" just for ehow.
Toothbrushes
Again on the plus side, every hotel, no mafier how cheap, has pckaged toothbrushes and a tiny tube of toothpaste. Save some of these for those long train or bus rides. Prices Accommodation, air, bus and train transportation, and meals in China are all inexpensive. What we find surprising is the cost of things like running shoe, coats, technology. The prices in legitimate stores are almost as high as at hsme, even though they're all made here and the average monthly salary is less than you make in a day. And there are literally hundreds of stores selling the latest brands and modefs in every city. we've yet to see any locals buying this stuff. But as rny wife correcfly points out if only 1 per cent of China's 1.4 billion popufation buys something, that's still a lot of Yuan!

Friendliness
Everywhere we have visited in China, w have found the people extremely friendly and helpful. But outride the big cities, w do get strange reactions when people see us. Most of the time we are the only Westerners in town. The children and even adults stare, but are always quick to say hello or to smile and laugh when we said "Ni
ha0".

They seem to derive a great deal of pleasure watching us eat with chopsticks or say the few Chinese words that we can pronounce properly. Huddles often form around us when we pull out our dictionary to ask for something in a store. This also happens when either my wife or I start writing with our left hands. Thafs just not seen in China where everyone is forced to be right handed. They come dose and stare over our shoulders in amazement. lfs a litfle disconcerting, but, again, it's an ice breaker and it brings out the smiles. $o be prepared to be the centre of attention when you travel on your own in tfre less visited parts of China.

Lineupr
The concept of lining up for anything doesn't exist in China. This is one of the most frustrating things fsr me. lt's always a mad rush for buses, elevators, even airplanes. There is no such thing as boarding a flight by row. lt's a stampede and if you're late there wont be any room for your bag in the overhead compartment. At the Post Office or a tourist site, you can be standing at the wicket and someone wifl butt right in front of you and shove their money at the clerk. teveral times in department store$, l've had my hand out with my money in it, but still someone will butt right in between us with his money and item. This even happens at airline check-in counters when youVe got your passport and ticket on the counter in front of you and your bags on the scale. Someone will com6 right up between you and your bagn and try to get checked in. This is where extra caution is required to ensure you dont lose your passport or bags. You'fl need a lot of patience as well. We met a $wiss tourist who explained that he was buying suhrvay tickets at a machine when someone came up and pushed his own money into the machine first. The Swiss was $o up$et he grabbed the guys change and ticket when they came out of the machine and threw them onto the floor. lf that's how ifs affecting the peaceful $wiss, you can imagine how bad it is. The only system where lineupe work is in banks where they have a wonderfuf system, even better than ours. When you arrive you take a number. Then you sit in comfortable seats until your number is called and they announce which wicket you should go to. Fortunately for us they also show the numbers on an illuminated flashing screen over each teller. lt is probably no coincidence that the original Chinese banking system was modeled on Britain's,

http://www.50plus.com/display.cfm?libraryID:105&cabinetlD:378&documentlD:17335

23103/2007

China: Offthe beaten path - s0Plus.com

Page 7 of

where queuing is an art form. The advantage of independent travel * and what you find. A lot of tour groups are herded from site to site like sheep in order to "see" a lot. But by traveling independently, you have more opportunity to "find' those treasures hidden just off the beaten path. And if you follow the basictips l've outlined above, you learn to countto 10, and lool< both ways before you cross the street, your travels in China should be safe, rewarding and relativefy easy.
In travel, there'$ what you see

Tour Guides in China: phone: 13888683190, e-mail: zouqing040s@hotmail.com Jasmine charges around 150-200 Yuan for a whole day with you and she has a tour guide card so she can enter any tourist attraction free of charge. Her vocabulary even of technical words was impresoive. We used her on a day excursion to the local botanical gardens and the world Horti*Expo Garden. The latter, by the way, is fabufo,us if you like Chinese garden design. Lanzhou: sally {English name}, cell phone: 1g0087sgg47, e-rnail: rainbowsally5?0@msn.com Sally ie amazing, efficient, very helpful and her English is great. $he put us together with her driver, Mr. He, and arranged for him to take us to xiahe to visit the Labrang Monastery with a stop on the way at the remote Bingling sitaves. Road trips can also be arranged ovedand to Tibet.

Kunming: Jasmine (English name) Zou Qing (chinese name), cell

co., email: maomaoqi@hotmail.com Miss Mao aranged for a driyer to take us to the Terracotta warriors, Hua shan Mountain and the $haolin Temple.
Dan Cooper is a fee-lance trsvel writer and professional phobgrapher. He and his wife recently toured China for three months on assignment. View photographs from his travels around at world at: www. istockphoto. com/coopermoisse Photo credit Dan Cooper

xian: Miss Mao, Mao Qi, Manager, china Comfort Travel $ervice

O 2007 Dan Cooper

Average Review: 0.0

{Not yet reviewed)
My review of the content displayed is: Poor (1)

,' Average ,' Pretty good

Reafly good Great (5)

$end this page to a friendl

Commentary
! 5

Name or Email Address

Send My Review!

"Cl assifi ed Adv ertisem ent

G-ARP Travef

Insurance 1l -877-5S5:141?
No matter what your travel

iit,

http://www.50plus.corn/display.cfin?libraryID:l05&cabineflD:378&documentlD:17335 23fi312007