china virtual tours | china highlights

From low-cost independent exploration to comfortable tours, China can offer a sometimes bewildering choke of travel options. As the land is so vast, visitors to China need to take a long and hard look at the map, and decide exactly what it is that they want their China experience to be. Going through the Itineraries chapter will provide you with options for your visit. The only part of China you will need to carefully plan is travel to Tibet, as bureaucratic obstacles, travel restrictions and health issues will require your consideration and attention.

WHEN TO GO

Travel to China is possible year-round, as long as you're prepared for what the season can throw at you. Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to early November) can be the best time to be on the road, as you avoid the blistering heat of summer (June to August) and stinging chill of winter (November to February/March). Autumn in Beijing, for example, is particularly pleasant, as are early spring and autumn in Hong Kong. Summer is the busiest tourist season, and getting around and finding accommodation during the peak summer crush can be draining. North China is hot and largely dry in summer, especially in the baking northwest (but Beijing is also uncomfortable). The Yangzi River (Chang Jiang) region is very hot and humid, and southern China, with a coastline harassed by typhoons, also swelters. Rainfall rarely falls in quantities that can disrupt travel plans. Winter is the low season (except for Hainan Dao) and can be the quietest time of year, and good hotel discounts can be found, but while Hong Kong in winter is comfortably nippy, north China is a frozen expanse, especially in the northeast, northwest and Inner Mongolia. Wintering in clement central and southern Yunnan province is enjoyable, but the higher altitude north of the province is frigid. Winter is inadvisable for travel to high-altitude areas in China.

Major public holidays can make travel difficult. Manoeuvring around China with 1.3 billion others at the Chinese New Year (p894) can be a nightmare, but you also get to see China at its most colourful and enter- taining. Hotel rooms become very expensive during the May Day holiday(now a week long from 1 May) and National Day on 1 October (likewise a week long), and train tickets can be difficult to procure.

DON' T LEAVE HOM E WITHOUT.. .

Checking the visa situation

Checking travel advisory bureaus

Checking on your recommende dvaccinations

A copy of your travel insurance policy details

A smoke alarm - for peace of mind in budget hotels

Good deodorant - hard to find

Reading matter for those endless train trips

A sense of adventure

GETTING STARTED: Costs & Money

China used to be incredibly cheap virtually across the board, but it has long become increasingly expensive. However, simply knowing where and how to travel according to your budget means you can live well within your means.

The most expensive destinations are Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, the eastern coastal provinces and Special Eco- nomic Zones (SEZ). Beijing and Shanghai especially can be intolerably dear. You can pay criminal prices if you want: Y45 (US$5.5) for a cof- fee or Y50 (US$6) for a bowl of noodles at Beijing's Capital Airport, or US$8500 a month for a plush three-bedroom apartment in the capital. Look around, learn to get savvy and get a feel for where locals shop and quickly try to get a sense of proportion; be sensible and cautious about where you shop, and what you buy. Since you're using a new currency, take your time to accurately convert prices. Even Beijing and Shanghai can be cheap if you're shrewd and careful.

Staying in dormitories, travelling by bus or bicycle rather than taxi, eating from street stalls or small restaurants, and retraining from buying anything means you can live on around US$30 per day. Accommodation will take the largest chunk, but in cities where dormitory accommodation is unavailable you will have to settle for accommodation with rates from US$25 to US$35 for a double (singles are rarely available). Travelling through the booming coastal cities and much of east China for less thanUS$45 per day can be a challenge.

Western China and the interior remain relatively inexpensive. Popu- lar backpacker getaways, such as Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Gansu, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet, abound in budget accommodation and cheap eats.

Food costs remain reasonable throughout China, and the frugal can eat for as little as US$5 a day. Transport costs can be kept to a minimum by travelling by bus wherever possible or by travelling hard-seat on the train. Train travel is reasonable, and is generally about half the price of air travel. Flying in China is expensive, but those with less time may have to resort to it to cover potentially vast distances.

Mid-range hotel doubles start at around US$35 and you can eat in mid-range restaurants from around US$5. Mid-range comfort can be bought in China for around US$60 a day, making it a neither very cheap nor exorbitant way to see the land.

Top-end travel in China? For US$200 to US$250 per day, you can hit the major attractions of the country staying in five-star hotels (US$100 and up for a double), flying long distances, taking taxis to/from airports, dining on Chinese haute cuisine and enjoying a few drinks in the hotel lobby bar in the evenings. You'll find yourself well catered for, unless you venture too far from the big cities.

TRAVEL LITERATURE

River Town: Two years on the Yangtze (2001) by Peter Hessler is full of poignant and telling episodes during the author's posting as an English teacher in the town of Fuling on the Yangzi River. Hessler perfectly cap- tures the experience of being a foreigner in today's China in his observa- tions of the local people.

Revolving around the same waterway, The River at the Centre of the World (1998) by Simon Winchester follows the author on his journey along the river from the mouth of the Yangzi River north of Shanghai to its source high up on the Tibet-Qinghai plateau.

GETTING STARTED :Top Tens

Top Ten Movies

Some cinematic homework is a sure way to hit the ground running in China. The country's film genres sprawl from energetic Hong Kong wudapian (kung fu), violence and slapstick, through the decadent excesses of the mainland fifth generation to the sombre palate of the sixth gen- eration and beyond.

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) Director: Zhang Yimou

Judou (1989) Director: Zhang Yimou

Chungking Express (1994) Director: Wong Karwai

City on Fire (1987) Director: Ringo Lam

In the Mood for Love (2000) Director: Wong Karwai

Drunken Master 2 (1994) Directors: Lau Karleung, Jackie Chan Infernal

Affairs (2002) Directors: Lau Waikeung, Mak Siufai Beijing Bicycle (2001)

Director: Wang Xiaoshuai

Shaolin Soccer (2001) Director: Stephen Chow

Farewell My Concubine (1993) Director: Chen Kaige