When visiting Suzhou or Shanghai, you should not miss the water town. A good way to appreciate the water town is a gondola ride along the canal. It costs about Y60 per gondala (max. 6 persons, excluding children) in Tongli water town, while Y80 (max. 8 persons) in Zhouzhuang. You need not pay the whole gondola, just chip in and ride with the fellow tourists if you group in under the max. number. You just need to share the cost with them. One little tip: Try to get a female gondola rower, as they more likely to sing traditional Wu-dialect songs during the ride.

Client's information:

Mr.Sam Lync 2008-3-20 10:09

Don't buy Longjing Tea in small shops! Most of it sold in small shops is fake. So remember, if you want to get real and good Hangzhou Longjing Tea,the best tea in China, you'd better go to the big department stores or the particular shops only selling Longjing Tea. Buying the silk clothes is the same. If you do not have a chance visiting Hangzhou, Beijing, Xian, Shanghai or any other big cities could also find authentic Longjing tea, just with higher price. Also, only the big department or tea special stores sell the best Longjing tea.

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Ms.Susan Post , United Kingdom , 2008-3-20 09:48

I am no expert on the traveling or hiking; however, I can share with you my most basic and elemental thoughts about traveling to a foreign country big and diverse as China.

#1 your health, do not forget it for a second, if you get sick as you travel, that is a big thing because you pass to depend on others for your basic and elemental needs.
Eat any thing or anywhere you want to eat, but make sure it is at less full and fresh cook, see it boil or fry, but see it.
Drink bottle liquids only period.
In big cities if you go to the big supermarkets, you can run in to a lot of can western food and meats, European cheeses and many Australian and New Zealand foods.
Do not forget, your every day health is catalytic to a marvelous trip.
Carry with you basic cold, allergies and stomach medicines always and some good sun protection, together with an alcohol base hand cleaner and wipes.

#2 China people it is very friendly and lovable, however, there are some crooks too, that can make your trip a nightmare, nice as you can be, reject ALL kind of unsolicited help. If you need help, you select the person that is going to help you.
The worse experiences I read here come from people that let others come to them approach and help.
Stay out of ugly places, as you do in your home country, and do not follow estrange persons that approaches you.
Keep an eye on your personal stuff, and make sure you make eye contact with the people around you, so they know you know they are there.
In Chinese culture, they do not look to you on to your eye directly too often, so looking at them in a GENERAL VIEW you can see who is looking at you. It provides you with a view advantage. This works best in public streets and places like the train and bus station.
If walking on a big city like Beijing, Guangzhou or Shanghai stop at a window here and there, so you can let the people around you move on, as you stop see if any one stops too.

As I travel around China, I mainly fly, but if not, I prefer buses: the amount of people around me is a lot less than the many on the train, it is faster and buses are good, many are by far better than the ones we have in the USA greyhound.

If you are going solo, language is a big issue. I recommend you to buy a translator that speaks, show the words and or sentence in simplified Chinese, and pin yin.
If the other person knows how to type he/she can answer you, and you can understand, because it will translate for you in 15 different languages of your choice, it is word about $200.00 us dollars at best buy or fry’s. A cheaper approach is an English to Chinese pocket book.

Finally, do some research so you know something about the places where you are going, before you arrive.

You are in, for the time of your life, China it is a very safe country, you just need to be safe and street wise.

Client's information:

Mr.american guy , United States , 2008-1-10 16:46