During our whole china trip, the general friendliness and readiness to assist stupid tourists was wonderful. Even folks that didn't speak English would stop what they were doing and help out with hand gestures, etc for 30+ minutes if they thought they could help. One time, in Luoyang, we ended up with a group of 10 folks trying to help us. Finally they ran into another store and dragged out a guy who spoke some English and he figured out what we needed. Also, outside of the tourist areas of the town, the folks did not overcharge you. I paid 1/2 yuan for ice pops that were 6 yuan in the Temple of Heaven.

When trying to get around a city and you don't speak Chinese, it is best to make sure you don't leave the room without a paper with each place you want to go that day in English and written out in Chinese characters. The folks behind the counter at your hostel/hotel are usually willing to help. That way, if you run into difficulties finding the right bus/subway stop, you can hop in a taxi and get where you want to go. Taxis are cheap (require that they use the meter) and plentiful but useless if you don't have a way to let them know where you need to go and pointing to a place on a map doesn't work.

I bought a laminated street map of Beijing at Borders Books before I left and it was great! It had every single little alley. It would have been a little more useful if the major roads had Chinese characters in addition to the English to help with taxis.

Client's information:

Mr.chiefei wood , Australia , 2008-1-10 16:38

If someone plans a trip to China in summer, i suggest you take flight instead of train, especially in July and August, because it's the Summer Vacation for all the students in China, it's really really very crowded in the train station. We almost could not get our tickets and you cannot imagine how hard to get on the train. If you really want to take a train experience in China, i suggest you choose another period to avoid the peak season (also May Day Holiday, National Day Holiday and Spring Festival periods), i'm sure you will have a special experience in China.

Client's information:

Ms.Sally Maro , Australia , 2007-10-31 16:34

Way to save money

When taking the tour in China, we made really expensive international telephone calls to our children at home from the hotels. Later we found the cheaper telephone cards could be used from the road side telephone booths. These cards come in denominations of 30, 50, 100 Yuans and it is much cheaper than calling from the hotels. These telephone cards can be found anywhere on the street and easy to purchase. A sudden discovery will save amount of money. Tell any person who will travel to China for sharing. ^_^

Client's information:

Mr.Robert Cuke , Netherlands Antilles , 2007-10-25 14:21