http://www.traveldoug.com
http://www.traveldoug.com
The idea for this trip arrived in a letter from Northwest Airlines telling my current frequently flyer balance. As I looked it over, I realized I finally had enough miles to go anywhere I wanted - well, anywhere Northwest flew. "Hum," I thought, "what's the farthest I can go?" After studying the map for a few weeks I settled on China, even though Australia really would have been farther.
That decision out of the way, I next ponder when. Spring seemed the best time - after a long Michigan winter I'm raring to go. For personal reasons, I finally settled on April. That turned out to be perfect: Hong Kong wasn't too hot yet and Beijing was quite comfortable. I was also lucky that I only had one day of rain.
Now off to the bookstore where I bought the first of several travel book: The Rough Guide to China. This became my bible for the next few months as I read it cover-to-cover. I also got a copy of Lonely Planet guide to China but found it to be way out-of-date; but it was still useful for a second opinion. I also scoured the Internet for travelogues - I found several on www.travel-library.com. In addition, I started reading rec.travel.asia and joined a China travel list, Oriental-List.
Using those sources, I worked out a tentative itinerary and then went shopping for a travel agent. I needed someone to help me with the domestic air and hotel arrangements. There are many travel agencies who arrange China travel - too many, in fact. How to choose? I wrote to a number of people who had recently been to China and solicited their opinion. I then phoned a couple of agents, one in New York and one in California. I finally decided on China International Travel Service (CITS) one of the largest, if not the largest, agencies in China: I liked the agent Jean Wei - she had a no-nonsense straight-ahead style - and CITS has a bureau in all the cities I was planning to visit. I figured that might be useful, but never had reason to find out.
Next came the first of many surprises: although it was already February, less that 8 weeks before I wanted to go, I couldn't make any domestic flight reservations. It seems that April is some kind of magic period when all the new flights are announced - it has something to do with the Chinese New Year. Anyway, I had to wait until the first week in March to make both the air and hotel reservations. Jean called me one evening and we did the whole thing in about 20 minutes - then she faxed me a copy of the itinerary. After a few more phone calls and faxes, I was set. By the way, you can visit CITS web site at http://www.citsusa.com and get an idea of the current hotel prices.
Almost as soon as I received the final itinerary, CITS wanted payment - they usually want payment 30 days before departure. So I sent off a check - no credit cards accepted. Next an Airborne envelope arrived containing my tickets and hotel vouchers. The tickets had the cities written in Chinese. The voucher - well, really more just a list - was written entirely in Chinese. Luckily I had purchased a little book called I Can Read That! by Julie Mazel Sussman which taught me 30 plus Chinese characters (out of more that 2000 that are commonly used!) This at least covered the names of most of the cities I was visiting, the hotel names I got from the travel guides. I photocopied the hotel names and stuck them in my journal - I figured they would come in handy.
Speaking of Chinese, (or should I say speaking in Chinese?) I had been repeatedly warned that there are few English speakers in China, so I tried to learn a few words and phrases. I found the pronunciation guides in the travel books useless. Instead, I went to http://www.indiana.edu/~chasso/auchinese.htm and downloaded some audio files to my laptop. I then parroted them until I had them memorized, "Duo shao qian?" (How much is that?) As a backup I took the Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook - which I never used.
While I was working out the hotel/air stuff, I sent my passport and application (I had gotten by mail) to the Washington, DC office of the Chinese Embassy. The application fee for a one-entry, 30-day visa is $30 plus $5 mail-in fee. (Actually, I neglected to send the mail in fee but they sent the visa anyway with a note requesting the $5.) I sent the passport and application in a FedEx envelope with another one, prepaid, inside for the return. The visa came back in about 2.5 weeks. The visa was good for 90 days from issue, so don't apply too soon.
So there you are - I made all the arrangements in about a month's time. Then with the Northwest Frequently Flyer ticket, the hotel list in Chinese and the Chinese domestic air tickets, I was ready. I copied the revenant section from the Rough Guide, packed a few changes of clothes in my backpack and I was off.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
June 1998
Part One: Hong Kong & Guilin
Part Two: Shanghai & Suzhou
Part Three: Xian & Beijing
Hotel reviews
Read more of my travelogues
Send your comments to: