Travel Q&A's about China

[Winston]

I was looking at a map of China below. Wow it is huge. The cities I am interested in, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou, are all really far from each other. See below.





So I have some questions.

1. Is it better to travel between cities by plane or train? Which is cheaper? Are trains comfortable like in Russia?

2. Which city is best to go first? Guangdou looks closer, and many Chinese girls I've corresponded seem to be from there for some reason. Why? Are people poorer there?

3. Which are the best cities for girls? What about for culture and tourist attractions?

4. Which part of China do people speak Taiwanese, or a language similar to it? Was it Hokkian or something? Where is that? What city exactly?

5. How should I find hotels? The ones advertised online are expensive. Is there a way to get more affordable ones? Or should I use hostels and couchsurfing? Should I ask taxi drivers? Or use Lonely Planet?

[Winston]

Well I guess I can stay in Guangzhou for $10 a night at a lot of places. Look here:

http://www.hostels.com/findabed.php?Cho ... a&Search=1

[Winston]

Question: Is it better to fly to Guangzhou directly or take the ferry there from Hong Kong? That way, I can visit Hong Kong too.

[momopi]

1. Is it better to travel between cities by plane or train? Which is cheaper? Are trains comfortable like in Russia?
2. Which city is best to go first? Guangdou looks closer, and many Chinese girls I've corresponded seem to be from there for some reason. Why? Are people poorer there?
3. Which are the best cities for girls? What about for culture and tourist attractions?
4. Which part of China do people speak Taiwanese, or a language similar to it? Was it Hokkian or something? Where is that? What city exactly?
5. How should I find hotels? The ones advertised online are expensive. Is there a way to get more affordable ones? Or should I use hostels and couchsurfing? Should I ask taxi drivers? Or use Lonely Planet?

1. I've only taken the plane and light rail (subway) in China, not heavy rail trains. On my last trip there the factory sent a car & driver. But you can review some info about trains here:
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-t ... ickets.htm
http://www.seat61.com/China.htm

2 & 3: These are relative to personal opinion. I've only visited 3 Chinese cities so you're probably better off asking someone who lives there.

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_Hokkien

5. Ask your parents to help you check Chinese-language sites for hotels. Or, if you're going to a popular tourist area, just walk around and see if you can find small hotels with ad banners/signs that are much cheaper, but quality ranges from roach motels and up.

Question: Is it better to fly to Guangzhou directly or take the ferry there from Hong Kong? That way, I can visit Hong Kong too.

I'd do HK just so that you can visit the place.

[Rock]

I was looking at a map of China below. Wow it is huge. The cities I am interested in, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou, are all really far from each other. See below.

So I have some questions.

1. Is it better to travel between cities by plane or train? Which is cheaper? Are trains comfortable like in Russia?

2. Which city is best to go first? Guangdou looks closer, and many Chinese girls I've corresponded seem to be from there for some reason. Why? Are people poorer there?

3. Which are the best cities for girls? What about for culture and tourist attractions?

4. Which part of China do people speak Taiwanese, or a language similar to it? Was it Hokkian or something? Where is that? What city exactly?

5. How should I find hotels? The ones advertised online are expensive. Is there a way to get more affordable ones? Or should I use hostels and couchsurfing? Should I ask taxi drivers? Or use Lonely Planet?

1. I believe Xiaman is ground zero in China for the Southern Minan dialect of Chinese (known as Taiwanese in Taiwan).

2. Single rooms in hostels can be a great value, are easy to bring girls to, and are great for meeting Chinese travelers from all over the country if you are in a popular tourist area with the locals.

3. Best to go area by area and spend significant time in a given area to figure out how much you like or don't like it. When you get tired of it, move on. You can start with Guangdong and meet girls from Shenzhen area, Guangzhou, and various 3rd and 4th tier cities in the area. After Guandong, maybe you can give Xiamen a try and capitalize on your fluent Taiwanese.

4. Guangdong attracts people from all over the country. Its one of the relatively rich provinces if you go by averages cus there is a lot of money, investments, and high rollers there. Don't forget about all the wealthy HKers who have gone there to build businesses.

5. For women, I liked Chengdu, Qingdao, and Changchun best. But maybe it was because I met my favorite girls in those places.

[Taco]

Any 2nd and 3rd tier cities in China will have friendly women. Shenzhen and Guangzhou are different than most southern cities in that they have more women than men and they have lots of Mandarin speakers also. Women from Sichuan province(Chengdu) are considered to be the most beautiful in the country, I haven't been able to confirm this however.

Using hostels is highly recommended as your likely to meet other westerners that can give you much needed travel advice and directions. Most travel in China is done by trains.

[Winston]

Thanks. I see Xiamen is in Fuijan province. I guess it makes sense that Fuijan province is the one where people speak Taiwanese, since it's the province that is right across from Taiwan. lol Duh.

I read that hotels in China offer P4P too. Interesting.

I also read that standard apartments in China are $150 a month for locals, but not for Westerners. I'm not sure if I can get a local price though.

Most of the Chinese women I'm corresponding with come from smaller cities in Guangdong, not Guangzhou. But Guangdong is a big province and cities are often 6 hours apart by bus.

Btw, here is a large detailed map of Guangdong that is downloadable, for anyone interested in going there. Right click and select "Save As".

http://www.chinatouristmaps.com/assets/ ... ngdong.jpg

Here is another map of China, if anyone wants to get their bearing on where things are there.

[Winston]

Hey I got a wild idea. If China works out, maybe I could be like Mark Davis and conduct romance tours there for Western guys? lol. What do you think? We could call it "China Quest Tour". Good idea? lol

[Adama]

Does this mean Wu has given up on white girls altogether?

[Winston]

Does this mean Wu has given up on white girls altogether?

I wouldn't say altogether. That's too extreme. Hot quality Asian women are just the priority for now. But yeah, I can still look at a hot white woman and think she's hot.

[Jackal]

Hey I got a wild idea. If China works out, maybe I could be like Mark Davis and conduct romance tours there for Western guys? lol. What do you think? We could call it "China Quest Tour". Good idea? lol

Sure! It sounds like a good idea as long as the Chinese government doesn't have a problem with it.

I've been to Chengdu, and yes, the women there are indeed very beautiful! However, Winston, it's a very, very polluted city. You often complain about feeling badly in the Philippines, but in Chengdu there is sort of a permanent fog of smog hanging over the city which oftens blocks out the sun. It's also very hot and humid there. It feels like jungle weather in the summer. You might like the women there, but I don't think you'd like the climate.

I've been in some really nasty, filthy trains in China. I would avoid them if you can, although maybe there are some nice trains somewhere in the country.

[xiongmao]

The new bullet trains are nice, but sadly not all Chinese are house trained and your travelling companions can be a real nuisance.

I went from Guangzhou South to Zhuhai on the new Hexhi Hao bullet train and it was like $5 for business class or something.

I do miss the old trains - I went on a massive diesel hauled locomotive service through Western Hubei Province and it remains one of the best journeys of my life. I think in second place was the Japanese Tokyo - Niigata Shinkansen - the mountains were no problems for the civil engineers who built the line, they just tunnelled through the entire backbone of Japan!

The interior cities in China have a hostile climate. I visited Wuhan in October and the temperature was OK, but the air was pretty nasty. In Summer or Winter you'll either burn in hell or freeze to death. Same goes for the Sichuan cities.

The Southern Coastal cities are nice - at least the air is cleaner and there's a chance of a coastal breeze. Xiamen is my tip for a nice city to visit. Gz is nice but venture into the rat/roach infested suburbs (what ladies call the "countryside") and you'll see a different side to the tree lined avenues of Tianhe.

[Rock]

Hey I got a wild idea. If China works out, maybe I could be like Mark Davis and conduct romance tours there for Western guys? lol. What do you think? We could call it "China Quest Tour". Good idea? lol

Sure! It sounds like a good idea as long as the Chinese government doesn't have a problem with it.

I've been to Chengdu, and yes, the women there are indeed very beautiful! However, Winston, it's a very, very polluted city. You often complain about feeling badly in the Philippines, but in Chengdu there is sort of a permanent fog of smog hanging over the city which oftens blocks out the sun. It's also very hot and humid there. It feels like jungle weather in the summer. You might like the women there, but I don't think you'd like the climate.

I've been in some really nasty, filthy trains in China. I would avoid them if you can, although maybe there are some nice trains somewhere in the country.

Did you go to the same Chengdu that I went to? When did you go? It ain't perfect but its a hell of a lot less polluted and cooler (even in summer) than Angeles. Its also cooler than Chiayi year round. Personally, I think its too cold from October through May.

The new trains are super modern and clean. The old trains are a very interesting experience. I took soft sleeper class from Shanghai all the way to Chengdu and it was a blast joking around with the local train crew and various locals we encountered. I even met a young rural girl (from 4th tier village I think) in the restaurant car one day and she called my Taiwan cell a couple weeks later. And I did stroll up into the cheap hard seat section a couple times to have a look.

I don't know how much time you have spent in Asia or where you have been. But it sounds like you are judging Chengdu from a European perspective. Once you've been to a few Asian shit-holes, Chengdu is quite nice. It's also a gateway for local tourists from all over China who come to explore Jiuzhaiguo (Valley of Nine Villages), Panda Bear tours, and even go to Tibet. In fact, there is a Tibetan area right in Chengdu. It's also know for its laid-back tea drinking culture.

[Jackal]

But it sounds like you are judging Chengdu from a European perspective.

Yes, I probably am. I much prefer Europe.

Once you've been to a few Asian shit-holes, Chengdu is quite nice.

I do think that Chengdu is very nice except for the air quality. I got used to it after a few days, but Winston often seems very sensitive to these things, so that's why I mentioned it.

[sushiman]

I really dig SH, fairly expensive I suppose but great food and hot women, very exciting fun city.